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:
Versus released the full video of the unaired WEC 47 "Fight of the Night" between George Roop and Leonard Garcia. Click to see the fight...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
The Audio Choke is back 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! Click for the audio link...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
"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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
Saturday night'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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
The MMATorch Rankings are back. The MMATorch staff has sent in their rankings for each major weight division recognized by UFC. Fedor, Silva, St. Pierre, Penn top the lists, which is no surprise, but click to find out how Lesnar fared among the heavyweights, who right under Penn for best Lightweight, and where Strikeforce's Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, and Dan Henderson landed...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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. [CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch. BlogTalkRadio is customized for both the web and your mobile phone.[CONTINUE READING]
Bantamweights and featherweights are in the spotlight tonight on Versus, as World Extreme Cagefighting returns to the network for WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz. With a Bantamweight Championship bout between Brian Bowles and Dominick Cruz in the main event and former Champ Miguel Torres fighting in the night's penultimate bout. As always we will bring our live round by round coverage of the event as it airs, so tune in tonight at 10PM ET/7PM PT as the card begins!...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
“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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
"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...[CONTINUE READING]
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. For full results...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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. [CONTINUE READING]
ESPN.com's MMA live previews Saturday's WEC 47 event, and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker joins the program to discuss recent fight signings. Click link to see video:[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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!)...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
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...[CONTINUE READING]
