BlurayMMA.com

This month BluRayMMA.com is proud to introduce a new member to the team, welcome on board Gareth Doherty, debuting via an interview with TUF 4 veteran Rich Clementi.

On a cold winters night in Belfast, Northern Ireland “Cage Wars – Nightmare” raged with a clearly partisan crowd, having witnessed two local fighters crowned victorious with Colin “The Gift” McKee (7-2) beating BJJ Brown Belt Neydson Santos Ferreira (0-1) via TKO taking “The Gift” on a seven fight winning streak. Also victorious was Lee “The Dragon” McKibbin (3-5) defeating UFC veteran John ‘”The Machine” Lober (5-9-4) via standing guillotine choke in only 45 seconds, then it was time for the main event.

The home crowd hoped that the top three fights could be rounded out with victories from the home fighters. The main event featured another UFC veteran Rich “No Love” Clementi (34-15-1) vs Chris “Menace 2 Society” Stringer (5-10-1) with Stringer taking the fight on a months notice after Peter “Slam” Duncan (4-5) got injured. The first stanza begins with both fighters exchanging on their feet until Stringer catches a kick and takes Clementi to the ground. The crowd erupts in what seems to be the local fighter gaining control, however Clementi remains calm and we soon see why, with Stringer being reversed and put on his back with “No Love” living up to his moniker by seeing out the round with strong elbows from the top.

The second round shows a determined Clementi taking to the cage and employing superior wrestling skills to take the fight to the ground where the barrage of elbows start anew until Stringer is caught in a triangle choke and forced to tap 3:11 into the second round. Within ten minutes of the fight ending the hall was empty. Five minutes later I was conducting this interview in Clementi’s changing room among the well wishers after his victory. Sporting no signs of injury apart from a cut on his left foot received from landing a kick on Stringers elbow.

Clementi was relaxed saying training went well for the fight and was happy to be back in Northern Ireland again having previously seen his student JC Pennington (19-9-1) victorious at Cage Wars Decade. Among his trips included an opportunity to come over for UFC 72 also in Belfast, where he had accepted a fight with Dustin “McLovin” Hazelett (12-4) on two days notice however Hazelett’s opponent was passed fit, so his time was spent drinking instead.

Clementi known for his time on season 4 of the Ultimate Fighter had mixed views on his association with the UFC saying, as others had, that the TUF house was not an enjoyable place but was thankful his season was full of seasoned professionals. The show helped rejuvenate his career with notable victories coming inside the octagon over Anthony Johnson, Melvin Guillard and Terry Etim. “No Love”’s girlfriend, shortly after standing on his injured foot, stated she feared for him whenever she saw Anthony Johnson (a man who weighs as much as 200 pounds between fights) at the weigh in. Her fears were not helped when Johnson weighed in at 177.5 lbs for the welterweight bout, Clementi submitted the then unbeaten Johnson in the second.

Although believing the UFC gave him the chance “I earned what I got, I fought for them on short notice and helped them out. It was disappointing being cut, one month after I had been re-signed to another contract and to find out online that I’m not needed I feel like they could have treated me better.” Clementi was open to a return , “I’m willing to fight for anyone, anywhere or for any promotion I just want to stay active and fight as much as possible. I doubt the reason behind why any fighter wouldn’t want to be in the UFC.” Probed on Fedor’s move to Strikeforce rather than UFC, Clementi admitted “well whenever your the number 1 fighter in the world, things are different.”

Clementi was complimentary on emerging UK talent, when asked who was his toughest fight, “Terry Etim” declaring “he was quick, long and knew how to use his reach to his advantage. He needs to be watched out for and nurtured to let his skills develop, the UFC tries to make stars out of everyone and he just needs to be given the chance to fulfill his potential.” Lofty praise for Liverpool’s Etim (14-2) who has a four fight winning streak since his decision loss to Clementi at UFC 84.

Clementi’s next opponent is Derek Krantz (9-1-1) on a December 12th Louisiana show, but when asked about his dream opponent he declares “that fucking wrecking machine, you know him the Lithuanian guy, Zaromskis”. Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis (13-3) recently signed to Strikeforce and fighting out of London Shootfighters impressed with his underdog victory in the Dream Welterweight Grand Prix with two Head Kick K.O.’s bringing victory. Apparently the fact that Zaromskis is heavier and a “fucking wrecking machine” only excites Clementi who would love the chance to fight the Lithuanian.

When asked about his MMA career Clementi disputes his official 50 fight record “you know not even every fight is on my record. I knocked out Krazy Horse in Floridia in an underground show, which isnt there.” “No Love” prefers limited rules MMA, stating “ I like knees to the head on the ground, its true to the sport, I prefer the Vale Tudo style, I fought 16 men tournaments where I have had to fight three times in one night, ” Concerning the 16 man tournaments for ZST, Clementi talks of his discontent with the Kotani brothers because of the disrespect shown. He illustrates that “whenever your training for someone you hate its easier. The worst thing is if a guy disrespects you, I would wake up fantasying about the guys and what I would do to them, putting pictures of their face everywhere to keep me motivated” a sentiment also expressed regarding the Melvin Guillard fight.

The final point of discussion between Clementi and I centered upon the scoring system, with the boy from the Bayou believing “the ten point must system isn’t accurate in MMA”. He explains, “You can have a guy beat the shit out of the other guy for one round and doesn’t finish him whereas the other guy could use his jab and work around him for two rounds and will get a decision”. And with regards to a remedy to the current ailing system Clementi suggests that “increments could be used to make the difference and reflect the fight itself better”and expresses a personal preference for the Japanese style of scoring as “the fight as a whole is scored rather than the rounds.”

Clementi’s next opponent is Derek Krantz (9-1-1) at “Team 3:16 – Seasons Beatings” at Shreveport, Louisiana.

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

 

 

 

Since Dan Henderson came off victorious over Rich Franklin it would be the former Olympian filling the role as coach of Team USA. So who would be the 8 American mixed martial artists to represent their country? Tonight Dana got the contests underway to whittle down from 16 to 8 fighters.

 

If you recall from the sneak preview not everyone was fully prepared for this chance of a lifetime at winning a contract fighting inside the UFC Octagon. 2 fighters had not reached the required weight in time for the elimination fights. Dramatically in front of Dana White, Dan Henderson and the other entrants, welterweight Jason Pierce collapsed in a heap. Despite this Pierce wasn’t dismissed. The demand of cutting weight in a too short a time had taken a toll on the guy.

 

Another contestant upon medical examination was discovered to have evidence of Herpes visible on his head, John David was sent home straight away. Christian Fulgium the second fighter to not make it as far as the elimination stage just couldn’t cut the weight in time despite being given extra time so he quit.

So two fighters down out of the 16 Dana promised 2 more fighters to be revealed later on.

 

Kicking things off from the welterweights we saw Mark Miller best his friend and training partner Kevin Knabjian after 2 rounds with a TKO victory. Looked tough for them both being buddies as only one could advance to the TUF house.

 

Second fight was the first for of the lightweights, as Richie Whitson of California took on Paul Bird in a decent fight. Whitson got the win via rear naked choke.

 

The 3^rd fight saw the super strong Waylon Lowe completely dominate Santino Defranco in the 1^st round. It appeared to be all over as Defranco turtled up taking a pounding but referee Steve Mazzagatti kept him in it. Come round 2 Defranco came back with vengeance, launching at Lowe kneeing him straight on. He follows up by submitting with a chokehold to gain the win. It’s quite possible another referee would have stopped it in round 2 but then we wouldn’t have that amazing come back which made exciting viewing.

 

The next decider were between welters Berger and Jason Pierce. Remember Pierce the fella who fainted? Well he stayed the distance of the full 3 rounds winning by a decision.

 

Another pair of lightweights entered the cage – Cameron Dollar and Tom Hayden. The 1^st round is won by Hayden, which counted for little as Dollar came back in the 2^nd round submitting his opponent to win.

 

Sixth bout of the night saw Muay Thai kick boxer Roy Elbe get beaten on the ground from Damarques Johnson impressively winning via ground and pound.

 

So six members of Team USA decided and here they are below:

 

 

U.S. welterweights

 

Mark Miller – Chicago

 

Jason Pierce – Iowa.

 

DaMarques – Johnson Lake City

 

 

U.S. lightweights

 

Richie Whitson – Alaskan residing in California

 

Santino DeFranco – IFL

 

Cameron Dollar – Colorado Springs

 

 

Six made it into the house and onto the show, leaving space for two more competitors but to get into the house you have to fight first. Dana then introduced us to 2 extra guys in with a chance. One turned out to be Rob Browning brother of Junie Browning the fighter up to all the shenanigans on TUF 8. 

 

You can catch the new episode this Sunday at 11pm on Virgin 1 in the UK and if you missed last weeks view it again on Setanta Sports 1. You lucky people stateside get to see it all before us Brits on Spike TV Wednesday evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At last what seemed like a long wait is over! The new season of The Ultimate Fighter premiered this past Sunday on Virgin 1 here in the UK (Wednesday on Spike TV over in the States, hot on the heels of Ultimate Fight Night 18). 16 British fighters entered but only 8 would make it through joining Michael Bisping’s Team UK in Las Vegas.  First of all to decide who would be staying on British soil and who would earn the opportunity of a lifetime, following in the footsteps of TUF winner Bisping there would be 8 fights fought over standard UFC rules with duration of 3 x 5 minute rounds.

 

This first episode took place just before the fight pitting Rich Franklin and Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson, the decider of Team USA coach from UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland back in January. Hence both Franklin and Hendo being present since at that stage Dana White and co didn’t know which combatant would coach the Americans. Fast-forward in time we now know Hendo edged out the win over Franklin taking the decision following 3 gruelling rounds of octagon action. The great usefulness about the TUF series is not just fantastic television each week but the dual purpose of creating new UFC stars while booking 2 established UFC fighters for a big money fight afterwards, when the coaches clash one on one.

 

The elimination bouts soon got underway on Bisping’s home turf, the Wolfslair training facility, located in Widnes near Liverpool.

 

First up was Bisping’s first protégé of the night – Gary Kelly, a fellow member of Wolfslair gym, taking on Andre Winner. Despite all the encouragement from Bisping Kelly wasn’t triumphant in the octagon. Andre lived up to his name winning in fine style knocking out Gary Kelly, who was on dream street! This first fight showed what a tough group of competitors had been amassed from the British ranks of mixed martial arts. First lightweight decided for Team UK, 3 more to go.

 

Another pair of lightweight mixed martial artists entered the cage. Jeff Lawson fights out of The Bulldog gym in my hometown – Bournemouth. Lawson a submission specialist and one of the most experienced Brits selected. His opponent striker James Bryan hailing from Bath did not fare well against the vastly more experienced Lawson. Lawson submitted Bryan to join Andre Winner on Team UK.

 

First of the welterweights saw James Wilks tapout Che Mills to go through. Mills’ loss was an upset considering his calibre, but that’s the way it goes in the world of mixed martial arts.

 

The fourth cage conflict saw Martin Stapleton of Rochdale brutalise Dan James of Swansea, giving the military man a win via tapout.

 

Next to go was AJ Wenn eliminated by Ross Pearson from Sunderland, another impressive mixed martial artist winning by TKO in the second round.

 

The second welterweight fighter to make it through would be Nick Osipczak a resident of London, who bested Tommy McGuire of Peterborough with a TKO win.

 

Third fight from the welterweights featured the biggest name so far – Alex Reid, a recognised face on the UK cage fighting circuit. I first saw him on ITV’s Cage Combat programme way back in 2002. Reid faced off against Dean Amarasinghe of Nottingham a younger lesser-known fighter with a lot going for him. Reid a master of showmanship lasted the full 3 rounds thanks to his experience but it was Dean who surprised besting the veteran receiving the decision. The better man won on the day but it would have been interesting to see Reid’s antics on the show, as he is a real character.

 

One final decider to go, giving one more opportunity for a member of the Wolfslair to make the squad. David Faulkner would be the fighter and he got the job done, defeating James Bateman grabbing a tap-out victory via Heel Hook.

 

 

 

So here we have it, listed below are the Brits who flew out to Las Vegas.

 

Team UK – The Lightweights:

 

Andre Winner – London

 

Jeff Lawson – Bournemouth

 

Ross Pearson – Sunderland

 

Martin Stapleton – Rochdale

 

 

Team UK – The Welterweights:

 

David Faulkner  - Liverpool

 

James Wilks

 

Nicholas Osipczak – London

 

Dean Amarasinghe – Nottingham

 

For a complete low-down on all the shows entrants see my previous blog: http://bluraymma.com/blog/the-ultimate-fighter-us-v-uk-on-virgin-1/

 

 

 

From the brief glimpse of next weeks show it appears the Yanks are not fully prepared. We witness entrants struggling to make weight and collapsing in a heap under the strain.

 

Make sure you set a reminder on your Sky planner and series link it for Virgin 1 Sundays at 11pm – you don’t want to miss a single episode!