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MMA NOTES-
Arena Rumble II, the first-ever World Class Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to come to Yakima Washington, will be held November 28th at 7 PM at the Yakima Sundome. The main event of Arena Rumble II will feature a lightweight bout between Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm (13-0) and Alonzo “Zo Diddy” Martinez (24-13-1).

Bellator Fighting Championships will shift from its original home on Spanish-language ESPN Deportes to FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo for the next two seasons, the U.S.-based mixed-martial- arts promotion today announced.Live events will air Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net affiliates, and highlights packages will run Saturday nights on both NBC and the Spanish-language Telemundo.

Kazushi Sakuraba (25-12-1) has replaced Melvin Manhoef and takes on Zelg Galesic (9-4) at next week’s DREAM.12 event. Galesic, a Croatian striker sometimes billed as “Little Cro Cop,” looks to rebound from his Sept. 23 submission loss to Ronaldo Souza when he meets Sakuraba, who returned from a 10-month layoff and defeated boxer Rubin Williams earlier this month at DREAM.11.

Tachi Palace Fights, the reincarnation of the once-popular Palace Fighting Championships, returns for its second show on Dec. 3, and the organization has secured recent UFC fighter Xavier Foupa-Pokam (20-11), for the night’s main event. The French kickboxer takes on Mike Moreno (5-2) in a middleweight bout.

Three days before picking up a unanimous-decision win over PRIDE veteran Yuki Sasaki at Fight Festival 26 in Finland this past weekend, Sean Salmon went before the Ohio Athletic Commission and was issued a one-year administrative suspension and $2,500 fine. The suspension and fine resulted from a Sept. 2 column for a MMA Website in which Salmon, who is author of the site’s “Full-Time Fighter” blog, said he allowed opponent Allan Weickert to tap him out a June 6 NAAFS event in Ohio. The column sparked debate, and some criticized the former Ohio State wrestler for “throwing” a fight.

Referee “Big” John McCarthy was not assigned by the California State Athletic Commission to work the UFC 104 event. McCarthy, a California native, has been re-licensed in the state since November 2008, after returning from a yearlong retirement to pursue broadcasting opportunities. McCarthy has refereed and judged at multiple events in California this year.

Tokimitsu Ishizawa (1-4-1) takes on Katsuyori Shibata (3-6-1) at DREAM.12 set for Oct. 25 at Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka, Japan. Ishizawa, better known as the Japanese professional wrestler Kendo Kashin, takes his first MMA fight in nearly three years. The K-1 HERO’S veteran does have a 2000 PRIDE victory over Ryan Gracie. He meets fellow wrestler Shibata, who’s fought throughout Japan and recently snapped a 0-6-1 snap with a unanimous-decision win over Ikuhisa Minowa at DREAM.8.

UFC veteran Diego Saraiva (13-8-1) looks for his fifth win in seven fights when he takes on Yagin (13-3-1), a longtime SuperBrawl fighter who’s riding a five-fight win streak at Tachi Palace Fights’ second show on Dec. 3.

The former PRIDE and UFC fighter Akihiro Gono meets SpiritMC veteran Yoon Young Kim (12-4) at the upcoming show for World Victory Road’s Sengoku 11th Battle. Sengoku 11th Battle takes place Nov. 7 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. The event airs in North America on HDNet.

Anthony Pettis was recently forced out of his lightweight bout with Rob McCullough (17-5 MMA, 8-3 WEC). McCullough will face WEC newcomer Karen Darabedyan (8-1 MMA, 0-0 WEC) at next month’s WEC 44 event. The show takes place at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and the night’s four-fight main card airs on Versus.
Source: gerweck.net

Credit: A1 Wrestling Newsletter

Press Release

BILOXI, Miss. (May 21, 2009) – Fresh off his 24-second destruction of Mike Cook, former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley called his June 27th showdown against Bob “The Beast” Sapp in the “Ultimate Chaos” pay-per-view event headliner, live from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi, the “Battle of the Giants.”

Ultimate Chaos,” presented by Prize Fight Promotions and Fight Force International, in association with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum, Treasure Bay Casino and Budweiser, is being produced and distributed by Gotham MMA and Integrated Sports at 9:00PM ET/6:00PM PT in the United States and Canada on cable and satellite Pay Per View via iNDemand, TVN, DirecTV, Bell TV, Shaw, Star Choice and Viewer’s Choice for a suggested retail price of only $29.95.

The 6-2, 255-pound Lashley, 3-time NAIA wrestling champion at Missouri Valley College, is an incredible physical specimen. Bobby joined the U.S. Army and was a 2-time Armed Forces Champion and 2002 Military Games Championship silver medalist. Two years ago, the chiseled Lashley became a WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) superstar, joining Donald Trump at Wrestlemania 23 in a bet against WWE president Vince McMahon. Lashley won the match and helped Trump shave McMahon’s head in the ring.

Bobby’s third pro MMA fight was a major hit last weekend as he displayed tremendous power submitting Cook, who had taunted the unbeaten Lashley by wearing a pro wrestling-type mask into their fight, with a near spine-snapping Guillotine choke. Bobby looked like a much more polished MMA fighter than he did in his previous three-round decision against Jason Guida.

“He tried to get in my head but I wasn’t going to let him,” Bobby explained. “He probably saw that the opponent in my previous fight had gotten a little in my head, but I learned from that experience and just shrugged it off this time. I trained hard and knew I was ready for that fight. My cardio was great and I worked on my boxing. I’ve reached a level of validation. When he put that mask on, I was only concerned with being validated to my opponent. The WWE thing will always be there, whether I have three or 300 MMA fights, but I’m glad that I have that WWE fanbase.”

Lashley fights a larger man for the first time in MMA action when he steps into the cage against an imposing 6-4, 350-pound Sapp (10-3-1), who played in the NFL for four years before becoming an iconic combat fighter in Japan, where he starred in PRIDE and K-1.

“Most heavyweights (in MMA) weigh 230-240 and that’s the size of guys I’ve fought,” Lashley said. “But I’m fighting a huge opponent in this coming fight. This guy must have weighed 370 at the press conference. Even if he gets down to 340, he’ll still outweighs me by around 85 pounds. Sapp’s really aggressive and I know he’s going to come out hard. He won’t be able to go through me, though. He’s strong but his weakness is in the gas tank, even though I know he’s training hard for this fight. It’s going to be a good fight.

“We liked this fight when it was first offered. When I fight there’s always been a ‘but’ after it. It was a good fight but …….fill in the blank. Well, I’m fighting a bigger guy who’s popular overseas. I don’t think this fight will go long. It certainly won’t be a long, drawn-out fight. There will be a lot of heavy blows, lots of banging – ‘Battle of the Giants!’ I’m training right now back home in Colorado. I like working in the altitude but I’ll probably make a brief trip to train (with American Top Team) in Florida where there are a lot of big guys at our fight club. I may have to stack three guys up (to simulate Sapp, Bobby jokingly said). I have some big guys here I’m training with. They not be quite as big as Sapp, but they’re big, very strong and have heavy hands like Bob.”

Controversial Dutch heavyweight Gilbert “The Hurricane” Yvel (35-13-3) takes on 3-time UFC title challenger Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (16-8-0) in an intriguing co-feature. Former King Of The Cage and Gladiator Challenge champion Javier “Showtime” Vasquez (12-2-0) meets dangerous lightweight Din “Dinyero” Thomas (24-8-0), star of The Ultimate Fighter 4; Canadian lightweight sensation Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki (12-1-0) faces 4-time World Muay Thai champion William “The Bull” Sriyapai (12-4-0).

Also fighting on the card are welterweights Brett Cooper (8-4-0) vs. Waachiim “Native Warrior” Spirit Wolf (5-4), Affliction vice president Tom Atencio (1-0) vs. pro debuting lightweight Randy Hedderick, middleweight James Orso (8-3-0) vs. Colby McMahan (3-1-0), The Ultimate Fighter 3 star Danny Abbadi (3-4-0) vs. veteran middleweight Lance Thomson (4-2-0); welterweight Eric Bradley (2-1-0), 2-time All-America wrestler and 2003 NCAA boxing champion at Penn State, vs. Belfast, Northern Ireland brawler Colin McKee (3-2-0). All fights and fighters are subject to change.

Tickets are priced at $25.00 (limited discount seating), $40.00 (general admission) and $55.00 (premium reserved seating) and sale at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum and all TicketMaster outlets.

For more information go to www.theultimatechaos.com, www.fightforce.org or www.mscoastcoliseum.com. Doors open at 5PM/CT, first fight 6 PM/CT, and the first PPV fight is at 8 PM/CT.

 

- So there we have it’s now 100% official! I am just hoping Bravo or another satellite channel in the UK grab the chance to air this for us MMA fans not stateside.

 

MMA blog by Dynamite Duane

duane@bluraymma.com

www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Pay per view review

As often is the case the UFC doesn’t rely on one fight as the main event but rather feature a double main event to sell their monthly pay per views. In this case of the UFC return to Canada UFC 97 featured one championship title clash from Anderson ‘Spider’ Silva challenged by top contender Thales Leites, backed up by a fight featuring arguably the most marketable face of the UFC ‘The Iceman’ Chuck Liddell. Skipping forward to the two main events we’ll take a detailed look at both bouts.

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Liddell’s opponent on the night was Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, both

Light-heavyweights had something to prove tonight in Montreal. Chuck the most recognisable MMA fighter in the world, with a distinct look plus a great fighter who put the UFC firmly in the mainstream along with Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture and Tito Ortiz, is now at a junction in his career. When I first started watching the UFC Liddell was the exciting dominant light-heavyweight champion who consistently won by knocking his opponents to the deck. Time has passed Liddell’s star is fading following a succession of losses inside the octagon. It is make or break versus Shogun. Then we have Rua another fighter with past glories on a comeback trail. The difference with Rua is he a younger fighter than Chuck who has been recovering from an injury for a long time. Will Shogun return to his form in Pride or will Liddell surprise us? Let’s see what went down in this decisive fight for Liddell and Shogun.

Round 1)

First round underway, Shogun looks noticeable light and nibble with great footwork. Liddell receives some brutal leg kicks from Shogun to weaken his defence. On the ground Shogun attempts a leg submission on Liddell. The action is up and down from the mat and back to an upright position. Chuck shoots in on Rua taking him down but he defends well standing back up. In a flash Rua knocks down former champ Liddell, pounces on his him laying in hammer fists. The Iceman was down and out! He didn’t know what had happened, asking referee Mario Yamazaki what had happened. Rua got the TKO win.

Liddell and Rua gave us an exciting scrap with a decisive win, but perhaps not the fighter most fans wanted to win. Sad to see Liddell lose again but it seems his best is past him. The fight could possibly be the last appearance inside the octagon for the Iceman. For Rua it pushes him higher up the ladder towards the gold with this impressive performance.

Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva vs. Thales Leites

- Middleweight Championship fight

The story here is we have Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva the seemingly undefeatable champion a master Muay Thai kickboxer who is great on the ground defending against Thales Leites a fantastic BJJ practioner unbeaten in the UFC since 2006. Both men are Brazilians so neither are as marketable as an English speaking fighter both none the less both are outstanding martial artists. Anderson Silva is up there as one of the top 3 pound for pound best fighters in the world so Leites has a tough contest ahead of him but would the Canadian fans get their money’s worth?

Round 1)

Just before the first round Georges St Pierre shown sitting in the front row gets a huge ovation from his Montreal fan base. Both fighters are slow getting started; Silva keeps his arms low inviting his opponent in, as he is a fighter who plays the counter attack game. Silva sweep kicks Leites off of his feet landing him on the canvas. Silva despite possessing excellent BJJ skills stays standing deciding not to follow, letting Leites back up to his feet.

Round 2)

In the second round Leites takes down Silva, he defends well underneath eventually regaining a standing position. On their feet neither fighter show any clear sign of wanting to win, making it frustrating viewing. The fighting spirit is missing.

Round 3)

The fight continues into the third round of this five round title fight. Throughout the round Anderson avoids Leites guard repeatedly creating pauses in the action. We hear chants of GSP! GSP! He’s not in this fight but the Montreal fans make it clear he’s the man to beat Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva. Forget the idea of a BJ Penn and GSP rematch a dream match-up of GSP versus Silva is the way to go. By the sounds of the crowd the Montreal fans will lap it up! Back to what is happening inside the octagon and it is much of the same – Leites laying on his back but Silva wants no part in a BJJ contest.

Round 4)

The way it looks by round four we have Silva mentally winning as he frustrates Leites but the Brazilian is not doing enough to finish the fight. Silva shimmies, putting on a show as he dominates in the striking game. Anderson is amazingly nibble and loose limbed making it hard for Leites to get him to the ground.

Round 5)

Here we are the fifth and final round of the middleweight title contest. Silva is without a doubt intelligently defending himself appearing unscathed but the fight is rarely exciting. Chants of BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! Followed by GSP! Then boos are heard from the crowd. Silva wins on a judge’s decision but failed to entertain the masses. Was it his fault? Both fighters could be to blame if we are to be fair. Despite not putting on the fight the fans wanted Anderson set the record for the most championship defences. Plus it was the first time he had gone the distance since September 2004.

The rest of the PPV from the bottom up:

Luis Cane vs. Steve Cantwell – Light Heavyweight

A tough stand-up battle fought over the 3 round the time limit. Brazilian Cane won this close fight on a decision over Cantwell, the last WEC Light Heavyweight titleholder.

Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk – Heavyweight

A battle of heavy hitters that was won by fan favourite Kongo using a successful strategy of taking the fight to the ground thus besting the Dutchman with brutal ground and pound in the second round. Another impressive victory for the French man.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann – Light Heavyweight

Canadian Soszynski successfully beat Stann in the 1^st round via Kimura submission for the tap-out win. Very impressive.

Sam Stout vs. Matt Wiman - Lightweight

(Aired from the preliminary card) A fast paced contest that became a pure battle of wills between 2 young warriors of the cage. After 3 tough rounds Canadian Sam Stout is declared the winner on the judges scorecard.

Some great performances from the Canadian fan favourites. Unfortunately it was a shame Silva versus Leites did not deliver.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to PPV on May 23^rd for UFC 98 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. Top of the bill will see Lyoto Machida challenging Rashad Evans for his Light Heavyweight crown. Co-headlining for UFC 98 will be the long-delayed welterweight bout between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.

MMA blog by Dynamite Duane

duane@bluraymma.com

www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane