MMATorch.com

New Increased Content Coming Mid-March: More breaking news, more original news, more original interviews

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:17:21 PST

Starting mid-March, the staff resources going into MMATorch will be drastically increased, resulting in more than a tripling of current daily content, including more breaking news, more original news, more exclusive interviews, more roundtables, more editorials, more PPV coverage before and after events, and much more audio content.

So be sure to keep checking MMATorch App every day for our current daily stream of original content, but gear up for a major increase in daily content starting mid-month going forward!

Thanks to everyone for your support over the years in making our increased staff resources possible and making us the no. 1 MMA App in iTunes supplying original first-run content on a daily basis. We promise you haven't see anything yet!

ALSO

-A new upgraded MMATorch App user interface is currently in production which will expand our features.

-Be sure to check out our newly designed www.MMATorch.com website for when it's more convenient to read your MMATorch content on a laptop or regular computer rather than your iPhone or iPod Touch.

-Be sure to also check out the debut of the MMATorch Sunday Livecast with Jamie Penick and Matt Pelkey from 2-4 p.m. ET (11-1 PT). It's a live call-in show at BlogTalkRadio.com. Set a reminder notice now or Sunday visit the following URL to listen:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch.

BlogTalkRadio is customized for both the web and your mobile phone. You can call to participate at (646) 716-8090. That's also the number you can call during the show listen without participating with a question or comment. So if you're not near the Internet but have your phone, you can listen live, also. The show will be archived if you don't listen live. Our UFC 110 pre-show and post-show debut editions are available now at the same URL.

You can subscribe to the Livecast to hear it on delay via iTunes here:

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We also have an MMATorch Podcast in iTunes featuring our pre-recorded shows such as the weekly Audio Choke, PPV Previews, Interviews, PPV Roundtables, and more. Check that out here:

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You can also simply search "MMATorch" on your phone or on your computer.

UFC NEWS: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin, not Tito Ortiz, in the works for UFC 115 in June

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:09:38 PST

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A bout between UFC Hall of Famer and former Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell and former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin is in the works for UFC 115 in June, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

A previous report from the U.K. based Fighter's Only had pegged the matchup as the headliner for the UFC's rumored April 17th Strikeforce-countering event, though weeks out from that date it appears that it may not be coming to fruition.

Liddell has been filming the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter, and while Tito Ortiz had been filming as well as the coach opposing him, the MMAJunkie report states Tito was unable to finish filming for an unknown reason and Franklin had been brought in.

That takes out the planned third bout between Liddell and Ortiz that would have headlined this 115 card, and Franklin once again becomes UFC's go-to guy for a fight in a pinch.

UFC 115 is expected to take place at the GM Place in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on June 12th.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: I'm extremely intrigued to find out what's going on with Ortiz. The MMAJunkie report brought up some cryptic Tweets from Ortiz where he talked about life getting harder and God giving him another challenge, and with him unable to finish the season and Franklin stepping into his place for a fight that's still months away there remains lots and lots of questions about not only his health right now, but the future of his career.

The Liddell-Franklin fight is actually a lot more intriguing than the third bout with Ortiz, in any case. For starters, they are two former Champions and big stars in the UFC and they've never fought each other. It makes a lot more sense for Franklin as well, and will give him a fight in the light heavyweight division after two fights at a 195 lb. catchweight. It's a big challenge for Chuck and chance for him to prove that he's still got it after devastating KO victories in his last two fights. This is a good fight and a good headliner for the Vancouver card.

[Rich Franklin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le ready for Scott Smith rematch

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:08:11 PST

Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le was upset by Scott Smith in the main event of Strikeforce's "Evolution" event last December, losing by TKO in the third round while en route to a one-sided decision victory. But while his first MMA loss came in his first fight in nearly two years after taking time off to appear in several movies, Le is getting ready to get back into action a lot sooner this time around.

"I'm ready to go next month if I have to," Le told MMATorch.com. "I've been staying in the gym and staying in shape and making sure my cardio improves every time I'm in the gym. I think a big part of it was my cardio in the last fight."

Even though he's looking for the quicker return to action, Le insists ring rust was not a factor in the fight with Smith, simply his cardio and the fact that a Scott Smith punch can catch a fighter. "A lot of people felt my timing would be off," said Le. "But I think my timing was not off and I was connecting on 70-80% of the shots and I got caught. I did feel a little gassed out in the third round after I tried to pick him up and slam him."

***

With Dan Henderson now coming into Strikeforce's middleweight division and fighting for the belt Le relinquished last October, Le said he's not looking that far ahead in his fight career, stating "Right now I'm just focused on one fight at a time, I don't look too far ahead. I'll be ready for whatever Strikeforce gives me, and hopefully it will be another shot against Scott Smith, I believe that's the one fight I want right now and I'll take it one fight at a time."

Continue reading for the full report

MORE FROM LE:MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick's audio interview with Le

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDER: Upcoming Major MMA Event Dates and Locations

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:45:15 PST

UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones

March 21st, 2010, The Odeum Colorado, Broomfield, CO - Versus

DREAM 13

March 22, 2010, Yokohoma Arena, Yokohoma, Japan - HDNet

Strikeforce Challengers VII

March 26th, 2010, Save Mart Center, Fresno, CA - Showtime

UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy

March 27th, 2010, Prudential Center, Newark, NJ - Pay-Per-View

UFC Fight Night 21

March 31st, 2010, Bojangles Coliseum, Charlotte, NC - Spike TV

Bellator Fighting Championships Season 2, Week 1

April 8th, 2010, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, FL - Fox Sports Net

UFC 112: Silva vs. Belfort

April 10th, 2010, Concert Arena at Ferrari World on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi - Pay-Per-View

Strikeforce on CBS

April 17th, Venue TBA, Location TBA - CBS

DREAM 14

April 19th, Venue TBA, Location TBA - HDNet

UFC 113

May 8th, 2010, Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - Pay-Per-View

DREAM 15

May 24th, 2010, Venue TBA, Location TBA - HDNet

UFC 114

May 29th, 2010, Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, NV - Pay-Per-View

UFC 115

June 12th, 2010, GM Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada - Pay-Per-View

The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale

June 19th, 2010, Venue TBA, Las Vegas, NV - Spike TV

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Strikeforce on CBS staying firm with April 17th date

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:31:18 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce's April return to CBS will stay on April 17th, according to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker in comments made to MMAJunkie.com. With the UFC working on an event to counter Strikeforce: Nashville on the 17th, Coker had mentioned the possibility of Strikeforce moving dates to the 24th in order to avoid the head to head with the UFC, though that now will not take place.

"It's the 17th and it's full steam ahead," said Coker in the MMAJunkie.com report. "The 17th was always a good day when we chose it. We still feel the same way, and so does CBS."

"We purposefully went out of our way to avoid all the other fight shows that month, whether it was the WEC, the UFC, or whatever. I don't think [Zuffa, LLC] has come out publicly and said that they are [counter-programming], and I think there's just a lot of rumors floating around."

Strikeforce: Nashville features a three Title fight main card with the Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Lightweight Titles all being contested on the card. The main event features new Strikeforce acquisition Dan Henderson taking on Jake Shields, while Gegard Mousasi meets Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and Shinya Aoki comes to Strikeforce to face off with Gilbert Melendez.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Keeping the event on the 17th was probably the most feasible move, regardless of any reasons Strikeforce publicly gives for sticking with the date. With Showtime's Super Six boxing tournament on the 24th they would have had split production crews for the event and it likely was a headache that Showtime, CBS and Strikeforce all wanted to avoid. They were going to have to contend with the UFC eventually anyway, and despite Coker stating that "it seems so unnecessary" for the UFC to counter them and try to hurt them, that's the way the UFC works against any organization that appears to be competing with them.

Coker's right that Strikeforce being on free TV is a good thing for the sport, but in the eyes of the UFC it when it's not them being the ones on free TV it doesn't help them and their brand. The UFC is going to do what they feel they need to do to push out the competition so all of the top talent is in their organization, and Strikeforce is another potential victim in a long line of organizations that have tried to take even a part of the UFC's market over the last few years. It's just the way it is, and Strikeforce is going to have to do their part to keep themselves a float.

Coker said CBS will be giving this event a big marketing push during March Madness, and they're going to need it. They are going to have to do a much better job marketing this card than they did the November event, and they absolutely need to push the fighters that are on the card to get people to tune in for the fights.

READER REAX: Thoughts on Amadi's column on MMA's match-making practices - do fighters who draw well move ahead of better fighters who don't?

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:11:32 PST

In response to Amadi's article on matchmaking, he raises valid issues with the tournament model for MMA, but fails to address issues with the matchmaking practices in the UFC.

The prime example of the issues I am talking about is Frankie Edgar recieving a title shot over Gray Maynard, despite having a loss to Maynard. I am aware here recieved his shot for being "more exciting" and "more dominant" in his performances, but he still lost to Maynard.

This is a problem as your sport or organization loses legitimacy as a true sport when you choose not to give a shot to the fighter who has proved in a previous bout to be the superior of the two, instead opting for the more "entertaining" fighters.

Jeff Christiensen

===

I would like to add one thing on this subject. The idea that other "real" sports such as hockey in the NHL and basketball in the NBA don't qualify to me as a sport either; they just do a good job creating that illusion.

Take the NHL for example. They reward teams who finish high in the standings by giving them the worst draft choices. The way they set up the league to create parity is just gross. They create a system that generally makes every team more or less equal for the sake of generating as much revenue for the NHL as they can by giving every single team a chance at beating any other team in the league.

Well, I for one would rather watch the UFC and consider it a sport because at least you get to see a more realistic picture of possibilities where one man can actually be heavily favoured and dominate another fighter where as you will never see that in many sports including hockey in the NHL.

Marc

===

Yes, I disagree with you and, yes, a system of matchmaking that is not determined by a promoter's desire to get the maximum revenue from the fighters is needed.

First of all, I agree that the purpose of MMA is to answer the question: "Who is the best in the world?" However, your analogy to the Lakers is off base. MMA champions have slumps, too. Just because they steamroll through challengers one year doesn't mean they'll do so the next. It happens.

But there needs to be a system of matchmaking (whether tournament style or not) for MMA. Fighters such as Brock Lesnar and Vitor Belfort should not get priority just because of their drawing power. Nog should've fought Randy Couture a soon as he returned to unify the belts.

If your fighters cannot see a solid system of getting to the top and feel they have to be absurd or exciting to draw fans and give the UFC a reason to give them a title shot, then you've lost sporting legitimacy.

Every team in the NFL knows what they need to do to get to the Super Bowl. MMA fighters have to hope they'll be a good enough draw to get a title shot. Its B.S. It pisses fighters off and it confuses fans and media who are trying to paint a legitimate picture around the sport. It makes fantasy teams impossible without knowing who will fight who,.

Jake

Submit Your Questions for Upcoming Gray Maynard Interview with MMATorch

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:50:46 PST

By jason Shielke, MMATorch Specialist

I'll be interviewing Gray Maynard early next week. if you have questions you'd like me to ask him, please send them to jasonschielke@gmail.com...

MMATorch Sunday Livecast this weekend - 2nd edition of live Internet call-in show with Penick & Pelkey

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:16:22 PST

This Sunday afternoon, join editor-in-chief Jamie Penick and columnist Matt Pelkey from 2-4 p.m. ET (11-1 PT) for a live call-in show at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Set a reminder notice now, and don't forget that tonight is daylight savings time! Sunday visit the following URL to listen:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch.

BlogTalkRadio is customized for both the web and your mobile phone.

You can call to participate at (646) 716-8090. That's also the number you can call during the show listen without participating with a question or comment. So if you're not near the Internet but have your phone, you can listen live, also.

The show will be archived if you don't listen live. Our debut Livecast from last Sunday along with our UFC 110 pre-show and post-show debut editions are available now at the same URL.

You can subscribe to the Livecast to hear it on delay via iTunes here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id357424499

We also have an MMATorch Podcast in iTunes featuring our pre-recorded shows such as the weekly Audio Choke, PPV Previews, Interviews, PPV Roundtables, and more. Check that out here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mma-torch-2010-ufc-news-roundtables/id253731019

You can also simply search "MMATorch" on your phone or on your computer.

MMATorch Interview (exclusive): Bas Rutten talks about evolution of MMA, turning points, his career choices, judging rules, more

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:39:56 PST

The following is MMATorch columnist Jason Schiekle's exclusive one-on-one interview with Bas Rutten conducted in February 2010. Rutten is a three-time King of Pancase and UFC Hvt. Champion, with top wins against Frank Shamrock (twice), Kevin Randleman, Maurice Smith, Masa Funaki, and Guy Metzger. Born in Tiburg, Netherlands, he now lives in California. He retired in 1999 as a result of serious injuries in training to his knee and a serious bicep tair. He has moved on to author books on MMA, comment for Pride and Inside MMA, and more. Check out his website at www.basrutte.com.

Jason Schiekle: How were you first exposed to (MMA, NHB fighting, Pancrase), and what was was your first impression of it?

Bas Rutten: I fought September 1992 in Japan for Pancrase's first show, Ken Shamrock was fighting also and he was telling me about the UFC and that he was going to do it a month later. No rules and anything goes, is what he said, I asked him if he thought that it would be a smart thing to do? Since there are always assholes who knock you out but then give you a few more shots, and of there is no ref, who's gonna stop them? Later in Holland I saw an illegal copy of the UFC and saw the teeth fling into the audience, wow, I thought it was nuts. They need referees I said, then it's OK, the rules are tough, but I can live with that. No one to step in when something goes bad, that's just asking for trouble.

Schiekle: What made you decide to leave Thai Boxing to pursue a career in Pancrase?

Rutten: Losing my last Thai boxing match and hearing people say that they always thought I couldn't fight, that made me decide never to fight in Holland again. They forgot about my first 14 KOs, but that's typical I guess, you are only as good as your last fight, its sad though.

Schiekle: I remember when watching my DVD collection of your fights, you said after your second loss to Ken Shamrock that you decided that you weren't going to lose anymore, and you didn't. You then went on to become King of Pancrase. Why did you decide to leave Japan, when many top American fighters were going over there to continue their career's, during the peak of your career to fight in America?

Rutten: My wife was pregnant and got a poisoning. She AND the baby could die, so it was serious. Pancrase called me and told me and told me that I had to defend my title in December. I told them that I was going to stay home with my wife, they told me that if I would do that I they would strip me from the belt. I told them that wasn't a problem. I didn't say it that nice, though (laughs). It was a good decision; my daughter got born a week later and she was 7 weeks premature, only 2 pounds.

Schiekle: When you fought for the UFC, the sport was still two years away from returning to pay-per-view. Did you believe the sport could survive in the state it was in when you entered into it?

Rutten: Yes I did, and there were still a whole bunch of cable companies carrying it. I always thought that MMA would be HUGE, I even said it in my first interview after my first fight in Japan. I said that this, we called it "free fighting" at the time, was in four years from that date going to be the biggest thing. I was off about seven years, but it DID come true.

Schiekle: What do you believe contributed the most to the explosion in popularity of the sport (besides InsideMMA, of course)?

Rutten: The Ultimate Fighter, that was smart. Boxing had "The Contender," but a bunch of MMA fighters in a house with an open bar? Who doesn't wanna see that? There, the people at home got to see that there is more to MMA then just two guys in a cage beating each other up. That's the reason MMA got huge and because of that we now have a great show on TV called Inside MMA, haha

Schiekle: As the sport moves forward and continues to evolve, do you believe
that any changes to the unified rules or weight classes need to be made?

Rutten: I would love to have another weight class, 205 till 235. I would also love to see “instant replay” so that we can see a replay BEFORE the referee makes a decision. The judging can be better, John McCarthy has a better system for that and I think that the referees and judges need to be certified so that we don't see those crazy decisions anymore.

Schiekle: Currently, the major promotions operate under a "professional wrestling" style business model. Will there become a time where organizations will have to open up to cross-promotion in order for the sport to continue growing it's fan base?

Rutten: Yes it will. Right now the UFC is the "main man," so to say, head and shoulders above everyone else, StrikeForce is coming up. There will probably come another show, then, hopefully, the other two shows will become huge, also. Once that happens and we have three great organizations just like in Boxing, if that's the case, then there will come a time for cross-promotion. That's a couple of years away though, hopefully, could be longer.

===

Are there any fighters that you would like to ask a question? I'm relentless when it comes to getting interviews, so send you suggestions to JasonSchielke@gmail.com or post them on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mmatorch) and I'll do my best to make it happen!

AMADI: Matchmaking in MMA - Does the approach have to change for MMA to be perceived as a legitimate top-tier pro sport?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:22:51 PST

By Jason Amadi, MMATorch columnistth interview.

The concept of matchmaking in MMA is constantly under scrutiny by fans, fighters, and media. It is often said that matchmaking is the one aspect of the fight game that has to change for MMA to make that final leap to becoming a legitimate professional sport on the level of the NBA, NFL, NHL, or Major League Baseball.

*Spoiler Alert*

No, it isn't.

This is probably going to ruffle a few feathers, and I don't want to be "that guy" who is controversial for the sake of being controversial. But in what way do the aforementioned sports leagues represent pure sport better than MMA? I certainly don't get it.

Simply put, the goal of MMA, even more so than boxing, is to answer the question "who is the best in the world?" The glitz and prestige of other professional sports today are what MMA is after, not the format.

When fans suggest that MMA organizations need to become more like other pro sports leagues, what they're really suggesting is that MMA adopt their tournament style model, because, let's face it, that is what most of America's favorite sports boil down to - tournaments.

The tournament style used in a lot of pro sports is entertaining, yet ultimately doesn't quite prove what MMA does, at least to me. Yes, it's true that there is no matchmaking in a lot of professional sports, but there is no clear superiority determined by the tournament structure either. The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship last year, yet have had an unspectacular February. In the month of February alone the Lakers have suffered four defeats. Yes, that's correct, the champions and supposed best team in the league have suffered four defeats to lesser teams.

Basketball fans can get behind their team when they're losing, and support them to triumph. Combat sports fans aren't nearly as generous with their support. Looking at boxing, it's unfortunate, but anyone who isn't 100-0 is thought to be a bum. The latest major acquisition for the UFC, pro boxer James Toney, is thought to be horribly past his prime with a record of 76 wins, with just 6 recorded losses. I'm not arguing by any means that Toney is still in the prime of his career, but obviously our expectations of our favorite fights are much higher than our expectations of other professional athletes.

Dana White actually put it best in a hype video for UFC 111 when speaking about UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre. He said something to the effect of "He (Georges St. Pierre) has to go out and fight whoever we put in front of him, and beat them decisively." What proves more than that? In MMA, generally you keep winning and eventually they put a really neat strip of leather and a couple of pieces of gold around you. Ownership of that makes you the target for every top fighter in the world, and beyond that, to quote GSP, once you win the title you "fight for legacy."

If fighters don't belong, the world will quickly find out, and if you don't believe that, ask former placeholder champions like Matt Serra, or anyone who held the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship between Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

If you really believe this to be the ramblings of an insulated MMA writer, I recommend you seek out the next season of fights produced by the Bellator Fighting Championships, an organization which is actually attempting to appease casual sports enthusiasts.

This season will feature a tournament to determine a challenger for the promotion's biggest star and reigning lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez. Despite the fact that Bellator subscribes to the tournament style philosophy, as an MMA organization, they have to make a few adaptations. One of those adaptations is due to the fact that there are championships involved. Eddie Alvarez won't be able to compete at his best, nor will be able to support himself and his family, if he doesn't have regular competition. So Bellator has scheduled a "super fight" at a catchweight of 160 lbs for Alvarez, against UFC veteran, Josh Neer.

The obvious question here is: "What happens if Alvarez loses to Neer? " Should he lose in a non-title fight, the entire concept of Bellator is invalidated. Neer would be the rightful number one contender and would deserve a title shot against the champion, but that spot is reserved for the tournament winner. How unfair would it be to those who have to compete in the tournaments if Bellator just leapfrogs them for bigger names? That is exactly why if you beat the champion, you simply take his belt.

I just don't see the major flaw in today's matchmaking. I personally believe the current system held by the majority of organizations is the best and the proof of that is the fact that it works. There is no argument from anyone that the world's top ranked fighters are all holding Zuffa gold, sans Fedor Emelianenko. If you're the top ranked fighter in your weight class, you hold the championship to prove it. If you hold that championship, and forge a legacy as champion, you have the potential to go down as the greatest fighter of all time. That simply doesn't exist in other popular team sports. (For readers, I will concede that tennis has a system in place which sort of accomplishes that, but only if you concede that tennis is an infinitely less masculine sport.)

If there really is a system that works better for the fighters, the fans, public interest, and works better than the current system, I'd love to hear it. But as of now, I don't see how the current system proves any less than it should, when the best fighters are where they should be.

===

Post feedback on the website's reader comment area below or App readers send to mmatorch@gmail.com.

ENNIS (Flashback 2006): Pride vs. UFC: Which Aspects of Each Promotion Would You Keep?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:06:30 PST
Editor's Note: With the UFC vs. Strikeforce battle heating up in April, it's a good time to flash back to MMATorch senior columnst Shawn Ennis's column from 2006 comparing the strengths and weaknesses at the time between UFC and Pride. It's a fascinating look at the differences between the two top MMA promotions competing for talent and trying to grow into the dominant worldwide brand, but approaching the presentation of the sport differently.

COLUMN

Look at any forum on any mixed martial arts site and the debate resurfaces time after time. Which is better? UFC or Pride? A lot of times, the debate has to do with which organization has the better fighters. I don’t want to focus on that here. I don’t even want to focus on which one is better, truth be told. What I want to do here is unify the two.

This can be looked at as what I would do if I were to build my own promotion using these two as guidelines, if money and regulations were not issues. So I’m going to go through a few categories here and picking which aspects I’d take from Pride and which I’d take from the UFC.

RULES

The rules in Pride and the UFC are similar, but there are a couple of key differences. In Pride, elbows are not allowed to the head and face. In the UFC, a fighter cannot knee or kick the head of a downed opponent, or stomp a grounded opponent. Personally, I have a problem with stomping a guy who’s on the ground, and especially stomping him in the head.

I’m not squeamish by any means, but I just think it’s excessive. Even if the fighter on the ground covers up, stomping can be pretty dangerous - especially the jumping stomps that some fighters occasionally employ. Kicking and kneeing are another story, as these are much easier to defend, and usually if a fighter does not defend them, he’s not going to take too many before the fight is called. Elbows to the head and face, to me, are part of fighting.

Preference: Even. (The only thing out of here that I'd disallow is stomping.)

VENUES

You’ve heard it from me before, but I’ll say it again: I really, really don’t like fights in casinos. It just bothers me. It feels like a sideshow that’s in addition to everything else going on in a busy city, rather than the show at the arena on any given night. Pride does a good job of presenting their shows in venues where their fights feel like a big event. They don't use a lot of different arenas, but that's beside the point. The UFC doesn’t always do this. To me, UFC 63 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim felt and looked light years better than the shows held at Mandalay Bay and the like.

And the cards that they present on Spike TV feel even more like small potatoes in Vegas. Take the UFC events held at "The Joint" in the Vegas Hard Rock. Have you ever felt like the crowd was into an event there? I haven’t. Now, that’s a small venue in a city that sees the UFC all the time. If you take your televised shows on the road, to real venues, I think you see a crowd that’s a lot more excited to see some live fights.

Preference: Pride

PRESENTATION

This goes along with the venues, but has more to do with how each promotion presents the event aside from where it is held. Production, entrances, lighting... that kind of thing. Pride does a good job of showcasing each fighter that will participate in a card before each event takes place. They introduce each fighter with music and video in the background; sometimes with live performers doing their thing during the introductions. The lights are dimmed, and it feels like a big deal and serves to warm up the crowd. Before each fight, they show each fighter giving an interview about the upcoming contest. Fighter entrances are done well, but you would almost have to actively sabotage an entrance to make it less than fine. I think overall, however, it hurts Pride in the US not to be shown live (at least on the presentation side of things.)

The UFC also shows interviews before each contest, and if a fighter has competed in the UFC before, there's also fight footage. The fights are not introduced before the event starts as they are in Pride. Fighter entrances are straightforward for undercard bouts, and often the main event has pre-produced light shows and graphics for the big screens when fighters make their entrances. I think that's a lot of fun, and it gets the crowd excited.

The UFC does an excellent job of hyping events beforehand, and I'm not sure how well Pride does that, but they definitely have the edge in hyping the event to the live crowd as it takes place.

Preference: Pride

ANNOUNCERS

This is the only personnel-based judgment I'm making. Both organizations have good announcers. Mauro Renallo in Pride and Mike Goldberg in the UFC have made big strides over the years as play-by-play commentators. Pride's color commentator, Frank Trigg, does a pretty good job as well. He has MMA credibility in that he's a fighter (he's coming out of his brief retirement shortly to fight Jason "Mayhem" Miller for the ICON promotion in Hawaii), and that's important, because the color guy should know his way around a fight. (Trigg, however, is a step down from Bas Rutten. Bas was a fantastic color commentator for Pride.)

Joe Rogan, color commentator for the UFC, presents an interesting situation. Here's the thing: I'm not a fan of the whole "Fear Factor" deal. I watched the show when it first came on, and Rogan drove me nuts. I couldn't stand him. When I started watching UFC again a couple of years ago, I couldn't believe he was the guy they had doing color. But after I got past that fact and started listening to his commentary, I found that he's actually pretty good. I think it's a problem for the UFC, however, that he's one of their public faces. He doesn't present the most professional image, with his drug references (outside of his commentary obviously, but Rogan makes no bones about the fact that he enjoys the recreational drugs) and his occasional profanity in the booth. I know I'm watching fights, and it's very testosterone-fueled and all that, but I don't need my announcers cussing at me... regardless of how knowledgeable they are.

Preference: Pride

FORMAT

I have to say that I enjoy a good tournament. I thought the open-weight Grand Prix that Pride put on was fantastic for the most part. There were a couple of participants that had no business being entered into the tournament in the first place (I'm looking at you, Zulu), but they were eliminated quickly. The UFC doesn't do tournaments anymore, which I think is a shame. It would have been nice to see a tournament for the vacant lightweight championship, for example. So that particular part of fight format goes to Pride. But when we're talking about champions and weight classes, that's another story.

According to their website, Pride has two weight classes: Middleweight (less than 205 pounds) and Heavyweight (more than 205 pounds). But still, we have a Welterweight (185 lb) Bushido Grand Prix champion and a Lightweight (155 lb) Bushido Grand Prix champion in addition to a regular Heavyweight and Middleweight champion. Now, if you've followed Pride for a while, you know what I'm talking about. If not, this makes no sense. How can you have two weight classes and then have four champions in four different weight classes? And what's this whole Bushido thing?

To be honest, this just doesn't compute with me. Why do they have regular Pride events and Bushido events separate from each other? Why not just make everything regular Pride events and have your four weight classes? And what's up with the lack of a 170 lb class, anyway? Is that enough questions about Pride's format? No? Well, why doesn't a champion defend his title in every fight in which he participates? Why do champions fight outside their weight classes? Why do champions participate in the Grand Prix tournaments? What's the reward for winning a tournament besides the money and the honor in winning a tournament? Why not have the reward be a title shot? Seriously, though: what does a champion have to gain by winning a tournament in his own weight class? He's already the champ. If he's supposed to prove he's the best, have him prove it by beating the winner of the tournament!

In the UFC, you have your champions and they defend their belts. Matt Hughes didn't defend against Royce Gracie at UFC 60, but that was because it was a special attraction match. Takanori Gomi wasn't defending against Marcus Aurelio earlier this year... why? Dan Henderson wasn't defending against Misaki at the last Bushido event when he lost. But again, why was Henderson in the tournament? Way too many questions and not enough answers here. The UFC's straight-ahead championship format gets the preference by a mile, even though I would really like to see them put on some tournaments for number one contendership.

Preference: UFC by a lot

JUDGING

This one's not even close. Do you judge a fight based on who won two out of three five-minute periods, or do you base it on whether specific criteria that is evaluated throughout the entire fight was met? I think the judging in the UFC sometimes works against it. You get two close rounds that happen to be won by the same guy, and then his opponent dominates the third round. Who wins the fight? The guy who just barely did enough to win the first two rounds. To me, it's not right. And don't even talk to me about scoring a round 10-8. That's just ludicrous, barring a point being taken away by the referee. It puts the fighter who loses the round 10-8 in a no-win situation automatically. He could lose the first round 10-8, only to come back and dominate rounds 2 and 3, and then the fight is a draw. That's crazy.

Here is the scoring criteria, straight from Pride's website: "If the match goes the distance, then the outcome of the bout is determined by the three judges. A decision is made according to the following: the effort made to finish the fight via KO or submission, damage given to the opponent, standing combinations, ground control, aggressiveness, and weight (in the case that the weight difference is 10kg/22lbs or more). The above criteria are listed according to priority. The fight is scored in its entirety and not round by round. After the third round, each judge must decide a winner. Matches cannot end in a draw." The judging method in Pride is far superior to that in the UFC.

Preference: Pride

RING VERSUS CAGE

This is the one that gets a lot of people all worked up. The big argument against fighting in a cage is that it promotes the idea of MMA being a barbaric spectacle rather than a sport. People can see it as two caged animals going at it rather than two highly-trained athletes plying their trade to see who is better on that night. That argument is valid to a certain degree. But if you ask the question of whether a ring or cage is better suited to house a mixed martial arts fight, I don't think there's any question that a cage is the better environment.

Don't get me wrong. Pride has great fights a lot of the time. But every time the fight goes to the outside edges of the ring and fighters get into the ropes, the action is stopped and the fighters are brought to the middle of the ring. You don't see this in a cage, because there's no danger of the cage getting in the way of the fight. There's also no danger of a competitor falling out. To combat the problem of ring ropes, Pride employs a bunch of guys on the outside of the ring that pull on the ropes when the fight gets too close, with the object being to keep the ropes from interfering in the fight. But it doesn't matter how many rope jockeys you have - the ring gets in the way of the fight. It's fine for boxing for the most part, because the fight doesn't go to the ground. But obviously that's not the case in MMA. A ring also presents the added danger of a fighter falling out, which is rare, but it happens. Overall, the cage presents a stigma, but that can be overcome. The fact is it's a better environment for this kind of contest.

Preference: UFC

That's my ideal situation for a promotion. The rules are a combination of both organizations. The fights take place at venues that are well-suited to hold this sort of event and in a city where it feels special. The show does a lot to psych up the live crowd. You've got distinct champions in each weight class, and occasionally you hold tournaments to decide who's the number one contender. Fights are held in a cage and are judged according to the whole fight rather than round by round. But that's just me. What do you think?

BELLATOR [MULTI] QUOTABLES: Heavyweight prospect Cole Konrad talks about training with Brock Lesnar and his reasons for signing with Bellator Fighting Championships

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:30:22 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Brock [Lesnar] actually took care of me from the financial standpoint. He knows the guys he wants around him to help him train, people he gets along with, and he compensates you for it. I was fortunate, because it allowed me to train full time. Every time he had a practice, I was there, not just to get myself better, but to help him peak for his fights... I wanted to be well rounded before I walked in. It's foolish to think that because you are good at wrestling you're going to be great at MMA. It would be no different than them thinking because they were good at MMA they would be good at wrestling. They're not the same thing. I knew I had to develop all areas of the game, and I still have to. I have a long way to go before I'm where I want to be."

On Lesnar:

"If you haven't worked out with him and felt that athleticism and explosion, it's hard to comprehend. As big and strong as he looks, he actually feels more powerful and more explosive. It's hard to believe. You get so used to going with a guy that big, that explosive, that powerful, that when you step back and get in with someone who isn't on that level you think 'Well, wait a minute here.' Because he isn't in the same league as what you are used to seeing."

Why Bellator?:

"(Bellator) came at me with an interesting opportunity. It's not all about the money. They were able to give me some fights pretty quickly, worthy competitors relatively quick. It's the right direction for me. With the other, bigger organizations, it seems like guys fight every four months at most. That's not where I am right now. I need ring time. I need to become more comfortable in the cage. You can only learn so much in practice. When the bell rings, it's go time, and you learn a lot when you are out there."

-Former University of Minnesota NCAA D-1 wrestling Champion turned MMA fighter Cole Konrad talks to Jonathan Snowden on Brawl Sports about training with Brock Lesnar and choosing to sign on with the upstart Bellator Fighting Championships for their second season.

Penick's Analysis: Konrad is going to be one hell of a fun fighter to watch develop in Bellator. I honestly believe he may be the embodiment of what Brock Lesnar could have done in the sport had it been an option for him out of college. As the sport was in its dark ages at that point and there wasn't the money to be made that Lesnar is making now, he chose to sign with the WWE. For all of the negativity spewed against Lesnar for having the audacity to be a professional wrestler before coming into the sport, it always seems to be forgotten just where the sport was at when he was getting out of the U of M.

Konrad is blessed, not only with the physical gifts he's been given, but for the fact that his wrestling coach also coached Lesnar at Minnesota and that connection allowed him to be one of the people brought in for Lesnar's camps. Being afforded the opportunity to train full time and develop your skills before having your first fight is simply a luxury most don't have, not to mention getting to develop your skills alongside the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

It's also great to see that he's trying to develop his career in a smart fashion and not jumping into Strikeforce or the UFC just to get the exposure. With him expected to fight twice on Bellator's second season and possibly be a member of the eight man heavyweight tournament that is likely for season three, he'll get a chance to get on a lot of fans' radars while continuing to get better, and he'll be a much more prepared fighter once he does make it to the big show.

COMIC: "The Ninth Side" featuring Dan "The Beast" Severn

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:54:44 PST

UFC NEWS: UFC Primetime special draw big audience on Spike TV last night for hype of GSP vs. St. Pierre

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:21:04 PST

By Wade Keller, MMATorch supervising editor

Last night's airing of "UFC Primetime" on Spike TV, focused on the training of George St. Pierre and Dan Hardy, drew a total audience of 1 million viewers. That's presumably combining the ratings for both back-to-back airings last night (such as 600,000 first airing, 400,000 second airing).

It drew a 1.1 rating among men 18-34 (325,000) and a 1.0 rating among men 18-49 (537,000). It was the most watched episode in the series' history.

Keller's Analysis: Those are good numbers for Spike. It was a curious strategy to air the same 30 minute episode back-to-back last night. Without a breakdown of how each airing did in the ratings - which I hope to get info on tomorrow - it's tough to know how smart it was, but the net effect of reaching 1 million viewers is definitely worth bragging about. It bodes well for interest in this fight. It's a good contrast of personalities. Hardy definitely can sell a fight with his young bravado and confidence bordering on cockiness, while GSP is... well GSP, the most charming yet supremely confident representative of the sport of MMA. One person who is involved in TV production commented to me that it looked like they cut back on the budget of the show compared to previous versions.

RELATED STORY: PENICK'S BLOG: First impressions of UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy premiere episode

UFC AND WEC NEWS: WEC 47 and UFC 110 Numbers Down Dramatically from Recent Shows

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:04:58 PST

By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch columnist

MMAJunkie.com has confirmed that WEC 47 this past Saturday did a 0.46 household rating for a total of 373,000 viewers.

Trending data has UFC 110, headlined by a heavyweight bout between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, somewhere between 215,000 and 240,000 pay-per-view buys.

Both numbers are a drastic drop compared to recent numbers. The WEC event was down 42% from WEC 46, which drew 620,000, but also featured their proven #1 ratings draw in Urijah Faber. It was actually their second lowest rating (WEC 45 drew only 330,000 viewers in December; a card headlined by a non-title fight between Donald Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff) since WEC 34, headlined by the first meeting between Faber and Jens Pulver, set a promotional viewership best with 1.54 million.

UFC 110 can claim it was hurt by being a foreign show, which traditionally do lower pay-per-view numbers due to the fact that they're shown on tape delay at 10p.m. EST with the results already available online, but this show was shown live from Australia in their usual time slot. The 215,000-240,000 buys is significantly lower than the numbers for UFC 108, which is also being considered a huge disappointment despite a reported 300,000 buys. The average UFC pay-per-view offering in 2009 did 620,000.

Link to Original Source Article

Pelkey's Analysis: For now, the UFC can point to the rash of injuries that plagued recent cards for the stunted momentum from last summer. However, with a series of loaded cards coming up in the next several months, the numbers need to start trending dramatically upwards or it'll be time to worry. With two title fights and the return of GSP, if UFC 111 does anything less than 650,000 it has to be considered a colossal disappointment.

As for WEC, there's really no rhyme or reason for their numbers. Well, expect they're always better when Faber is on the card. They can still point to the VS./DirecTV war as a reason the numbers are down recently, but in reality its probably because they don't do enough to promote the fantastic product they put out. That needs to change soon, or WEC 48 will be their first and last pay-per-view event.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Roger Gracie set to make Debut on May 15th; Kevin Randleman Possible Opponent

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:34:48 PST

By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist

After a long wait, Strikeforce heavyweight Roger Gracie looks set to make his promotional debut on the still-unannounced May 15th show according to a report from MMAJunkie.com, citing sources close to the event. The likely opponent is former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin "The Monster" Randleman, but nothing has been confirmed at this point.

Gracie is undefeated (2-0) in his young MMA career, having submitted veterans Ron Waterman and Yuki Kondo in 2006 and 2008, respectively, in his only previous professional outings. He was also the 2005 Abu Dhabi Combat Club submission champion and holds black belts in jiu-jitsu and judo. Assuming Gracie does fight on May 15th, it will be almost two years to the day since his last MMA fight.

While Randleman is the expected opposition for Gracie, former Pride and UFC veteran Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou could find himself across the cage from Gracie should the negotiations with Randleman fall through.

Both fighters are on two fight losing streaks, as Randleman lost a decision to Mike Whitehead in his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields and followed that up with another decision loss to Stanislov Nedkov at a Sengoku event late last year. Sokoudjou's losses have at least been to higher quality opponents, losing by TKO to Gegard Mousasi at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers despite a game performance, and then again by TKO to Ikuhisa Minowa at the K-1 Dynamite! show this past New Year's Eve during the conclusion of the Dream Super Hulk Tournament.

The May Strikeforce show is also expected to be headlined by Alistair Overeem defending his heavyweight title against Brett Rogers, and a featured heavyweight bout between Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva. The Gracie/Randleman bout will be on the televised portion of the card.

Link to Original Source Article

Pelkey's Analysis: Well its about damn time. Gracie was rumored for two different Strikeforce events since his signing last year, but neither came to fruition. Assuming this one does, its a nice addition to the May card, as the name Gracie still commands attention in the MMA world. Even without the Fedor/Werdum fight on this card, this is a heavyweight heavy card and should go a long way towards establishing not only depth, but also a pecking order in the division going forward. Strikeforce's biggest obstacle is depth throughout their divisions, but with Gracie finally debuting, Overeem making his return, and the Arlovski signing, this now gives Strikeforce two legitimate divisions along with middleweight. Hopefully this card doesn't hit any snags in the next two months.

PENICK'S BLOG: First impressions of UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy premiere episode

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:59:22 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

After watching last night's debut episode of the three part UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy special, I couldn't help but think one thing throughout: GSP is scary. Scary good, and he's getting better. Dan Hardy exudes confidence in himself and his ability as an underdog, but as St. Pierre himself pointed out on the show, Hardy's not really saying anything different than any of GSP's opponents have coming into fights with him over the last three years.

This is an immensely difficult fight for Hardy to come in and win, and after seeing what St. Pierre has been working on with the Olympic lifting and going toe to toe with Renzo Gracie to just the footage of him sparring and training, the task seems even more daunting for Hardy.

The great thing about this show is it can take a guy like Hardy, who has begun to make himself be on the minds of most MMA fans with his string of victories in the UFC and colorful comments and banter with his opponents outside of the Octagon, and it provides a much better look at who they are and what they are bringing to a fight. Dan Hardy's going to come in ready to attempt the seemingly impossible in taking out St. Pierre, and with the first episode ending with Hardy finding his way to the gym of the one man who has done so, Matt Serra, it leaves even more intrigue to next week's episode to see how camp goes with Serra.

The problem with how that was presented, however, is while it's true that three years ago Matt Serra defeated St. Pierre, there's no inside information to be had on how to defeat GSP three years later in the Serra camp. He couldn't do it himself a year after winning the belt when he was completely overwhelmed by a better St. Pierre, and now the Champ is on an entirely higher level than he was in that fight.

Quite simply, the show just proved what has been evident in the cage from fight to fight for St. Pierre, and that is he continuously strives to get better. After seeing both fighters showcased in episode one last night, it's clear who the better fighter is; and though Hardy is a formidable opponent in his own right, at this point I'm not seeing a way he wins this fight.

UFC QUOTABLES: Mike Swick goes back on previous comments, says Dan Hardy does deserve Title shot against GSP

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:59:20 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Hardy can definitely win. Overall, GSP has the better chances to win, of course, but Hardy is getting better and better and, honestly, I am more excited to see this GSP fight versus Hardy than pretty much anyone else you could put GSP in with. I am super excited about the fight; I can't wait to see what happens as a MMA fan. Dan can definitely win this if he takes his chances with his strikes... Dan Hardy definitely deserves his title shot in Newark. I said in a few interviews he didn't but - I want to clear the air - when I said that I was still upset I'd got beat by him at UFC 105. I made that mistake of talking when I was feeling emotional, when I was feeling down and was disappointed in my performance. But it wasn't my true opinion; at least not one I'd actually thought about... I'm a little embarrassed I said that, and want to say publicly Hardy deserves his shot and has a good chance of winning. He's a top fighter. I said on my Twitter I hope Dan does well and good luck to him, that he deserves shot. But obviously no-one picked up on that while the other stuff I said before was everywhere... Has Hardy had a fast route to the title? Yes, but he's taken chances and accepted tough fights when offered to him. It's true: if I had won that fight no-one would be saying I didn't earn it. And do I wish I'd have gotten a faster route to a number one contender fight? Of course. You wouldn't be hearing me complain, or any other welterweight complain, about getting a quicker route to a number one contender fight. He stepped up to fight me and won."

-Mike Swick goes back on previous comments made towards Dan Hardy receiving a Title shot in an interview with MMAFighting.com.

Penick's Analysis: Hardy definitely earned his shot more than some others that have been tossed into Title opportunities in the UFC. It's an interesting turnaround for Swick to give Hardy his due, but like he made clear he was making the earlier comments from a place of hurt pride having been beaten by Hardy. He's also departing from the AKA mold and the comments his teammates have made about Hardy. It's good to see him take this road as it was simply making him sound like he wouldn't have earned the opportunity to fight GSP had he beaten Hardy himself. UFC 111 is getting very close, and Hardy is one of the most deserving fighters that hasn't faced GSP yet, so he'll have his chance to prove that he did, in fact, deserve a shot at the Champ by beating him.

UFC NEWS: Open tryouts coming to North Carolina on April 1st for season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:28:38 PST

With season eleven of the Ultimate Fighter set to debut at the end of this month, the UFC is gearing up for season twelve as well. Following the Fight Night 21 event in Charlotte, N.C. that serves as the lead in to the season on March 31st, open tryouts will be held for the twelfth season on April 1st at the Omni Charlotte Hotel's grand ballroom.

The tryouts are for the lightweight and light heavyweight divisions for this twelfth season. Both weight classes were represented in season eight of the program, and lightweights were involved in the ninth season's Team U.S. vs Team U.K. tournament.

For any fighters looking to tryout, registration begins at 8 a.m. ET, and tryouts begin at 10 a.m. ET. Fighters must arrive by 9 a.m. ET in appropriate workout wear. UFC president Dana White, executive producer Craig Piligian, producer Jamie Campione and Spike TV executive Brian J. Diamond will at the Omni Charlotte to judge the prospective competitors.

UFC NEWS: Stephan Bonnar loses appeal of UFC 110 loss to Krzysztof Soszynski, rematch expected

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:51:25 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC 110 bout between Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski ended in a bit of controversy, as the competitive fight was stopped by the doctor's in the third round due to a cut suffered by Bonnar, awarding the TKO victory to Soszynski. The issue with the stoppage came from the fact that the cut was caused by an inadvertent head butt in the center of the cage, a blow highlighted by Joe Rogan's commentary and the subsequent replays that showed it was clearly the head butt that caused the cut.

Following the event, Bonnar appealed the TKO result with the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, the event's regulation body. On Tuesday the New South Wales Commission made the decision to uphold the original TKO victory for Soszynski, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

The reason given by Craig Waller, Executive Director of the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, for upholding the decision was that "the Combat Sports Authority of NSW did not seek to interfere with the referee's decision."

While Soszynski blasted out of the gate in the fight and had Bonnar seemingly overmatched in the opening minutes, Bonnar was able to comeback into the fight and make an argument for taking the second round and keeping himself competitive in the fight. Due to that fact it's no surprise that reports are stating a rematch should be coming soon between the two fighters. The bout would take place at The Ultimate Fighter season 11 Finale on June 11th.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is one of those results that should have been overturned. With it being the UFC's first event in Australia they may have simply been wary of making any changes to what happened, but the referee's decision was incorrect in this case and that's precisely when the commissions should be able to interfere. It was tough live to see that it was the head butt that caused the cut, but it was clear enough for Rogan and many others to see at cageside that it was the case. Considering they had video evidence that it was an accidental illegal head butt as well the bout should have been ruled a no contest. This was well within the power of the CSA of NSW. At any rate, Bonnar will get his rematch this summer and have a chance to show he can fight the entire fight like he was the last half before the cut.

MMATORCH EXCLUSIVE: Penick's Torch Audio Update - Interview with former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le about Scott Smith and getting back in to MMA quickly (10 min.)

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:05:14 PST

MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Jamie Penick is joined by a very special guest for an audio interview on the Torch Audio Update, former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion. Le discusses his loss to Scott Smith, what he learned from the fight and wanting to get back into action much quicker this time around.

DIRECT LINK: MMATorch audio interview with Cung Le

APP USERS: Here's the direct link URL:
http://www.20100310INTERVIEW.mp3

OR... Search "MMATorch" in the iTunes Store for our MMATorch Podcast RSS feed to download this now to your iPhone or iPod Touch.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Cung Le says "I'm ready to go next month", wants Scott Smith rematch

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:05:08 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le was upset by Scott Smith in the main event of Strikeforce's "Evolution" event last December, losing by TKO in the third round while en route to a one-sided decision victory. But while his first MMA loss came in his first fight in nearly two years after taking time off to appear in several movies, Le is getting ready to get back into action a lot sooner this time around.

"I'm ready to go next month if I have to," Le told MMATorch.com. "I've been staying in the gym and staying in shape and making sure my cardio improves every time I'm in the gym. I think a big part of it was my cardio in the last fight."

Even though he's looking for the quicker return to action, Le insists ring rust was not a factor in the fight with Smith, simply his cardio and the fact that a Scott Smith punch can catch a fighter. "A lot of people felt my timing would be off," said Le. "But I think my timing was not off and I was connecting on 70-80% of the shots and I got caught. I did feel a little gassed out in the third round after I tried to pick him up and slam him."

The way the fight ended won't change Le as a fighter, either. In an MMA career highlighted by his propensity for unique offense and a different skill set from many, Le said ""I'm just going to give it another go and make sure I step into the cage in better better shape and do the same thing that I was doing [in my next fight]. I believe that people enjoy the way I fight because I let it all hang out; I always do creative stuff in the cage and I try my best to be as entertaining as I could and go out there and compete at the highest levels I could and do as many trick moves as I could and that's how I fight. I'm not going to change anything; I'm going to go in there with both guns blazing, but this time with more of a gas tank."

With Dan Henderson now coming into Strikeforce's middleweight division and fighting for the belt Le relinquished last October, Le said he's not looking that far ahead in his fight career, stating "Right now I'm just focused on one fight at a time, I don't look too far ahead. I'll be ready for whatever Strikeforce gives me, and hopefully it will be another shot against Scott Smith, I believe that's the one fight I want right now and I'll take it one fight at a time."

An announcement on Le's next fight may come as early as the April 17th event on CBS or even the Challengers card on the 26th should they choose to make one, but in the meantime he's just gearing up to get back into the cage.

"The longer I wait the tougher it is to train with all that I've got going on. So I just want to get back in there asap and take it one fight at a time."

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Strikeforce and CBS may air prelim bout on April 17th event if time permits

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:29:13 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

One of the chief complaints for Strikeforce broadcasts on Showtime has been the policy of not airing any preliminary card fights when time permits, and instead opting to cut off more than one broadcast with time remaining on their allotted broadcast slot. Well, for their April 17th return to CBS at least, that may change.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAJunkie this week that they will be taping one of the preliminary card bouts to act as the fill in should one of the scheduled three Title fights end quickly. It will be the first time they've done so.

No preliminary card bouts are known as of yet, so until that information comes out it's entirely unknown what the night's possible fourth bout could be. Strikeforce: Nashville airs live on CBS beginning at 10PM ET on CBS with a tape delay on the west coast. The event is headlined by a Middleweight Title bout between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson, and features a Light Heavyweight Title bout between Gegard Mousasi and Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and a Lightweight Title bout between Gilbert Melendez and Shinya Aoki on the televised card.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a smart decision, and one that they definitely need to have as a consideration with three Title fights on the card. If one or two of the Title fights goes short that leaves a lot of time to fill when they're scheduled for five rounds each, they need to have this fight ready to go or they've either got extra time to fill without a fight airing on the broadcast or the risk of the card ending extremely early with nothing more to air. They should consider taping more than just one bout, however, as it won't help them if a) the taped prelim isn't any good, or b) if that one fight itself takes too much time to allow them to air it anyway.

UFC PROGRAMMING REMINDER: UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy special premieres Wednesday at 10PM ET

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:29:04 PST

St. Pierre vs Hardy at UFC 111

UFC Primetime: St. Pierre vs. Hardy, the three part Spike series serving to hype up the UFC 111 main event between Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy for the UFC Welterweight Championship, premieres tomorrow night, Wednesday March 10th, at 10PM ET on Spike TV. Every Wednesday on Spike, the program will highlight the training camps of both GSP and Hardy as they prepare for their match up on March 27th in Newark, NJ.

This is the second time the UFC has used this three part series to hype a Title bout. The first came in the lead in to UFC 94, which also featured St. Pierre defending his Welterweight Title, that time against UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn.

[Georges St. Pierre art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

UFC NEWS: Kampmann vs. Thiago, Wiman vs. Danzig in the works for UFC 115 in Vancouver

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:00:23 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's expected first card in British Columbia, CA, continues to fill out with the addition of two more solid matchups that are in the works for the June 12th event from the GM Place in Vancouver. According to separate published reports, welterweights Martin Kampmann and Paulo Thiago are expected to meet on the card, as are lightweights Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig.

News of the Kampmann-Thiago development comes from The Las Vegas Sun, who reports that Kampmann is close to signing a deal for the fight. He was supposed to face Ben Saunders at this month's UFC 111 event in NJ before suffering a nasty cut above his eye in training that forced him out of the event.

Kampmann most recently got back in the winner's column after a TKO loss to Paul Daley by submitting Jacob Volkmann in the first round in January. Thiago has now won three of four bouts after taking out Mike Swick by slick second round submission in his last fight. His lone loss came to Jon Fitch by decision at UFC 100.

Season six Ultimate Fighter winner Mac Danzig earned himself a longer stay in the UFC by picking up his first victory in his last four fights, defeating Justin Bucholz by unanimous decision at UFC 109 last month. Wiman as well broke a losing streak in his last fight, earning a decision over Shane Nelson in December to end a two fight skid. The two have agreed to meet each other per a report at MMAJunkie.com.

UFC 115 is expected to be headlined by the third bout between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz following the conclusion of their stint as coaches on the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Penick's Analysis: The Kampmann-Thiago fight is a very solid welterweight fight, but feels almost like a backwards step for Thiago, and that's not meant as a slight to Kampmann. However, with the rest of the top fighters in the division locked up in fights set to come by this summer, it's a fight that makes sense to keep both busy. Thiago should be considered the favorite in this fight, and Kampmann's going to need a top notch performance in this one. It should be a very good fight, though.

The Wiman-Danzig matchup makes a lot of sense considering where both lightweights stand in the UFC's lightweight division. Danzig wasn't overly impressive in the fight with Bucholz, but that was more to Bucholz upping his game, I believe than it was a statement on Danzig. He also had a layoff that he had to get over and he performed well given the circumstances. This isn't an easy fight for either guy, and it should be an enjoyable and competitive bout for the fans in Vancouver.

WEC VIDEO: Leonard Garcia vs. George Roop "Fight of the Night" from WEC 47 released by Versus

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:51:37 PST

Versus released the full video of the unaired WEC 47 "Fight of the Night" between George Roop and Leonard Garcia. Video of the fight is below (App users video available at MMATorch.com.

BOOK REVIEW (pt. 1 of 4): Jens Pulver's "Little Evil: One Ultimate Fighter's Rise to the Top"

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:25:54 PST

By Eric Hobaugh, MMATorch Specialist

Jens Pulver's 2003 autobiography, “Little Evil, One Ultimate Fighter's Rise to the Top,” starts with his father lining up his three children and telling them he was about to kill them. Jens takes his readers on a harrowing ride starting with his early childhood in rural Washington state and culminating with his winning and retaining the first Lightweight title in UFC history.

The cover illustration of the book is as beautiful and scary as the story inside. Jens gives an excellent account of his life and how he used the adversity in his early childhood to rise above his situation. He has failure after success after failure after success. At one point, he spends two years living in a ghetto in Seattle after dropping out of Boise State following the loss of his wrestling scholarship.

During every step of his wrestling/MMA career, he is quick to acknowledge his coaches and teammates for making him the fighter he is. He finds in his coaches the father figure he did not have. How his mother was able to keep he and his brothers from being hurt is in itself an interesting story. Jens draws a parallel to his father's life, a world class jockey who looses his career to the bottle, and describes how he was able to escape the same fate.

The most interesting part of this book is the how he uses his misfortune to drive his ambition and dreams into a reality, while his brother Dusty eventually becomes one of the most wanted criminals in America. Their journey and the details of how they get there are gut-wrenching.

The book does slow in some areas when he self aggrandizes, but other than that, this book is well-written and interesting. Ghost writer Erich Krauss (has penned 20 other excellent books on MMA) does a great job keeping Jen's story interesting and focused.

This book is not a light read, but does shine some light on a true legend and pioneer of MMA. The book is a gritty look into the life of someone who has had to fight for everything, every day.

COMING UP: In parts two, three, and four later this month, I'll delver into the highs and lows of the book, the missing chapters, what I learned, and more.

===

Eric Hobaugh is the MMATorch book reviewer. He breaks his review of MMA books into four formats that are published weekly, typically every Monday.

HANSEN: James Toney and UFC a bad mix - why Dana shouldn't ever turn Strikeforce counterprogramming into a freak show

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:12:44 PST

By Bjorn Hansen, MMATorch columnist

James Toney reminds me of Dom from "Entourage" - an overconfident, overweight, strong-arming, rule-breaking thug. No disrespect to the former Champ, he's a world-class boxer who can turn off the lights on any UFC fighter if his barely protected knuckles ever make contact.

What I'm trying to say is, even though I respect his scrapping skills, I feel his pompous persona has a contaminating effect to the sport. Plus, I'm not even going to try to lie to you; I just get that indescribable, unjustifiable sense of revulsion every time I see him.

Ever since he made Dana White unusually nervous at a crashed press conference at UFC 106, Dana's usual all-business, no gimmick mindframe has been disturbingly altered. This is the same man that calmed and pacified a rowdy anger-filled Brock Lesnar by merely whispering in his ear, and now he's getting bullied by James Toney? I feel like an overly concerned mother wanting to sit Dana down and tell him how I worried I am about this new friend he's been hanging around with.

I'd been the lead cheerleader for the Herschel Walker-Jose Canseco fight because of all the exposure a second-tier promotion like Strikeforce could uniquely exploit.

That was because Strikeforce has never pretended to be the face of MMA. They've been a B+ promotion with a few straight A fighters, and last February they opportunistically milked a former Heisman's Trophy winner for as much media cream as possible (now isn't that an upsetting mental image?). They're a fledgling organization doing anything to survive. If they have to put on a few freak-shows here and there, so be it. It's like a finely polished mid-level manager selling a little dope on the side to help ends meet. He risks his middle management title and perceived integrity, but hell, it works.

Dana's the CEO of the MMA world and he can't be undertaking the same kind of respect-lowering stunts as Coker. The rumor is Dana usurped Toney just to spite Strikeforce and had no idea what to do with him next. Wrong. On the same night as Strikeforce in Nashville, in the same TOWN, whispers were being heard of James Toney vs. Kimbo Slice as of this past weekend.

Side note: Now I know Dana insists he didn't bring James Toney in for "freak shows." But if Kimbo Slice vs. Ray Mercer and Ray Mercer vs. Tim Sylvia were both freak shows, doesn't the associative math property taught in fourth grade dictate that Kimbo Slice plus James Toney equals everything but legitimate MMA?

Using James Toney against Strikeforce? That would be akin to the United States patronizing terrorists for using biological warfare, then outbidding the terrorists on the next shipment to start their own biological attacks on those terrorists. Except this is more like promotional terrorism; destroying your opponent with no regard for innocent civilians. It's remarkably shrewd business-wise to steal the thunder from Strikeforce with recently-seized Toney, but it is disappointingly misleading to MMA newcomers.

If freak-show fights were bad for MMA in a second-tier league on the fourth slot, what sort of perception will inexperienced fans have if the UFC (which some people actually believe IS Mixed Martial Arts, like Band-Aids, Xerox, or Kleenex) hosts a circus for the main event?

The unversed fan will only know that there will be two big MMA events going on in the same town on the same night and will automatically deduce that the UFC's event is the only one worthy of their time, money, and attention just from ubiquitous branding alone.

The UFC is MMA, and it would be prudent for them to behave becomingly before things got out of hand. We don't want this evolving uncontrollably into the UFC's adaptation of Dream's SuperHulk Tournament just because they know they can get away with it.

While the fight isn't confirmed yet, Ibarres (Rampage's former and Toney's current trainer) and Toney want the fight, Kimbo's manager wants the fight, and despite how soon the event is, it seems so does Dana. If Dana is able to succeed in pitting Kimbo vs. Toney in Nashville the same night three quality champions are being crowned on the other side of town, it'll be a regrettable travesty to the sport of MMA.

There used to be a time when the UFC counter-programmed, they did it by offering a better product. "Don't eat that free Spam in a can being handed out by Coker, enjoy our gourmet surf 'n' turf prepared by Chef Dana." Remember when Fedor fought Brett Rogers on CBS, the UFC put out fights like Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin in order to confuse newcomers into thinking that night's big MMA event was on Spike and not CBS.

If any uninitiated fan fell for that trap, they'd have missed Fedor's legendary KO, but they would have been treated to guaranteed MMA greatness. These fights were surgically selected by Dana and Co. to deliver. Despite it being Zuffa protecting their self-interest, it was MMA and MMA fans who were the winners.

To detract media attention and innocent-natured fans who just don't know any better away from watching greats like Dan Henderson, Gerard Mousasi, and Shinya Aoki in order to see a former street-fighter take on a former boxer, spoils any claims of legitimacy Dana has been able to garner for MMA over the years.

Just because Tony and Kimbo would be wearing quarter-pound gloves and fighting inside of an Octagon doesn't mean in any sort of way that we would be watching Mixed Martial Arts. A donkey as we know, by any other name, is still a jackass. (A freakshow as the main event, not the fighters, I love you Kimbo!)

Dana claims this "regional promotion" we call Strikeforce isn't a competitor. It's Showtime and CBS silly. That's like big brother fighting his lil bro's battles, just because he can. Spike and Versus must not have the most push in the industry. But aside from this game of semantics, we all know that if Strikeforce can stay afloat long enough financially, they'll have cracked the UFC's mythical steel curtain sufficiently vulnerable to penetration by one or more other major promotions.

Every event card offered is always riveting and action-packed. They have been able to lay claim to the UFC's most escaped fighters, like Fedor Emelianenko, Gegard Mousasi, Jake Shields, and Shinya Aoki. They're the only active promotion to be on network television, something Dana keeps promising us will happen for the UFC except he sounds more like a father telling his four-year old daughter that next Christmas will be the year she gets the pony.

Sure, Strikeforce has its share of pitfalls as well (one word: Overeem). They're still trying to get a hang of the process, specifically with timing, whether it be of their champions or striking the perfect balance between airing fights and commercial breaks. My point is, despite some rookie mistakes that come with the learning curve, you'd have to inform a first-time viewer that Strikeforce was a meager minor league.

Dana has to be nauseous at the thought of any promotion gaining ground, and he is obviously willing to stop at nothing to prevent it from continuing. He's willing to cut off the nose of MMA just to spite its face, and we're the ones being forced to view the mug.

With cross-training and multiple disciplines being the lifeblood of contemporary MMA, who would have guessed that it would be the UFC who would risk regressing the sport back a decade and a half?

Whenever it might happen, and Apr. 17 looks to be out now, as the fans enter one by one, Dana White will be nothing more than circus leader P.T. Barnum smugly smiling while thinking to himself "there's a sucker born every minute."

===

Bjorn "Norwegian Nightmare" Hansen is a weekly columnist for MMATorch. If you've got questions or comments, send them to: bjorn.hansen@fiu.edu...

MMATORCH EXCLUSIVE: The Audio Choke with Collins, Rowland and Shelby 03/09 (61 min.) - WEC 47 review, thoughts on James Toney to the UFC, Strikeforce vs. UFC on April 17th and more

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:35:20 PST

Welcome to The Audio Choke with Matt Collins, Greg Rowland, and Toben Shelby. Today they review WEC 47 and the aftermath for the participants, followed by a discussion of the James Toney signing with the UFC, what grinds Toben's gears, the upcoming war between Strikeforce on CBS and UFC on Spike TV, and a quick preview of MMA to come!

DIRECT LINK: The Audio Choke: Episode Fourteen

APP USERS: Here's the direct link URL:
http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/uploads/1/20100309MMA.mp3

AMADI: Full scale competition between two equally strong MMA promotions is not what fans want, whether they realize it or not

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:30:15 PST

By Jason Amadi, MMATorch columnist

If there is one thing that annoys me to no end, it's the comparison between pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. However, in light of recent events in both, and the historical similarities between the two, I feel for the clarification purposes, in order to discuss what has happened, what will happen, and what MMA fans seem to be crying out for, it is necessary.

After the death of Pride Fighting Championships in 2007, the UFC has dominated the MMA landscape, and since then has elevated the sport to new heights with each passing year. So, because of their success at the top, I'm perplexed as to why fans would want to essentially regress, and go back to where the UFC was contested for the top spot.

Time and time again fans have uttered the old "competition is great for everyone" argument, and we all know where that comes from. No one is stupid enough to suggest that a second major pro football league or pro basketball league would be great for anyone (or that they should even be attempted). No, the "competition is great for everyone" concept comes from the world of professional wrestling, and there is a very special reason for that.

In the late 1990s the pro wrestling industry saw a significant boom period when the now defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the still reigning pro wrestling king World Wrestling Entertainment (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) were at odds.

The competition between the three made for exciting programming from all three companies, as all three combatants had to fight for their piece of the pie. The main competitors, WCW and the WWF, competed for Monday night supremacy every week for about six years until the WWF bought out WCW, while both picked from the smaller ECW as a sort of ammunition for their battle.

The competition was great for the fans on a weekly basis, as both companies were forced to provide the most compelling storylines, have the best in-ring product, and everything in between. After the WWF bought out WCW in 2001, the general consensus among pro wrestling fans is that the product since declined in a major way.

Nine years later, the pro wrestling industry has still yet to recapture that type of momentum, and now TNA Wrestling has taken it upon themselves to try to do so by assuming the role of WCW and challenging the WWE on Monday nights starting last night.

I believe that when fans suggest that competition would be good for the sport, they think of this, and not how it would actually play out in MMA. The actual war that took place between the UFC and PRIDE didn't really produce the same results.

The UFC was still gaining steam in the mainstream similar to today, but at a much slower rate. Because MMA is a real sport, the UFC and PRIDE almost split the world's top fighters, with PRIDE having what was widely considered to be the superior roster.

Because of the disparity in talent depth, we in the U.S were treated to a lackluster trilogy between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, and Dana White had to pretend that this was the most compelling thing since the moon landing in order to sell it. Both fighters since then were chastised by Dana White as PRIDE heavyweight king, Fedor Emelianko slaughtered them in the first round.

Rich Franklin was the middleweight king, with dangerous challengers such as... Nate Quarry? There was no lightweight division in the UFC, as PRIDE also had that locked up, and the 205 lb. division in the UFC was under the iron thumb of Chuck Liddell, though PRIDE was also superior in that division (see Chuck Liddell's first performance against Quinton Jackson in the MiddleWeight Grand Prix).

PRIDE had all the depth in the world in all divisions, and the UFC was left to just promote the heck out of the Welterweight Division, which was always well supported by the dominant reign of Matt Hughes.

Since then, Zuffa has acquired the vast majority of the world's greatest fighters and claim the number one fighter in every weight class as champion, outside of Fedor Emelianenko. Looking back at all of this, it's clear that due to the scripted nature of the sport's entertainment world, yeah, it's great for them to step things up and competition does wonder for that industry. But what is there to gain from competing MMA organizations?

We gained nothing from PRIDE vs. the UFC outside of being robbed of some great cross-promotional fights such as Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell doing battle in their primes, and being exposed to lackluster divisions here in the U.S.

Simply put, in PRIDE's absence, MMA has grown substantially.

This time around, the competition is here in America, and the UFC has decided to take much more aggressive action against their latest stateside nemesis. The last few StrikeForce cards have been counter-programmed by old UFC PPV cards being shown on free TV, and now on April 17th, the UFC is set to counter-program StrikeForce's stacked card with a live, free Spike TV event.

Now, if you've got a DVR, this is pretty sweet, and those without might have to choose one. But realistically speaking, we really only benefit if this ends here. In the interest of the sport, a card with three title fights like the one StrikeForce is putting on CBS shouldn't be undermined and shouldn't have to battle for publicity with a UFC card. History shows that direct competition with the UFC ends in disaster.

If the competition is televised (preferably not on the same night), then we will all win for a while. However, we lose when the competition becomes real. If and when StrikeForce graduates to PPV to compete with the UFC, who would have $100 a month to buy two cards? If and when there is a legitimate organization competing with the UFC for the number one spot, what would happen when half the top fighters sign with that organization and half sign with the UFC?

Could double the MMA fights per month over saturate the market? Sure, hardcore MMA fans would love it (I would watch MMA every day if it were on that often), but the sport would risk overexposure. MMA isn't seasonal like other sports, so the important "casual fan" demographic could become numb to the arm breaks and ground and pound we hold in high regard today.

Frankly, there is no simple "they'll be forced to step things up" when it comes to real sports. The biggest benefit we've gotten out of the small scale war being launched between the UFC and StrikeForce is the increase in free MMA fights (hey, let's throw in the Bellator Fight Championship), and that is always a great thing).

Hopefully, if one great thing could come out of this, it could be MMA moving from a PPV-only model to a television model. But a full scale competition between two MMA organizations is not something fans want, whether we know it or not.

UFC QUOTABLES: James Toney says he's going to be a two sport athlete, says he's not worried about takedowns from MMA opponents

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:00:01 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I'm still a boxer. Boxing is my No. 1 goal. ... This is something that's going to keep me invigorated. Unlike most boxing people, I'm a fan of MMA. Why not give it a chance?... I'm going to go back and forth. I'm a two-sport guy. I'll fight in the UFC, then boxing, then another UFC fight, and then boxing. I'll do as much as I can, whatever fights I can get... If I were out of shape I'd be getting knocked out and beat up real bad. I've had more than 80 pro fights and I've never been knocked out.... There are a lot of guys in the UFC who can take me down, but I'm learning how to defend the takedown. I'm not even worried about that. They've got to worry about that when they get in with me -- how are they going to take me down? They've got to take risks when they take me down. They're taking a risk that they're going to get knocked out. ... There ain't no one in the UFC that can go blow-to-blow with me. You know that... Randy Couture is a legend. He's a great dude. If we fight I'd have to take my time and pick him apart. If that's my first fight, it'll be a huge fight."

-James Toney talks to MMAFighting.com about coming into MMA and continuing to box as well, along with how he feels he'll fair against the takedown abilities his opponents are likely to possess.

Penick's Analysis: I think Toney is highly underestimating how effective some of these guys can be in close, especially if he ends up getting matched up with Couture in his first bout. The clinch work that some of the higher level fighters would bring against him is exactly the type of thing that boxers don't have to deal with in their sport, and more than anything Couture's dirty boxing proficiency is something that would provide the advantage he'd be expected to have in the Octagon. Toney is correct that his opponents will have to worry about his hands in order to get in close, but it's not as if he's guaranteed to knock anyone out with one punch quickly, so whomever he fights will be taking a risk but the threat of his hands won't be stopping the attempts to take him against the cage and to the ground.

UFC NEWS: Kimbo now back to May 8th bout with Matt Mitrione, won't headline April 17th event

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:58:12 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With news coming out last week that the UFC is putting together an event to go head to head against Strikeforce on CBS, the early word was that Kimbo Slice was expected to be a part of the show on Spike TV. However, the UFC has now officially announced Slice for a bout against fellow TUF 10 castmate Matt "Meathead" Mitrione for the May 8th UFC 113 event in Montreal.

The announcement means that Slice will not be the headliner for the April 17th show, leaving nothing but questions surrounding what fights might be put together for the card, or whether the event will be put together at all.

A middleweight bout between Wanderlei Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama looked like a possibility for the card before word broke that Wanderlei was hoping to fight later this summer on the July card; and while Matt Serra and Mike Swick had been approached to face each other on the card, Swick had suffered an arm injury and was not going to be able to make the event.

UFC 113 airs live on pay-per-view on May 8th from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, CA, headlined by a Light Heavyweight Title rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Link to UFC.com release

Penick's Analysis: There are a lot of things that could potentially be in play here. It's quite likely the UFC could be running into issues with potential bouts for the 17th, and it's possible the event does not end up taking place considering the last second nature of the proceedings. It's also possible that they just have other fights in the works and don't feel they need Kimbo on this particular event despite the ratings his appearance would bring to the Spike broadcast. It's too early to tell at this point until any more info comes out, but as of this point Strikeforce has got to be running under the assumption that something is likely coming, and they'll need to make a decision shortly whether they stay on the 17th or move to the head to head slot with the WEC 48 pay-per-view event on the 24th.

[Kimbo Slice art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

WEC NEWS: Joseph Benavidez tops disclosed fighter salaries for WEC 47

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:27:38 PST

The Ohio Athletic Commission released the disclosed payroll for Saturday's WEC 47 event on Monday, and while there was a Title fight within the bantamweight division in the main event on the card, the top earners were in the co-main event bantamweight bout between Joseph Benavidez and Miguel Torres. Benavidez himself took home the most in disclosed money for the event, earning $29,000 for his shocking submission victory over Torres. The total disclosed payroll for the event was $236,500. Full fighter payouts are below:

-Dominick Cruz: $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus)
-Brian Bowles: $12,000
-Joseph Benavidez: $29,000 ($14,500 win bonus)
-Miguel Torres: $26,000
-Javier Vazquez: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
- Jens Pulver: $14,000
-L.C. Davis: $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus)
-Deividas Taurosevicius: $9,000
-Bart Palaszewski: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
-Karen Darabedyan: $4000
-Scott Jorgensen : $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
-Chad George: $3,000
-Chad Mendes: $8,000 ($4,000 win bonus)
-Erik Koch: $3,000
-Anthony Pettis: $6,000 ($3,000 win bonus)
-Danny Castillo: $9,500
-Leonard Garcia: $14,000
-George Roop: $3,000
-Fredson Paixao: $4,000 ($2,000 win bonus)
-Courtney Buck: $3,000
-Ricardo Lamas: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus)
-Bendy Casimir: $3,000

Neither Leonard Garcia or George Roop received a win bonus with their bout ending in a split draw

Penick's Analysis: It doesn't matter that Bowles v. Cruz was a Championship bout, it was clear coming in that Torres was the biggest star for the show. The surprising thing, however, is seeing that despite beating Benavidez, Cruz is still on a lower paygrade. It's the terms of each contract that are different, of course, but he should be due for some type of pay bump with the belt around his waist. There's likely more on the undisclosed revenue coming his way, as these numbers don't always reflect accurate earnings for the fighters on the top of cards.

COLUMN: MMA Rankings and the importance of finding the right criteria

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:07:03 PST

By Laramey Leet, MMATorch Columnist

The sport of MMA is evolving as much as the athletes; the ranking systems need to be evolving and maintained as well. Depending on what rankings you look at (Sherdog, InsideMMA, our own here at MMATorch etc.) depends on how you look at some fighters. The ranking systems can completely lead (or mislead) a casual fans' opinion. I believe that many of the websites and organizations do not modify their rankings after every event. Much consideration should be taken when switching or making a ranking system.

A ranking system is what keeps MMA a sport and not strictly for entertainment purposes. It would be nice if the UFC could rank there own fighters, but it would probably hurt them more than help them.

For instance, when Anderson Silva was fighting Vitor Belfort, if the UFC had a ranking system they could have sold the fight as "The Number 1 and 3 Middleweights in the World!"

While that sounds good, Belfort got injured; you cannot say what rank his replacement Demian Maia is because it would not intrigue fans to watch the fight if they said what it was. What would help the sport a great deal is to have a major company put together an official ranking system, such as ESPN.

I think that most of the current ranking systems dwell too much on a fighter's past. Just because a fighter had a great couple of years does not allow him to linger in the top ten of a division for years. I guess you can say that Matt Hughes is an example in this situation. (It might not be a great example, but you can see my point.) Hughes is one of the greatest champions of all time, but has gone 2-3 in his last five fights. He has stated that he is not going to make another run at the title and refuses to fight up and coming fighters. He is in the top of the division, but I do not know if he makes the cut for the top ten in the division these days.

Ranking systems should not be based on who has the best record or who is undefeated in the division. For this reference, let’s look at Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor has arguably one of the best records in MMA, but unlike every other number one fighter in there division, Fedor does not fight the best. Realistically, you have to fight the best to be the best. Not taking anything away from Fedor, as he has only so much control over whom he fights, but a fighter should not be number one for record and past alone.

In the earlier part of the decade no one would doubt that Fedor was the best, but lately his performances have been merely decent and have not looked like the obvious dominant no. 1 heavyweight in the world. Now I am not saying that he does not deserve to be in the top ten, but I just believe that it's not accurate to assume he's no. 1 without hard analysis of his performances recently, including quality of opponents.

Another thing that I see in a lot of ranking systems is if fighter A beats fighter B, sometimes fighter B will be higher in the polls than fighter A. There are actually plenty of examples of this taken place. Antonio Nogueira beat Josh Barnett, but in many polls Barnett is ranked higher. Forrest Griffin and Rampage Jackson, another example. The list goes on and on. I still see Nate Marquardt ranked over Chael Sonnen in some polls. I understand if the winner dropped a fight or two after their fight, but sometimes it gets ridiculous.

A singular accepted national ranking entity would do wonders to put the sports in perspective, especially if the rankings were explained and justified (and defended against counter points of view). It might prove why Wes Sims vs. Tim Sylvia was denied in Ohio, too!

Let me know what you think about the current ranking systems and what you would like to be fixed. Or let me know if you completely disagree with me! You can either email me at LarLLeet@yahoo.com or leave a comment on MMATorch.com's reader comment area.

BELLATOR NEWS: Season one lightweight runner up Toby Imada named sixth entrant in season two tourney

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:58:17 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Lightweight fighter Toby Imada will be taking his second crack at a Bellator Fighting Championships tournament, as the organization announced today his participation in the season two lightweight tournament.

The runner-up to season one winner Eddie Alvarez, Imada made himself known to MMA fans everywhere with his extremely impressive inverted triangle submission over Jorge Masvidal in the semifinals. That submission took home "Submission of the Year" honors at the 2009 World MMA Awards. Imada had won eight consecutive fights heading into the bout with Alvarez, and picked up another victory outside of the organization this January with a second round TKO.

Imada is now the sixth competitor announced for the season two lightweight tournament, joining previously announced fighters Chad Hinton (6-0), Janne Tulirinta (12-3), Ferrid Kheder (16-5), Mike Ricci (5-0) and Cary Vanier (7-2). The winner of the second season tournament will face off with Champion Alvarez in the organization's third season.

Bellator's second season gets underway on April 8th, and airs live every Thursday night on Fox Sports Net.

Link to MMAJunkie.com report

Penick's Analysis: Imada is a great addition to this tournament. His submission over Masvidal last season was one of the highlights that made Bellator the success it was for fans online. The increased exposure on Fox Sports Net will allow more of these fighters to get out there to even more fans, and of course they're hoping to get some more of the highlight reel finishes that made the first season so fun to watch. Imada will have a chance now to get back to a rematch with Alvarez, but it's definitely a tough field of up and coming talent he'll have to get through. Bellator is getting a lot of buzz for all the right reasons right now and the second season remains highly anticipated for next month.

SUTCLIFFE: Fallout from WEC 47 leaves Jens Pulver with more questions than answers

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:48:54 PST

By Steve Sutcliffe, MMATorch columnist

Saturday's WEC 47 show was yet another entertaining night of fights for an organization that constantly lives in the shadow of Zuffa's other MMA promotion. In a sport whose hallmark is unpredictability, there were more questions than answers for WEC and its core group of fighters going forward.

But the highlight of WEC 47 wasn't a devastating knockout or a sick-looking submission, although there certainly was not a lack of those, it was Jens Pulver's intensely emotional and heartfelt post-fight interview after suffering his fifth consecutive loss to Javier Vasquez.

When it comes down to it, Lil Evil has that unique and intangible ability that can never be taught in even the world's best training camps: the ability to connect with fans and be rendered even more popular after suffering a loss. For whatever reason, the fact that he came from such a troubled childhood or that he seems so genuine and so damn vulnerable in interviews, Jens Pulver legitimately moves people. Want proof? Pulver even had his opponent, Javier Vasquez, reduced to tears.

But getting MMA fans and fighters all mushy with their feelings and turning them all into the leadsinger of Dashboard Confessional doesn't exactly vault one into top contention or indefinitely prolong your shelf life as a competitor in this sport. You should probably, you know, win at some point.

Pulver's fate in the WEC, at least in terms of his fighting career, was sealed when WEC General Manager Reed Harris told MMAJunkie.com: "I would be very concerned about having him continue to fight in the WEC. There comes a point in a guy's career where he needs to look at that, and I'd like to see Jens continue to be involved in the sport. But I think maybe he needs to consider not fighting again."

Which leads us to the million dollar question: What does the future hold for Jens Pulver?

WEC would undoubtedly offer some sort of non-competing role outside the octagon to Lil Evil, perhaps as a commentator which Pulver has done in the past, or some sort of ambassador/public figure position.

But not surprsingly, fighting is what pays the bills if you are a fighter, despite Pulver stating in his first post-fight interview that he doesn't get paid a whole lot of money to step into the cage. And even though Pulver admitted that he doesn't want put the fans through another heartbreaking defeat, if the past is any indication of the future, stepping away from this sport is always easier said then done.

Look at Mickey Rourke's character in the movie "The Wrestler." Retirement is a word that's often thrown around but infrequently adhered to, especially when it's often preceded by the words "coming back out of." And it carries even less weight since Pulver himself has already retired.

If Pulver cannot shake the urge the fight, it's quite clear that Lil Evil will have to sever his ties with WEC and Zuffa and most likely try to wind up in Strikeforce, which is not exactly known for having the most competitive featherweight division. But is that worth ending a relationship with Dana White, who could potentially offer a position to Pulver for life, much like he has alluded to when discussing how Stephan Bonnar and Wanderlei Silva will be employed by UFC forever, no matter how many times they could lose?

Even if Pulver does take a long, good hard look in the mirror and decides to fight despite the prospects of yet another disappointing loss, what long-term value does Pulver really have? After the most recent loss to Vasquez, are audiences willing to emotionally invest themselves one more time, let alone multiple times, in Lil' Evil? How many more times can a person sit through a post-fight interview with Pulver breaking down and say to themselves, "Enough is enough already."

Everyone likes a good underdog story, but the underdog eventually either decides to finally hang it up or wins. And if Pulver does win, does anyone legitimately believe he can be come anywhere close to representing the true upper echelon of the division at this point in his career?

At this point, all talk of Pulver's future is little more than speculation and the only person that can shed light on it is Pulver himself. The mere fact that there's such much talk about a guy with five straight losses brings us to one thing that surely is not speculation: people love Jens Pulver. And even a million straight losses won't change that.

===

Steve Sutcliffe oftentimes thinks the WEC is completely overlooked in favor of its more popular, bigger brother. Share your thoughts at steve.w.sutcliffe@gmail.com.

[Jens Pulver photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]

UK SCENE: Marcus Davis hurt sport with comments, Bisping's future, UFC 114 Countdown, MMA in Olympics, Hardy-GSP Kryptonite, UK News & Notes

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:26:06 PST

By Chris Park, MMATorch UK Specialist

DAVID FOLLOWS MIR

Frank Mir recently made some of the most ridiculous comments an MMA athlete has ever made. His remarks towards Brock Lesnar are the kind that can seriously damage the growth and progress that MMA has enjoyed in recent years.

For so long now I have whole-heartedly defended MMA to anyone who is prepared to acknowledge that the human cockfighting image of old is merely a myth. In fact, that perception is anything but accurate since MMA as a whole is in fact one of the most exciting sports in the world with a safe track record other than superficial injuries.

Mir was reprimanded by UFC President Dana White and promptly apologized for his comments. You would think that with all of the controversy, and the damage that this could have potentially caused, this would be a lesson learned by all? Well apparently - you would be wrong.

Rumours have been circulating all week over posts from Marcus Davis on what is apparently his "official" Twitter account. Davis this week expressed his dislike for Welterweight No.1 contender; Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy and stated that he hoped the Brit died of "Aids."

Davis really does need to finally move on. He lost to Hardy last June and has since suffered the first knockout loss of his entire career. I have always thought that Hardy was on his mind the night Ben Saunders knocked him out. The Brit was Octagon-side and Davis has just not been able to let go. Seeing him there, last November, played a part in that loss – of that I'm sure.

Everything Dan Hardy said both to and about Davis in their build up was humorous. It was tongue-in-cheek. More importantly, it was designed to give him an edge in the fight, if Davis let him get under his skin, and hype the showdown itself to increase interest in the fight.

What Davis said is very odd. This is a man who has developed an obsession which, if he is not careful, will eat him alive. I don't see him getting a re-match with Hardy anytime soon - if ever again.

Hardy is now one of the Welterweight elite and what will be killing Davis is that Hardy played him and in doing so used him as a stepping stone to his shot at Georges St. Pierre.

THE COUNT TO 114

Following his three round decision loss to Wanderlei Silva, Michael Bisping looks set for a quick return to the Octagon at UFC 114. This week reports stated that Bisping has agreed to face Dan Miller.

Miller is coming off back-to-back losses to Chael Sonnen and Damien Maia. Although these defeats are to arguably the top two contenders at 185, a third straight defeat would likely see him on the chopping block.

Bisping himself will be desperate for the win. Although his need may not be quite as "do or die" as that of Miller, he will not want to go 1-3 in his last four fights. Bisping has only lost to former champions and two legends of MMA so, with nothing to be ashamed of, this could be his chance to rebuild his middleweight career.

Miller was convincingly beaten by Damien Maia in a fight which surprisingly took place on its feet. With that in mind, I see Bisping easily winning this fight. He is better standing up. His defense off his back has been exceptional recently, and his cardio is second to none.

Wanderlei Silva has said he will give Bisping his re-match once he has take care of business with Yoshihiro Akiyama (a fight that looks set to take place on the April 17 event). Personally I don't want Bisping to go for that re-match just yet. I believe in rebuilding one step at a time. He was extremely disciplined in the first round against Silva and, on another day, may have been able to avoid a few key attacks and grind out the points win. However, I fear for him turning into a marquee-only fighter instead of a rising contender if he is not careful.

I would love to see another great performance from Bisping, taking the positives from that first round and building from there against Miller. I think he could even take away a more impressive win than the Dennis Kang victory.

Should Bisping come through, he should move on to face the likes of Alan Belcher, Yushin Okami, or Patrick Cote. Those are the challenges he should be setting for himself at this moment in time.

Once he has beaten two or three of those guys, move to the next group and face the likes of Nate Marquart, Damien Maia, or Chael Sonnen.

Then, and only then, should Bisping look at challenging Wanderlei again.

KRYPTONITE

With only a matter of weeks to go until Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy makes history by becoming the first English fighter EVER, to compete for a UFC title, the excitement levels are getting higher by the day.

The quote that is sticking with me is Hardy's "I am Georges St. Pierres Kryptonite."

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Superman comics or movies, Kryptonite was the one thing that Superman's powers were lost on. It his one vulnerablity, the one thing all of his given powers and ability were nullified by.

I love this parallel that Hardy has drawn and it just gets the imagination going. What if Hardy really could shock the world and defeat the champ?

GSP has been almost superhero-like in recent performances leaving few betting against him. Hardy told UFC.com: "All those GSP fans are betting their houses on him. Well, there's gonna be a lot of homeless GSP fans the day after."

No one is really giving Hardy a shot in this fight and, as history has proved, that can be a grave error. Dan Hardy is one of the best technical strikers and one of the best counter punchers in all of MMA. The only person who doesn't seem to be writing Hardy off is the champion himself. GSP told ufc.com"Dan Hardy has nothing to lose and guys with nothing to lose are the most dangerous guys to fight. The night of the fight I'm gonna have to fight the best fight because if I don't it might be a bad night for me. I don't take this fight lightly he's the most dangerous guy I have fought so far."

With a response to all the doubters Hardy added: "How many more of your favourite fighters do I have to beat up, before you believe the hype?"

So the question remains: Is Dan Hardy really Georges St-Pierres Kryptonite? We'll find out on March 27.

OLYMPIC MMA

There have been noises for a while now regarding the possibility of MMA becoming an Olympic sport. I for one applaud this idea and believe it would cement its status into the mainstream.

One of the main concerns I keep hearing is how the "cage" appears from the outside looking in. The stigma that is attached to it with the old myth of no rules "lock 'em in a cage until one is dead" seems to hurt the sport.

We all know it is anything but that type of event. If anything, it's quite the opposite. MMA is such a safe sport and it more than deserves a spot at the Olympics.

If I were in a position to make any decisions or suggestions, I think I would address the cage issue - just for the short term. For an event such as the Olympics, replace the cage with an Octagon shaped ring. Ropes instead of chain link could just make that difference, just taking the edge off the stereotype, so that the sport we all love can be appreciate for just how good it really is.

OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF

- Following the withdrawal of Cole Miller from their Fight Night 21 showdown, Andre Winner now has a new opponent. The Brit will face Raphaello Oliveira on March 31. Winner exploded into the UFC in November with a KO debut victory over Roli Delgado. Oliveira on the other hand is 1-1 in the UFC and could be fighting for his contract.

-The new set of "The Ultimate Collectors" figures has been unveiled with star names such as Kimbo Slice, Tito Ortiz, B.J. Penn, and British Middleweight Michael "The Count" Bisping as members of the cast.

-British Lightweight prospect Terry Etim has finally regained main card status. After dropping back-to-back decisions to Rich Clementi and Gleison Tibau, Etim found himself back on preliminary cards. After a four fight win streak, Etim will now face Brazilian Raphael Dos Anjos on the televised card of the 112 show in Abu Dhabi.

-Josh Koscheck has shown a better sense of humor than Marcus Davis. Following what is becoming a trend with British fighters, Paul Daley has endorsed photo-shopped pictures of Koscheck. The TUF 1 star has taken it all in good humor and even posted a competition on his Twitter to decide the best picture created.

I hope you enjoyed reading this weeks round up of "The UK Scene" and hope you will join me next week.

===

Chris Park is the MMATorch UK Specialist. Please email any comments or questions to Chris at; mmatorchpark@gmail.com or look us up at http://www.facebook.com/mmatorchuk our new MMATorch Facebook home for UK Fans!

MMATorch Staff Rankings - March 2010 with Fedor, Silva, St. Pierre, Penn topping listsMachida,

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:24:09 PST

HEAVYWEIGHT:

1. Fedor Emelianenko (90pts.)
2. Brock Lesnar (81)
3. Frank Mir (69)
4. Cain Velasquez (64)
5. Junior Dos Santos (47)
6. Shane Carwin (43)
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (36)
8. Brett Rogers (32)
9. Alistair Overeem (13)
10. Fabricio Werdum (12)

Others receiving votes: Josh Barnett (5), Roy Nelson (1), Andrei Arlovski (1), Gabriel Gonzaga (1)

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT:

1. Lyoto Machida (88)
2. Mauricio Rua (81)
3.(tie) Rashad Evans (63)
3.(tie) Quinton Jackson (63)
5. Gegard Mousasi (59)
6. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (40)
7. Forrest Griffin (32)
8.(tie) Randy Couture (20)
8.(tie) Thiago Silva (20)
10. Rich Franklin (9)

Others receiving votes: Anderson Silva (6), Jon Jones (6), Muhammed Lawal (3), Luiz Cane (2), Vladimir Matyushenko (2), Ryan Bader (1)

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

1. Anderson Silva (90)
2. Dan Henderson (79)
3. Vitor Belfort (66)
4. Chael Sonnen (61)
5. Nate Marquardt (48)
6. Jake Shields (45)
7. Demian Maia (39)
8. Robbie Lawler (19)
9.(tie) Yushin Okami (13)
9.(tie) Yoshihiro Akiyama (13)

Others receiving votes: Wanderlei Silva (11), Ronaldo Souza (8), Mamed Khalidov (3)

WELTERWEIGHT:

1. Georges St. Pierre (90)
2. Jon Fitch (69)
3. Josh Koscheck (68)
4. Thiago Alves (65)
5. Nick Diaz (48)
6. Paulo Thiago (43)
7.(tie) Dan Hardy (36)
7.(tie) Paul Daley (36)
9. Matt Hughes (11)
10. Martin Kampmann (9.5)

Others receiving votes: Anthony Johnson (7), Carlos Condit (5.5), Mike Swick (5), Diego Sanchez (2)

LIGHTWEIGHT:

1. B.J. Penn (90)
2. Shinya Aoki (75)
3. Kenny Florian (62)
4. Eddie Alvarez (53)
5. Gray Maynard (52)
6. Frankie Edgar (40)
7. Gilbert Melendez (37)
8. Tatsuya Kawajiri (23)
9. Joachim Hansen (16)
10. Tyson Griffin (11)

Others receiving votes: Diego Sanchez (7), Ben Henderson (7), Josh Thomson (6), Gesias Cavalcante (5), Sean Sherk (4), Clay Guida (3), George Sotiropoulos (3), Takanori Gomi (1)

BELLATOR NEWS: Sean Wheelock tapped as play by play broadcaster for Bellator season 2

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:28:58 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Longtime soccer announcer and the voice of M-1 Challenge events on HDNet Sean Wheelock has been tapped as the play by play announcer for the English-language broadcasts of Bellator Fighting Championships second season, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

Wheeler's call will come on the live Fox Sports Net broadcasts every Thursday beginning on April 8th. Bellator's first season was called by Jason Chambers of "Human Weapon" fame and ESPN.com's MMA Live analyst Jon Anik.

Wheelock's most high profile gigs in MMA came as the play by play voice for Affliction's second and final event "Day of Reckoning" in January of 2009 and on Pride 33: The Second Coming in February of 2007.

Bellator's second and third seasons air live on Fox Sports Net on Thursdays, with highlight shows airing on Telemundo and NBC on Saturday nights. No color commentator has been announced as of yet.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a good choice for announcer. Wheelock has done a good job on the M-1 Challange broadcasts and was the most competent part of the Affliction show last January. He'll provide a strong and experienced voice for the Bellator broadcasts and I'm interested to see who gets brought in for color commentary. Anik did a good job in the role last season and would be a welcome addition should they stick with him.

MATTHEW: The Ramifications of WEC 47 including Benavidez vs. Torres fallout, Lil Evil's performance, more

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:26:40 PST

By Sam Matthew, MMATorch Columnist

Saturday night'sWEC 47 showcased some great action complete with guillotine and armbar submissions, head kick knockouts, brutal elbow cuts, and upset victories.

Spotlighting the little guys, the evening's main event Bantamweight Title fight saw a fast Dominick Cruz utilize his speed and reach advantage to stick and move against tough defending champ Brian Bowles. The one-time champion broke his right hand during the bout and the fight was stopped as Bowles could not answer the bell for the third round.

The Georgia native looked timid throughout and was unable to defend his title after taking the belt from former champ Miguel Torres, who was also featured on the co-main event, a battle for contention status that had Torres pegged as a favorite to get back on track for a rematch against Bowles.

This rematch is now a near certainty, though not in the form everyone expected as another 5-round title fight. Fans can expect to see a similar card in the near future with all the same faces as Dominick Cruz will likely defend his belt against Joseph Benavidez, while the Torres/Bowles rematch to determine who gets the next shot at the title may be featured as a co-main event.

The big story of the night was Joseph Benavidez's incredible upset over top-ten ranked Miguel Torres, a fighter considered by many to be the best Bantamweight in the world. Benavidez' absolute domination of his world class opponent put his name on the map and has likely earned the little fireball a shot at newly crowned champ Dominick Cruz. These two have history as Benavidez's only loss has come at the hands of the new champ by unanimous decision in a bout that really saw the 5-4 Team Alpha Male fighter struggle against 5-8 Dominick Cruz's height and reach advantage.

In my most recent previous column, "The Elbow," I wondered why one of the sport's most devastating attacks using the unpadded elbow strike is not taken advantage of more often. Well, ask and you shall receive. (LINK: MATTHEWS: The Elbow: An in-depth look at one of MMA’s most controversial and underutilized weapons).

Benavidez successfully landed an incredibly powerful elbow from top position in the very dangerous guard of Miguel Torres, opening up a horrific cut that was streaming blood right into the eyes of the former champ. Instead of backing away and letting the doctors call off the fight because of the cut (as the severity of the bleeding would have undoubtedly done) Benavidez showed true heart in going for a risky finish by pulling Torres into a tight guillotine submission that was made worse as the challenger threw his right leg high over Torres's free shoulder, ultimately trapping both arms which forced a double-handed tapout.

While normally Torres may have been able to escape this maneuver, Benavidez exemplified the spirit of a warrior by going in for the kill while his opponent was still reeling from the bloody elbow strike. I definitely think Torres's mental game was thrown off by the cut and he was looking for a way out once the guillotine was applied. Congrats to Benavidez on a huge win against one of the best fighters in the world and his Urijah Faber-like guillotine choke rightfully deserved the Submission of the Night $10,000 bonus.

Other big upsets from WEC 47 included a highlight-reel knockout showcased by Anthony Pettis over a tough Danny Castillo. Pettis unleashed a furious kickboxing combination following his straight 1-2 punches with a powerful lead roundhouse high kick early in the first round that earned him a $10,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.

After being dominated from top position by Karen Darebedyan, the former IFL veteran Bart Palaszewski, normally known for his brawling style, pulled off a slick armbar finish from the bottom. Taking advantage of his opponent over-committing to a heavy right hand bomb thrown from inside the guard, Bart quickly threw his legs up and latched the submission onto Karen's left arm, moving his win-streak to three in a row.

The famous Jens Pulver's retirement fight ended just as everyone thought it would with a game Javier Vasquez controlling "Lil Evil" with his superior jiu-jitsu and nearly breaking the aging veterans limb with a textbook armbar submission from the mount position. Pulver made the mistake of throwing leg kicks that allowed Vasquez to easily take him down to his comfort zone on the ground.

The grappling prowess of Vasquez allowed him to briefly attain the Crucifix position trapping Pulvers arms while he rained short punches and a couple nasty elbows that caused a Mount Everest-sized lump to appear on Lil Evil's forehead. Pulver did not disappoint with his usual post-fight speech that was truly an emotional tear-jerker that had the entire audience up in their seats roaring appreciation for one of the sports original lightweight pioneers.

The big disappointment of the night was showing the Devidas Taurosevicias vs. L.C. Davis snoozefest instead of the Fight of the Night slugfest between the ever-popular Leonard Garcia and George Roop. The WEC production crew really dropped the ball on this one as Davis barely edged out a boring majority decision win over Taurosevicias in a bout that resembled a wrestling match more than an actual MMA fight.

Known for his heavy hands, it was a huge surprise that former UFC fighter Leonard Garcia was not on the main card and the three round brawl wasn't even televised. How the hell does the Fight of the Night not get shown to the public?

Another exciting matchup that went unaired was the Ricardo Lamas v. Bendy Casimir bout that ended with Lamas landing a straight knee right up the middle to knockout his opponent as he shot in for a takedown. This knockout finish segues nicely into next week's article, a close examination of "The Knee" which will be a follow up to last week's "The Elbow."

Stay tuned for more action and, as always, feel free to post your comments below.

MATTHEWS: The Elbow: An in-depth look at one of MMA’s most controversial and underutilized weapons

WEC PIC: Brian Bowles posts picture of broken hand suffered in Title loss to Dominick Cruz

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:10:13 PST
Brian Bowles broke his hand in the first round of last night's Championship defense against Dominick Cruz on Saturday night, and the injury resulted in doctor's stopping the fight after the second round to give Cruz the victory and the WEC Bantamweight Title. Bowles posted a picture of the result of the injury on his Twitter page Sunday, take a look below:

WEC 47 RESULTS: Dominick Cruz claims WEC Bantamweight Championship as Brian Bowles breaks hand, doctor's stop fight after two rounds

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:10:17 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

It was an anti-climactic finish to what was shaping into a good back and forth Title fight between Brian Bowles and Dominick Cruz on Saturday at WEC 47, but Cruz claimed the Title when doctor's determined Bowles unable to continue due to a broken hand after the second round.

While the end of the fight leaves some lingering questions, Cruz is anything but an undeserving Champion. The challenger came out with quick feet and a great gameplan of sticking, moving countering and moving some more. He had Bowles flustered throughout the first two rounds as he was continually able to get in with counter punches and more damage as Bowles swung at him wildly.

Bowles said after the fight that he thought his hand broke after the first punch he threw of the night, and mentally it took him out of the fight as he concentrated on the injury instead of the fight. It seemed apparent that something was off with him, but more was attributed while watching the bout to Cruz's ability to quickly deliver blows and counter whenever Bowles hit him.

The Cruz victory sets up two major rematches in the Bantamweight division of fights that took place on the same card last August. At that event, Bowles claimed the Bantamweight Championship by knocking out Miguel Torres, and Cruz earned his number one contender status by outpointing Joseph Benavidez in a great fight.

With Benavidez submitting Torres earlier in the night on the card in vicious fashion, he earned the rematch with Cruz, and this time they'll have an extra two rounds to settle things. It's an exciting bout with both improving even further from when they met seven months ago, and it will be a highly anticipated Title bout when it's put together. If Bowles can heal up, he's got a ready made rematch with Torres, who wants another crack at him and now needs a couple of fights to get back into Title contention after dropping two straight losses for the first time.

The bantamweight division in the WEC is coming up with great fights and new challengers are sure to emerge in the very near future, but the top four fighters in the division have put on some great battles in the last seven months. For Cruz and Benavidez, there lurks another contender in Scott Jorgensen depending on how their rematch plays out.

WEC 47 RESULTS AND TORCH COVERAGE

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:11:22 PST

WEC 47 is in the books, and a new Champion sits atop the Bantamweight Division as Dominick Cruz took home the belt when Brian Bowles' broken hand forced a stoppage by cageside doctors. Check out Torch Editor Jamie Penick's full round by round write-up on the event as well as reports on the two co-main event fights and the night's bonus winners below:

Penick's round by round event report

Joseph Benavidez submits former WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres in bloody second round

Dominick Cruz claims WEC Bantamweight Championship as Brian Bowles breaks hand, doctor's stop fight after two rounds

Pettis, Benavidez, Roop and Garcia claim $10K bonuses

NEW MMATORCH LIVECAST DEBUTS TODAY!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:36:23 PST

This afternoon, join editor-in-chief Jamie Penick and columnist Matt Pelkey from 2-4 p.m. ET (11-1 PT) for a live call-in show at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Visit the following URL to listen live today:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch.

BlogTalkRadio is customized for both the web and your mobile phone.

You can call to participate at (646) 716-8090. That's also the number you can call during the show listen without participating with a question or comment. So if you're not near the Internet but have your phone, you can listen live, also.

The show will be archived if you don't listen live. Our UFC 110 pre-show and post-show debut editions are available now at the same URL.

You can subscribe to the Livecast to hear it on delay via iTunes here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id357424499

We also have an MMATorch Podcast in iTunes featuring our pre-recorded shows such as the weekly Audio Choke, PPV Previews, Interviews, PPV Roundtables, and more. Check that out here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mma-torch-2010-ufc-news-roundtables/id253731019

You can also simply search "MMATorch" on your phone or on your computer.

WEC 47 BONUSES: Pettis, Benavidez, Roop and Garcia take home an extra $10K for their performances at WEC 47

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:19:14 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

After an action packed WEC 47 event that saw two brutal knockouts, five submissions and just an overall night of great MMA action, WEC officials had plenty to choose from when it came time to hand out the night's "Fight Night" bonuses. The three bonuses went to Anthony Pettis, Joseph Benavidez, and George Roop and Leonard Garcia for their "Fight of the Night".

Pettis earned his "Knockout of the Night" with a spectacular head kick KO of Danny Castillo that knocked Castillo out cold before he hit the mat. Pettis was allowed to add further punishment before the ref could stop him, but the head kick was what put the very tough Castillo out, giving him consecutive losses for the first time in his career. It was Pettis' second WEC victory and 8th overall. It was a successful rebound from his first career loss, a split decision to Bart Palazewski at WEC 45 in December.

Benavidez had some stiff competition for "Submission of the Night", but by bloodying and submitting former Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres in the night's co-main event, he earned the nod. It was unfortunate for Scott Jorgensen that his beautiful ten finger guillotine choke, that literally saw him lift Chad George up off his feet and into the cage, came on a card with Benavidez's win, as it would have been a lock for the bonus at nearly any other event. For Benavidez, however, the sickening guillotine choke that saw blood pouring out of Torres' head was more than enough to be a deserving winner of the bonus.

The night's "Fight of the Night" didn't make it to the Versus broadcast, as it was one of only three fights that made it to the judges scorecards. Unfortunately, the bout did not see a clear winner, as an illegal blow in the third saw a point taken from Roop due to a low blow and led to a split draw. The fight was extremely close, with one judge seeing the bout 29-27 for Roop, one 29-27 for Garcia and finally a 28-28 from the final judge to declare the draw.

It was yet another very good event from the WEC on Versus, despite an unfortunate ending in the night's main event and a less than exciting stalemate between Deividas Taurosevicius and LC Davis that resulted in a majority decision. Still, it was a good foot forward as the WEC makes the leap to pay-per-view with their next event coming next month.

WEC 47 RESULTS: Joseph Benavidez submits former WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres in bloody second round

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:35:35 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

WEC Bantamweight Joseph Benavidez took on what he called the biggest fight of his career on Saturday night in Columbus, OH, when he faced off against former WEC Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres at WEC 47. He made the best of the opportunity, choking out Torres in the second round and leaving him a bloody mess.

Torres came out very tentative in the fight, and in contrast Benavidez was on his game. He got inside Torres range and connected on punches early in the round and used a fantastic hip toss to bring Torres to the ground, where he managed to keep him for the remainder of the round.

It was the second round, however, where Benavidez really turned it on. The two fighters traded strike attempts early on with little success before Benavidez surprised Torres with a quick shot and took him down. He dropped down a vicious elbow that cut Torres up badly, and then as Torres scrambled to his knees Benavidez locked on a guillotine choke and pulled to guard to lock it in tight.

With the choke in, Torres tried to roll Benavidez over. The grip wasn't loosening, however, and as Benavidez held tight the blood poured from Torres' head. After not losing a fight in 17 bouts before his loss to Brian Bowles last August, Torres was forced to tap and lost for the second consecutive time and only third time overall.

Benavidez set himself up for a shot at new Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz, who won his Title in the main event over Bowles, in a rematch of their bout last August. Cruz took that fight by unanimous decision in what remains Benavidez's only defeat, but Benavidez performance on Saturday was at a different level than that bout, and the rematch will assuredly be a different looking fight.

FURTHER READING: To read Penick's full round by round event report, click here.

WEC 47 RESULTS: Penick's live on-going coverage of Bowles vs. Cruz event on Versus

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:40:42 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Todd Harris opens up the broadcast and brings in Stephan Bonnar as his second man on commentary. Bonnar breaks down the attributes of the night's main event fighters. Harris then brings up the co-main event between Miguel Torres and Joseph Benavidez, which Bonnar calls as his "Fight of the Night." They then run down the rest of the night's card before bringing it to the first bout of the night.

FIGHT ONE: BART PALASZEWKSI VS. KAREN DARABEDYAN (LIGHTWEIGHT)

PRE FIGHT: Palaszewski said he's ready for whatever Darabedyan brings. Darabedyan said it's going to be a quick night. He said any opening given he'll take to finish this one.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND ONE: For the sake of quicker typing I'll just refer to these two as Bart and Karen tonight! Both fighters circle around the center to begin the fight. Karen gets Bart to back up and eats a kick to the body as he engages. Karen is pressing the action from the center around to the outside but he hasn't done much of anything yet. He eats a leg kick. He comes forward and connects on a big punch. He starts unleashing punches to Bart on the cage and then shoots in and takes him down. Bart tries to get a shoulder lock but Karen gets out. Karen postures up and unleashes a few more right hands. He drops down into the half guard. Karen stands back up and eats an upkick from Bart before dropping back down into his guard. He lands a few short forearms and keeps working punches. Bart tries to grab an arm but Karen drops down with a huge right hand and a few more punches. Bart holds onto an arm and throws his legs up again but Karen landed a big right. He drops another short forearm. Bart throws his legs up and gets a hold of an arm! He rolls Karen through and works on the armbar. Karen tries to hold it off but Bart finishes it and forces the tap. Hell of a come from behind there.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Palaszewski via submission (armbar) at 4:40 of the first round

POST FIGHT: Palaszewski said he likes to bang and put on a show for people, but it doesn't always work that way and you've got to win a fight.

STAR RATING: (**+) That was an excellent come from behind victory there. He didn't let the fight get late into the second or third round before the comeback, but in a round he was losing badly he pulled off a great submission to run his win streak to 3 fights. Very big win for Palaszewski.

-We get the first plug for UFC on Versus. The countdown special for the show airs immediately after the card tonight.

FIGHT TWO: DEIVIDAS TAUROSEVICIUS VS. LC DAVIS (FEATHERWEIGHT)

PRE FIGHT: Davis said this fight is two evenly matched fighters going against each other. Deividas said it's going to be a war. Davis is looking to knock him out. Deividas said he'd like to see him try.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND ONE: Deividas pushes forward with an inside leg kick early. Both fighters are calmly feeling each other out here in the early going. Davis landed a leg kick. Deividas came in close and Davis clinches him and gets him to the cage. He lands a knee to the body. He lands a few punches and then another knee against the cage. Deividas throws a couple of knees up. They trade knees and punches on the cage. Deividas turns him around and lands some big knees. Davis again turns him around and they trade knees to the legs and body again. They're going nowhere with it and the ref separates them. Very even action in that position exchange on the cage. Davis lands a big counter right jab. Deividas pushes in again but Davis gets under and clinches to push him to the cage. Deividas lands a knee and Davis lands a big short forearm to the face. He lands a good right. They're trading shots on the cage with Deividas' back on it. Deividas finally turns it around and goes for a single leg. Davis holds him off and turns him around again and gets in a few knees. Such good jockeying for position right now. Very even fight. Davis landed a good knee and Deividas turns him and goes for a single leg. He grabs a body lock and tries to get Davis down but Davis holds it off. Great show of strength as the round comes to an end.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Davis. Very close fight, but Davis landed the more damaging blows in the round with everything else fairly even. Good start.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND TWO: They both feint punches early. Deividas gets in a body punch. He shoots in for a single leg and Davis beautifully holds off the attempt on the cage and keeps himself upright. Deividas tried to stay on him with the single leg as Davis holds it off. Deividas finally completes the takedown. He lands a couple of rights as he tries to drag Davis all the way down. Davis uses the cage and gets back to his feet. Deividas keeps Davis' back against the cage and lands a couple of punches and a knee low. The ref didn't separate them. That's terrible. Davis keeps going and finally turns Deividas around. He lands some punches to the body. They trade more knees and punches. Davis got kneed low again and the ref just said he didn't see it. Deividas turns him around again and finally separates them with a minute left in the round. Davis lands a couple of punches. Deividas pushes in but gets shrugged off. Davis comes in and lands a couple of punches before Deividas dropped down for a single again. Davis landed a big knee and then turned Deividas around. The round comes to an end.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Deividas. He got the takedown and was the aggressor through much of the round, but it wasn't a clear cut round. Unbelievable that the ref reacted that way to two low blows. That was Strikeforce: Challengers bad.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND THREE: They each get in a few punches back and forth and they get to the clinch on the cage again to the chagrin of some in the audience. Deividas gets the body lock again but Davis holds him off. Deividas lands a knee to the head. Deividas lands a good elbow but Davis turns him around and separates. Deividas throws a high kick but it gets blocked. Deividas gets in close again and Davis gets him to the cage. Deividas turns him around and the fans boo again. Deividas drops for a double leg but Davis holds it off. Davis lands a big left and then shoots in and completes a takedown. Deividas tries to gets his leg up for an omoplata as he trapped the left arm of Davis. He lands some punches to the side of the head as Davis is stuck in that position. The ref stood them up as Davis was stuck. With thirty seconds left Davis pushed in. He landed a punch and then Deividas shot in and they traded knees to the body against the cage with the crowd booing to end the fight.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Davis. Really tough fight to score, but Davis landed a couple of very good punches and got the takedown completed in that round to edge it. Would not surprise me in the slightest to see Taurosevicius get his hand raised, though.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Davis via majority decision (29-29, 29-28, 29-28)

STAR RATING: (**-) It was just a stalemate throughout the fight, both fighters were that evenly matched. The final round was probably the one that the lone judge had as a 10-10, but all three were really close.

[Commercial Break]

-Todd Harris interviews Title challengers Donald Cerrone and Urijah Faber cageside. "Cowboy" said it's not going to go five rounds this time. He said he thinks Ben will get knocked the hell out this time. Faber says Aldo is extremely talented he's thinking the fight will be "bangin." He said he's looking forward to a battle of the ages and he's looking to get that belt back. Stephan Bonnar then runs down the card for that pay-per-view, which is completely stacked even if people are balking at the price (and I have).

[Commercial Break]

FIGHT THREE: JENS PULVER VS. JAVIER VASQUEZ (FEATHERWEIGHT)

PRE FIGHT: Pulver said he's trying to get back to getting everyone that beat him, he said he's got a list. Vasquez said he wanted to fight Pulver in 01 and now he gets him now and he said his goal for this fight is to prove that he belongs. Pulver said he can still cause damage and he can't wait to get out there and prove that to everyone.

ROUND ONE: They both miss punches early. Vasquez caught a kick but Pulver got away. Pulver landed a good punch but Vasquez comes back. Vasquez shoots in for a takedown but Pulver grabs a guillotine. He nearly has it complete but Vasquez rolls through. Pulver stands up. Vasquez gets him down to the ground and Pulver tries to roll through but Vasquez got him back over. He nearly got his back but Pulver reversed into his guard. He stood up and landed a couple of kicks but Vasquez got right to him and got him back down. Vasquez moved to side control and then the crucifix and landed a bunch of shots with Pulver desperately trying to get out. He gets out of that position but gives up his back. Vasquez tries to get the choke but Pulver does a good job of getting out. Vasquez then throws up for an armbar and locks both of Pulver's arms so he can't even tap right away. He gives a verbal tap but it's too late by the time the ref gets there and he is hurting badly. The crowd doesn't like the result and cheer Pulver as he makes it back to his feet.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Vasquez via submission (armbar) at 3:41 of the first round.

POST FIGHT: Pulver hugs Vasquez after the announcement. Vasquez said he is a huge fan of Pulver's himself so he'd never say a bad thing about Pulver. He said the fight went about as well as he could have expected. Jens came in and said he wanted to fix something for the crowd after the last fight put people to sleep. He said he knew Vasquez is great on the ground and said anyone that's been watching him knows he's not exactly the grappler. He said he'd never say never on fighting again, but he said he doesn't know how many times he can cry in front of the fans again and he loves the fans too much to put them through this again. He gave a very heartfelt statement to the fans and his family while apologizing for the loss before thanking Dana White for all that he had done for him.

STAR RATING: (**+) Very nice submission by Vasquez after a good defensive effort from Pulver. He was just outmatched on the ground in this one. It's sad to see again for Pulver, but perhaps this time it really will be the end.

[Commercial Break]

PRELIM FIGHT A: SCOTT JORGENSEN VS. CHAD GEORGE (BANTAMWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Joergensen stuffs a takedown from George early and then pushes him to the cage. He's got a nasty guillotine choke on and locks it in tight and chokes George out cold! George tapped right before he went out and he was motionless on the mat. He convulsed as he came to with the commission officials around him. On the replay he literally had George lifted up off his feet and against the cage. Sick, sick submission.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Jorgensen via submission (guillotine choke) at :31 of the first round.

POST FIGHT: Jorgensen said his wrestling is one of the best in the division and if you shoot in on him from a distance he'll stop it. He said he just wants to see another fight and wants to keep active for the fans.

STAR RATING: (**+) That's an early submission of the year candidate with him lifting George off his feet. That was just nasty. Another big win for Jorgensen, who seems to get all of his fights onto the broadcast whether he's scheduled on a main card or not. Man is he fun to watch.

[Commercial Break]

FIGHT FOUR: MIGUEL TORRES VS. JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ (BANTAMWEIGHT)

PRE FIGHT: Benavidez said this is the biggest fight of his life. Torres said this one will set the tone for the rest of his career. He said he knows what he had, he knows what he lost and he knows what he needs to do to get it back. He said his two goals are to get his rematch with Bowles and to get his Title back and he doesn't care what order they come in. Benavidez said he's going to show everyone that he's one of the best fighters in the world by beating Torres tonight.

ROUND ONE: Torres circles quickly around the outside as Benavidez stays in the center. Torres lands a good inside leg kick and backs out. Benavidez beats him to the next kick. Torres tried to counter a leg kick by Benavidez but misses. Benavidez pops him with a couple of punches but Torres takes them and keeps moving. Torres circles and gets in a good body kick. Benavidez got close and ate a leg kick to right hook combo for his troubles. Benavidez landed a good leg kick. Torres steps in and they trade punches. Both are taking shots and moving here. Benavidez catches a kick from Torres and drops him. Torres scoots at him before stepping back up to his feet. Benavidez throws a right and then tries to shoot in on Torres against the cage. Torres holds him off and turns him around. He lands a couple of big knees before Benavidez pulls off a beautiful trip. Torres tries to kick him off and land an up kick but Benavidez holds it off and tries to lock in a guillotine. Torres rolls up and defends nicely. He pulls Benavidez back to half guard. Benavidez tried to posture up to land a punch and Torres got him banck to full guard. Torres ends the round with an armbar attempt and then an upkick and gets back to his feet.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Benavidez. Very nice start for him. The trip takedown was just pretty and he held control of Torres on the ground for much of the round.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND TWO: Torres lands a good body kick early. Benavidez starts to walk him down. He got in and landed a good right to the body and an overhand right to the head but the latter just grazed Torres. Torres landed a jab. Torres lands a good right and then backs off before the counter. Benavidez pushes in with a kick to the body. Torres lands a body punch and backs off. Jab from Torres lands nicely. Torres gets in a nice hook and then another nice jab, but he needs to pick it up to take a round here. Just as I type that Benavidez shoots in quickly and takes Torres down. He lands a good elbow that cuts Torres open. Torres is cut badly. Benavidez gets Torres down again and locks on a guillotine choke. Torres tries to roll through and Benavidez holds on as blood is pouring out of Torres and he forces the tap! Yeah, that just happened.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Benavidez via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:57 of the second round.

POST FIGHT: They're still working on Torres cut, man was that bad. Benavidez said he went in there to fight a fight and he's been waiting for the fight forever.

STAR RATING: (***+) Unbelievable performance out of Benavidez in the fight of his life. He said it was the biggest fight of his career and he pulled out his best performance and had the upper hand from the beginning. Dropping to guard with the choke after opening that cut was just a great sequence and a sick visual as the force of the choke forced the blood to pour out of Torres' head. Benavidez absolutely earned himself a Title shot with that, there's no doubt about that.

[Commercial Break]

PRELIM FIGHT B: DANNY CASTILLO VS. ANTHONY PETTIS (LIGHTWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Castillo walks Pettis down against the cage but doesn't engage. Pettis lands a combo and Castillo returns with a punch. Castillo landed a good kick. Castillo shoots in and gets the takedown. Castillo stood up and tried to drop down but Pettis caught him with an upkick. He stood back up and Pettis kicked him in the shin and got right back up. Pettis tried for a flying knee but wasn't close enough. Castillo came in and clinched and landed a knee low. Ouch. At least the ref saw it in this one and gave him time to recover. Pettis lands a couple of jabs. Pettis then pushes forward and knocks Castillo out with a head kick to the side of the head! He lands a few unnecessary shots on the ground before the ref could get there as Castillo was out before he hit the ground. Wow, what a kick.

[Commercial Break]

WINNER: Pettis via KO at 2:17 of the first round.

POST FIGHT: Pettis said he took care of injuries coming off a loss. He said he's got more of that coming, just watch his next fight.

STAR RATING: (***) Hell of a knockout by Pettis. That, along with the triangle he pulled off in his WEC debut, just goes to show that he's quite an exciting fighter. Awesome KO against a good fighter in Castillo.

[Commercial Break]

MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: BRIAN BOWLES VS. DOMINICK CRUZ (BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP)

PRE FIGHT: Cruz said he's always looking for the finish but he's got five rounds to use if he needs to. Bowles said Cruz isn't hungrier than he is and he's not going to let the belt go easily. He said he's looking to choke someone and knock someone out every time he fights. Cruz said he's excited to be in this fight. He said Bowles won't be able to find him and he's going to pick him apart and eventually find him.

ROUND ONE: Cruz comes out dancing and lands a leg kick early. He comes in with another one as Bowles lands a right. Cruz got a good right in. Bowles lands a left as Cruz counters nicely. Bowles misses a right and a high kick. Cruz lands a good punch. Man is he moving fast in the cage. Cruz comes forward and misses a two punch combo. Bowles caught a kick and landed a right and missed the follow up. Cruz lands a good jab. Cruz connects on Bowles as he comes in but then gets rocked right after by Bowles. Bowles comes in and gets tagged with a punch by Cruz that appears to hurt him. He recovers. Cruz gets in and out quick again with a combo. Cruz again catches Bowles as the Champ is charging in with a combo. Cruz gets in and lands a good punch. Bowles rushes in with a combo and then tries to drop down with a guillotine but doesn't have it locked in. Cruz backs up out of the guard and lets Bowles back up. Cruz got in with a good combo. Bowles countered with a right. Cruz landed two more shots as the round ended.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Cruz. Great first round from the challenger. He was really quick in and out with combinations and landed more shots overall.

[Commercial Break]

ROUND TWO: Cruz again is moving around the outside. Bowles lands a good uppercut as Cruz came in. Cruz caught him with a counter right as he came forward. Cruz bounced on the outside and landed a good leg kick. Bowles lands a big straight right as Cruz missed a punch. Cruz gets a jab in. Cruz with an inside leg kick. Bowles catches a kick and tries to follow with a punch but Cruz backs up nicely and counters with a right of his own. Cruz pushes Bowles down and lands a big combo and trips Bowles with a leg kick. Bowles is getting backed up here and is having trouble figuring Cruz out here. Cruz in with another punch and then backing out. Bowles caught a kick and landed a hard right. Bowles lands the body punch. Cruz gets in with another good combo ending with a hard leg kick. Bowles blocks a punch. He catches a leg and tries to get a takedown but Cruz holds him off. Cruz lands a kick low as he threw a knee up. Bowles is given time to recover and then they restart. Bowles comes in quick with a flurry and lands a few punches. Cruz backs him off with one of his own. Bowles lands a big left hand on the cage and Cruz counters again. Cruz shoots in with twenty seconds left and scores a late takedown. Bowles holds onto him and forces him off as the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Cruz. He's fighting a great fight right now, but you can't help but get the feeling if Bowles is just able to land one of this big shots flush it could be all over. Good fight so far.

[Commercial Break]

-Apparently during the break the doctors came in and determined Bowles was unable to continue and the fight was stopped, giving the Title to Cruz. He may have broken his hand as they cut the glove off of him.

WINNER: Cruz via TKO (doctor's stoppage) after the second

POST FIGHT: The crowd is mixed in their reaction with quite a few boos with the way the fight ended. Cruz pleaded to the crowd not to boo as they were both fighting their heart off. He dedicated the belt to his mom, who comes in the cage and has the belt placed on her by Cruz. He said he felt he needed to move a lot and he executed the gameplan and that was all. Bowles said he broke his hand with the first punch thrown in the fight and it weighed on his mind the rest of the way.

STAR RATING: (**) It was the beginnings of a really good back and forth fight, but with the unfortunate stoppage due to injury it ends very anti-climacticly.

UNAIRED PRELIM RESULTS

-Chad Mendes def. Erik Koch via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-Leonard Garcia vs. George Roop ends in split draw (29-27, 27-29, 28-28)
-Fredson Paixao def. Courtney Buck via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:39 of the first round
-Ricardo Lamas def. Bendy Casimir via KO (knee) at 3:43 of the first round

That's another WEC event in the books on Versus, and it was again a good night of fights. A bit of an anti-climactic ending to the main event, but it sets up to huge rematches in the division with Cruz and Benavidez winning, as it will lead to Bowles vs. Torres II as well. Benavidez had the biggest win of the night and will need to go back to see what he did wrong in the first fight with Cruz to find a way to get that belt around his waist. Thanks everyone for checking us out tonight, and make sure to tune in tomorrow to BlogTalkRadio.com as we debut our new weekly Sunday Livecast from 2-4 pm ET. Details and call-in information is below:

***

Just a reminder, this Sunday afternoon, join editor-in-chief Jamie Penick and columnist Matt Pelkey from 2-4 p.m. ET (11-1 PT) for a live call-in show at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Set a reminder notice now or Sunday visit the following URL to listen:

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BlogTalkRadio is customized for both the web and your mobile phone.

You can call to participate at (646) 716-8090. That's also the number you can call during the show listen without participating with a question or comment. So if you're not near the Internet but have your phone, you can listen live, also.

The show will be archived if you don't listen live. Our UFC 110 pre-show and post-show debut editions are available now at the same URL.

You can subscribe to the Livecast to hear it on delay via iTunes here:

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UFC NEWS: Canadian Claude Patrick, Bellator vet Travis Browne latest signees by the UFC

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:47:23 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Two new additions to the UFC roster could be coming to the UFC's first trip to Vancouver, CA, at UFC 115, according to separate published reports from MMAJunkie.com. Welterweight Claude Patrick and heavyweight Travis Browne are coming to the UFC, per the reports, and both are possibilities for the card at expected for the GM Place in Vancouver.

Patrick announced his four fight deal on The Fight Show with Mauro Ranallo, and brings an 11-1 record to his UFC debut. Based out of Toronto, Ontario, CA, a province that still outlaws MMA, Patrick has eight submission victories to his credit and nine of his 11 fights ending in the first round.

Browne is a 9-0 heavyweight that has fought all of his fight in the last year. His highest profile fight came during Bellator's 1st season last year, where he picked up a unanimous decision victory. Seven of his wins have come by knockout or TKO.

While no opponent is known for Patrick's debut, Browne is expected to face The Ultimate Fighter season ten veteran James McSweeney in his debut. Their bout will either come on the 115 card or the Ultimate Fighter's eleventh season finale the following week.

Penick's Analysis: Both appear to be solid signings to their respective divisions. Browne is still very early into his MMA career, but with the top heavy heavyweight division in the UFC he's got plenty of fighters that he can face to develop in the Octagon. Patrick's path has a bigger challenge, as there is no shortage of quality welterweights in the UFC. The Vancouver fans are in for a good looking show right now.

STRIKEFORCE QUOTABLES: Jake Shields - "I don't want to knock Cesar's decision to train Jose Canseco, but I certainly wouldn't let him in my gym"

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:59:40 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

“I heard he was out there with Cesar, but personally I’m not a big fan of [Jose Canseco's]. I don’t want to knock anything that Cesar and my camp has done, but I don’t really want to have anything to do with Jose...I don’t really want to help the guy. I haven’t met the guy yet, but seeing his track record, I don’t really want to have anything to do with him. He’s not someone I want in my life. I don’t want to help a guy out who has constantly screwed everyone over who has been close to him... like Hershel Walker and I’d like to see Hershel kick his (expletive), but if he was fighting under my team that would make me feel a little weird, so I don’t know how I feel about that... Being a friend and fan of Hershel and having a guy that I think is kind of a scumbag coming to my gym... I guess that’s Cesar’s decision. I don’t want to knock his decision, but I certainly wouldn’t let him come into my gym."

-Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields talks to MMAWeekly.com about his trainer, Cesar Gracie, making the decision to train Jose Canseco.

Penick's Analysis: Canseco has now set up a website urging fans to vote yes or no for the proposed bout between him and Herschel Walker. Shields isn't the only fighter in Cesar Gracie's camp opposed to the involvement in Canseco's endeavor here. Canseco can claim whatever he wants when it comes to why he's wanting this fight, but it's clear he's trying to use the publicity walker received to get himself a payday, and for the sake of Strikeforce I hope they don't put this fight together.

PENICK: Previews and Predictions for WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:59:26 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The WEC returns to Versus tomorrow night with WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz, and a great night of action is in store in the blue cage. With a Bantamweight Title bout in the main event and the former Bantamweight Champ Miguel Angel Torres in the co-main event, the 135 lb. division is in the spotlight. There's some great featherweight action on the card as well, including what could end up being the last stand for Jens Pulver should he taste defeat once again. With five fights scheduled for the televised broadcast, let's break down the matchups!

Bart Palaszewski vs. Karen Darabedyan: Palaszewski is a longtime veteran of the sport, having competed in nearly 50 bouts since beginning his career in 2002. He's gotten back on track with consecutive victories after dropping two straight in the WEC. Darabedyan steps into his second WEC fight riding a seven fight win streak. At 9-1 overall, the 23 year old Armenian is looking to take another step up the ladder in the WEC's lightweight division. This is a bout between two very tough fighters who will be very hard to finish. Darabedyan most recently defeated former WEC Lightweight Champion "Razor" Rob McCullough by split decision, and likewise Palaszewski won by split decision in his last outing. This should be a highly competitive bout, but I'll take the Armenian to edge out the decision in this fight.

Deividas Taurosevicius vs. LC Davis: A great featherweight matchup between two well regarded fighters, the 12-3 Taurosevicius and 15-2 Davis come into what is the third WEC bout for both fighters. The two fighters have had remarkably similar careers, with both competing in the IFL at one point, both scheduled for fights against Mark Hominick in Affliction that never came to fruition and coincidentally both picking up split and unanimous decisions in their last two fights. Taurosevicius bested Javier Vasquez, who is facing Jens Pulver on this card, and breakout featherweight Mackens Semerzier in his two WEC bouts, the latter coming at WEC 46 in January. Davis, meanwhile, also defeated Vasquez in his WEC debut before defeating Diego Nunes last November. Both fighters have considerable submission skills but have had trouble finishing opponents in more recent bouts. It's a fantastic clash between two very similar fighters, but it makes it an even tougher fight to call. Davis takes the edge slightly in the striking department, as he's actually finished fights by TKO whereas Taurosevicius has not. Due to that X factor I'll take Davis with a TKO stoppage in the second.

Jens Pulver vs. Javier Vasquez: This is Pulver's last stand. He's lost six of his last seven bouts, most recently in just over 30 seconds to Josh Grispi, and the former WEC Lightweight Champion cannot continue his career, at least getting fights in the WEC, with a fifth straight loss. Vasquez is a tough fight for him, as he himself is coming off back to back losses. Those were both by split decision, however, to the fighters in the bout discussed above. Vasquez had posted a 13-2 record prior to those consecutive bouts, with his last win coming in a minute at the Ultimate Chaos pay-per-view event. Coincidentally enough, Pulver's last victory came in less than a minute, when he defeated Cub Swanson in his WEC debut. The retirement question has been posed to him after each of his last few fights, and while in the moment he's leaned toward calling it quits, he's back once again to give it another go. He's training out of his own gym now and he absolutely needs to win this fight if his career is going to continue like he wants it to. As a fan of "Lil Evil" I want to give him the benefit of the doubt in this one, so I'll take Pulver by decision, but it's with full knowledge that Vasquez is more than capable of winning this fight.

Miguel Angel Torres: A 17 fight win streak fell by the wayside, or more accurately, fell by the hands of Brian Bowles, last August when Miguel Angel Torres lost his WEC Bantamweight Championship by a vicious KO in the first round at WEC 42. In what was only the second loss of his celebrated career, Torres tagged Bowles with a shot and rushed him across the cage to attempt to finish him, but that's when he was dropped with a big shot from Bowles. Bowles then pounced with some massive shots on the ground to finish the job. Joseph Benavidez lost his chance to get a Title shot on that same event last August, losing a unanimous decision to Dominick Cruz. That was the first loss of his career, and he's since rebounded nicely with a first round destruction of Rani Yahya in December. He's now got the biggest opportunity of his career, to get himself to a Title shot by defeating the former Champion. He's going to have a lot of trouble with that, however. He doesn't have the hands that Brian Bowles was able to finish Torres off with, and following only his second career loss Torres has had a fire lit under him and he's ready to return to prominence. This is Torres' fight to lose, and I think he gets himself a submission victory in the second to get back on track to regaining his Title.

Brian Bowles vs. Dominick Cruz: Cruz comes into his second shot at a WEC Championship on a five fight win streak, with four straight decision victories in the organization. His sole career loss came in his WEC debut against Urijah Faber, a fight that was for that Title, by submission in the first round. He defeated Joseph Benavidez to earn this Title shot. Bowles is a perfect 8-0, and has finished all eight of his opponents in impressive fashion. For a 145 lb fighter he's got incredible power, which was showcased in his Title winning knockout of Miguel Torres last summer. This is an extremely tough fight for Cruz, as Bowles is one of the quickest and most powerful bantamweight fighters in the world. He hasn't been able to finish an opponent in his last four fights, and quite frankly I don't see him hanging toe-to-toe with Bowles for five full rounds. This is the Champ's fight to lose, and I don't think he will. A rematch with Miguel Torres will be in the works sooner rather than later, Bowles gets the second round KO to retain his Title and set that bout up.

As always we'll have live coverage of the event as it airs, so make sure to check here tomorrow night as the fights get under way on Versus!

UFC QUOTABLES: James Toney ready to fight Randy Couture, expecting a June or July debut

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:30:54 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Damn…oh really? That's what I'm talking about. That's right up my alley. Oh, hell yeah! ...Let me tell you something, I came to the UFC to do one thing and that's to fight the best out there. If it's Couture, so be it. If it's somebody else, so be it. Let's get it on and popping. When Dana White said MMA fighters are better than boxers, come on now, you know better than that... All day! The fights start standing and that's my comfort zone all day, you heard me. If they think they going to rush me to the ground and think it's going to be easy and I don't know what I'm doing, come on man. I'm a very strong man. I know what I have to do and if they shoot in on me, they getting launched into outer space like a satellite... Juanito Ibarra, he's good man; that motherf*cker know his shit. He got Rampage to the top and we gonna do the same thing. I'm going to destroy these dudes. If Randy Couture put on his Twitter page that he wants to see me, tell him it ain't shit. Let's make it happen. If not in June, he can be the one after that... They talking about June or July, so I'll be ready. That still gives me plenty of time, you know what I'm saying?"

-James Toney talks to FightHype.com about when he's expecting to make his UFC debut after reacting to the news that Randy Couture has already stated he wanted to face him.

Penick's Analysis: If the UFC books Randy Couture vs. James Toney on the same night that Brock Lesnar returns, that's all but assured to be the highest drawing card the UFC has put on. Toney's going to be at a disadvantage against anyone he's matched up against in the UFC, as he's on MMA soil and it won't be strictly a boxing bout. He can say what he wants about how he'll launch people into outer space if they shoot in on him, but until he steps into the Octagon for real he's got no idea what he's truly in for. If it comes against Randy Couture it would be quite a spectacle, and the resulting media attention would be great for the UFC heading into any card, but if they pull it off on the same night that Lesnar is fighting again it will be bigger than UFC 100 from a buyrate perspective.

WEC NEWS: Weigh-in results for WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:28:05 PST

Weigh-ins took place this afternoon for tomorrow night's WEC 47 event from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH. All fighters made weight for the event, including all four bantamweights in the top two bouts on the card. Full results are below:

Main Televised Card

-Brian Bowles (134.5) vs. Dominick Cruz (134)
-Joseph Benavidez (135) vs. Miguel Torres (134.5)
-Jens Pulver (145.5) vs. Javier Vazquez (145)
-L.C. Davis (144.5) vs. Deividas Taurosevicius (145)
-Karen Darabedyan (156) vs. Bart Palaszewski (155)

Preliminary Card

-Chad George (135.5) vs. Scott Jorgensen (135)
-Erik Koch (144) vs. Chad Mendes (145)
-Danny Castillo (155.5) vs. Anthony Pettis (154.5)
-Leonard Garcia (145) vs. George Roop (145.5)
-Courtney Buck (145) vs. Fredson Paixao (144.5)
-Bendy Casimir (155.5) vs. Ricardo Lamas (155)

UFC NEWS: Some rumors for April 17th event struck down, but UFC still gearing up for Spike event

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:14:19 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With last night's news breaking that the UFC is planning to counter-program Strikeforce's next CBS event on April 17th with a card of their own on Spike, there has been a lot going today in the planning of this card. Nothing is set in stone for the card as of yet, but the rumors are running rampant as far as what the UFC may be bringing to this card, and where it might be coming.

For starters there are some rumors that have been debunked already, the first of which is that one of the originally reported bouts, a welterweight tilt between Matt Serra and Mike Swick, will not be taking place on the card. Swick has an injured arm and confirmed his lack of participation in the event on Twitter, though he was offered the fight. His arm injury may require surgery and he's unable to take the fight.

Another bout, between Wanderlei Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama, may not take place on the card either, as MMAFighting.com reports that Wanderlei is looking to fight on his birthday, July 3rd, on the Las Vegas UFC 116 event.

One thing is for certain with this card, however, and that is Kimbo Slice's involvement. Considering his last fight on Spike brought over 5 million viewers that should come as no shock. Though rumors and speculation have pegged this as the debut fight for James Toney, the more likely scenario is Slice's bout with Matt "Meathead" Mitrione getting moved up from May's UFC 113 card.

Though no location has been locked down for the proposed event, one location in particular has been brought up a few places, and it just so happens to be in the same city that Strikeforce is running, just miles apart. That venue would be Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gymnasium, which is in Nashville, TN. Strikeforce is running at the venue formerly known as the Sommet Center.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAJunkie.com that they have the option of moving their event to the 24th, going head to head with the WEC's first pay-per-view, but the feasibility of that move may be in question. While Coker says CBS would be willing to move the event to the 24th, the prevailing opinion is with Showtime's Super Six boxing tournament airing that night and their boxing crew and MMA crew being essentially the same group for broadcasts that it would make things overly difficult on that end.

So as it stands nothing is set for the UFC's move, but there are plenty of cogs moving at the moment and plenty of phone calls being made and deals being worked out. More is still to come this week.

MORE ON THIS STORY: To read Penick's assessment of some of the early rumors for the event, click here.

[Kimbo Slice photo courtesy of Spike TV]

PENICK: Examining updated rumors for April 17th Fight Night event on Spike

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:28:36 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With the official reporting today of the UFC's decision to go head to head with Strikeforce's CBS card, there's a lot that is still unknown about what the UFC will be putting together for that night. With Strikeforce putting on three Title fights on April 17th the UFC, to do what they want to do with this counter-programming move and that is hurt Strikeforce, will need to come out with some big guns for this card. Well, if one person's information is to be believed, that's just what they're looking to do.

A poster on The Underground forum, Timmy B, who had posted this event was coming per his sources, has now updated with more information that he's hearing on the event.

Running down a number of things about the event, Timmy B wrote:

"1. Kimbo Slice will be fighting on it.

2. [Chuck] Liddell or [Forrest] Griffin are still a maybe. Depends on if Strikeforce decides to go with Walker or Canseco for the card. SF is in full on negotiations with both fighters. Neither come cheap.

3. White & Co are expecting to take away between 33% to 50% of the key male demographic (18-34), which will either cancel SF from CBS or force them to pay money they don't have to get Fedor, their ratings draw.

4. James Toney is not fighting on the card no matter what the speculation is.

5. Coker is semi-bluffing about moving the date. As discussed by a few others, they share the same crew as the Showtime Boxing team. It can be done, however highly unlikely. Moving the date would also cost Coker money and piss off ticketholders.

6. Akiyama vs. Silva is still happening on the card. Just not the main event. Things have blown up in 2 days. White is going for the jugular."

Now obviously nothing's been confirmed for the card at this point, but as was said Timmy B was correct about this Fight Night event coming to Spike so I'll take these comments as very much possible. But what do these points bring to this head to head battle? Let's take a look:

"1. Kimbo Slice will be fighting on it."- This one is huge from a ratings standpoint. Like I suggested earlier the doubly whammy would be to have him face off with Toney, but if Timmy B is correct Toney will not be on this card. That said, considering the numbers Kimbo has already proven to draw in the past, that will be enough to bring eyeballs to Spike. Him against anyone is not a better fight than anything on Strikeforce's card, but in the grand scheme of getting people to watch your event that won't matter, especially with a couple of the other possibilities coming here.

"2. Liddell or Griffin are still a maybe. Depends on if Strikeforce decides to go with Walker or Canseco for the card. SF is in full on negotiations with both fighters. Neither come cheap." - If the UFC gets Liddell or Griffin onto this card against legitimate opposition on Spike TV, both fighters have legitimately larger fanbases with mainstream fans than anyone on the Strikeforce card and it will bring viewers again to Spike. With regard to Strikeforce looking to put on a Herschel Walker vs. Jose Canseco fight, it's a desperation move. If they pull the trigger on this fight they will get massive publicity, but for all the wrong reasons. They will essentially be saying, "We've got three Title fights but more people will tune in for this freak show." It demeans them as a promotion and it insults the fighters competing for their Titles if they need that fight to bring in viewers.

"3. White & Co are expecting to take away between 33% to 50% of the key male demographic (18-34), which will either cancel SF from CBS or force them to pay money they don't have to get Fedor, their ratings draw." - The reason CBS is putting on fights from any organization is to get a piece of the "holy grail" advertising demo that is young adult men. That's why they will put up with lower overall numbers than reruns in Saturdays in primetime to air these shows. It's here that Dana and the UFC can do the most damage, because even if they can't outright beat them in the numbers, if they're able to steal away a sizable chunk of that demo they may do enough to where CBS might say it's not worth it.

"5. Coker is semi-bluffing about moving the date. As discussed by a few others, they share the same crew as the Showtime Boxing team. It can be done, however highly unlikely. Moving the date would also cost Coker money and piss off ticketholders." - Moving this show for Strikeforce cannot be a viable option right now. Fans have bought tickets, the event has already been announced and, most importantly, to move it head to head against the WEC on the 24th would put them head to head with Showtime's own Super Six boxing tournament. No, that train has likely already left the station.

"6. Akiyama vs. Silva is still happening on the card. Just not the main event. Things have blown up in 2 days. White is going for the jugular." - This is big on as well, as this could be a great fight. With this in the co-main slot, along with either Liddell or Forrest in the main event and Kimbo bringing viewers to the card, the UFC can outright win this battle. Many fans will simply DVR both events and only watch one live, but with the hold the UFC has on the casual fanbase there's no reason to believe the UFC can't outdraw Strikeforce, despite the national availability of CBS.

Strikeforce could very well be in trouble here with these developments. It'll ultimately come down to what level of loss is acceptable to CBS. As much as they may need it for the ratings, I sincerely hope they don't put together a fight between Walker and Canseco. It would just tarnish a really good card with world class talent by making a mockery of the sport with Canseco's involvement. They may need to figure some other draw before the event, but please don't let it be that fight.

Dana White and the UFC are once again trying to snuff out competition, and the kid gloves are certainly off now as far as White's handling of Strikeforce. This news is an opening salvo, and the UFC is going right for the killshot on April 17th. Things could get very interesting, stay tuned.

MORE ON THIS STORY: To read the original report with Penick's initial analysis, click here.

UFC NEWS: UFC going head to head with Strikeforce on CBS on April 17th

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:04:24 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In what really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise, the UFC will be putting a live show head to head with Strikeforce's next event on CBS on April 17th.

The news comes from F4WOnline.com, and the report states the event is most likely to air on Spike TV. While no headliner is known as of yet for the card, the report states the UFC is trying to finalize a welterweight bout between Matt Serra and Mike Swick.

Strikeforce and CBS have already announced the event for April 17th, which will feature three Title fights, with Dan Henderson vs. Jake Shields in the night's main event.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: I guess this should have been expected, and clearly the UFC had this in the works, but man this is going for the kill shot. If they can pull a bigger number on Spike than Strikeforce does on CBS it's even more of an indication of their dominance in the sport. They have a fight that could pull the numbers needed as well: James Toney vs. Kimbo Slice. It's a fight Toney's new MMA trainer Juanito Ibarra has said they were interested in, and one that Slice's camp would likely be more than willing to take. Kimbo has already drawn ridiculous numbers on Spike, and if you add that with the publicity Toney's MMA debut will bring to an event on Spike, and the fact that the Henderson-Shields bout is an iffy draw as is, it could be the UFC in the lead by a wide margin on April 17th. CBS executives would believe that they're bringing in a different demographic to the Saturday Night Fights than just people that are already fans of the sport, but it is the majority of mainstream fans that will inflate their numbers. Those are the people that made Fedor's debut in November the ninth most watched fight in MMA history. They may not tune in live for the three fights that Strikeforce is putting on that night if the UFC puts a good card on Spike, or even if they just put one major drawing fight to the card that night. How this event shapes up will be a very big story over the next couple of weeks as more information comes out.

MMA VIDEO: ESPN's MMA Live previews WEC 47 and addresses recent Strikeforce fight rumors

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:25:55 PST

ESPN.com's MMA live previews Saturday's WEC 47 event, and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker joins the program to discuss recent fight signings. The video is below (App users video at MMATorch.com):

WEC NEWS: With Frank Mir training, Stephan Bonnar in on commentary at WEC 47

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:26:28 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

WEC's normal color commentator Frank Mir will be off this Saturday when the WEC returns to Versus for WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz, as he is in the middle of training camp for his fight with Shane Carwin later in the month. In his place will be Stephan Bonnar, according to a report from MMAMania.com.

Bonnar has served on commentary before, at UFC 59: Reality Check, when he was on commentary for Forrest Griffin's first bout with Tito Ortiz. Mir is expected to return to the broadcast booth next month when the UFC debuts on pay-per-view with WEC 48 on April 24th.

Saturday's WEC 47 event features two major bantamweight bouts, with WEC Bantamweight Champion Brian Bowles making his first Title defense against Dominick Cruz in the main event. The co-main event features former Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres against 135 lb. contender Joseph Benavidez.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Bonnar's a good replacement on commentary. Kenny Florian stepped in the last time Mir was out, but with him also training for an event later this month he was likely unavailable for the gig. With Mir out, though, he won't be able to fawn over Torres as he normally does during the former Champ's fights. That said, the event won't suffer with Bonnar on commentary, and this should be another really good WEC event on Versus.

OTHER NEWS: Versus-DirectTV dispute reportedly coming to an end next week

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:44:48 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

MMA and hockey (and rodeo) fans subscribing to DirecTV can breathe a sigh of relief today, as the six month dispute between the satellite carrier and the Comcast owned Versus network will be coming to an end next week, according to a report from CagePotato.com.

Citing sources close to the situation, the CagePotato report states that an agreement between the two parties has been reached, and subscribers will be able to purchase Versus on a sports tier beginning sometime next week.

Versus was dropped from DirecTV due to the network's desire to not be on a separate pay tier, as they wanted to reach the widest audience possible. They have apparently conceded on that to get back onto DirecTV.

While this doesn't come in time for fans to see this weekend's WEC 47 event, it will mean DirectTV subscribers will have the opportunity to see the UFC's first event on the network on the 20th.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This should come as good news to fans that have DirecTV, though it is still unfortunate that it will cost more to get the network. What caused Versus to bend on the sports tier issue is anyone's guess, though with the big ratings of last Sunday's US vs. Canada hockey game getting the NHL back to viewers had to factor big into the decision. That and the UFC coming later this month probably had a piece in it as well. Still, it means those that have been without the WEC and NHL for the last six months at least have the option of getting Versus to see both, and that's a hell of a lot better than not having the option at all.

WILLIAMS' BLOG: No Excuses, Boxing Media: If Toney Loses, Then He'll Have Proven the Lesser Fighter

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:31:16 PST

By Alex Williams, MMATorch Senior Contributor

Those in and around the boxing business used to contend that boxers could beat mixed martial artists under MMA rules. Blissfully ignorant of pro boxers previous forays into the sport, they maintained that boxers would KO mixed martial artists before MMAers could take them down and start "rolling around like homosexuals on the ground" (stay classy, Bob Arum!). Respected boxing columnist Ivan Goldman once opined in the pages of The Ring that pugilist Kermit Cintron would defeat Sean Sherk if the former "stepped into the cage with the mixed marital arts" [sic].

Boxing scribes fortunately abandoned this viewpoint before an ancient Ray Mercer could give them false hope by knocking out a fat (and, judging by his strategy, fatheaded) Tim Sylvia. Unfortunately, they created a new excuse for why a mixed martial artist beating a boxer under MMA rules doesn't prove the mixed martial artist is the superior fighter. Here's my favorite boxing journalist, the normally excellent William Dettloff:

"[Floyd] Mayweather, back when he first fell in love with the idea of creating the Mayweather 'brand,' floated the idea of having an MMA fight, and UFC fighters by the dozen scrambled out of weight rooms all over America to tell reporters how happy they’d be to face him and how easily they’d beat him. None, regrettably, had the good manners to admit that he’d beat them just as easily by boxing rules."

Not wanting to let the media have all the fun, boxing promoter Dan Goossen praises MMA fighters for possessing considerable skills, before adding:

"There’s not an MMA fighter in the world who could fight James [Toney] on his court, in the ring, and be able to stay with him. But this is like something I said to Pete Rose the other day: As great a hitter as Pete was, and he’s one of the greatest who ever lived, do you think he would be the all-time hit king in cricket? It’s still hitting a ball with a stick, but they’re completely different sports."

Both Dettloff and Goossen are correct: if one artificially restricts the rules of a fight to "punching only," then James Toney would destroy, say, Randy Couture. Similarly, if the rules are artificially restricted to "pins and takedowns only," then Couture, the great amateur wrestler, would own Toney. What is interesting is what happens when the rules are not restricted. In MMA, the only pure sport of fighting, Couture and Toney are free to use whatever skills they wish to defeat each other. And in MMA, there's no question that Couture, via his knowledge of takedowns and ground fighting, would dominate Toney.

Of course, the rules in MMA are restricted a little bit. For example, neither man can eye gouge or hit the other in the groin. But unless there is some reason to believe that Toney would prove superior at these tactics and that their legality would thus swing the fight in his favor, I am comfortable with using the result of an MMA fight as a substitute for what would happen if two guys fought "on the street."

If Toney loses in MMA, it would not change the fact that in a boxing contest he would defeat the MMAer who bested him. But it would demonstrate that the MMAer is the superior fighter.

Alex Williams can be reached at alexwilliams123 AT gmail DOT com

MORE ON THIS STORY: To read MMATorch columnist Frank Hyden's criticism of this decision, CLICK HERE

HYDEN BLOG: Are You Kidding Me? Signing James Toney Makes No Sense

By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:23:13 PST

James Toney has been signed to a multi-fight contract in the UFC? Are you freaking kidding me? The guy has been in over 80 professional boxing fights; that's a lot of mileage. We just saw Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira look old and slow against Cain Velasquez. Nogueira's had 40 MMA fights, and you can see the toll that's taken on his body, and he's only 33. James Toney is 41 years old. Toney used to be a great boxer, now he's old and slow. Transitioning to MMA from boxing is no easy task at any age, let alone 41.

I also find it hypocritical that Dana White criticized Strikeforce so much for signing Herschel Walker, then he turns around and signs James Toney. Herschel Walker is a better athlete now at 48 then James Toney has ever been. That's not a huge slam at Toney, that's how good of an athlete Walker is. Hershel Walker is a better athlete right now than the vast majority of professional athletes in any sport. Walker is almost superhuman in what he can do. I guarantee that Herschel Walker will have a better MMA career than James Toney. I highly doubt either guy will ever come close to a title, but I would bet money on Herschel before I'd bet on Toney.

I don't blame James Toney for wanting to try his hand at MMA. More power to him, I say. The problem I have is Dana White shooting his mouth off like a jackass and calling the Walker signing a joke, then he proceeds to sign an old boxer. Dana claims that this won't be a freak show, and he's right. Toney might have enough in the tank that he'll be able to notch a few wins. Of course, that will require putting him in there with opponents who are willing to stand and box with him. Even then there's a good chance of him getting knocked out.

There's a big difference between getting hit in the face by someone wearing a boxing glove, and someone wearing an MMA glove. This isn't a freak show, but it's damn sure a side show. I thought Dana wanted to legitimize MMA as much as he could. Signing a 41 year old boxer isn't the way to do that. Even if Dana's intention is to sign a former great boxer, then have him get crushed in the Octagon to show that MMA fighters are better than boxers, that's not going to work. If shows like Pardon The Interruption, or Sportsnation even discuss this signing, or the subsequent beatdown Toney takes, it'll only be to joke about it or use it as an example to rag on MMA. They may as well have signed Jose Canseco.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC Read Dana White's quote on this decision and MMATorch editor-in-chief Jamie Penick's analysis: CLICK HERE

===

If you have any suggestions or comments you can e-mail me at hydenfrank@gmail.com or follow me at http://www.twitter.com/hydenfrank

SUTCLIFFE: Gabriel Gonzaga: The Greatest MMA Fighter Who Ever Lived

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:34:18 PST

By Steve Sutcliffe, MMATorch columnist

That headline isn't meant to be a joke and wasn't written with a shred of sarcasm or irony. Gabriel Gonzaga is indeed the greatest MMA fighter who ever lived. Or at least he'll always be to me, no matter what.

Flashback to April 21, 2007. My third year of law school was coming to an end. And if you've ever talked to anyone whose gone through the experience, they'll tell you that the third and final year is indeed academic purgatory. There really is no point to the entire year.

You see, the summer spent between your second and third years is usually the time when you get an internship with a law firm or some other job that winds up hiring you to start full-time after you take the bar the following year. So if everything goes swimmingly, you start your third year with your post-graduation job already locked down and hence the incentive to go to class, takes notes and study, you know - things law students usually do, is minimal.

I'm giving you all this needless background information just to put you in my mindset at the time. If this all sounds like a year-long vacation that I'm somewhat complaining about, perhaps that's fair enough. But when your girlfriend is living a hundred miles away and all your buddies who actually have jobs are making money, sleeping in all the time, and playing beer pong financed through student loan money that won't be repaid until the release of Duke Nukem Forever, it gets old pretty fast.

So when my friend suggested we watch UFC 70, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Why the hell not?" A night in sounded like the perfect change of pace from the usual routine of sauntering around Allston, Massachusetts dropping money at bars like some modern version of Johnny Appleseed whose duty was to keep the local liquor establishments in business.

As a lifelong professional wrestling fan, I'd always been somewhat intrigued by the UFC and "real" combat sports in general. I actually had borrowed tapes of UFC 1 and 2 from my local library, but when I realized that they were then up to something like UFC 7, I thought that the ship had sailed and it would take too long to catch up. I knew guys like Ken Shamrock and Dan Severen just from their appearances in the WWF, but anything beyond pure surface level knowledge was beyond me at the time.

Cut straight to the main event. My friend tells me that the Croatian dude is a big deal and was a top fighter in some organization called Pride, utilizing sickening head kicks to destroy his opponents. The other guy is an up and comer that trains nearby in Ludlow so he's got that going for him. Said other guy proceeds to dominate the round and with seconds to go, takes a page out of the Croatian guy's playbook and proceeds to kick his opponent's head completely off, who may or may not of suffered a severe injury upon falling limp to the mat. The other guy proceeds to punch Croatian dude in the face a couple of times for good measure.

To say it is all over would be a gross understatement. Put a fork in him and send him to the carving station at the Mandalay Bay buffet. The finish was so highlight-worthy, so memorable, that even then, I knew that if you asked a fan about "The Headkick," that they'd more than likely know that you are referring to Gonzaga-Cro Cop. And indeed it has.

That one moment made me a fan of this sport for life, epitomizing everything that makes MMA so damn exciting: expectations were turned on its head, the unthinkable was thinkable, take whatever cliche comes to your mind.

I was used to professional sports playing out according to a script, or least a vague notion of a plan - the Mets would always suck no matter how many times their upcoming core of David Wright and Jose Reyes were put on magazine covers and touted as the second-coming (of what, that remained, and still remains, to be seen) and the Jets would always be the second-rate team of New York, especially when the play in a stadium named for that other team.

But MMA was different, a complete 180 if you will. And I had a guy whose nickname literally meant "Big Nose" to thank for that realization.

I don't care even if the knock on Gonzaga, that he basically destroys low- to mid-level competition but falters against the true stars of the division, may be true. I don't care if he won his last fight quite possibly because of an earlier inadvertent strike to his opponent's groin at UFC 102. I don't care if his training camp based out of Ludlow isn't exactly world renowned. I don't care if the Cro Cop he beat was actually a mere shadow of his former self.

I don't even care if he may not be exactly the toughest fighter mentally - see the Couture fight where he almost wined that he couldn't see because of the bleeding (perhaps unaware that that would have stopped the fight) or against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 80 where it almost seems like he basically gave up after getting gassed, despite looking dominant in the early goings. Gabriel Gonzaga is "my" fighter.

And I wholeheartedly realize my fighter has flaws, but there's always the lingering hope that Gonzaga will recapture the greatness and the glory that was on display at UFC 70. On March 21, Gonzaga will get that opportunity. He'll be facing up-and-comer Junior Dos Santos on the premiere UFC event on Versus. This is a chance for Gonzaga to prove that he is more than the thirteenth best heavyweight in the world or that he is more than just a gate keeper. One part of me knows that Gonzaga can do it, that for one night he can pull out another upset and play the part of spoiler. But another part of me realizes that that's a long-shot and Gonzaga's career peak will always be The Headkick.

But that's what makes this sport so damn exciting; you really never know what's going to happen. Which is largely why I became a fan of this sport. Which is quite likely why you are all fans of this sport. Which is why there remains a possibility, however slight, that Gonzaga's name can be mentioned in the same vein as the top contenders in the heavyweight division.

Whatever the case may be, I'll always fondly remember that night back in April of 2007 for opening my eyes to MMA when Gabriel Gonzaga was the greatest MMA fighter who ever lived.

===

Steve Sutcliffe thinks Big Nose got robbed by having Vera-Jones headline over Gonzaga-Dos Santos. Contact steve.w.sutcliffe@gmail.com to raise your voice in protest.

UFC News (Exclusive): Latest out of Saudi Arabia regarding UFC 112 hype, reaction to new Anderson Silva opponentn, B.J. Penn bootlegging, TV ads, billboards

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:59:20 PST

MMATorch correspondent Ian Saul sent the following additional notes regarding anticipation for UFC 112 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

- Strangely, Abu Dhabi is not over run by UFC although it is a major topic of conversation in the hotels where the Ex-pats go to drink with a large amount of the hotel bars showing old UFC events on their screens.

- There are a few billboards up in the city with the majority being around the venue of the show, but the billboards are advertising the PPV rather than the event itself. The advertisement on the UFC side could do with some improving where as both in Saudi and Abu Dhabi the television companies seem to be spending a lot more on the advertisement.

- The TV advertisement of the event is constant in both KSA and Abu Dhabi with multiple channels having repeated adverts around the clock

- In Saudi, the main topic of conversation surounding the even is the excitement of the live big screen showings at the various work camps and the open-to-the-public nature of them. The main companies are seeing this as a really good opportunity to make links with the local community. My own company is flying in six company directors to observe what is seen as a "winning hearts and minds" exercise.

- The other thing that has been very noticeable is the proliferation of bootlegging. "The Prodigy" shirts have suddenly become the cool thing to wear by men in their 20s (although comedically we have seen people with t-shirts of the band "the prodigy" who's music is banned in the KSA). The t-shirts are simply black with the nickname in white lettering on the back and they are everywhere!

- There is disappointment with Anderson Silva's opponent as people are saying they don't think that Damien Miai has earned the opportunity and they think it will be a less exciting fight.

UFC QUOTABLES: Dana White hasn't thought out Toney signing, insists it won't be a freak show

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:02:04 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"We threw the kitchen sink at Brock when he came in. Are we going to do that same thing with James? I don’t know. To be 100 percent honest with you, all [expletive] aside, I haven’t thought it out. I like James Toney. He’s one of the greatest boxers ever. I have tremendous respect for him. He said he wanted to fight in the UFC and I was interested. Now he’s here and I have to figure out what to do with him. What we won’t do is make a freak show out of it. I’d be the first to scream if someone else did that, so I’m not going to do it.... Hey, I don’t want this to be seen as a joke, and it’s not like Herschel Walker or Canseco or any of those guys. James Toney is a fighter. The worst thing anyone can ever say to me is that they were watching one of my fights and they changed the channel. That’s why I’ll never put [expletive] fights on. James is an interesting case. We know how much talent he has as a boxer and he insists he’ll surprise people by how much MMA he knows. I’ve still got some thinking to do. But if we promote him and he does well and that raises his profile and he gets a Klitschko fight and makes a lot of money for himself and [Toney's friend and promoter Dan] Goossen, I’d be cool with that. But James came to me and he literally chased me around the country to do it, so I’m giving him the chance. We’ll get it figured out one way or another."

-Dana White talks to Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports about signing James Toney to a UFC contract.

Penick's Analysis: Like I said earlier, I'm not all that against this signing, provided that White sticks to this assurance that it won't be made into a freak show type fight. Toney's got basically one thing that he brings to the cage, and that's obviously his boxing, but how he stacks up against the mixture of ability necessary to be successful in the sport is a major, major question. It's honestly not that different from bringing Brock Lesnar into the UFC when he essentially had one major skillset to bring into his first fight in the Octagon, though Lesnar's was more suited to success in the sport. But Toney's had success in boxing for a long, long time and White, as a boxing fan, is bending to the desires of a fighter he has watched for a long time and respected in his sport to give him a chance. I don't really see anything wrong with that at this point.

MORE ON THIS STORY: To read our original story on this news including editor-in-chief Jamie Penick's analysis defending the decision, CLICK HERE

[Dana White photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch.com]

STRIKEFORCE QUOTABLES: Shinya Aoki coming to Strikeforce to prove DREAM superiority

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:41:28 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I am grateful for this offer. This is my first fight in Strikeforce and for my first fight to be a title fight, this is my honour… Gilbert Melendez is one of the best in the world but I ama t the top as well. My grappling makes all MMA fans happy. I will give it a 120 per cent performance and show you Melendez's tap. I think I am the main driving force of DREAM and they have three events between March and May. I would have thought my absence would be harmful to DREAM[’s audience/viewing figures]. But, I proved on New Year’s Eve that DREAM is Asia’s No,1 promotion (Aoki beat Sengoku lightweight champion Hirota). Should we be satisfied with being Asia’s number one? No! We have to prove that we are the world’s top promotion and only I can prove it, I am top of Japan. I will go to the USA and prove [DREAM] forever."

-Shinya Aoki talks to Japanese website SportsNavi.com (translated by Fighter's Only) about his first fight in the U.S. coming this April in Strikeforce.

Penick's Analysis: There's one major flaw in Aoki's logic here. He's fighting Gilbert Melendez, not B.J. Penn. He says he's going to come here to prove DREAM is the top promotion, but if he runs through Gilbert Melendez all that will prove is what people would argue anyway, that he's the best lightweight not in the UFC. He'll be proven better than Strikeforce's lightweights, but that says nothing compared to some of the guys at the top of the UFC's 155 lb. division. He simply can't lay claim to DREAM being the best promotion in the world by beating Melendez, but he'll get to make his name to the U.S. audience on April 17th when he fights on network television.

UFC QUOTABLES: Georges St. Pierre - "I want to take Dan Hardy out as fast as I can and go home"

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:18:38 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"The longer a fight is, the more you can get hurt. I want to take [Dan Hardy] out as fast as I can and go home... He deserves [this Title shot]. He's undefeated in the UFC, and he's a great challenge for me. He's a top-10 guy, and we haven't fought yet. Most of the contenders at 170 pounds are guys I've already fought. It's a mathematics problem. It's a new problem that I'm going to solve. It's going to make me a better fighter. I'm going to grow from that... I'm the kind of guy that the reason why I fight mostly three times a year – I don't fight anymore five times a year – is that every time I fight, it's a big fight. I prefer it like this because I want to get the big fish. I want to get the best fighter. At the same time, it give me the opportunity to improve more between fights because I have more time to train. I become a better version all the time than the guy that I was in my last fight. That's why I like it that way."

-UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre talks to MMAJunkie.com about his UFC 111 opponent Dan Hardy and trying to fight only three times a year.

Penick's Analysis: That's one of the great things about watching GSP from fight to fight. While he's already considered one of, if not the, very best fighters in the world, he continues to evolve and improve every time he goes back to training. He continually makes an effort to not just sustain the current level he's already reached but make himself even better. Dan Hardy is in for a fight and a fighter he's not come close to experiencing in his career to date at UFC 111, and it will be great to see GSP back in the Octagon again after the injury layoff.

[GSP art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

WEC QUOTABLES: Jens Pulver - "Everyone always thought Pat Miletich had a magical touch and was teaching us all these magical things. No he wasn't. No. Never. Never ever."

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:01:54 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"People always ask for Pat [Miletich's] secret ingredient. There wasn't no secret ingredient. That's why I made that comment about our "supposed leader." There was no one leader man. We all did it together. Jeremy Horn was the leader when it comes down to it. We all ran after that guy. We all said 'teach us coach.'... They're all gone [now]. There was Pat, but Pat is too busy trying to make cash, making a living. He ain't coaching people. Everyone always thought Pat had a magical touch and was teaching us all these magical things. No he wasn't. No. Never. Never ever. It was a great combination of things that left. Jeremy left, Matt left, Robbie left. Matt Pena left. Everybody grew up more or less. We weren't there anymore. And that's why the great experiment is over.... If there is a key ingredient, and Pat Miletich was teaching it, then that key ingredient would still be there. Correct? The young bucks would still be coming. Correct? I wasn't trying to talk mess about Pat himself. I'm just ready to go. I'm 34 years old. How long was I supposed to stay there? I hadn't been home in 10 years. I'm tired. I want to build my own gym. I want to build my own fighters. It's my time."

-Jens Pulver talks to Jonathan Snowden at UGO.com about the head of his former gym in Pat Miletich and what he feels is the misconception of Miletich's influence on the team.

Penick's Analysis: Jens has a bit of a chip on his shoulders these days, it seems. But there is something to be said for what Pulver is talking about here in regards to Miletich, as there has been a mass exodus of that successful early years crew. There are plenty of fighters still involved with Pat that might disagree with Jens' assessment of things, but of course these are things as he sees them. Perhaps he's just irritated with hearing the same question. Whatever it is, he is certainly to a point with six losses in seven fights that he knows to keep fighting he's got to buckle down and get it done, which he's looking to do this Saturday at WEC 47. He said in that quote that he's tired, and just reading it he sounds tired. Hopefully he can get back some of what he's been missing in his last handful of fights this weekend.

UFC NEWS: Former multi-time boxing World Champion James Toney signs with the UFC

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:17:17 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC has signed former multi-time boxing World Champion James Toney to a multi-fight contract, according to multiple published reports. FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first to report the signing before Mike Chiapetta at MMAFighting.com confirmed it with UFC President Dana White.

White had met with Toney in Las Vegas earlier this year after Toney repeatedly sought him out to join the UFC. With nothing initially coming out of their meeting, Toney again went to the airwaves, calling White out for not getting a deal done before this contract was signed.

In a professional boxing career that began in 1988, Toney posted a 73-6-2 with one no contest. He won Titles in six weight classes during his career, from middleweight to heavyweight. He'll fight either at light heavyweight or heavyweight, though the latter is the more likely class. White stated he had "no idea" when Toney would make his debut.

Of course, with the very vocal opposition White spouted towards Strikeforce's signing of Herschel Walker, he'll have to deal with similar "freak show" accusations with this signing, but it's something he understood going in, as Chiappetta points out. Following UFC 108, White said, "Listen, let me tell you what: I got blasted this week? Let me make this fight (with Toney). That will get me f****** blasted. I'm the first guy out there going, 'This is a freak show. Who would put on a fight like this?' I'm the first guy that would say that. I'm always saying it when freak shows happen. I don't know what's going to happen."

The MMAFighting.com report mentions that Toney has reportedly been training for MMA in preparation of signing with the UFC, and now he'll get his wish sometime in 2010.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is different from Strikeforce signing Herschel Walker for one key reason, Toney is a longtime fighter while Walker had no history in combat sports. That doesn't absolve White or the UFC from criticism for this signing, but it's not going to be such a freak show that the signing makes no sense for the UFC. This gives Dana White a win-win situation, actually, as the mainstream sports media he criticized for overly covering Walker's Strikeforce fight will react similarly to Toney coming to the Octagon. In addition to the publicity Toney will bring for his fight, and the curiosity factor that will likely lead to a spike in buyrate for whatever card he is on, if he's defeated handily it shows that boxers can't just come in and dominate this sport. Now, Toney could very well knock out his opponent, whomever that may be, but even if that's the case it may be worth the viewers and media coverage to White and the UFC. Either way, I'm not against this signing at all and my curiosity is peaked for what Toney can do in the Octagon, especially if he's matched up against a grappler in his first bout.

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 3 of 3): Would it be better for MMA for Strikeforce to grow or go out of business? Keller, Walker, Shelby, Matthew, Teal, Schwartzbard

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:33:14 PST

Would you prefer Strikeforce in two years was out of business, close to UFC's equal (in revenue, ratings, buyrates, talent roster), or had surpassed UFC (assuming UFC stays static in the mean time)? Why?

WESLEY WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Strikeforce out of business would be a great thing for MMA. If the UFC would be the only high level MMA organization there would be no competition for the best fighters in the world and we would avoid the biggest problem in boxing. The biggest problem that boxing has run into is that the biggest fights in the sport will never happen because there is too many organizations.

Also, MMA works because there ARE not a hundred different belts unlike boxing where fighters are the WBA Middleweight Champion and the WBO Heavyweight Champion and the SI Champion. The biggest thing Strikeforce has to realize is there are MMA fans and UFC fans. Most UFC fans will never know when a Strikeforce fight has occurred and that’s why no other organization can succeed like the UFC and make the money necessary to survive.

TOBEN SHELBY, MMATORCH AUDIO COHOST

It would be great if Strikeforce was a solid competitor to the UFC in a few years. Strong competition for the UFC would benefit fighters and fans, as both would know there are two stable and successful organizations to go to for solid fights. More quality MMA is hard to argue against. Hopefully Strikeforce can get to a point where that’s what it’s consistently producing. Of course, it would also be nice to see all the top talent under one roof.

SAM MATTHEW, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

From a fan’s standpoint, I would love to see Strikeforce be on equal playing ground with the UFC. This kind of competition would mean less expensive PPVs and more free fights for the spectators. In addition, the lack of a monopoly would allow fighters in both divisions to get paid the kind of money they should be earning for the work they put in, the kind of cash that pro boxers still get in a sport that's dying out fast.

BOB TEAL, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would definitely like to see Strikeforce rival the UFC in every way. The reason is simple; it could only improve the sport overall. The NFL didn’t become truly great until the AFL came along to challenge their supremacy. The same premise goes here. The UFC would be forced to try to out promote their rivals, plus competition is always a good thing for the consumer. It generally end up with you getting more bang for your buck.

ADAM SCHWARTZBARD, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would like to see Strikeforce continue to put on quality shows and maintain its status in the MMA world. I do not necessarily want it to surpass the UFC, but I like there being another organization that has top fighters and putting on worthwhile shows.

WADE KELLER, SUPERVISING EDITOR

Having two thriving promotions is ideal, as long as fighters don't sign such long-term contracts with one group that they can't slip over to the other group in their prime for a dream fight. I even think UFC benefits from the building up of anticipation for a fight that viewers think they "can't have." There's an adrenaline rush that comes from a fighter's contract with one group expiring and moving over to the other for fresh competition.

Also, until fighters are unionized or have some sort of collective bargaining representation, a healthy vibrant competitor such as Strikeforce keeps Dana White honest. There's the lowest amount he can justify paying fighters and live with himself and feel he can look fighters in the eye with a straight face and say he's being fair, but once Strikeforce bids for free agents fighters, suddenly that "fair cut of the revenue" that goes to fighters magically goes up. The threat of a top fighter being able to get big fights that could elevate Strikeforce also keeps UFC from essentially blackballing a fighter because of politics or because, say, he looked at Dana the wrong way one day or whatever. It's just better for fighters.

The fact is, with or without competition, there are going to plenty of great fights to keep everyone entertained and there will always be fights that will never happen due to timing issues, friendship or camp issues, or too long of a line of other contenders. So with or without Strikeforce, we won't see every dream fight anyway. As long there are no lifetime contracts, if a fight that's big enough to draw huge exists, let UFC and Strikeforce try to outbid each other to make that fight possible.

Also, they'll each have their own method of promoting and presenting fights. We're more apt to get more innovative presentations of fights if the no. 2 group is thinking outside the box to try to get the fanbase's attention. Although it's not a big deal, it's also nice to hear different announcers.

While other sports don't have competition, that's mainly a reference to team sports where it's impractical for a whole team to jump from one organization for another. But it's no problem for one fighter to switch from one group to another and back again. Since fights are one-on-one and fighters usually fight one to three times a year, it's not as if a fighter being in Strikeforce for three years and UFC for four years after leads to any less of an intriguing mix of fights than if that fighter were in one group or the other the whole time.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Overeem vs. Rogers to be for Strikeforce Heayvweight Title on May 15th in St. Louis

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:56:47 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem will put his belt on the line for the first time since capturing it in 2007 when he faces Brett Rogers on May 15th in St. Louis. Overeem confirmed the fight on Monday with MMAJunkie.com, but at the time stated he wasn't sure if his Title would be on the line or not.

Well that information was confirmed on Tuesday by Strikeforce Commentator Mauro Ranallo on The Fight Show with Mauro Ranallo, who, after getting more comments from Overeem, stated that the belt would be on the line.

He also addressed the questions about Rogers getting a Title shot after being beaten in his last outing by Fedor Emelianenko, saying ""Well I know what you're asking yourself. 'Wait a minute, didn't Brett Rogers lose his last outing against Fedor Emelianenko and now he's fighting for the title?' Well that appears to be the case, and one of the reasons of course is what we alluded to with Kelly Kahl, the status of Fedor Emelianenko with Strikeforce. We know there have been issues going on with Emelianenko's promoter M-1 Global. The relationship with Strikeforce said to be maybe not as rock solid as it would appear but when reached for comment the source at Strikeforce said 'no comment' but hopefully some things will be cleared up in the near future."

Fedor and M-1 Global are reportedly unhappy with Strikeforce due to Strikeforce apparently not upholding their portion of what M-1 Global believed would be their co-promotional relationship. A report from HeadkickLegend.com, citing M-1 Global sources, states that Fedor won't see the inside of a Strikeforce cage without a new contract, as they are looking for a "partner and to have Strikeforce cards featuring Fedor to be fully co-promoted cards."

Whether Fedor fights on this May 15th card against Fabricio Werdum is up in the air at this point, but with Rogers vs. Overeem set as a Title bout, St. Louis likely has its main event.

Link to The Fight Network audio at HardcoreSportsRadio.com

Penick's Analysis: While the argument is valid that Rogers shouldn't be getting a Title shot coming off the loss to Fedor, if they're going to have this fight between him and Overeem this is the best way to do it. The Strikeforce Heavyweight Title can't be demeaned at this point because it has essentially been non-existent with Overeem not defending it in two and a half years. Besides, M-1 Global has also said that Titles don't mean anything to Fedor and they equated them to medals, so he's above the Strikeforce Title in their minds. Were this fight to go on as a non-title bout they would have risked Overeem losing with the belt not on the line and their Title meaning even less than it does right now. If Rogers wins they can promote a rematch with Fedor with the Title on the line, and if Overeem retains they've got that bout still alive later on for Strikeforce. Either way the St. Louis fans are in for quite a show on May 15th.

MMATORCH EXCLUSIVE: The Audio Choke with Collins, Rowland and Shelby 03/02 (77 min) - Strikeforce Challengers thoughts, UFC news, rumors, upcoming Strikeforce events and more

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:51:49 PST

Welcome to another brand new episode of The Audio Choke. Today, Matt Collins, Greg Rowland and Toben Shelby discuss the Strikeforce Challengers VI card from last weekend and also talk some news and rumors for the UFC and Strikeforce's upcoming events.

DIRECT LINK: The Audio Choke: Episode Thirteen

APP USERS: Here's the direct link URL:
http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/uploads/1/20100302MMA.mp3

UFC NEWS: More info on 28 fighter roster on The Ultimate Fighter season eleven

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:38:02 PST

Spike TV has distributed more information on the 28 fighters for season eleven, which can be seen below:

RICH ATTONITO
Fighting out of: Deerfield Beach, FL / American Top Team
Record: 7-3
Age: 32
A 2001 graduate of Hofstra University in Long Island, Rich Attonito wrestled several different weight classes as a member of the Pride wrestling team including the 167lb. and 197lb. divisions. Attonito has been training with American Top Team since he moved to Florida in 2006. He is the strength and conditioning coach for UFC veteran Luigi Fioravanti.

SETH BACZYNSKI
Fighting out of: Canyon, AZ / Apex MMA
Record: 11-5
Age: 28
Training partner to TUF alums Santino DeFranco (season 9) and Efrain Escudero (season 8) at Apex MMA in Arizona, Seth Baczynski is a full-time water inspector at Liberty Water.

CHARLES BLANCHARD
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, FL / American Top Team
Record: 7-2
Age: 24
A 2-time All State wrester in high school, this single father is a jiu-jitsu brown belt and a published poet.

JOSH BRYANT
Fighting out of: Tulsa, OK / Absolute Combat Alliance
Record: 10-0
Age: 29
A member of the Absolute Combat Alliance camp in Tulsa, OK, Josh Bryant sports a perfect 10-0 professional mixed martial arts record. When not training, Bryant works as a manager for Mazzio's Italian Eatery in Oklahoma.

CHRIS CAMOZZI
Fighting out of: Denver, CO / Gumm MMA
Record: 11-3
Age: 22
Camozzi is a freestyle fighter from Denver that works as a bouncer in his spare time. Two of his three losses are to TUF alums Jesse Forbes (season 3) and Jesse Taylor (season 7).

BRENT COOPER
Fighting out of: Long Beach, CA / Team Oyama
Record: 5-1
Age: 31
Of Sioux Indian descent, Cooper is a pipeliner by day for Shell Oil, and a devastating striker by night, with four of his five wins coming via TKO.

JACEN FLYNN
Fighting out of: Meridian, ID / No camp
Record: 8-2
Age: 31
Jacen Flynn possesses an 8-2 mixed martial arts record that includes wins over Dennis Kang and Dean Lister. Away from the Octagon, he is a social worker.

JAMES HAMMORTREE
Fighting out of: Ocala, FL / USA Martial Arts
Record: 4-0
Age: 23
Following one season at Weber International, where he starred on the football team as a linebacker and on special teams, Hammortree left the program in order to become a full-time firefighter in Ocala, FL. The former high school wrestler owns a 4-0 professional record with all four of those bouts taking place in 2009.

JOSEPH HENLE
Fighting out of: Thousand Oaks, CA / Big John McCarthy's MMA
Record: 3-0
Age: 26
Joseph Henle splits time training at Big John McCarthy's MMA and working as a substitute teacher and wrestling coach in Thousand Oaks, CA. Henle earned his MBA in Financial Planning from California Lutheran University in '06. He speaks fluent Japanese.

CHARLEY LYNCH
Fighting out of: Mound, MN / Northway MMA
Record: 6-0
Age: 25
The self-proclaimed baddest man in Minnesota, Charley Lynch owns a 6-0 professional record with zero of his bouts going to decision.

KRIS MCCRAY
Fighting out of: Dumfries, VA / Chute Boxe
Record: 5-0
Age: 28
Son of a military father, Kris McCray was raised in Germany, where he excelled on the soccer pitch and garnered All-Europe honors in high school. In 1999, McCray moved permanently to the United States, where he has served parts of 8 years (6 active, 2 inactive) as a member of the US Army Reserve, while also finding time to earn his Associates Degree in Social Studies from Northern Virginia Community College.

COURT MCGEE
Fighting out of: Orem, UT / Throwdown Elite Fight Team
Record: 9-1
Age: 24
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist out of Orem, UT, Court McGee beat "The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom" runner-up DaMarques Johnson in 2007 by submission

CLAYTON MCKINNEY
Fighting out of: Orlando, FL / Jungle MMA
Record: 4-2
Age: 27
A teammate of TUF (season 8) alum Tom Lawlor at Jungle MMA, Clayton McKinney is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt that supplements his training by working security at a local bar in Orlando.

KYLE NOKE
Fighting out of: Albuquerque, NM / Jackson's MMA
Record: 16-4-1
Age: 29
Kyle Noke, from Mooloolaba, Australia, is the former bodyguard of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. Currently training with Jackson's MMA in New Mexico, Noke defeated TUF (season 6) alum George Sotiropoulos in June 2005 and current castmate Kyacey Uscola this past September.

VICTOR O'DONNELL
Fighting out of: Milford, OH / Vision MMA
Record: 8-1
Age: 27
Hailing from Milford, OH, O'Donnell suffered his first professional loss this past September against cast mate Costantinos Philippou. Before that, he had won eight contests, seven of which by submission.

NORMAN PARAISY
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, FL / American Top Team
Record: 5-1
Age: 23
Norman Paraisy was born and raised Paris, France. The 5-1 Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist left France in order to pursue MMA in the states and is now a member of the American Top Team.

COSTANTINOS PHILIPPOU
Fighting out of: Merrick, NY / Serra-Longo
Record: 5-1
Age: 30
Costantinos Philippou is a former boxer with 3 professional and over 80 amateur fights on his record. The 30-year-old server from Merrick, NY was born and raised in Greece. He currently trains out of the Serra-Longo camp.

GREG REBELLO
Fighting out of: Buzzards Bay, MA / Sityodtong USA
Record: 9-2
Age: 27
Greg Rebello trains full-time at Sityodtong USA in Massachusetts under the watchful eye of Mark DellaGrotte. Currently in peak physical condition, Rebello at one time weighed in over 300lbs before dedicating himself to fitness at the age of 18.

NICK RING
Fighting out of: Calgary, Canada / B.D.P. Martial Arts
Record: 10-0
Age: 30
Nick Ring returned to MMA in May 2009 following a three year stint away from the sport after suffering a devastating knee injury. In that time, Ring boxed professionally to the tune of a 4-1 record with 3 knockouts.

JORDAN SMITH
Fighting out of: Clearfield, UT / Throwdown Elite Fight Team
Record: 10-0
Age: 24
A 7th grade teacher by day, Jordan Smith is a former professional boxer that trains with fellow cast member Court McGee at Throwdown Elite Fight Team.

BEN STARK
Fighting out of: Tamarac, FL / American Top Team
Record: 3-1
Age: 27
Born and raised a practitioner of the Orthodox Jewish religion until the age of 6, Ben Stark began training with American Top Team in Florida as a sophomore in college. When not at the gym, Stark picks up shifts at "The Original Fat Cats," and also finds time to breed snakes.

LYLE STEFFENS
Fighting out of: Tucson, AZ / Apex MMA
Record: 5-2
Age: 26
Lyle Steffens is a firefighter and an EMT in Tucson, AZ. He trains with fellow cast member Seth Baczynski at Apex MMA.

BRAD TAVARES
Fighting out of: Las Vegas, NV / TapouT
Record: 4-0
Age: 21
At 21, Brad Tavares is the youngest of this season's cast members. Originally from Hilo, HI, Tavares recently relocated to Las Vegas and trains full-time with TapouT

WARREN THOMPSON
Fighting out of: Marietta, GA / Team Khunpon / Roberto Traven BJJ
Record: 5-0
Age: 23
Warren Thompson, aka "The Kool-Aid Man," is a muay-thai fighter from Marietta, GA. The volunteer firefighter splits his training in Atlanta between Team Khunpon and Roberto Traven BJJ.

KYACEY USCOLA
Fighting out of: Sacramento, CA / Team Alpha Male
Record: 18-15
Age: 28
Kyacey Uscola joins the cast with 33 professional MMA fights on his record. He trains with Team Alpha Male and Urijah Faber out of Sacramento.

CLEBURN WALKER
Fighting out of: Keller, TX / Team Lutter
Record: 9-3
Age: 26
Born and raised in Texas, Cleburn Walker is a full-time fighter and instructor at Team Lutter. He suffered a recent loss via submission to TUF (season 3) alum Jesse Forbes this past June.

WOODY WEATHERBY
Fighting out of: Hudson, NH / Renzo Gracie / Mickey Wards Boxing Gym & Xtreme MMA
Record: 7-3
Age: 27
The former US Navy officer currently works full-time as a corrections officer for the Hillsborough County jail in Manchester, NH. Weatherby rotates his training between 2 gyms: Renzo Gracie Academy in Derry, NH, and Mickey Wards Boxing Gym & Xtreme MMA.

JAMIE YAGER
Fighting out of: Los Angeles, CA / Kings MMA
Record: 2-1
Age: 25
A standout varsity letterman in baseball and football, Yager was the 2001 Athlete of the Year at South Pasadena High School in California. He picked up training MMA as a hobby, and went straight from training to the professional ranks in February 2008 as part of BET's Iron Ring, where he defeated his opponent by TKO.

PENICK: Three Title bouts a tricky situation for Strikeforce on CBS on April 17th

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:08:57 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce's April 17th event on CBS is now official, and with three Title bouts scheduled for the two hour broadcast they will in all likelihood be the only fights on the card that night. This presents an interesting situation for Strikeforce, as there are a number of things that could happen during these three fights that could make things difficult for their two-hour timeslot.

For starters, there is the issue of unaired prelims to fill time. This is a practice Strikeforce has not to date taken part in, instead ending more than one event early and abruptly after all of the bouts had been completed. If one, two or even three of these fights end within the first three rounds or earlier, which with these matchups it is absolutely a possibility, there is going to be time to fill on the CBS card. With Strikeforce not airing any of their earlier bouts fans may be disappointed with only three quick fights on the full broadcast.

The issue on the other end of the spectrum, of course, will be what happens if all three fights go to a decision. With each taking up 25 minutes of fight time, not including the time between rounds and the entrances and fighter announcements, there's not a chance all are finished in the two hours of allotted time. Strikeforce had issues with the timing of their last event on CBS, with the Fedor vs. Brett Rogers bout taking place entirely in the overrun past their timeslot.

That's the scenario the UFC ran into the first time they ran an event in Las Vegas, where they booked three Title fights as well, all of them going to a decision. The main event cut out before the fight was over as the show had run over its pay-per-view time. This event on CBS has some more leeway being that it is on network television, but they had issues with going over time in November and it could be a problem with CBS this time around as well if it happens.

If Strikeforce and CBS aren't going to plan on airing any of the bouts from the undercard, one solution would be to have one or two bouts on standby to fight in between the Title bouts should they end early. Now, these would need to be clearly standby bouts, and the fighters should be warned ahead of time that they may not fight. They don't need another situation like in Chicago last November, where Mark Miller and Deray Davis had their bout scrapped at the last minute with no warning from the organization.

If they can have a contingency plan in place for if the fights end early it will help the broadcast move along smoothly without sacrificing air time and ending their second event abruptly. Now, if their three scheduled fights go the distance there won't be anything they can do about going over the time scheduled, but if that ends up the case they'll have a different issue between themselves and CBS to deal with.

All of the time issues aside, these are three great bouts for this card, and well worth being the only ones scheduled for the night if Strikeforce doesn't add a fourth bout. If the Henderson vs. Shields Middleweight Title bout proves to be a worthy enough draw, fans tuning in to the CBS broadcast will have their eyes opened to the stylings of Gegard Mousasi for the second time, and for the first time millions in the U.S. will see Shinya Aoki fight in a U.S. based promotion against Gilbert Melendez. That fight alone is worth tuning in to see, but the other two make this a very good CBS card overall, and if they're able to pull close to the number of viewers they pulled in November it will help them get another event on the network.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: April 17th CBS event officially announced with three Title fights confirmed, tickets on sale this week

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:42:37 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Just over a month and a half out from the event, Strikeforce has officially announced their return to CBS. The organization confirmed three Title fights on Tuesday for the April 17th card, coming live from the Bridgestone Arena (formerly the Sommet Center) in Nashville, TN.

As expected, the event will be headlined by a Strikeforce Middleweight Championship bout between Dan Henderson and Jake Shields. Earlier on the card, the Strikeforce Lightweight and Light Heavyweight Titles will be on the line as well, as Gilbert Melendez meets DREAM Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez and Gegard Mousasi faces Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.

The full press release with ticket information is below:

DAN HENDERSON TO CHALLENGE JAKE SHIELDS FOR STRIKEFORCE MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE
AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA IN NASHVILLE, TENN., ON APRIL 17

Gegard Mousasi Will Defend Light Heavyweight Crown Against "King Mo,"
Gilbert Melendez Risks Lightweight Belt Against Top-Seeded Rival Shinya Aoki

Tickets For World Championship Tripleheader Go On Sale Friday, March 5;
Pre-Sale Begins Tomorrow/Wednesday, March 3, via "STRIKEFORCE Insider"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (March 2, 2010) -Mixed martial arts (MMA) legend and two-time United States Olympic wrestling competitor Dan Henderson (25-7) will challenge STRIKEFORCE World Middleweight (185 pounds) Champion Jake Shields (24-4-1) in the main event of a highly anticipated STRIKEFORCE fight card at Bridgestone Arena (formerly known as Sommet Center) in Nashville on Saturday, April 17.

In other featured bouts, STRIKEFORCE World Light Heavyweight (205 pounds) Champion Gegard Mousasi (28-2-1) will defend his crown against undefeated MMA star and two-time NCAA All-American wrestling star "King Mo" (6-0) while STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight (155 pounds) Champion Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez (17-2) will put his title on the line against DREAM Champion and top-ranked Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki (23-4).

An exclusive special pre-sale ticket purchase opportunity for STRIKEFORCE: Henderson vs. Shields will take place for "STRIKEFORCE Insider" e-newsletter subscribers (www.strikeforce.com/signup.asp ) beginning at 10 a:m. CT tomorrow/Wednesday, March 3, and ending at 10 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 4. STRIKEFORCE Insiders will receive a special
e-newsletter Tuesday tonight with the pre-sale code.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, March 5 at Bridgestone Arena ticket office, all Ticketmaster locations (800) 745-3000, Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com ) and STRIKEFORCE'S official website (www.strikeforce.com ).

One of the most decorated figures in the history of MMA, Henderson, who left the UFC to sign a multi-year agreement with STRIKEFORCE in December 2009, is the only fighter in the sport's history to simultaneously hold two different titles in two different weight classes (welterweight and heavyweight) for a major fight promotion (PRIDE Fighting Championships).

The 31-year old-Shields, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and resident of San Francisco, captured the vacant STRIKEFORCE middleweight crown with a unanimous five-round decision over fellow superstar Jason "Mayhem" Miller in a live CBS primetime televised matchup at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., on Nov. 7, 2009. Shields, who has not suffered a defeat since December 14, 2004, will put a 13-fight win streak on the line when he faces Henderson.

Since 2006, the 24-year-old Mousasi has reeled off 15 consecutive victories to become the top 205-pound fighter in the world. An aggressive, Dutch-Armenian fighter, who relocated with his family from Iran to The Netherlands when he was four-years-old, captured the STRIKEFORCE light heavyweight title by impressively stopping Renato "Babalu" Sobral one minute into the first round of their meeting at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. on Aug. 15, 2009.

Unbeaten since he made his MMA debut in Japan with a first round (2:11) TKO over Travis Wiuff on Sept. 28, 2008, the 28-year-old King Mo is a former NCAA Division I All-American and Big 12 wrestling champion for Oklahoma State University. With a mere 11 months of MMA experience under his belt, the Murfreesboro, Tenn.-born fighter decimated two-time UFC tournament champion and MMA legend Mark "The Smashing Machine" Kerr just 25 seconds into their meeting with a barrage of punches on Aug. 28, 2009.

Melendez, a 27-year-old Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stylist, reclaimed the STRIKEFORCE lightweight belt from the man who took it from him - Josh "The Punk" Thomson - with a five-round unanimous decision in one of the most ferocious battles of all time in the cage at HP Pavilion on Dec. 19, 2009. The stunning victory came just four months after the San Francisco native avenged the only other defeat of his career by stopping Japanese wrestling ace Mitsuhiro "The Endless Fighter" Ishida with an onslaught of punches in the third round (3:56) of a rematch on Aug. 15, 2009.

The 26-year-old Aoki, a dangerous submission expert who holds a black belt in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well as judo, is recognized as one of the sport's premiere 155-pound fighters. His tremendous flexibility has allowed him to surprise many opponents, thus earning him the nickname "Tobikan Judan," which is Japanese for "master of flying submissions."

On Oct. 6, 2009, Aoki seized the DREAM lightweight title by submitting superstar Joachim Hansen with an armbar in the second round (4:56) of a championship bout in Yokohama, Japan.

The event will air live on the CBS Television Network on April 17.

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on premium cable television network SHOWTIME. The promotion made its live, primetime debut on CBS with the "Fedor vs. Rogers" mega-fight that it co-promoted with M-1 Global on Saturday, November 7 and generated 5.46 million viewers for the main event between the world's number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and superstar Brett "The Grim" Rogers.

About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its "Shamrock vs. Gracie" event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose's HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series with "Shamrock vs. Gracie." In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 2 of 3): Would it be better for MMA for Strikeforce to grow or go out of business? Pelkey, Carter, Leet, Williams, O'Donnell

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:43:27 PST

Would you prefer Strikeforce in two years was out of business, close to UFC's equal (in revenue, ratings, buyrates, talent roster), or had surpassed UFC (assuming UFC stays static in the mean time)? Why?

LARAMEY LEET, MMATORCH COLUMMIST

Honestly, I do not think that Strikeforce will ever get close to being the powerhouse that the UFC is and will always be. Although I would like them to try because it make great things happen for the fans. Better fights, cheaper PPVs (doubt it), and more free fights. A great fighter will always want to fight a great fighter; UFC already has the upper hand with 85 percent of the greatest fighters in the world. Strikeforce is going to try very hard to do international fights and for the moment it seems to be working, but I do not know how that will play out for them in the future. It could very well be their downfall. We have not seen any fighters from Strikeforce go fight oversees for DREAM. When this happens, we will see if Strikeforce can still offer a good event. I think that in two years Strikeforce will either be out of business or things will be exactly the same.

ALVIN BENJAMIN CARTER III, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would like to see Strikeforce grow close to equal. The tension between the companies is good for business. It keeps people interested. Buzz like Gegard Mousasi possibly leaving Strikeforce in the future is part of what keeps the MMA community interested. Unscripted drama is what makes real professional sports exciting, and sometimes it's best if the drama is between companies so fighters can focus on fighting. (Trash take is great, but it gets old.)

I also think there should be another place for fighters to go if they feel they need a new promotion (or if they have been cut.) Sometimes Strikeforce works well for fighters, sometimes UFC is the way to go. Dan Henderson seemed to like to have the option.

ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Close to the UFC's equal. I don't think it will happen in two years, if ever, but real competition can lead to better products (see late-'90s WWF vs. WCW).

ANDREW O'DONNELL, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

I don't think Strikeforce will ever be equal to UFC. Strikeforce maybe always the "B" show. From the looks of it right now, if UFC went out of business I think MMA would go underground again. UFC is tattooed to the sport in so many ways. I'm not sure how long Strikeforce will last, but Strikeforce's success will come from the UFC's ongoing success in the future.

MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Nothing against Strikeforce, I really respect what Scott Coker has done in the last 20 years in the fight promoting business, but I hope they're out of business. All other sports leagues have one dominant organization where all the top talent plays. The only way we'll ever get to see all of the top fighters under one roof is if the UFC wins the war. It's already basically over, but there are still 20 or so fighters under contract to Strikeforce that belong in the Octagon taking on the best in the world.

BOOK REVIEW (pt. 4 of 4): Randy Couture's "Becoming The Natural: My Life In and Out The Cage"

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:21:39 PST

By Eric Hobaugh, MMATorch Specialist

"Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.”
-Randy Couture, "Becoming the Natural."

That's one of my favorite quotes from the book. This is a very appropriate way to describe Randy "The Natural" Couture. In week four of the review of his book "Becoming The Natural" I take a look at some of the more interesting sections.

THE OLYMPICS

Randy Couture on failing to make the Olympics: "Missing the Olympics didn't get any easier, and the third time brought on three times the hurt feelings of inadequacy. I felt like I had been the guy to beat in 1992, but I was fairly new and hadn't experienced enough international competition. By 1996, I'd already been to the World Championships three times. I'd been the number-one guy for some time and had more or less dominated my weight class three times. I was the right age. I'd done everything within my control, from training to diet. I'd made all the sacrifices. Everything pointed to it being my time, but it just slipped away again, and I couldn't understand why."

He could have thrown in the towel after any of his missed attempts at making the Olympic Wrestling team. Three times. I believe the fact that he tried three times and failed says more about him than any of the five championships he won in the UFC. No one would have judged him after his first or second attempt if he had just focused on other things in his life. If you need to answer the question what makes him such a fierce competitor, one only needs to look that that passage for an answer.

STEROIDS

Randy Couture on Josh Barnett testing positive for steroids in 2002: "When I looked at Barnett, he didn't have the tell tale signs of someone on steroids. He had a softer, athletic appearance, and I knew his body image was an issue for him. He always said 'Not bad for a fat kid.' So I guess it wasn't that surprising that he'd tried to improve his appearance. I didn't think of him as a cheater. I thought guys who used steroids created an advantage for me. They were thinking the wrong things. They didn't have confidence in themselves. They were more interested in having big, superficial muscles than having the technique and stamina to go the distance. As the fight wore on, the steroids would hamper his performance."

It is interesting that Randy says like when his opponent uses steroids that if gives HIM the advantage. Sean Sherk, Tim Sylvia, Hermes Franca, Stephan Bonnar, as well as many other fighters have tested positive for steroids. The UFC has most of the best fighters in the world. Some fighters feel the need to "juice" to have an advantage. Randy Couture's advantage is his belief that he has done all the right things - utilizing his experience, training, diet and game plan and that will be enough to win.

ADVERSITY

Randy Couture on advertisity: "The truth is, we all face adversity in our lives, through our work or our relationships with family and friends. No one is immune. My trick has always been to work backward. Sometimes I have to minimize all the negative thoughts and worries surrounding a situation and get right to the heart of the problem. I figure out what the solution is, and then quickly develop a plan to get myself there. I concentrate on getting it done and nothing else."

If I was asked to sum up what makes Randy Couture one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA, it would be summed up in the previous paragraph. This is normally the week that I give my opinion on parts of the book that I disagree with and take those things to task. I'm finding that difficult this time because Randy's ability to be honest and forthcoming about himself in this book has made me like and respect him more than before I read this book. It was nice to learn that the athlete I have rooted for so many times in the cage deserves my respect as a person .

===

Eric Hobaugh is the new MMATorch book reviewer. He breaks his review of MMA books into four formats that are published weekly, typically every Monday.

COLUMN: Suggested improvements for UFC Undisputed 2010 videogame to fend off EA MMA competition

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:30:15 PST
By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Now, I’m usually not one to use a painfully monotonous Mike Goldberg catchphrase, but video games have seen a “meteoric rise” over the last thirty years. It is now the largest entertainment medium in the world. The UFC’s first Zuffa-era foray into that world was incredibly successful, seeing over 3 million copies of “UFC Undisputed 2009” sold over the last year. In fact, it was so successful that video game giants, Electronic Arts, have decided to try their hand at an MMA game, and in doing so, for the first year ever, opposing the UFC’s THQ/Yukes developed game.

For those who don’t have a strong grasp on the video game industry, EA Sports’ brand name in the field is every bit as strong as the UFC’s brand name in mixed martial arts. That bodes extremely well for StrikeForce and DREAM, who are prominently represented in the game, as their combined jump into the pixilated fight world is poised to be a successful one due to that partnership.

While specific gameplay details of “EA Sports MMA” are unknown as of this writing, the graphical prowess shown in the teaser trailer have impressed gamers and gaming journalists alike, and early previews (as they often are) are exceptionally positive. What we do know is that PRIDE Fighting Championships is somehow represented with knees to the head of a grounded opponent, soccer kicks, and stomps are included, and pretty much every big name in MMA outside of the UFC is involved, with StrikeForce being the premier stage.

If the thirst for MMA is strong enough, and the EA brand proves as successful as it has with golf, football, basketball, and soccer, and every other sport they attempt, more exposure to top fighters and other organizations could be gained than ever before. This is likely not something the UFC would like, and ironically, the only way video game disputes are settled is going head to head, and fight.

While the UFC’s “Undisputed” franchise has a year head start on the EA title and a guaranteed 3 million fans who are exposed to their last product, it was not a perfect game, and the outcry of those unsatisfied with some facets of the game was vocal. If the UFC would like to stay on top of the MMA video game market, some key changes have to be implemented for success.

One Strike Knockouts:

Anyone who is privy to the sport knows, with 4 oz gloves, and the explosive nature of the sport, anyone can go to sleep at any time. And while that is a fun and exciting feature of the actual sport, it was not fun or exciting in the game. One strike KO’s in MMA are fairly uncommon. In UFC Undisputed 2009, they occur in almost every game, and they aren’t very fun or satisfying, unless you were losing prior to the strike, and are happy you really screwed over the other player.

In the next title, there needs to be a dramatic dip in the amount of one shot KO’s players are able to achieve. Upping the number of TKO’s would better serve the game’s purpose, as finishing an opponent who is able to defend himself and is in control the entire time is more satisfying than a one strike KO.

Overall Striking

Everyone loves the stand up portion of MMA. As much of a jiu jitsu enthusiast as I am in real life, in the video game it’s just much more fun to stand up and bang (more on that later) than it is to battle on the ground. That being said, Undisputed 2009 had very unpolished striking, especially from a defensive standpoint, which ironically, is also a problem in the actual sport. But striking in last year’s title was all about range. If you were in range to land a punch or a kick, you were probably going to land something, because of how difficult it was get out of the way of incoming strikes. You couldn’t slip punches; move your head, duck under kicks, or anything to defend yourself other than choosing to sacrifice either your body or your head.

According to video recently released about the game, this has changed to a degree. You have more tools to defend yourself with, as you can now move your head, slip punches, and counter. While this is a plus, I’d also like to see leg kicks serve a better purpose. In Undisputed 2009, leg kicks had no defense whatsoever, and you were pretty much incapable of checking them, a la Quinton Jackson. If this is to be taken as a real sport to those unfamiliar with the sport, and a credible game, you have to allow players to be able to defend themselves at all times, and only take damage when they expose themselves to damage, like in actual MMA.

Fighters are too similar

This, by far, was the biggest complaint about the game amongst hardcore gaming circles. Without going in to too much detail here, playing as Forrest Griffin was almost exactly the same as playing as Lyoto Machida. That is a huge problem. In real life, they have almost nothing in common. Machida’s karate style makes him the most unique fighter in MMA. However, that doesn’t translate at all in the game. This sends the wrong message to those who have never seen the actual sport. The problem stems from the fact that the game broke everyone down into fairly generic styles.

In essence, the martial arts weren’t mixed at all. In every division there were a few kickboxer/wrestlers, kickboxer/BJJ guys, boxer BJJ guys, and boxer/wrestlers. Karo Parisyan and Kazuhiro Nakamura were the lone representations of judo, if I recall correctly. Muay Thai was pitifully broken down to just head kicks, flying knees and the Muay Thai clinch. That was terrible. Without going into a pro wrestling/MMA comparison, I am a fan of both, and THQ/Yukes produces games for both sports. THQ’s “Smackdown vs. RAW” franchise is a huge seller for the company, and the difference between variation between the wrestlers in that game, and variation in UFC Undisputed, is a lot like the difference between EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, and PONG. The fighters all stand the same, all the kicks and punches are the same, sans a few exceptions, and as a result the robust roster that the game touts feels unnecessary if everyone plays exactly the same.

Grappling:

When the game was announced everyone was excited to see how the grappling aspect would be handled. Much to the surprise of many, it was done exceptionally well for the first try. According to new videos released, there are more submissions added as well, and you can link submissions together, which was a big part of the problem last year. However, I feel in their effort to make the game easy to pick up, they sacrificed some of the fun to be had on the ground. There is no extra fear of taking anyone down. Basically if you have a BJJ style in the game, you have access to the rubber guard, and from that you can get a sweep. That ends the BJJ aspect of the game. That is a little too easy on the player, untrue, and frankly, only three prominent MMA fighters can use the rubber guard effectively (Dustin Hazelett, Shinya Aoki, and George Sotiropoulos). Only two of the three are inside the UFC, and none of them are in the game.

Game reviews play a big part in sales. If you’re an MMA fan with $130 sitting around, you’re probably going to buy both titles anyway. If you’re strapped for cash however, as most people usually are (gaming is an extremely expensive hobby) you’re probably going to pick one over the other, and the improvements in UFC’s returning title are very important, if they want to best EA, and keep StrikeForce out of the public eye. In other words, if the UFC, THQ, and Yukes want to stay on top, they have to step their game up in a big way (pun couldn’t be more intended).

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki reportedly signed for April 17th event on CBS

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:52:24 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The one big lightweight super fight that Strikeforce was looking to put together with their talent swapping arrangement with DREAM was between Gilbert Melendez and Shinya Aoki, and now that bout has been signed, according to a report from Loretta Hunt at Sherdog.com.

Per the report, a bout has been signed for Melendez, Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, to face off with Aoki, DREAM Lightweight Champion, on Strikeforce's April 17th event on CBS from the Sommet Center in Nashville, TN. The bout will be only for Melendez's Strikeforce Title, and Aoki's DREAM Title will not be contested.

Melendez unified his Interim Lightweight Title with Josh Thomson's Lightweight Title in a Fight of the Year candidate in December, winning a unanimous decision in the event on Showtime. Aoki, meanwhile, is coming off a vicious arm-breaking hammerlock against Mizuto Hirota at the K-1 "Dynamite" event on New Year's Eve in Saitama, Japan. Aoki is considered the top lightweight outside of the UFC, and will provide a major international boost to Strikeforce and the interest of MMA fans everywhere.

Strikeforce's second event on CBS now features three Title bouts with this addition. The main event features a Middleweight Title bout between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson, and the Light Heavyweight Title will be on the line when Gegard Mousasi defends his belt against Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is really big for Strikeforce. This has the potential to be one of the best lightweight fights that can be put together this year, and definitely the best not featuring B.J. Penn, and getting it on CBS means the most possible eyes get to see it. They might be running a dangerous game with three Title fights on the card, as it will be the first time three Title fights have been placed on one major MMA card since the UFC's first trip to Las Vegas. That event went off the air before the main event was finished. Strikeforce ran into timing issues with their first event on CBS, so unless they're getting a three hour broadcast they may only be able to air these three bouts. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the three fights are very good bouts, but it could definitely be an issue come April 17th. For now, however, this is a great lightweight fight that every MMA fan should tune in to see, regardless of the others on the card.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Alistair Overeem to return to Strikeforce on May 15th against Brett Rogers

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:11:51 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem will make his first appearance in the promotion in two and a half years this May, as Overeem told MMAJunkie.com he'll be fighting Brett Rogers on May 15th in St. Louis, MO.

"He's an excellent opponent," Overeem said about Rogers. "I'm looking forward to [smacking] his face and his loud mouth. I'm really happy that Strikeforce came with this fight so now we can settle things once and for all."

With negotiations going nowhere to secure a bout between Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko, Rogers is one of the next in line, and with him calling out Overeem on multiple occasions it is a perfect fit for this event.

After spending 2009 in Japan fighting numerous K-1 kickboxing fights, Overeem says he's more focused on MMA for 2010. "If I can do K-1 after these fights or in between, that's OK, but if not, then I will go for Strikeforce," said Overeem. "It's been too long. Last year was a good year in K-1, but this year, I want to fight in MMA."

Overeem also said he's not sure whether the bout will be for his Strikeforce Heavyweight Title, with Rogers coming off a loss in his last bout, but also said it's up to the promotion to determine whether or not his belt is on the line.

The May 15th event is likely to come from the Scottrade center in St. Louis.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is the right fight for Overeem right now. Rogers really pushed himself into this spot with that upset of Andrei Arlovski and a good showing of himself in the loss against Fedor in November, and now he'll finally get his chance to face Overeem. Getting Overeem back to the states as well is a big thing for Strikeforce. If Strikeforce does get the Fedor-Fabricio Werdum bout together for this May event, however, and Overeem isn't defending his Title against Rogers, then it will be an interesting dynamic with how the fights and fighters are perceived considering that bout hasn't been put together yet. Even though Rogers lost his bout with Fedor, not having this as a Title fight could make for a predicament for the organization later, as Rogers has the tools to put the fight to Overeem and he absolutely can win this fight. If it's not for the Title and Rogers wins, Overeem will be even less of a Champion of Strikeforce than he's already considered since he hasn't defended the belt since it was won in November of 2007.

[Brett Rogers photo courtesy of CBS]

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Andrei Arlovski signs with Strikeforce, set to face Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva May 15th in St. Louis

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:22:17 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski has signed a multi fight deal with Strikeforce, according to a report from Loretta Hunt at Sherdog.com. The deal is for 16 months, per the report, and his first bout of the deal is in the works to face Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva on Strikeforce's as of yet announced May 15th event in St. Louis, MO.

The bout will not only be Arlovski's first MMA bout since his last Strikeforce appearance in June of 2009, which coincidentally also emanated from St. Louis. In that bout he was shockingly upset by Brett Rogers in 22 seconds, a result that earned Rogers a shot at number one heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in November of last year.

Silva hasn't fought since that November event on CBS, where he lost a unanimous decision to Fabricio Werdum. The former EliteXC Heavyweight Champion had spent over a year outside of the U.S. after a failed steroid test following a victory over the late Justin Eilers in the summer of 2008 before returning for that bout with Werdum. The loss to Werdum was only the second of his career.

The May 15th event is expected to be broadcast on Showtime, and could feature the pushed back heavyweight bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a good heavyweight matchup for Strikeforce, and a good signing for the division despite his quick loss to Rogers last year. This is a very tough bout for him to come back with after 11 months away from MMA, however, and he'll have a lot of questions surrounding what he may be able to do after that layoff against a fighter like Silva after two straight KO losses in 2009. If he can get past Silva, he'll have a couple of possible opponents ready for him, including eventual rematches with both Rogers and Fedor if he can get another return to high level performances.

[Andrei Arlovski art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

COLUMN: The Elbow: An in-depth look at one of MMA’s most controversial and underutilized weapons

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:40:53 PST

By: Sam Matthew, MMATorch Columnist

The elbow has a long history of involvement in the world of American MMA, and whether you love it or hate it, the controversial tool is here to stay. From its early days in Brazilian Vale Tudo and the messy, no-holds-barred American shootfighting, the elbow has been, and will continue to be, a significant factor in the cage.

Outlawed in all the Asian fight leagues (DREAM, World Victory Sengoku, PRIDE) because of its inherent risk in causing nasty cuts that can prematurely end fights, the American organizations, particularly spearheaded by the UFC, have found ample reason to legalize and even showcase the elbow as an effective weapon.

While the big Japanese promotions have always had a negative stigma about blood in the ring, often stopping fights mid-round to have doctors actually work on cuts to staunch the flow of blood, the American audience seems much less squeamish. Hell, two fighters drenched in each others blood swinging for the fences is how the UFC got started, and it would be a great disservice to abandon that legacy of all-out brutal war.

The most egregious downfall of the elbow strike is the severity of the cut it causes that can force doctor stoppage and even grant victory to a competitor who is obviously losing. The most notable case of this incidence occurring was when David Loiseau, a fighter notorious for training his elbow strikes to open up opponents, was being dominated by the late Evan Tanner but was able to land one slashing elbow that forced a TKO stoppage, and dashed Tanner’s hopes for a title run. This very reason is why the Asian leagues have banned the elbow strike, and I think there is some credence to this practice. Though I am personally opposed to nearly all limitations on fighters, it is an interesting argument to be made against the elbow because of the fact that it can end a fight prematurely and grant victory to an undeserving competitor.

After the recent disqualification loss that Jon Jones received after absolutely dominating Matt Hamill because of a particular elbow strike that was thrown from a ’12 o’clock to 6 o’clock’ position, there has been a lot of recent discussion on whether this is fair. Should all elbows be legal or none at all? Aren’t fights confusing enough without having to force more rules on the competitors to memorize and worry about?

These regulations go to such extremes that even very specific strikes from certain positions can actually result in not just a warning, or point deduction, but a disqualification loss. In this particular case Matt Hamill was already broken, and these illegal ‘12 to 6’ elbows thrown in the heat of the moment actually served to give him a technical victory and rob a much more deserving Jones of his win. I personally feel that it should be more of an all or nothing approach with elbows to allow the fighters to fight without worrying about regulations that could cause a loss.

With some notable exceptions, the elbow seems to be one of the most underrated and underutilized weapons in a fighter’s arsenal. While not usually known for generating enough power to knockout opponents, the elbow has adapted to become lethal in the short range, clinch, and ground positions. Unique to MMA, this weapon can now see its full potential in fights that become grappling matches, especially so in the UFC, an organization whose backbone is a solid wrestling base (no surprise given America’s collegiate history of Greco-Roman wrestling).

With so many top-tier wrestlers in the different divisions whose approach to winning is to simply grind out decision victories by laying on top of their opponents, I am actually surprised by how rarely elbows are utilized on the ground. Kenny Florian is one of the few fighters who seems to have perfected this strike, even from his back. When Din Thomas fought and took Kenny down, he quickly backed right out of the Boston native’s full guard because of nasty, slicing elbows that easily landed.

Anderson Silva just couldn’t finish the seasoned jiu-jitsu vet Travis Lutter, even with a triangle choke locked on tight, and had to actually force the tap with elbows thrown to an unguarded and trapped head. Realizing his choke wouldn’t finish the fight, Silva actually used the maneuver to setup downward-slashing elbows that Lutter couldn’t defend at all.

Recent TUF winner Roy Nelson is known for using his weight to trap opponents in the crucifix position, neutralizing their arms while raining down weak punches to force the TKO stoppage. I actually think Nelson and other wrestlers can generate more power and damage from short elbows that are not covered by any padding than awkward-angle punches in side control.

After Jon Fitch’s recent comments claiming that the full guard is dead as most good wrestlers can neutralize submission attempts, I think even jiu-jitsu masters comfortable from their back would be wise to train the short elbow strike to make the wrestlers have something else to fear when smothering their opponent. As MMA continues to evolve, hopefully the elbow will adapt to the cage and enable the spectators to enjoy a more dynamic approach to striking.

Anderson Silva still boasts one of the most impressive knockout victories ever with a deceptive, sideways uppercut-elbow that finished a tough Tony Fryklund. Jon Jones has showcased one of the most incredible elbows the sport has ever seen by setting up the strike with a fake takedown attempt that made opponent Jake O’Brien briefly sprawl, only to be staggered by Jones’ spinning, overhead elbow that convinced O’Brien he’d had enough standing and allowed Jones to capitalize on a weak shot with a beautiful D’arce/Guillotine choke. As fans we can only look forward to more of these exciting and surprising kinds of finishes with more utilization of elbow strikes by fighters.

(Please feel free to comment below as I am very curious to see what other fans think regarding this controversial strike)

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 1 of 3): Would it be better for MMA for Strikeforce to grow or go out of business? Penick, Perez, Debar, Hyden, Rowland, Amadi

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:12:27 PST

Would you prefer Strikeforce in two years was out of business, close to UFC's equal (in revenue, ratings, buyrates, talent roster), or had surpassed UFC (assuming UFC stays static in the mean time)? Why?

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would want Strikeforce to be nearly equal to the UFC if only because of the competition. As in pro wrestling and any sport, competition brings out the best in people, and with the UFC possibly feeling the heat from Strikeforce, they could produce some of their best cards. We'll be expecting Strikeforce to have their best cards because they are still going to compete with the UFC, and they'll have to have stacked cards to keep up. This can only do wonders for the sport and fuel competition, similar to what Pride did for the UFC. With an American based promotion putting out quality cards not named the "UFC", fans will get a chance to see different fighters and an alternative to the UFC. This will show that yes, there are other fighters and promotions out there other than the UFC.

CORY DEBAR, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would like to see Strikeforce and the UFC continue to grow at the same pace they are today. I think they are both good for one another and we have an opportunity as fight fans to enjoy talented fighters from both promotions. Competition will continue to help both businesses. With Strikeforce continuing their network television contract, this will only help the sport continue to grow.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I would wish for Strikeforce to have surpassed the UFC in every single category. The reason is very simple - competition breeds a better product. You could guarantee that the state of MMA would be stronger than it ever has been before if Strikeforce were to overtake the UFC. To see two companies trying to outdo each other is the epitome of a perfect world for MMA fans. It'd be a total win-win. I would want the two companies to trade the top spot back and forth every few years or so. That would be my ideal situation.

GREG ROWLAND, MMATORCH AUDIO COHOST

I know nothing in life stays static, but in this case I wish it would. I love the MMA landscape right now, where UFC holds the majority of the top MMA talent under one banner, where we can see real top ten people fight each other instead of being bound to separate organizations. At the same time, we can change the channel and BAM! Some more MMA with a different flavor. Some very talented fighters in Strikeforce, just not the depth, but thats okay with me, because I need my UFC to be deep!

JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I’d prefer Strikeforce be equal to the UFC mostly in revenue, ratings, and buyrates, as they produce fun, exciting fights, usually for free. And that’s amazing for the sport. I’m not sure I’d like the talent roster to be equal, because you don’t want half the fighters belonging to one organization, and half the top guys belonging to another. Fans think they want that, but they don’t. It would be a terrible situation should that ever happen. Even when PRIDE and the UFC were both of equal size, most believe PRIDE far and away had the deeper talent, sans for maybe the Welterweight Division. A complete divide of top guys would be bad for MMA, unless cross-promotion became the norm.

JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I don't at all wish for Strikeforce to be out of business, but I don't think they'll be an "equal" to the UFC at any point. The money, the production, and the most world class fighters are with the UFC, and they're only going to increase their market share. I think Strikeforce can be a very successful #2 promotion for years to come if they can accept that as their place and not reach beyond their means. They may have the CBS deal and Fedor and the handful of other top fighters on their roster, but they will not have a large number of fighters heading their way from the UFC over the next two years, and more than likely some of their bigger names will jump ship when the UFC comes calling once their contracts are up. I hope they find their place as a no. 2 promotion, and perhaps even a breeding ground for tomorrow's stars, because if they try to go head up with the UFC to try to become no. 1 themselves, it will fail, and that's not good for anyone.

WEC QUOTABLES: Jamie Varner says Ben Henderson fought scared, gets lucky in fights

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:49:44 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"They had a good fight between him and Ben last year, so they need to come up with the best possible fights to sell tickets. Even though me and Cowboy would be a great fight, and it would sell a lot of tickets, him and Ben had fight of the year... I think Cowboy will beat him. Ben's a tough fighter, but honestly he gets lucky in fights. He fights scared. He's not as well rounded as Cowboy is, and as I am. I think Ben is a very tough fighter. If you make any mistakes with him he'll make you pay... I thought I was putting all the pressure on the fight. Ben was running away a lot. I felt Ben fought scared, he fought not to lose, and I don't think he was really fighting to win. I just gave him an opportunity. I served him my neck up on a silver platter."

-Jamie Varner talks to MMAWeekly.com about the rematch upcoming between Ben Henderson and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, as well as his loss to Henderson in January.

Penick's Analysis: Varner didn't understand why people were reacting to him so negatively after his bout with Donald Cerrone, but in interview after interview all he's done is reinforce a negative image of himself. Calling a fighter scared and playing off a defeat as "lucky" on the part of his opponent only makes him come off as a poor loser and a bad sport, when really he needs to accept the fact that he got beat by a better man in January. At the very least he keeps up the fans' interest in seeing him get beat by either Henderson or Cerrone in an eventual rematch.

UFC NEWS: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller in the works for UFC 114 in Las Vegas

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:12:08 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Dan Miller is in the works for UFC 114 according to a report from MMAJunkie.com. Both fighters were on the losing end of bouts at events in February.

Bisping will be looking to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110 in Australia. It was a fight he was winning at times, though sequences at the end of the second and third round saw Silva nearly finish him, ultimately giving Bisping his second loss in three fights.

Miller has now lost two consecutive bouts after dropping a unanimous decision to Demian Maia at UFC 109. That bout followed his decision loss to Chael Sonnen in May of last year. Both of those fighters are now in line for shots at the Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, with Maia getting the first bout in April in Abu Dhabi.

UFC 114 comes live from Las Vegas, NV, on May 29th, and is expected to be headlined by the long awaited bout between Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a very good middleweight matchup. Bisping will have the advantage on the feet, and the key for this fight will be if MIller can find success on the ground. That's a tough task against Bisping, who has shown great defense on his back in past fights. Miller was outstruck by a non-striker in Maia in his last fight out, so he'll really need to improve on the feet to hang with Bisping long enough to find a way to get it to the ground. This should be highly competitive bout either way, and this 114 card is shaping up very nicely.

[Michael Bisping art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

UFC NEWS: Spike releases full list of 28 middleweights for The Ultimate Fighter 11

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:10:37 PST

TUF 11 Cast Announced | UFC | SPIKE.com

The UFC has released the official list of 28 fighters competing on the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. Coached by former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, this season features an all middleweight cast, and a new format for the show (thus the 28 fighters). The full list of competitors is below:

Rich Attonito (7-3), Seth Baczynski (11-5), Charles Blanchard (7-2), Josh Bryant (10-0), Chris Camozzi (11-3), Brent Cooper (5-1), Jacen Flynn (8-2), James Hammortree (4-0), Joseph Henle (3-0), Charley Lynch (6-0), Kris Mccray (5-0), Court Mcgee (9-1), Clayton Mckinney (4-2), Kyle Noke (16-4-1), Victor O’Donnell (8-1), Norman Paraisy (5-1), Costantinos Philippou (5-1), Greg Rebello (9-2), Nick Ring (10-0), Jordan Smith (10-0), Ben Stark (3-1), Lyle Steffens (5-2), Brad Tavares (4-0),Warren Thompson (5-0), Kyacey Uscola (18-15), Cleburn Walker (9-3), Woody Weatherby (7-3), Jamie Yager (2-1)

PENICK'S BLOG: Final thoughts on Friday's Strikeforce: Challengers event

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:33:52 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Strikeforce's Challengers events, by virtue of featuring lesser known and up and coming talent, have been a bastion of bad officiating over the six events that have taken place on Showtime, and Friday was no exception. The California State Athletic Commission appointed referees did not have a good showing of themselves, and that's being nice about it. The most glaring error came in the Showtime broadcast's opening bout, where Yancy Medeiros was kicked low by Raul Castillo and was given virtually no time to recover. Whereas he was supposed to receive five minutes to recover from the blow, which clearly hurt him, the official repeatedly told him he was alright to continue and rushed him to restart the bout. It was completely unacceptable and not the only time it happened during the night.

Outside of the officiating, there were some definite bright spots on the card. Medeiros was very impressive in his first bout outside of Hawaii. His takedown defense throughout all three rounds made the real difference, because he very clearly had Castillo outclassed on the feet. It was the type of performance that makes these Challengers cards enjoyable, as it gave Medeiros a showcase to have this fight; and as he continues to get bookings on Challengers events in the future he can try to move himself up to bigger events later on.

The other impressive performances from the night came from Tarec Saffiedine and Luke Rockhold. Saffiedine outpointed James Terry en route to a unanimous decision victory, but it was his quick striking and takedown defense, similar to Medeiros earlier in the night, that made an impression throughout the fight.

Rockhold once again dispatched of an opponent in quick and violent fashion, overpowering a much smaller Paul Bradley and forcing a stoppage with some brutal knees to the body that crumpled Bradley against the cage. He's a guy that deservers some more exposure in his next bout, and putting him in a spot on one of the main Showtime cards the next time out would be a smart move for Strikeforce.

The eye poke stoppage in the Trevor Prangley vs. Karl Amoussou bout was highly unfortunate, as the fight had the makings of an entertaining back and forth bout before the unintentional blow. If Amoussou's eye is alright, the two should be matched up again as soon as possible. With Strikeforce's next Challengers event coming at the end of next month, it would be a perfect opportunity for a rematch, and would help that be an even better card.

Finally, the Sarah Kaufman-Takayo Hashi bout was just not an enjoyable fight to watch. Kaufman attributed the way the fight went down to Hashi continuing to backpedal and her desire to avoid the ground game she brings. While that's fine, and she did what she needed to win, the result was one of the worst main events of a televised event in quite some time. It was unfortunate as well, as Kaufman has been exciting in her past performances and it will be harder to hype her next bout after that five round tentative performance.

All in all the event brought what it promised to bring, and that's a number of fights with up and coming talent looking to break out to the bigger events. A few looked able to do so, while others need more time and seasoning, and outside of the way the two top fights went down the rest of the night was as good as it could have been expected. Hopefully next month's event is a better showing of what the Challengers series can be.

UFC NEWS: Rob Emerson vs. Nik Lentz tapped for Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:52:47 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A lightweight bout between Nik Lentz and Rob Emerson is headed to UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi on March 31st, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

Emerson extended his life in the UFC at UFC 109 earlier this month, picking up a decision victory over Ultimate Fighter season eight runner up Phillipe Nover. A member of TUF's fifth season himself, Emerson had lost consecutive bouts to Kurt Pellegrino and Rafael Dos Anjos before getting back on track against Nover.

Lentz was part of a majority draw his last fight out against Thiago Tavares. He was down on the judges scorecards before an illegal low blow by Tavares cost him a point, leading to the draw. The Minnesota Martial Arts Academy product had won his UFC debut in 2009 by defeating Dos Anjos, and looks to erase last fight's performance from his memory against Emerson.

Fight Night 21 serves as the lead in to the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike on March 31st, headlined by a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is a solid addition to the night's undercard. Emerson has performed much better at times than his 9-8 record would suggest, and is a very tough test for any fighter. Lentz was impressive against Dos Anjos last year in his debut but stumbled a bit in the Tavares bout before the illegal blow saved him from a loss. The fight probably won't make the broadcast, but it's definitely a good and competitive fight for the North Carolina crowd.

UK SCENE: Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva break down from UFC 110, news briefs

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:05:31 PST
By: Chris Park, MMATorch U.K. Specialist

After months of hype and speculation over the stacked card that was heading down under – UFC 110 finally hit Sydney, Australia. The second fastest selling event in UFC history more than lived up to its billing as a host of star names competed at the Acer Arena.

Cain Velasquez and Ryan Bader took out veterans of their divisions, knocking out Minotauro Nogueira and Keith Jardine respectively. Local hero and huge underdog George Sotiropoulos upset the odds by claiming a lopsided Unanimous decision victory over Joe “Daddy” Stevenson.

The co-main event of the evening was one that most were looking forward to: Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva vs. Michael “The Count” Bisping.

After alot of trash talking in the week leading up to the fight that started at the press conference and spilled over onto the weigh ins, the two finally stared down inside the Octagon.

As referee Herb Dean called the fighters to the centre of the Octagon, Bisping held out his hand in respect, which Silva took.

The first round started with both fighters taking a fairly tentative approach. The odd jab and leg kick was thrown here and there. Approximately a minute in Bisping shot and got the takedown, but Silva instantly got back to his feet. Bisping got another take down before landing a knee as Silva made his way back to his feet.

Bisping was mixing up his defence very well switching from left to right and got another takedown. Wanderlei once again managed to get straight back to his feet but took a head kick for his troubles.

Bisping checked the leg kicks from Silva but they looked like they could start to have an effect. Silva landed on Bisping before the Brit landed a right of his own that sent Silva staggering backwards.

Twice more Bisping shot for a takedown but on both attempts they were stuffed by the Brazilian. As the round drew to a close Wanderlei attacked with a flurry of shots. Silva threw left hook to the chin which landed but it didn’t have too much weight behind it. The horn sounded for the end of the first.

Despite the late barrage Bisping had more success in the first 10-9 Bisping.

The second round began with Silva continuing to land his leg kicks. Bisping threw a kick which Silva caught and viciously kicked away his opponents standing leg. Silva swarmed on top of Bisping who once again showed a great defence from the bottom. Silva threw wildly from the top but couldn’t quite pin his opponent down.

Silva landed a kick to the body as Bisping worked his way back to his feet. Silva caught Bisping with a right hand as the two went at it. Bisping shot and slammed Silva to the canvas taking side control. Once again Silva scrambled and got back to his feet. Bisping landed a few stiff jabs while Silva landed a jab which knocked Bispings mouth piece sideways.

The Brit shot again and slammed Silva to the canvass. This time Silva hung on to an arm in guillotine and squeezed the neck of the Brit with all he had. Bisping managed to hang on for 15 seconds. That choke was in tight but Bisping managed to stay with it until the horn sounded for the end of the round.

A close fight so far and if Bisping had have completed his takedown and finished strong he may have stolen the round. I was already leaning towards Silva and the near submission at the end there confirmed it: 10-9 Silva.

Bisping looked like a man who was on the brink as he heavy breathed his way back to his corner. His team told him he was still ahead and that Silva was way more tired. As his corner discussed who was ahead training partner Quinton “Rampage” Jackson delivered some great advice “Mike- you wanna win this fight? Knock his ass out! You got it.”..........Priceless!

As the third and final round began both men looked hesitant to engage, Bisping landed a nice hook but took several more leg kicks. An accidental low kick on Silva slowed proceedings down but the two were soon back at it going back and forth with picking shots and kicks.

Bisping shot for two take downs but both were stuffed. Silva started to pick up the pace in a round that is about as even as they come as we enter the final 90 seconds.

An eye poke puts the breaks on things for a second time. The doctor asked Silva if he could see, then sent him right back out to finish the fight.

Silva came out swinging. Some huge shots whistled past the head of Bisping. The Brit threw a leg kick which Silva caught and swept for the second time in the fight. Bisping got right back to his feet. They traded for the final thirty seconds before Silva charged his opponent, as the sticks sounded, for the third round in a row.

Several shots landed in a flurry before a right hand to the neck dropped Bisping. He fell to the ground and took a few more before both the referee and the horn saved him for the second round in a row.

I’m not too sure Bisping would have survived if there was another ten seconds left in that round. He did well to stay in there until the end.

A very close round as they came to the rally but yet another late assault has an effect on the round. This one not only won Silva the round, most likely the fight too. 10-9 Silva.

A huge display of class and respect was shown as the two hugged and spoke afterwards. Even Rampage shook hands and embraced Silva as he came over to the Brits corner.

Bruce Buffer entered the Octagon and announced a 29-28 unanimous decision for “The Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva.

This result by no means sets Bisping back. As Joe Rogan said in their post-fight interview “This is not a setback. It’s just another fight. You’ll be back I’m sure better than ever.”

It was a very close fight with that late knockdown clinching it for Silva. Should Bisping have completed his takedown at the end of the second, and fished that round on a high, he could well have been the one to walk away with the win.

Silva was strong and finished all three rounds on a high. One thing that no one really picked up on before the fight was that it could be possible for Wanderlei to be a better fighter at 185. I’m not saying he is the best he has ever been, but it was most definitely the best version of Silva that we have seen in the UFC in recent years.

Yoshihiro Akiyama was originally due to face Silva on this card and was rumoured to be chalked in to face the winner of this fight. If the UFC do plan a new assault on the Japananese market then that showdown is a no-brainer.

At the post –fight press conference Dana White stated that Akiyama is desperate for the Wanderlei fight. That for me was as close to a fight confirmation that you can get. When this was all being said Michael Bisping piped up that he would also like to face Akiyama and that he would also like a rematch with Silva.

My fear here with Bisping is that he could end up being a marquee fighter if he tries to create what I always think of as “one off fights” a little like the Franklin vs. Silva fight was. Instead he should look at the other contenders at 185 and work his way up through the ranks. There are many great fights out there for him such as Belcher, Marquart, Okami, Sonnen and Maia. All of these would have implications on the Middleweight division.

In fact I would prefer to next see Bisping in with someone who will present a different style and challenge to his recent outings.

Looking back there are alot of positives that Bisping can take from this. He was very disciplined in his game plan and took a legend to the wire in three very close rounds. The majority were betting on a vicious KO in favour of Wanderlei and he thankfully did not suffer that fate.

The respect that these two showed each other once all was said and done was nice to see. Still showing his sense of humour Bisping added: “I’m off to Wanderlei’s party. Shame it’s in a gay bar! I guess he should have done some research first.”

OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF

-Marshall Zelaznik has this week stated that one UK UFC event for 2010 had been “locked down.” British fans have voiced their concern that no events have been scheduled for the UK even though shows are booked up for as far off as July. What remains to be seen is if this will be a Fight Night or a main card.

-BAMMA 2 aired last weekend and will continue its second series every Sunday night at 10pm on Bravo 2.

- Paul “Semtex” Daley has stated that he and best friend Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy will “NEVER” fight. Hardy challenges GSP for the title next month while a victory over Josh Koscheck could very well see “Semtex” being marked the next number 1 contender.

-British TUF: 10 Heavyweight James McSweeny will host a seminar in Essex, London on April 10.

Chris Park is the MMATorch UK Specialist. Please email any comments or questions to Chris at; mmatorchpark@gmail.com or look us up at http://www.facebook.com/mmatorchuk our new MMATorch Facebook home for UK Fans!

BELLATOR NEWS: Heavyweight prospect Cole Konrad signs on with Bellator

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:04:57 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Bellator continues to pick up quality prospects for their second and third seasons, as the organization has announced the signing of now 2-0 heavyweight Cole Konrad.

Konrad, a two time NCAA D-1 Wrestling Champion from the University of Minnesota, is a training partner of UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. He made his MMA debut last month with a first round submission victory, and moved his record to 2-0 Saturday night with a first round TKO at an event in Philadelphia.

He is expected to fight on two events in Bellator's second season, according to MMAJunkie.com's report of the signing, and that could lead to a spot in a planned heavyweight tournament during the organization's third season.

Konrad addressed his signing after his bout on Saturday, saying "I’m excited to sign with Bellator. It’s a great opportunity to fight for a great company and I’m just really excited for what the future holds with this company."

Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney commented on the new acquisition as well. "Cole Konrad brings some great characteristics to the table that could make him a force at heavyweight," Rebney said. "Brock Lesner’s dominance in the UFC has shown the impact that an elite, world-class wrestler can have in the heavyweight division. As a two-time NCAA heavyweight champion who is aggressively rounding out his MMA arsenal, Cole’s potential is unlimited. We are happy to be teaming up with him and, as a company, we are excited with what the future may hold."

Bellator's second season begins on April 8th, airing live every Thursday for twelve weeks on Fox Sports Net.

Link to MMAJunkie.com report

Penick's Analysis: This is an awesome signing by Bellator. Konrad's got a great base and is training with the UFC's Heavyweight Champion, also a former D-1 Wrestling Champion from the U of M, and as an up and coming fighter can use Bellator's platform to really develop his skills and his fighting career. Getting two more fights under his belt during the second season will set him up very nicely for the third season's heavyweight tournament, should they choose to put him in there. Bellator keeps making good moves, and the anticipation is ever growing for the second season, just over a month away.

OTHER NEWS: Tim Sylvia vs. Marius Pudzianowski set to reportedly headline April 23rd event in Worcester, MA

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:51:05 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia is reportedly headed towards a fight with longtime "World's Strongest Man" competitor-turned-MMA-fighter Marius Pudzianowski, according to a report from the Boston Herald.

The two are set to headline an event at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA on April 23rd, per the report, in an event promoted by Corey Fischer and Eric “Butterbean” Esch under the Korean based "Moosin" production company. This will be Pudzianowski's U.S. debut.

Fischer thinks highly of the card, which will also feature Rich Clementi, Yves Edwards and Houston Alexander, as he told the Herald, "This will be the biggest card ever done, probably in the Northeast. The UFC is coming here in August and they’re going to have a hard gate to beat. I think this fight card will be better than what they’re bringing...it’ll be on pay-per-view and shown live in Korea, Poland, Canada and about 14 other countries. This will have more viewers than (the UFC’s) show."

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Well, Sylvia's also reportedly in talks for events in March in Japan and this June with Wes Sims in Canada, but this is certainly the most interesting of all the fights out there. I'm not sure if it's interesting in a good way or not, but this is a fight that will have people talking, there's no doubt about that. Pudzianowski will only be in his second fight, and taking on a former World Champion in Sylvia doesn't seem like it makes for a very competitive fight. If Sylvia gets himself in shape for these upcoming fights and doesn't show up like he did against Ray Mercer he should be able to win these fights.

ROUNDTABLE - Should UFC introduce a women's division?

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:39:34 PST

Gina Carano [artist Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]

As part of our exclusive Roundtable series, last month the MMATorch staff addressed the question of whether UFC should introduce a women's division. Dana White hasn't shown much enthusiasm for the possibility in the past.

Dana White to TIME Magazine: "I don't want to see two women beatin' on each other. I don't like it."

However, he has opened the door a crack. He said the following early last year: "Gina Carano is a star, and I think she's talented. I think she has all the tools, so what I'm willing to do is bring Gina into the WEC. We could do fights whenever there's a challenge for Gina. That's how I'll test the waters and see how it goes."

The following are links to the three-part Roundtable featuring thoughts from MMATorch writers and editors...

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

UFC NEWS: Cole Miller out of Fight Night 21 bout with Andre Winner

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:17:18 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The injury bug has hit all of the UFC's cards in March, and Cole Miller is the latest to pull out of an event as he has withdrawn from a scheduled bout with Ultimate Fighter season nine runner up Andre Winner, according to multiple published reports. In his place will be two time Octagon vet Rafaello Oliveira.

Miller had bounced back from a late '09 loss to Efrain Escudero by submitting Dan Lauzon at UFC 108 this January.

Oliveira picked up his first win in the Octagon on that UFC 108 card after losing his debut to Nik Lentz in September of last year. Winner lost to Ross Pearson in the TUF 9 finale, but made a successful Octagon appearance at UFC 105 last November when he knocked out TUF 8's Roli Delgado.

UFC Fight Night 21 airs live on March 31st as the lead in to the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. The card is headlined by a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi.

Penick's Analysis: Oliveira's a good replacement for this bout, and will be another good test for Andre Winner. This card is a good one for Spike TV and another in a series of solid events the UFC is putting on next month. This should be a competitive addition to this one.

UFC NEWS: Lineup changes coming to UFC on Versus card with Spencer Fisher, Rob Kimmons injuries

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:31:55 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's first event on Versus has taken two more hits this week, as both Spencer Fisher and Rob Kimmons have come up injured and are out of the event according to multiple published reports. Fisher was scheduled to face Duane Ludwig on the card, while Kimmons was set to face off with Mike Pierce.

In Fisher's place steps 9-1 UFC newcomer Darren Elkins according to MMAWeekly.com. The bout will take place on the untelevised preliminary portion of the event. MMAJunkie.com reports that Pierce also draws a UFC newcomer as a replacement in Julio Paulino.

Paulino is a 17-3 professional that hasn't lost a fight since 2007. Riding a five fight win streak, he enters the UFC as the reigning Alaska Fighting Championships Middleweight Champion. Pierce faced off with welterweight contender Jon Fitch in his last bout in December, losing a unanimous decision. He enters this bout with a 10-3 record, 1-1 in the Octagon.

Penick's Analysis: It sucks to see Fisher off of this card, as he's always exciting to watch and the bout with Ludwig would have definitely been injured, but as has been proven time and time again, these injuries happen on a constant basis and not much can be done outside of the replacements the UFC finds to put these fights together. These replacement fights are solid for the undercard and could provide some good action for the fans in Colorado.

STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS RESULTS: Sarah Kaufman outpoints Takayo Hashi to become first Strikeforce Women's 135 lb. Champion as crowd clears out of arena

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:17:12 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Sarah Kaufman was crowned the first Strikeforce Women's 135 lb. Champion on Friday night, defeating Takayo Hashi by decision in a lackluster five round bout in the main event of Strikeforce's sixth Challengers series event on Showtime.

The fight was never in question throughout the entire five rounds, as Kaufman continually connected on short combinations and on several occasions scored knockdown punches. There wasn't much else to the fight, however, as Kaufman was seemingly content to land her punches without ever attempting to finish.

In what was only the second women's MMA fight to headline a main televised card, the bout came nowhere near the excitement of the first that Strikeforce put on last August, when Cris Cyborg was crowned the first 145 lb Women's Champ against Gina Carano. Kaufman was tentative throughout the bout, and the crowd responded by filing out of the building following the second round.

With the fight looking to continue the stagnant fashion of the second round, nearly half of the 2,500 in attendance filed out of the arena. According to Dave Meltzer's report at Yahoo! Sports, the crowd had mainly showed up for the local amateur fighters on the undercard, and by the main event the crowd was simply unfamiliar with either woman.

Kaufman explained her strategy after the fight, saying "“I wanted to please the crowd, but she kept moving backwards and made it difficult.”

“I wasn’t seeing the chance to finish. It’s hard to finish someone who is always running. [The ground is where] she wanted the fight, so I was going to take the smartest route possible by keeping it standing. I didn’t want to give her the chance to get an upkick or a submission."

It was an unfortunately uneventful main event, but with Kaufman now crowned atop the Women's 135 lb division in Strikeforce she'll have more chances to showcase her skills in the future.

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 3 of 3): Should UFC add a Women's Division as Strikeforce has done? Keller, Teal, O'Donnell, Schwartzbard, Carter

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:29:10 PST

BOB TEAL, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I like watching the ladies slug it out, but at this point I do not think the UFC should consider a Women’s Division. The reason is because you do not have enough fighters in any one weight division to make things competitive. I think the talent pool needs to be deepened to the point that you have multiple weight classes filled with skilled fighters who put on exciting fights. At this point, there is just not enough talent out there. But I do think one day we will see it happen.

ADAM SCHWARTZBARD, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I like women's MMA, but I think the UFC missed the boat on that one, and they would be too far behind to catch up now. I also think that by Strikeforce having a commodity that the UFC does not have, it helps to give Strikeforce an advantage in one area over the UFC.

ALVIN BENJAMIN CARTER III, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I think this would be a great idea if the division starts of with a strong number of competitors. There should be enough competitors so that an exciting main card women's fight does not have to be for a title. An amazing way to start this is by doing an Ultimate Fighter season with women.

ANDREW O'DONNELL, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

I read a Grappling magazine interview asking Dana White if they'd add a women's division and it was a no. Not enough talent, not marketable, not at the same level. I can't see a Women's Division in the UFC. I'd be really surprised, but if they did women's fighting, they'd probably start with the most known like Cyborgn and Carano. They could create stars by doing the Ultimate Fighter with all women to develop the division. It'd be an interesting gamble so I'm 50/50 as of now on the topic.

WADE KELLER, SUPERVISING EDITOR

Not yet. I'd rather see WEC, perhaps, add a women's division first. UFC has so many compelling men's preliminary fights that don't make it to main PPV cards that they are obviously not in need of any type of new division. WEC, though, could perhaps benefit from having women fights on its shows to set it apart from UFC, but also give Zuffa the chance to create competition for Showtime in acquiring top female talent. But I don't feel all that strongly either way that WEC make that move. I think it'd good that Showtime has a women's division. If there ends up being a thriving indy circuit of great women's fights, it'll be worth UFC more strongly considering it in the future.

CLICK HERE to see a directory of the previous Roundtables on this subject. App users, just click on "OPINION" category at bottom of screen.

[Gina Carano art credit Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]

STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS VI RESULTS: Penick's live on-going coverage of Kaufman vs. Hashi event on Showtime

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:29:45 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Mauro Ranallo opens the broadcast running down the fights on the broadcast tonight. His broadcast partners, as always for these Challengers cards, are Stephen Quadros and Pat Miletich. They throw to a soundbyte of Sarah Kaufman, who says "As a fighter I feel I'm different in that most of my fights have been finished. I have eight finishes to two decisions while she has eight decisions. I think that's a big difference between the two of us." They throw to a Hashi soundbyte right after where she says she's looking to submit Kaufman tonight. Miletich comes in to break down the Luke Rockhold-Paul Bradley middleweight bout.

FIGHT ONE: RAUL CASTILLO VS. YANCY MEDEIROS (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Medeiros takes the center and stalks right off the bat as Castillo circles around the cage. Medeiros lands a good jab for the first strike of the bout. He stalks some more and gets in with the jab again. Medeiros gets a good right hook in followed by a left. Castillo finally strikes with a leg kick. He goes back to the leg kick as Medeiros stays on him. Castillo shots in and Medeiros defends it well for a bit. Castillo picked him up and dropped him but Medeiros got right back to his feet. Castillo clinched him on the cage and then dropped for a single leg. Medeiros finally got some separation and pushed Castillo off. Castillo shot in again and Medeiros held it off and landed a couple of hard knees to the body to push Castillo off. Castillo swings wildly but hits air. Medeiros again gets close wtih an uppercut and Castillo shoots once again. Medeiros again holds him off against the cage. He gives up a single leg and moves to a double and Medeiros holds it off really nicely and gets separated. Medeiros stalks and tags Castillo nicely again. Medeiros lands another overhand right. He lands the overhand right once more and follows with a few more punches. He gets a big knee to the head and a nice combination of punches before Castillo shoots once more. Medeiros sprawls and the round comes to an end.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Medeiros. He looked good and patient in his striking, and he's clearly a level or two ahead on the feet over Castillo here. His takedown defense was really good as well.

ROUND TWO: Medeiros stalks again and gets a good knee in to begin a combo. He tags Castillo with a few more. He is calmly walking Castillo down here looking for an opening. Big jab from Medeiros lands. He just misses on a couple of overhand rights against the cage. He tries a spinning back fist but it gets blocked. Another jab lands. Castillo pops in a jab and then circles around some more. Left hook from Medeiros lands. Another left hook. He gets in close and lands a kick to the body. Castillo is just trying to run away from the damage here. The crowd starts to boo some inaction here. Medeiros lands a few shots to the body. Medeiros lands a leg kick. Medeiros misses with a hook and Castillo grabs onto him. Medeiros again holds off the takedown and gets separation. Medeiros sprawls another takedown attempt after missing a punch. Castillo lands a leg kick as the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Medeiros. There was about a minute and a half of action and three and a half standing and walking around in that round. Medeiros was a bit too comfortable in that round and Castillo doesn't know what to do with this stand up game from Medeiros right now.

ROUND THREE: Medeiros lands a kick that Castillo reacted as if it was low, but the ref said it wasn't and made him continue. Medeiros lands a good combo and Castillo covers up and shoots again. Medeiros again holds off the takedown on the cage. Castillo stays on him with the single leg but it's going nowhere and finally the ref separates them. Medeiros lands the right on the cage and Castillo circled away again. Medeiros with a hook. Left from Medeiros and then a big knee to the head as Castillo shot in again. Castillo then came forward and lands a big knee low. Medeiros is hurting and the referee is making him continue right away without giving him his alotted time to recover. He just told him he was alright and had him continue. Medeiros lands a big combo and knocks Castillo down. Castillo works back up to his feet and Medeiros stalks some more. Castillo lands a leg kick. Castillo throws a high kick but it gets blocked. He shoots in again and it gets stuffed and he rolls to his back and Medeiros stays over him before finally letting him back up. Castillo gets in a jab and then they trade punches for a fews seconds before Castillo tries one more shot as the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Medeiros. Clean sweep for him here. Good performance, and in only his fourth professional fight he showed a lot of promising tools to continue to build on in future fights. His takedown defense was excellent all fight long.

WINNER: Medeiros via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

STAR RATING: (**-) The fight wasn't anything special, but Madeiros showed a lot of promise and a very solid skillset en route to a decision that was never contested. The officiating certainly didn't get off to a very good start tonight, though, as the ref didn't give either fighter time to recover from low blows when they should have been alotted time.

-Herschel Walker is interviewed cageside to talk about his victory last month at Strikeforce: Miami. He said MMA is the toughest sport in the world, and he said the true fighters are all the guys stepping in day in and day out. He said he was shocked at AKA that there was a guy with more cardio than him in Cain Velasquez and he realized he had a long way to go.

-Gilbert Melendez is then brought in cageside. He said a rubber match with Josh Thomson is going to need to happen at some point for the fans. He said he was much more patient and motivated in the rematch. He called out Shinya Aoki and said he'd like to bring the DREAM Title back to California. Ranallo then hyped a "major announcement" coming Monday from the organization.

FIGHT TWO: TAREC SAFFIEDINE VS. JAMES TERRY (WELTERWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Terry throws an early inside leg kick and then a high kick that gets blocked. Saffiedine lands a combo to push him back. He is pushing the pace here early and landing some short combos. Saffiedine caught a kick and landed a straight right. Saffiedine lands a right. He is keeping the center of the cage. He lands a combo and barely misses a rushing knee as Terry drops down for a takedown. He holds the takedown off. Saffiedine gets in with a two punch combo. Terry lands an inside leg kick. Nice uppercut lands from Saffiedine. Saffiedine fakes the right and throws a high kick but it gets blocked. Saffiedine with a hard leg kick. He lands a beautiful high kick but Terry absorbs it. Saffiedine lands a left. Terry shoots in with a minute left and gets the takdown. Saffiedine scrambles and gets right back up to his feet. Terry lands a right. He tries to push forward with a combo but doesn't land. Saffiedine lands a right. Terry holds him off against the cage with a push kick. Terry is cut under the left eye as the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Saffiedine. Solid start to the fight, and Saffiedine is landing some good strikes in this one thus far.

ROUND TWO: Terry comes out and lands a punch. He gets in a body kick and eats one from Saffiedine. Terry lands an inside leg kick. Saffiedine lands a kick that goes low. Saffiedine with another combo. Inside leg kick from Saffiedine lands. Saffiedine tried to land a knee against the cage but Terry aboided it and circled away. Saffiedine lands a hard combo. Another combo with a leg kick by Saffiedine. Terry gets in a right. Saffiedine lands a hard kick to the body. Terry lands a leg kick and gets countered with a right. Another right from Saffiedine. Saffiedine with another combo. Terry lands a leg kick. Saffiedine stalks him down and lands a couple of hard punches and then holds off a shot. Saffiedine lands a good leg kick. Terry shoots in after Saffiedine missed a punch but he was shrugged off. Terry tags Saffiedine with a short combo. Terry again with the jab. Saffiedine lands a hard leg kick. Terry tries to shoot again late and Saffiedine sprawls and they square off as the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Saffiedine. He's getting in much quicker with his combos and his punches and kicks are landing a lot harder right now.

ROUND THREE: Saffiedine lands a good straight right early. He gets in with another one as he's walking Terry down. He lands a couple more and lands a good knee. Terry's face is getting battered here. Saffiedine with anotehr two punch combo. Terry gets a takedown quick but Saffiedine gets right back up. Terry tried to pull him down with a single leg but he got out. Terry lands a couple of punches. Terry gets in close and clinches. They jockey for position briefly before separating. Saffiedine continues to walk Terry down. Saffiedine grabs a Thai plum and lands a knee. He continues to push the pace and land punches, kicks and knees. He tries a jumping knee that misses. Straight right lands by Saffiedine. He gets in close again and they clinch briefly. Saffiedine lands another right. Jab from Saffiedine. Terry throws a high kick but it gets blocked. Saffiedine lands a leg kick. Terry responds with one of his own. He pushed in close again but Saffiedine separated with an elbow. Saffiedine lands a big combo and they trade punches. Saffiedine lands a high kick and then a spinning back kick to the body. Terry shoots in and tries to get a takedown but Saffiedine winds up mounted on him and drops down some punches until the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Saffiedine. He was just the better fighter tonight, and he did some damage to Terry's face. Terry can take some punishment, though, and was never completely out of this fight.

WINNER: Saffiedine via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

STAR RATING: (**-) Another fight that wasn't bad, but nothing special. Saffiedine outstruck Terry nicely throughout but there wasn't much else to the fight.

-Ranallo brings in Lavar Johnson, who will make a return to fighting after being a victim of a gunshot along with four others last July. He lost his cousin in the tragic attack. Johnson is announced as the official headliner of next month's "Challengers" event.

FIGHT THREE: LUKE ROCKHOLD VS. PAUL BRADLEY (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Rockhold throws a high kick that grazes the top of Bradley's head. He pushes Bradley to the cage but Bradley breaks away with a short combo. Rockhold looks gigantic compared to Bradley here. Bradley lands a good punch to the gut. Rockhold again goes for the high kick and it gets blocked. Rockhold drops Bradley with a right as he was coming in and landed another punch before Bradley got to half butterfly guard and recovered. He scrambled and got back up to his feet. Nice recovery. Bradley lands a left but gets dropped by a right again. Bradley gets back up and Rockhold is right on him. He lands a few really hard knees to the body that hurt Bradley and the ref comes and stops the fight as Bradley goes down. Impressive win again from Rockhold.

WINNER: Rockhold via TKO at 2:24 of the first round

STAR RATING: (**) Very nice performance from Rockhold, and he dominated start to finish in this one. He hits really hard, that's for sure, and Bradley just had no answer for him in this one.

FIGHT FOUR: TREVOR PRANGLEY VS. KARL AMOUSSOU (MIDDLEWEIGHT)

ROUND ONE: Both fighters circle around each other in the center. Prangley rushes forward first but Amoussou tags him with some hard, quick punches in succession to back him off. Amoussou hops around with his hands at his sides with the ref repeating "c'mon let's fight" to them. Amoussou engages and they clinch but he gets out of it. Prangley then clinches and gets a takedown into half guard. Amoussou does a good job here of neutralizing Prangley and holding him until the ref stands them up. Amoussou gets in quick with a right. He lands a leg kick that lands and then a high kick that misses. Prangley came in close and tried to clinch again and Amoussou tags him with a big right. He gets a big combo in but Prangley's just absorbing it. Prangley gets in a right. Amoussou goes in for a jab and he gets poked in the eye. That was Prangley's pointer finger right in the eye. Amoussou can't open his eye and they have to stop the fight. He's protesting after they stop it, but he literally can't even open his eye and with the way the rules are set he's not given time to recover and the fight has to be stopped. Highly unfortunate end to this one.

RESULT: Technical draw (accidental foul)

POST FIGHT: It is explained that it is the doctor's call on an accidental foul causing an injury to end a fight, and with Amoussou stating he could not see the doctor stopped the bout and the ref can't override that.

MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: SARAH KAUFMAN VS. TAKAYO HASHI (WOMEN'S 135 LB. CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT)

ROUND ONE: Hashi throws a kick early but it doesn't land. She tries it again and eats a jab. Kaufman drops her with a right but Hashi grapples and clinches against the fence as Kaufman comes in close. Hashi lands a knee to the body. Kaufman lands a few knees of her own to the body and thighs. She works some body punches in the clinch. The ref separates them. Kaufman lands a jab. She gets in with the jab and a leg kick. Kaufman counters a body kick with a good two punch combo. Kaufman lands another punch. Kaufman tags her with a straight left. She gets another one. Hashi throws a high kick and Kaufman blocks it. Hashi throws another inisde leg kick. Right hand from Kaufman lands. Kaufman continues to stalk and look fro an opening. Kaufman with a left. Kaufman catches a kick and drops Hashi with a right. Hashi tries to roll over and Kaufman sprawls and stays on her. Hashi stands up and Kaufman hits her on the way up. Kaufman lands a left and the round comes to an end.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-8 Kaufman. She scored a couple of hard knockdown punches even though it was a pretty tentative round, but Hashi hasn't done anything yet in this fight.

ROUND TWO: Tentative start to this round. Kaufman finally lands a short punch. Hashi gets in a kick. Kaufman catches another kick and drops Hashi with a right but lets her back up. Kaufman lands a leg kick. Kaufman pushed in and connected with a right. Hashi gets in a jab as Kaufman lands a combo. Kaufman got a good left hook but Hashi connected with a punch of her own. Very tentative stuff here as they're just lightly sparring around the cage. Kaufman got in a good right. Kaufman throws a leg kick. Hashi lands a kick to the body as the crowd is getting restless. Kaufman got in close and landed a right but then backed away. Kaufman got in with a jab and a short combo as the round ends.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Kaufman. Boring round. Almost nothing happened there as Kaufman is just dragging this out right now.

ROUND THREE: Kaufman starts it off a bit quicker here with a combo. Kaufman catches the kick and drops Hashi with the right again and lets her up. Hashi engaged but ate a two punch combo. Kaufman pushes forward and landed a leg kick. Kaufman got threw with a right. Hashi again comes in and eats a few punches for her trouble. Hashi lands a kick. Kaufman chases her down and lands a leg kick of her own. She lands a quick combo. Kaufman got in a good right but Hashi took it and kept moving. Kaufman drops Hashi with a right but Kaufman lets her get up again. She connects on a two punch combo. Kaufman lands a leg kick. Kaufman again lands a combo. Kaufman got the right in after Hashi tried to clinch. Kaufman works the jab nicely and Hashi shoots in with ten seconds left and Kaufman holds it off.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Kaufman. This just isn't a good fight right now. Kaufman is clearly winning but she's not even attempting to go for the kill, and Hashi hasn't been able to do anything to her yet.

ROUND FOUR: Kaufman got in a short combo early. This is more of the same here. Hashi shoots in Kaufman holds off the takedown nicely against the cage. Hashi turned her around but Kaufman turned her right back around. The ref separated them. Kaufman lands a few straight jabs. Hashi shoots again and it gets held off with Kaufman pushing her to the cage. They trade knees in the clinch and then Kaufman separates with a right to the jaw. Hashi shoots in again and tried to pull guard but Kaufman controlled her posture and backed away. Kaufman with a short combo. Kaufman with a jab. Kaufman again with the jab and she ends the round with a punch.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Kaufman. Not much to say, it's the same thing over and over and it hasn't been fun to watch.

ROUND FIVE: Kaufman lands a hard leg kick and a right. Kaufman with a combo. Kaufman lands a left hook. Flurry from Kaufman lands. Hashi drops down for a shot and Kaufman sprawls again. She gets back up and makes Hashi stand. They trade leg kicks.Kaufman catches a kick again to land the right. Hashi shoots in again and tried to pull guard. She tried to grab a leg for a leg lock but Kaufman backed out. Hashi lands a straight kick to the face. Kaufman lands a combo. Hashi pressed forward and got poked in the eye with less than a minute left. The ref doesn't bring the doctor in and Hashi says she can continue. Hashi shoots in and Kaufman sprawls and lands a couple of punches. Kaufman pushes her off with a jab and holds off another shot as the round ends to mercifully put an end to what was anything but a good fight.

Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Kaufman.

WINNER: Kaufman via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)

STAR RATING: (*) That wasn't much of a fight. It was a five round sparring match where Kaufman was clearly better on the feet but seemingly refused to press further than she did. Basically, if you skipped the fight you missed nothing here tonight, and that's disappointing because it could have been much better.

-Well that's another Challengers event in the books. Next up is the WEC on Versus next weekend, so make sure to check back with us throughout the week as we head into coverage of that event.

BELLATOR NEWS: Welterweight tournament matchups announce, first round takes place on April 15th, April 22nd events

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:30:59 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

More bouts are set for Bellator Fighting Championships' second season, as the organization announced the matchups for the welterweight tournament on Friday.

The first round will open up on the second event of the season on April 15th, as Ben Askren (3-0) will face off against by far his most experienced opponent in former UFC fighter Ryan Thomas (10-3). The rest of the opening round bouts take place on this season's third event the following week on April 22nd.

One of the favorites to win the tournament, Dan Hornbuckle (19-2) draws Sean Pierson (9-4) in the first round, while Jacob McClintock (6-0) faces "Judo" Jim Wallhead (18-5) and Steve Carl (12-1) takes on Brett Cooper (12-5).

Bellator airs live every Thursday nights for twelve weeks beginning on April 8th on Fox Sports Net.

Penick's Analysis: These are some very interesting first round matchups for this tournament, the most intriguing of which is the Askren-Thomas matchup on the 15th. Askren, the former NCAA D-1 Wrestling Champion, is the least experienced fighter in the tournament, and he's facing the fighter who has faced some of the stiffest competition of any of the eight fighters in Thomas. A win over Thomas would be huge for Askren, and would build even more intrigue for him going forward in the tournament. All of the fights should be competitive, but that one definitely should raise some eyebrows.

UFC QUOTABLES: Brock Lesnar says Frank Mir should focus on Carwin, hopes Mir wins to set up a rematch

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:44:52 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Fighting has come so far in such a short amount of time. We want to perceive ourselves as athletes and get the respect of the general public. Yeah it was out of line but in the fighters mentally I don't want to go in the Octagon and kill somebody but I do want to do whatever I can to win. And maybe that's what he was saying, I don’t know... But the guy should probably just focus on the task in front of him which is Shane Carwin because if Shane Carwin beats his ass he won't be fighting me.... Hopefully he gets past Shane Carwin so I can put another beat down on him. For a guy to take an ass whopping like the last I gave him and for him to get up and keep running his mouth. You know I just got to laugh at it... But I am truly hoping that Frank wins this fight so it sets us up for July and maybe the next beat down will ... (laughs) I don't know what I have to do to shut him up."

-Brock Lesnar talks to the Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN in Minneapolis (transcription by Nick Thomas at BloodyElbow.com) about Frank Mir's recent comments and hoping he gets another chance to fight him.

Penick's Analysis: This is the much more subdued side of Lesnar that comes out when he's talking to an interviewer he's familiar with, as he's friends with Power Trip host "The Superstar" Mike Morris. If Mir does get past Carwin it sets up what could very well be the biggest drawing fight in the UFC's history, and Lesnar clearly has no problem getting another crack at Mir to try to replicate what he did at UFC 100. We've got a month to go until Mir and Carwin face off, so now, as Lesnar said, it's time for Mir to focus on Carwin or that fight won't come to pass.

[Brock Lesnar art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

ALL BUSINESS: The UFC's 10 Year Expansion Plan - Step 2.5 - A Night At The Theater

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:56:43 PST
By Alvin Benjamin Carter III, MMA Torch Specialist

The buyrate predictions and estimates for UFC 108, UFC 109, and UFC 110 range between about 300,000 - 450,000. At the very least that means over 900,000 homes ordered a $50 pay-per-view event in the first two months of this year. That seems decent given the country's current economic and labor situation, but all three events combined pale in comparison to last years UFC 101 that had approximately 1,000,000 pay-per-view buys. There have been a number of strong cards since UFC 101, but $50 can be a heavy price tag if fans are not emotionally invested in any of the fighters or match-ups on the card.

A new business venture with Fathom Events might breath excitement into the less popular UFC fight cards by showing the live pay-per-view broadcast at select movie theaters across the country. The first event in this deal to be shown in theaters will be UFC 111, and it will most likely have a strong buyrate in comparison to the previous events this year. There are two title fights (George St. Pierre is defending his Welterweight title against Dan Hardy, and Frank Mir and Shane Carwin fighting for the Interim Heavyweight belt), and any event with GSP is usually popular.

This becomes a milestone event because the UFC is adding another revenue stream in the form of box office sales. The event in my area, Massachusetts, is going for $21 if you include the $1 service fee. This price seems more palatable compared to the $50 I would spend at home. The theater broadcasts might help slightly less popular UFC events, but it is good idea that the movie theater experiment start with a strong fight card like UFC 111. If fans can get behind the first one or two events that are broadcast in theaters, it might create a stable alternate viewing experience in communities across the country. Less popular cards might still draw people because of the experience of going to the theater with a group of friends, their fight team or gym members, or even by themselves if they just want to be around other people who enjoy mixed martial arts.

In reality the assumption is someone usually orders the pay-per-view, and a couple of friends bring wings or a few bucks as a donation for being allowed to watch the fights and get buffalo sauce all over the couch. So, you ask why go out and pay $20 instead of the $10 you would give your friend as a gesture? Well compare it to people who like going to bars versus staying in the house. It is a lot cheaper for everyone to chip-in at the liquor store, but people seem to have more fun spending $20 - $80 at the bar (depending on people's social habits). People go out for the atmosphere and all of the unexpected happenings that would not take place at home. The same could prove true for going to the theater to watch the UFC. Plus, I doubt most people have a screen as large as the one in theaters. Other perks are the concession stands (no food preparation or waiting for deliveries) and not having to clean up after a bunch of people.

This move to the theaters is can be considered an assertion of brand dominance. Currently, all three major MMA promotions (UFC, Strikeforce, and Bellator) have some version of an international broadcast deal, and a live event deal in the case of the UFC. These deals scale relatively to each companies size, but they increase the legitimacy of each promotions brand. The UFC has taken their brand a step further by taking the chance of adding another viewing option to a model that was already working out pretty well. Moves like this are made by dominate companies looking to innovate in their industry- mixed martial arts in this case.

The math could get interesting as far as earnings go. There will be the live gate, the pay-per-view buyrate, and box office ticket sales. The buyrates and box office ticket sales might have an inverse relationship, but theaters only have a limited number seats so there does not seem to be a large chance of the theater sales completely destroying the pay-per-view sales. According to Fathom's list of participating theaters, 323 movie theaters across the country will be playing the film. Link to ( Fathom Events Participating Theater List)

To give an extremely moderate estimation, let's say an average of 300 people go to each theater to watch UFC 111. That makes for 96,900 viewers, and $1,938,000 in box office sales. The box office sales could be significantly larger depending on how many seats are in a theater, and how many theaters in each movieplex are airing the fight. Another, possible revenue stream depending each theaters staffing ability is merchandise. While it might be a logistical nightmare to get merchandise to all 323 theaters, it would definitely increase the nights take.

I would not classify this as the next step in making MMA the most popular sport in the world by 2020, but I would say this is the next step in reminding everyone that the UFC is the most dominant MMA brand at the moment (and for who knows how long).

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Follow Alvin on Twitter: @AwwwSnap

Alvin Benjamin Carter III is an MMATorch Specialist columnist focusing on the business and statistic side of the sport of MMA. He trains in SanDa / Shan Shou (Chinese Kickboxing) and has started training in MMA. He also has a business background in music production, management, and clothing. He has launched two companies which cater to niche markets, giving him experience in examining trends and attitudes that can affect a particular business model, which he applies in his weekly column for MMATorch to the sport of MMA.

[Participating Movie Theaters List is from Fathom Events website: http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Sports/event/UFC_PierrevsHardy.aspx]

UFC NEWS: Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry, Gilbert Yvel vs. Ben Rothwell coming to Vancouver at UFC 115

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:38:33 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Mirko Cro Cop was expected to meet Ben Rothwell in his next bout after Rothwell was forced out of their UFC 110 meeting with an illness, but now both fighters will be facing different opponents their next time out, according to separate reports from MMAJunkie.com.

Rothwell will now be meeting Gilbert Yvel at UFC 115 in Vancouver on June 12th, and Yvel's originally rumored opponent Pat Barry will be facing off against Cro Cop on the same card.

Cro Cop defeated last minute replacement Anthony Perosh at UFC 110 last weekend in Australia, while Barry will be returning for the first time since October's UFC 104 event, where he scored a double bonus for "Knockout of the Night" and "Fight of the Night".

Yvel will be making his second appearance in the Octagon after losing his debut to Junior Dos Santos last month. Rothwell as well lost his Octagon debut, to Cain Velasquez last October, also at UFC 104.

UFC 115 is expected to take place at the GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the UFC's first trip to B.C. It is set to feature the third bout between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz in the night's main event.

Penick's Analysis: I like both of these matchups better than the originally rumored fights. Cro Cop vs. Barry should be one hell of a slugfest. The possibilities of major damage caused by kicks is highly exciting. For Yvel and Rothwell, both had recent success outside of the Octagon before stumbling out of the gate in the UFC, so it gives both a chance to turn that around. This card is shaping up nicely for the Vancouver fans' first crack at UFC action.

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 2 of 3): Should UFC add a Women's Division as Strikeforce has done? Pelkey, Walker, Amadi, Leet, Shelby

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:12:32 PST

MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

They will when it's time, but that time isn't now. Women's MMA is still five years away from having enough quality competitors to justify the UFC having a full-fledged division, and they shouldn't have any women's fights until it reaches that point. There's also the issue of weight classes. The two biggest stars of women's MMA - Cyborg Santos and Gina Carano - also happen to be the only two quality fighters their size. Marloes Coenan belongs at 135, not 145. There's almost enough depth for a 135 lb. division, and there's plenty at 125, but the problem is most of those fighters are Japanese and its tough to create stars when they don't speak the language.

JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

The UFC should absolutely not have a Women’s Division. Strikeforce is an excellent guinea pig for the UFC. They are trying it, and proving what Dana White said to be true. There are just not enough good women to have a division with. Cyborg is far and away the most dangerous woman on the planet, and she’s tearing through opponents faster than Strikeforce can produce them. That isn’t really conducive to the deep competitive divisions the UFC aims for.

LARAMEY LEET

Most definitely not! There are just not enough women at the moment. I do think that Zuffa does need to get into a little competition with Strikeforce on the women’s league. I think that WEC needs to offer the Women's Division. It would make more sense to have the women participate in a smaller promotion until there are several women in the division. Who doesn’t want to see The Ultimate Fighter for women!

WESLEY WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

No way should the UFC add a Women's Division. There is only one fight anyone cared about in the Women's Division - Santos vs. Carano. No one cares about other fights in the Women's Division. Plus, as you saw, no one can compete with Santos as she killed Carano and her last opponent. There is not enough parity to add a Women’s Division to the UFC.

TOBEN SHELBY, MMATORCH AUDIO COHOST

In an ideal scenario, we’d see a Women’s Division in the UFC at some point. However, at the moment most of the talent is attached to Strikeforce and makes that organization stand out. Women fighting inside the Octagon would, I believe, propel women’s MMA to another level. But for now, I don’t think there’s the wealth of known talent out there to make it feasible for the UFC. If the UFC really wanted to take a shot at it, a season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring a female cast could be appealing.

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To access a list of the most recent previous Roundtable articles, CLICK HERE (or App Users click on the "OPINIONS" category at the bottom of the screen).

DREAM FIGHT: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez - Breaking down likely strategies and predicting the outcome

By Adam Schwartzbard, MMATorch Specialist — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:08:07 PST

Is there a more exciting division right now in MMA than the UFC Heavyweight Division? After watching UFC 110, I had to stop the Dream match up I was working on and focus on the stacked heavyweight division - and specifically the four man mini-tournament that I am "Dreaming" the UFC makes happen.

Instead of having the Mir-Carwin winner fight Lesnar upon his return, I am hoping the UFC has Lesnar face the red hot Cain Velasquez, with the winner taking on the Mir-Carwin winner to determine the undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

What are the chances the UFC does in fact go this route as opposed to giving the Mir-Carwin winner the first shot at the title, as Dana White has already indicated? And if this fight does happen, how will it be fought? Two-top level wrestlers often make for a stand up war. Will it be the case in this fight? We will examine all this and more in this Dream Fight for UFC Heavyweight Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez.

I, for one, think the UFC would be far better off having Lesnar fight Velasquez, with the winner taking on the Mir-Carwin winner. This would be a similar situation to the recent four-man "tournament" which featured the return of the then UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture facing Lesnar, with the winner fighting the winner of the Interim Title bout between Mir and Big Nog.

This time around, the returning UFC Heavyweight Champion is Lesnar and by having him face Velasquez first, followed by the unification bout with the Mir-Carwin winner, the UFC would maximize the intrigue within the division. As of now, Dana White has said this will not be the case unless the Mir-Carwin winner is unable to fight, but I believe the UFC will change that decision and make the four-man mini-tournament happen, and will give us a great fight between Lesnar and Velasquez.

The biggest x factor in this fight will simply be Lesnar’s health and the potential lingering effects the illness will have on him, not to menion his overall ring rust. This is the one aspect when analyzing this fight that is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to establish and determine how it will play out. Of course, we never know for sure how fights will play out, but we can intelligently analyze them based on strengths and weaknesses, previous fights and other factors. In this fight, however, Lesnar will be returning to the ring after an extremely long layoff, and he will also be returning from a devastating illness that caused him great physical deterioration. If is not the same fighter, he may not be able to handle Velasquez, who seems to get better with every fight.

Lesnar, if healthy, will be the larger and stronger man, something Velasquez himself has acknowledged as a major hurdle in this fight. He has vowed to outwork and outlast the larger Lesnar and take advantage of him later in the fight. We have seen Lesnar get winded, and it is an interesting strategy. In order for it to work, Velasquez would need to survive without incurring too much damage into the later rounds. Although it is possible, I actually think Velasquez's best chance to win this fight would be with his striking; I have mentioned in previous articles that we really have not seen Lesnar’s chin completely tested. As soon as Mir hit him at UFC 100 with the flying knee, he quickly took Mir down and was able to recover. If Velasquez is able to strike with Lesnar, he may have a chance to knock him out, similar to what he just did to Big Nog.

The strategy for Lesnar to win this fight would be the same for him in almost every fight: take down his opponent, use his superior strength to control him on the ground, and eventually pound him out.

Velasquez is an excellent wrestler himself and would pose all sorts of problems for Lesnar. He will not go down easily, and once he is down I don’t think he will be easy to control and keep there. He has excellent technique and is a strong enough guy to make Lesnar work extremely hard to keep him on the ground. Because they are both great wrestlers, that aspect of the fight can be neutralized, making this more of a stand up war, which would be an advantage to Velasquez. Overall, for Lesnar to win this fight, he will need to utilize his superior strength to control Velasquez and try to finish the fight in the first couple of rounds.

Dream Fight Prediction: This has the chance to be an epic heavyweight battle, and it's one that could go both ways. Assuming Lesnar is completely healthy when this fight takes place, I am picking him to win this fight via ground and pound. I think he will be able to use his superior strength to control the fight and eventually pound Velasquez out. It will not be the last we hear from hear Velasquez, and I would not be surprised if he eventually does win the UFC Heavyweight Championship, I just do not think it his time right now.

ROUNDTABLE (pt. 3 of 3): Which fighters would be most intriguing to see jump from UFC to Strikeforce? Penick, Hyden, Debar, Rowland, Leet

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:39:21 PST

CORY DEBAR, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Cheick Kongo would be a great fighter to see in Strikeforce because he could possibly square off against Alistair Overeem. Here are two fighters that match up well stylistically speaking. And second, Clay Guida to fight Gilbert Melendez in a rematch for the Strikeforce Lightweight Title. Here is a great fighter in Guida who will probably have a difficult time ever seeing an opportunity at a Lightweight Title in the UFC.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Anderson Silva would be my first choice. I'd just like to see him crush everyone in a second organization. Jon Fitch would also be a good choice. I'd like to see what he could do in the Welterweight Division. Rampage going to Strikeforce would also be really cool. Silva vs. anyone in Strikeforce would be worth the money. Fitch I'd put up against Nick Diaz or Jake Shields. I'd put Rampage vs. King Mo.

GREG ROWLAND, MMATORCH AUDIO COHOST

I'd like to see one of AKA's Welterweights to move to Strikeforce. Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, and Mike Swick have created a logjam in the UFC 170 division that I want to see cleared up. I could see Fitch as the most likely to leave as he is the only one of the three who isn't a TUF guy, and I think he could beat Nick Diaz to win the Strikeforce title. Also, because I am a sucker for goofballs (see Wes Sims) and Strikeforce seems to be willing to feed them (see 'Mayhem' Miller) I'd like to see "Filthy" Tom Lawler get some airtime over in Strikeforce.

LARAMEY LEET

I would like to see Cheick Kongo go to Strikeforce. He has really hit a slump in his career and he needs to get back on the winning track. I think that at the moment he is really one-dimensional and he needs to work on his ground game and boxing skills. He is an amazing kick boxer, but that is all he brings to the table. Kongo lost two fights back-to-back by Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez. He will not get an easy fight in the UFC so he needs to depart. Kongo could really shake up the whole heavyweight division. You could match him against Brett Rogers or Antonia “Big Foot” Silva; there are plenty of match ups that would be good fights for him in Strikeforce. My next guy would have to be Nate Diaz. His early career in the UFC was okay, but in his last four fights he has lost three. With his competition bettering and his performance staying the same, he needs to join his brother in Strikeforce. Since the lightweight division is not strong at Strikeforce, Diaz could most definitely be close to the top. There are many more that could make the transition to Strikeforce to better their record.

JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Kenny Florian is a favorite of mine, but B.J. Penn is probably too much for him. Away from him, he’d definitely reign as the number two lightweight fighter in the world for a long time. I’d like to see him face Shinya Aoki, Josh Thomson, and Gilbert Melendez right away. I think Wanderlei Silva is past the point of being a top guy, and would be fun in StrikeForce’s Middleweight or Light-Heavyweight division. They don’t really have a lot of top guys in StrikeForce, but Wanderlei would be an exciting fighter, and they have so many of those, it would be fun. A fight with Wanderlei Silva and Melvin Manhoef would be insane; probably very bad for Wanderlei, but fun to watch nonetheless.

JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I'd be very interested to see Jon Fitch or Thiago Alves in the Welterweight Division in Strikeforce, if only to see fights against two guys. Either of them against Nick Diaz or Jake Shields would make for a very exciting fight against top-flight 170 pounders, and that would be something I think a lot of fans would want to see.

STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Weigh in results for Strikeforce: Challengers: Kaufman vs. Hashi

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:39:27 PST

Weigh-ins took place today for tomorrow night's Strikeforce: Challengers event from the San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA, and all fighters on the card made weight. The night's main event competitors are fighting for Strikeforce's first Women's 135lb Championship, and both Takayo Hashi and Sarah Kaufman came in well under the weight limit. Full results of the weigh-ins are below:

Main Televised Card

-Takayo Hashi (132) vs. Sarah Kaufman (133.8)
-Karl Amoussou (184.5) vs. Trevor Prangley (185)
-Paul Bradley (186) vs. Luke Rockhold (185)
-Tarec Saffiedine (170) vs. James Terry (169)
-Raul Castillo (183) vs. Yancy Medeiros (185.5)

Preliminary Card

-Eric Lawson (185.5) vs. Wayne Phillips (183.5)
-*Samuel Bracamnonte (180) vs. Chris Stewart (182.5)
-*Tristan Arenal (156) vs. George Miller (155.8)
-*Jesse Tobar (141.5) vs. Johnson Nguyen (144.8)
-*Renee Robinson (141) vs. Lilia Salas (145)
-*Steve Dickey (242.8) vs. Alan Lummel (253)
-*Ronald Carillo (132.8) vs. Anthony De Los Santos (136)

*-Amateur bouts

UFC NEWS: Ricardo Funch out of UFC 111 prelims, newcomer Greg Soto steps in against Matt Riddle

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:17:54 PST
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Welterweight prospect Ricardo Funch has been forced out of his UFC 111 bout with Matt Riddle according to a report from MMAJunkie.com. His reasoning for pulling out of the bout was not known at the time of the report.

Stepping into his spot is UFC newcomer Greg Soto, a 7-0 professional who is a training partner of UFC fighter Kurt Pellegrino. A Brazilian jiu jitsu brown belt out of Kurt Pellegrino's Mixed Martial Arts academy in New Jersey, Soto has picked up five submission victories in his seven fights.

Riddle is 3-1 in his professional career, all of his bouts have come in the Octagon. He debuted with the organization as a member of the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, and posted three straight decision victories before losing his first bout to Nick Osipczak at UFC 105.

UFC 111 takes place from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, on March 27th on pay-per-view, headlined by a Welterweight Title bout between Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Soto is an exciting undefeated fighter coming in with some definite buzz behind him, and it should make for an entertaining debut against Riddle on this undercard. With seven of the fights already guaranteed to air, he'll have a great chance to get his debut on either the Spike or pay-per-view broadcast. This 111 event has been hit by a couple of injuries, but all in all it's the best top to bottom card the UFC has had in 2010.