MMA ALL DAY

Top 10 Most Influential MMA Fighters of All Time

2008-06-22T11:32:00.001-07:00

So this entry just popped out of nowhere while I'm reading random top tens in Listverse.com. I was actually inspired by the entries over there and I just thought, what about I do a top 10 of my own? This was originally a Top 10 Most Influential Basketball Players of all time but I figured that subject would be too broad and the discussions regarding that topic would never stop. Which brings me to another sport which is really really close to my heart, Mixed Martial Arts. There, it will be easier for me to rank because the sport hasn't been around that long, unlike my first option Basketball. Plus, should I miss one fighter on that list, I think it will only be less than 10, unlike in Basketball where in I could miss twenties.

Here are the criteria that I used i choosing

a) What they have actually done for the Sport and how they helped it grow
b) Their popularity, not only in hardcore fans but in casual fans itself
c) A proven winning record from a proven winning org
d) Must be an MMA fighter (So yeah, that does not include Bruce Lee or Carlos Gracie)

Here's the list

10) Fedor Emelianenko

While arguably the best Mixed Martial Artist in the sport's short history, one reason why Fedor is this low in my rankings is because he hasn't really changed the sport drastically compared to the other 9 fighters below. Plus, add to it the fact that Fedor is basically unknown in casual fans in North America, some parts of Europe and even here in the Philippines. Fedor of course is being treated like God in Japan and Russia, which he truly deserves btw, and still the Number 1 Heavyweight in the world right now.

9) Wanderlei Silva

If you would ask a fan who's been watching MMA for quite some time, who's the most exciting fighter in Mixed Martial Arts.. I guess you'll get Wanderlei Silva 8 out of 10 times. The name Wanderlei Silva is synonymous to the words exciting and warrior. Ruled in Japan for five years, stopping legends, future champs and big named fighters at that time. He even fought guys who were heavier than him, all for the sake of his fans.. all for the sake of entertainment. Wanderlei Silva truly is one of the most influential MMA fighters of all time

8) Tito Ortiz

Along with the rise of MMA as a sport comes this blond guy who slams people, elbows them to death, give them the finger and dig a grave for them. Yes, his name is Tito Ortiz.

I'm really disappointed with how unappreciative some fans can be. While MMA was on its dark ages, Tito Ortiz was almost on everybody's mouth. Everybody was talking about Tito, heck Tito for once was one of the most feared men in the UFC. Tito was also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, defended it for five times and was a part of two of the most talked about feuds in mainstream MMA.

7) Bas Rutten

Everybody loves Bas. How can you not? He's one of the pioneers of Mixed Martial Arts and also one of the respected strikers in the sport. Bas has this charisma, which everybody seem to love and of course, the fighting pedigree to back his charisma up.

After retiring, Bas went on to be a commentator in Pride FC for Japan and there, the term was coined, "When Bas talks, everybody listens"

6) Ken Shamrock

Known to many as the most dangerous man, Ken Shamrock is also a pioneer of the sport. Having fought since UFC 1, Shamrock turned heads with his deadly submissions and hot temper. Shamrock is also the founder of the Lion's Den, an MMA team which produced great fighters back then.

Shamrock was also known for being a part of one of the most talked about feuds in MMA against Tito Ortiz. Although Ken would lose all three of their matches, Ken would always be remembered as one of the all time greats which helped popularize the sport in it's darkest times.

5) Frank Shamrock

Frank is another pioneer in the sport who may not match up with his brother's fame, but definitely has an advantage when it comes to skill set alone.

He's known as probably the first ever well rounded MMA fighter in history. Has the ability to stand up and trade with good boxers, kick boxers and muay artists and has the ability to roll with the best grapplers in the sport. That's why he's still around even if the sport has evolved ten folds.

4) Randy Couture

Just like Bas Rutten, who doesn't love Randy Couture? Well probably Dana White but he hates everybody who's against him so.. that doesn't count. Randy is probably one of the classiest fighters ever. Known for his superior wrestling skills, Couture is still the only man in UFC History to win a title five times.

However, he's more known to casual fans as "the old guy" who beats up really big people, that of course is with reference to Randy's return title match against Tim Sylvia, which he won in dominating fashion and his dominance of rising Heavyweight Contender Gabriel Gonzaga.

3) Kazushi Sakuraba

A list of the most influential fighters of all time without Kazushi Sakuraba is not only blasphemous, it's also downright disgusting. Kazushi Sakuraba is definitely the most influential Asian in the Sport. Sakuraba in Japan is like Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines.. that's how influential this guy is. Sakuraba is a part of probably the most epic battle of all time, a 90 minute war against Royce Gracie.. and at that time, that was like the equivalent of Ali vs Frazer in Boxing.

Sakuraba was known for his exciting style of fighting and never say never attitude. Back in his prime, Sakuraba would fight fighters who was 20 to 30 pounds heavier than him. That's why everybody respects him and his legacy in this sport.

2) Chuck Liddell

Do I really need to write something about this guy? Let's just say he's the king of mainstream MMA. Dominated the UFC Light Heavyweight Division for quite sometime, winning it most by knock out. If you would go out and ask a casual fan who's their favorite fighter, you would get the answer Chuck Liddell 7/10 times. Now after that, try asking them who they first saw when they first watched MMA.. you'll get the answer Chuck Liddell 9/10 times

The hype this guy is having right now is just crazy, the magazine covers, the commercials, the shirts, the mohawks.. everything. Every wants to be this guy.. that's why he's number 2 in my list.

And now the most influential fighter of all time..

1)Royce Gracie

If you're watching a street fight, and you see a dork looking dude who's fighting a guy 50 pounds heavier than him, what would you first think? PWNAGE right? Well let's say after sticking around to watch a random guy get beat, you actually saw this dork looking dude break his opponent's arm in two what would you think? Right, awesomeness.

That's exactly what I thought when I first watched Royce Gracie and I know 50% of MMA fans thought that too.

Royce is actually the one who got me interested in MMA (Alongside Tito since I watched the Gracie fights on re runs) He wasn't a man in my opinion, he was just out there, breaking arms and choking out people and nobody had a clue on how he's doing it. That turned out to be a technique called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a technique that's being used by MMA fighters now world wide.

Other fighters that are worth noting

Matt Hughes
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mark Coleman
Dan Severn
Georges St.Pierre
BJ Penn
Don Frye
Anderson Silva
Mirko Cro Cop
Pat Militech

Comments and violent reactions are recommended. :D

Thoughts on MMA weekend

2008-06-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

For hardcore MMA fans, we couldn't have been put in a better scenario (Atleast before I watched EXC Yesterday :D) One week after a monster of an event by the UFC, we were treated to two more cards in back to back days.

But the better scenario turned into one of the worst cases of "Give me a fucking break, is this shit serious?" type of impression after watching the whole Elite XC show yesterday.

I mean, I woke up early to watch an MMA show, not a fixed circus event with an internet brawling sensation who's a C-level fighter at best Kimbo Slice fighting the king of tomato cans James Thompson as the main event. Given that I didn't expect that much from the show, I was really pissed off by how this show turned out. Why?

A) Crappy camera work

There's this one point in the match where Thompson was having a standing guillotine choke on Slice and voila.. the camera turns backwards and we're stuck wondering what the hell happened on the cage. Brett Rogers said Kimbo tapped, but thanks to the crappy camera work.. we didn't even see it.

B) Crappy refereeing

If anybody here watches MMA for an ample of time, here's a question.. when was the last time you saw a ref stand the fighters up when one of them has side control and pouncing away elbows and hammer punches on his opponent? Tell me. Right, just like me, you never saw one. That's exactly what happened in last night's circus.

James Thompson, who was brought in to lose, controlled Kimbo and took side control midway through the second round. And to my surprise, referee Dan Mirgliotta stood them up while Thompson was throwing elbows and punches! Damn. (More on the Kimbo - JT match below)

C) Bullshit stoppages

So Scott Smith got poked in the eye.. and you stop the freakin' match? What the hell was that? They didn't even give Smith the mandatory 5 minute rest after getting unintentionally eye poked. They just stopped it.

Another bs stoppage occured in the Main event. Yet again, the ever pampered Kimbo Slice got a TKO while JT was still standing up. Heck, if Mirgliotta could stop the fight with Kimbo hitting three clean shots on Thompson.. why the hell didn't he stop the fight when Kimbo was receiving 30 unanswered shots to the head in the second round?

D) The fan implication

Just think about it, MMA, to the one who practices it and to all those fat ass hardcore fans who've been there for quite some years now refers to this sport as a science, a mixture of different disciplines, whether it be Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Judo et al. Last night's event was the first ever live telecast of MMA in Primetive TV in the US. And thanks to the freak show that Elite XC was, especially to the commentators who made it sound like the battle of two C-level fighters were like Ali vs Frazer in Boxing.. casual fans would now think that MMA is all about blood, all about brawlers and all that stuff. Goddamn you EXC. Goddamn you Gary Shaw.

Anyway....

Atleast, one day after, WEC put up a spectacular card. One card deserving to be on Primetime TV in the US.

WEC showcased two fight of the year worthy battles, first with the Bantamweight Championship match as Miguel Angel Torres succesfully defends it against Yoshiro Maeda. And of course, the main event, the Featherweight Championship bout as the ranked P4P fighter Urijah Faber stops former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver in an up and down war.

Thank God for WEC, you just saved MMA's weekend.

A look at MMA in 2008

2008-01-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

If I were to describe Mixed Martial Arts using only one word in the year 2007, it would be "Surprising"

Look at it.. Zuffa buying Pride, Crocop getting knocked the f%%k out, Matt Serra KOing GSP, Forrest beating Shogun, Diaz gogo-ing Gomi, Randy winning the title and many more.

So why do I have to spend some time writing my speculations and actual forecast for the year 2008? Well.. let's just say I have actually the time to burn, the ability to write and a boredom to fill. So here we go..

Three PPVs has already been announced by the UFC. Let's talk about it and the importance of its matches one by one.

First up, UFC 80: Rapid Fire. This PPV will feature BJ Penn vs Joe "Daddy" Stevenson for the Vacated Lightweight Title as the main event. As much as I want to see Joe Daddy to take this one.. BJ will win this to set up a highly anticipated match between him and Sean Sherk that coul take place maybe from June onwards. That match has been long anticipated.. considering that those two warriors are already exchanging harsh statements against each other. The emotional factor of that bout alone can sell arena seats and PPVs for the UFC.

The GG-Werdum match is also a match to look forward to since both guys are trying to come up in the HW Division ladder. Considering that the depth of the UFC HW division isn't that stacked, the winner here could be in talk for a possible title contention.

Next up, UFC 81: Breaking Point.

This main event is between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the Interim Heavyweight Title. But since I don't think Randy will fight in the UFC again, I expect this one to be for the Vacated Heavyweight Championship. Questions would be asked, is Tim Sylvia a bad style match up for Big Nog? Will Big Nog be the next Pride Fighter to hold a belt in the UFC? Those are some questions that will be clarified in that night. Plus, a win here for Tim Sylvia, the most loved character in MMA history (Insert sarcasm here) could very well solidify his status as one of the best UFC Heavyweights ever because that would mean he would be winning the UFC Heavyweight belt for the third time.

The card also includes the debut of a former All American and NCAA Division 1 Champion (For fairness' sakes, I wouldn't put him as a former WWE Superstar) Brock Lesnar as he takes on former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. This one's a big match in the UFC Heavyweight division nevertheless considering that a win here for Lesnar would prove that he is a legit HW contender and a win here for Mir well could put him back on track for a title hunt.

The biggest match so far that has been announced for 2008 is the Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson Middleweight Title Unification match scheduled for UFC 82: Pride of a Champion. Silva being the dominant Champion will take on a world class wrestler with lots of experience and accomplishments both inside and outside the octagon. I personally think this will end the dominant reign of Anderson Silva in the Middleweight Division and will start a new regime in the UFC Middleweight division. Either way, this one could be one of the best matches of the year.

Other than all the UFC PPVs, I'll discuss some things that has a possibility of happening in the year 2008 both inside and outside the octagon.

- After seeing Takanori Gomi at UFC 79, I expect (Read: Hope) Takanori Gomi to sign with the UFC.

- The Fedor Emelianenko vs Randy Couture fight will happen. Randy's contract will expire at October this year and both of them have stated that they want to fight each other. Who knows, after seeing Wand and Chuck get it on as a year ender in the UFC, other promoters might make this match as a Christmas Gift to us fight fans.

- I've said this before (Way before Lyoto defeated Soku) and I'll say it again, Lyoto Machida is for real and I see him getting a title shot before this year ends.. Lyoto's style of fighting throws his opponents away for some reason and although to some it might not be that pretty, but it's damn sure effective. I will not be surprised if he will be our LHW Champion before this year ends.

- After watching Yarennoka last night, I see another MMA Org to look forward to. The promoters of Yarennoka could very well put on another show in the next 5 months or so considering the success of that event.

- Mirko Cro Cop, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Wanderlei Silva will all be back this year. After three fights in the UFC, I expect CC to finally be able to adjust with the UFC rules and the octagon itself, a morale boosting win could jumpstart the "Mirkomobile" again. Shogun fought Forrest Griffin who imposed a beautiful gameplan while Rua gassed out in the third round, I expect more from the former Pride 93 KG GP Champion and as for Wandy.. well, he fought one hell of a fight against Chuck Liddell and that loss was nothing to be ashamed off. I see Joe Silva setting a Tito Ortiz - Wanderlei Silva match this year.

Well that's it. I'd like to add more but unfortunately it's 3:30 am and my mind can't think anymore. Thanks for reading.

GSP, Iceman, Machida victorious at Nemesis

2007-12-30T02:35:00.000-08:00

Georges St. Pierre took the next step towards reclaiming his UFC welterweight title with an armbar submission over Matt Hughes in the second period of a dominating performance.

Quicker, stronger and bigger than Hughes -- the 170-pound UFC division champion from 2001 to 2003, and again from 2004 to 2006 following bookend fights with St. Pierre -- the 26-year-old from Montreal, Quebec, simply overwhelmed the veteran American.

Denying Hughes' multiple takedown efforts, St. Pierre (15-2) showed himself to be the dominant grappler -- and more importantly, dominant mixed martial artist -- in the welterweight rubber match, netting three takedowns to Hughes' zero.

St. Pierre, now owner of a UFC interim belt at 170 pounds, completely owned the striking department, connecting with 77 strikes to Hughes' 5, according to CompuStrike. He also offered two submission attempts, including the fight-ending armbar that came when Hughes, 34, verbally submitted to referee Steve Mazzagatti with just six seconds remaining in the second period of the five-round fight.

St. Pierre declined to honor the title of UFC interim champion, saying that Matt Serra (Pictures), who defeated the French Canadian in April, was the true title holder. Serra was originally scheduled to fight Hughes, now 41-6, however the New Yorker fell off the card due to injury.

Six years in the making, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell out-pointed former PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva in a thrilling contest.

A fight fans have craved since each man dominated the 205-pound divisions in their respective organizations, the anticipated showdown came too late according to some pundits. But that didn't stop Liddell and Silva, both victims of two-fight losing streaks coming into tonight's contest, from delivering one of the best bouts of 2007.

"The Iceman" was sharp in the opening round, tossing out jabs against the uncharacteristically cautious Brazilian. Liddell, 38, landed a series of punches that appeared to hurt Silva, but when the veteran Californian stalked it was obvious Silva had baited him in to respond with a salvo of counter punches.

Read more here.

Georges "Rush" St.Pierre - Matt Hughes 3 Primer Highlights

2007-12-17T20:11:00.001-08:00

Full Thing OCTOBER
Uploaded by zecheat

We are just counting the days before the much awaited third bout between probably the greatest welterweight ever Matt Hughes against his heir apparent Georges "Rush" St.Pierre. In the first fight, GSP dominated Matt Hughes in the first four minutes before getting caught in an armbar with only one second to go. In the second bout, GSP destroyed Matt Hughes to win the Welterweight title for the first time.

December 29 2007. Matt Hughes - GSP III. Who will take it?

Year in review: Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi @Pride 33

2007-12-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

Gomi vs Nick Diaz
Uploaded by gomi_gomgom

The first edition of "Year in review"

Diaz vs Gomi Pride 33:Second Coming

I can watch this fight over and over again and not get tired of it. Definitely one of the greatest bouts in the year.

RIP RYAN GRACIE

2007-12-16T01:23:00.000-08:00

News to make the fighting world tremble. According to news carried by Globo TV, the black belt Ryan Gracie was found dead in the cell where he was being held at a police station in Sao Paulo after having been accused of car theft yesterday in the city of Sao Paulo. According to the Sao Paulo State Secretariat of Public Security, Ryan was alone in the cell.

GRACIEMAG.com sympathizes with the Gracie family and should be back shortly with further information as to Ryan’s death.

10:24

According to the G1 news website:

“Ryan was sent to the 91st PD, after having toxicology exams done at the central IML at around 2:30 am. He arrived at the police station in Vila Leopoldina at 3 am. According to the officer on call of the 15th Police District police officer Daniella Ranna, where the athlete’s case was registered for having tried to steal a motorcycle, he was sent to the 91st DP because it is a traffic station. From there, he would have been seen to the “most recommendable” location.

According to the Secretariat, at around 7am, when policemen at the station were checking the cells with their detainees, they found the fighter fallen in a corner. They entered and confirmed that he was dead. At around 10 am, coroners were already at the location to do the necessary exams and send the body to the institute.

http://www.graciemag.com/news/144/AR...007-12-15.html

Update on the NYE: Yarennoka event

2007-12-14T03:15:00.000-08:00

Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting Korean Heavyweight Hong Man Choi and Yoshihiro Akiyama, coming out of a big win against Denis Kang in K1, will take on Kazuo Misaki on the said event.

Royce Gracie Interview: Talks about the difference between the old school and new school, GSP and more

2007-12-14T02:43:00.000-08:00

All credits to Shawn Toronto from sherdog.com

WEC 31: Faber vs Curran Official Quick Results

2007-12-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

1. Featherweight Championship Bout: Urijah Faber defeated Jeff Curran via submission in round 2 to retain the WEC Featherweight Championship

2. Light Heavyweight Championship Bout: Doug Marshall defeated Ariel Gandulla via submission in round 1 to retain the WEC Lightheavyweight title

3. Jens Pulver defeated Cub Swanson via submission in Round 1

4. Middleweight Championship Bout: Paulo Filho defeated Chael Sonnen via ref stoppage in Round 2

5. John Allessio defetad Todd Moore via Unanimous Decision (30 - 27, 30 - 27, 30 - 27)

6. Bryan Baker defeated Eric Schambari via Split Decision (30 - 27, 29 - 28, 28 - 29)

7. Ed Ratcliff defeated Alex Karalexis via TKO in Round 2

8. Charlie Valencia defeated Ian McCall via submission in Round 1

WEC 31: Faber vs Curran Official card line up

2007-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

WEC 31: Faber vs Curran
December 12 2007
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino

1. Featherweight Championship Bout: Jeff Curran Vs. Urijah Faber
2. Light Heavyweight Championship Bout: Ariel Gandulla Vs. Doug Marshall
3. Featherweight Bout: Cub Swanson Vs. Jens Pulver
4. Middleweight Championship Bout: Chael Sonnen Vs. Paulo Filho
5. Featherweight Bout: Chance farrar Vs. Micah Miller
6. Bantamweight Bout: Charlie Valencia Vs. Dominick Cruz
7. Bantamweight Bout: Brian Bowles Vs. Marcos Galvao
8. Welterweight Bout: Alex Karalexis Vs. Ed Ratcliff
9. Middleweight Bout: Eric Schambari Vs. Bryan Baker
10. Welterweight Bout: Luis Sapo Vs. Todd Moore

The UFC should induct Big John McCarthy to the Hall of Fame

2007-12-10T20:42:00.001-08:00

So yeah, it's official. Big John's final match was the Roger Huerta - Clay Guida war at the TUF 6 Finale.

Big John McCarthy has been one of the faces of the UFC. He has been calling bouts since UFC 2, he's been there in the old Superfights, the old UFC openweight tournaments and so on. And from then on he's been a part of the Octagon itself.

With that being said, I definitely think Big John deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. BJM has done so much for the sport and him doesn't getting inducted in the UFC-HOF is a big joke. He reffed big fights, in fact.. he called the shots for all the main event bouts since UFC 2 to UFC 31. He has been then known as the ninth side of the octagon.. known for the infamous line "Let's get it on!" to officially start the fight.

I hope he gets inducted in the Hall of Fame. I hope he gets a proper exit at UFC 79.

'Til then Big John.. LET'S GET IT ON!

The Third Round of the Clay Guida - Roger Huerta fight at TUF Finale

2007-12-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

Sean Sherk Stripped of UFC Lightweight Title

2007-12-09T05:25:00.000-08:00

http://mmafightline.com/news/2007/128/sean_sherk_310248.shtml

Popular MMA insider/journalist Cindy Ortiz made a claim on the underground forum late last night that completely refutes the claims made yesterday by Steve Sievert of Brawl Sports regarding Sean Sherk's title status. Check out her post below:

I just asked [Dana White]. He said the UFC did strip Sean of the title. He didn't feel the need to make an announcement about it.

The source of the "news" that he wasn't stripped is B.S.

Cindy Ortiz also went on to say that MMAWeekly.com will be posting a story soon to further clarify the situation.

Dave Meltzer has also confirmed that the UFC has stripped Sean Sherk of his lightweight title, I'd call this a done deal.

TUF 6 Finale: Huerta stops Guida, Danzig wins tournament

2007-12-09T05:02:00.000-08:00

All credits to Mac Sloan of Sherdog.com for this news

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 8 -- The showdown had been billed and labeled as a potential fight of the year candidate. Most mixed martial arts insiders figured the stylistic matchup between lightweights Roger Huerta and Clay Guida was a recipe for fireworks, a guarantee that fans would receive an early Christmas gift.

Both Huerta and Guida made the pundits look like experts.

In a fight that was as exhilarating as it was dramatic, once-beaten contender Huerta was forced to muster the strength of 10 tigers to score an unbelievable come-from-behind victory early in the third round.

For much of the contest -- check that: war -- Huerta was bested by the grittier Guida, but the Mexican-American survived the scare, cleared his head and stormed out with his guns ablaze in the final round.

Guida had promised to bring the action, to make Huerta defend a relentless attack and keep the fan favorite on his back. Guida stated that he'd do whatever it took to pummel Huerta, whether it would be strikes, submissions or simple ground and pound.

The Windy City fighter delivered on his promise, but for reasons nobody will truly understand, Guida couldn't close the show despite dishing out a tremendous amount of punishment on the Sports Illustrated cover boy.

The two men locked horns immediately and never relented, each landing huge punches between slams and submission attempts. Guida's punches found their mark more frequently than did Huerta's and though the Minnesotan continuously attempted subs, the Chicagoland native escaped them all and was able to hammer down furious barrages.

Late in the second, Guida tried once again to shoot in for a takedown but he bluffed, forcing Huerta to unnecessarily sprawl. When Huerta dropped to his knees, Guida quickly closed the gap and unfurled a sinister right hand that hurt his opponent.

Guida, smelling blood and sensing a stunning stoppage, pounced all over the badly wounded Huerta and unloaded a hellish fury, almost sealing the deal.

Yet Huerta was somehow able to shake off the cobwebs and rode his guard until the bell sounded to end the second.

"I thought I had the first couple of rounds," Guida said. "And he came back. He's got a lot of heart -- that's what it takes."

With Huerta possibly losing the opening stanza and clearly dropping the second, it was obvious that he needed to let everything loose and gun for some sort of stoppage or at least a 10-8 round.

Once the third began, Huerta shot out of his corner and bombarded Guida, stunning him with several punches and a knee. Guida was clearly rocked and in serious peril, but unlike his adversary, Clay would not survive the onslaught.

His bearings scrambled, Guida went down with Huerta on his back. Sinking his hooks, Huerta secured a rear-naked choke just 31 seconds into the final round of an absolute war.

"I kept coming back, and kept fighting," Huerta said. "And that's what everything is about man."

Guida and Huerta delivered more than what most expected and the victor is clearly in the hunt for a shot at the UFC lightweight title, which will be contested for on Jan. 19 between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson.

In the co-main event, seasoned veteran Mac Danzig firmly cemented his status as the best of the "The Ultimate Fighter 6" welterweight cast as he quickly and easily dispatched relative newcomer Tom Speer in the first round.

Danzig scored an early takedown and utilized his immense experience en route to a rear-naked choke submission.

Speer was overmatched almost from the start and once Danzig secured the early takedown, Speer looked somewhat lost.

"He's so big and so strong and he's got such good wrestling, I knew I had to take him down," Danzig said of the dairy farmer. "That was kinda the game plan, to switch rolls on him and put him on his back. That's where I knew he'd be weakest."

Danzig swarmed with a dizzying array of strikes and eventually seized the larger Speer's back. In a matter of moments, Danzig had sunk in the choke, forcing Speer to tap out.

"Mac, he deserves every bit of this," Speer said. "His experience showed."

Danzig was the prohibitive favorite to be crowned the "champion" of the sixth season of Zuffa's reality show and the Cleveland-born fighter proved why. Danzig said after his victory that he planned on dropping back down to lightweight.

"That's the toughest division in the sport," he said.

More news here

Official TUF 6 Card.

2007-12-07T04:02:00.000-08:00

The Finale will be this Saturday, December 8 2007. The event will be headlined by the Lightweight match of Roger "El Matador" Huerta and Clay "The Carpenter" Guida. Also at this event, will be the finals of the Welterweight Tournament as Mac Danzig takes on Tommy Speer.

Official Card

Main Card

LW Bout: Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida
WW Tournament Championship: Mac Danzig vs Tommy Speer
WW Bout: Jon Koppenhaver vs Jarred Rollins
WW Bout: Billy Miles vs George Sotiropoulos
WW Bout: Dan Barrera vs Ben Saunders

Preliminary Card

WW Bout: Matt Arroyo vs John Kolosci
WW Bout: Paul Georgieff vs Jonathan Goulet
WW Bout: Dorian Price vs Roman Mitichyan
WW Bout: Troy Mandaloniz vs Richie Hightower

Update on the NYE:Yarennoka fight card

2007-12-07T03:55:00.000-08:00

It has been confirmed that Tatsuya Kawajiri will take on Luiz Azeredo on the NYE card.

Big John McCarty off to retirement?

2007-12-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

The following is an excerpt from an article on MMAJunkie.com:

“Big” John McCarthy, a legendary mixed-martial-arts referee who made his octagon debut at UFC 2, has scheduled a media conference call for Friday to make a big announcement.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has been told by multiple sources that the legendary referee may be announcing his retirement as an MMA referee, though the news could not be confirmed.

McCarthy, who’s also been a Los Angeles police officer since 1985, is withholding comment until Friday’s announcement.

To read the complete article, click here.

Randy Couture's Highschool Photo

2007-12-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

I was browsing Sherdog earlier, and look what I found. Fucking Golden :D

Sherk's Suspension Reduced, "It's not yet over" - Sherk

2007-12-05T05:53:00.001-08:00

UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk will be elegable to return to the octagon in January following a 4-2 vote to reduce his suspension to six months. Sherk, who originally received a one year suspension after testing positive for the steroid Nanrolone following a win over Hermes Franca at UFC 73 in July, will still be fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission.

“I’m not happy at all with it. This is not over,” said Sherk who appears likely to pursue further legal action.

http://mmafightline.com/news/2007/124/sean_sherk_309897.shtml

NYE: Yarennoka

2007-12-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

If there's one card to match UFC's year ender, it would be this card, the joint promotion of M1 and Former Pride guys, NYE:Yarennoka.

Check out the competitors

Confirmed Fights are

Shinya Aoki vs Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti (Fight of the year anyone?)
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs Hidehiko Hasegawa
Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez vs Mitsuhiro Ishida

Confirmed fighters for the event

Fedor Emelianenko
Aleksander Emelianenko
Roman Zentsov
Joachim Hansen

Rumored Fighters for the event

Ricardo Arona
Mark Hunt
Luis Azeredo
Tatsua Kawajiri
Kazuo Misaki
Mitsuhiro Ishida

This one might actually be better than the UFC event at the end of the year. Anyway, whoever turns out to be the better.. we, the fight fans, will always be the winner :D

Ring of Fire: Real Time MMA in The Philippines

2007-12-05T05:28:00.000-08:00

Last week, I've heard about an MMA event will be held here in the Philippines. Thinking that it was just another MMA event here in the Philippines, I didn't even took time to search for it, knowing that I'm just going to get disappointed, watching just another cheap-ass MMA event with a cheap-ass card. But after talking with my friend last night, I've heard about the fighters who would be competing in the said event, and at first, I even thought that Josh Barnett is going to be fighting Jeff Monson in that event, which really got my ass excited.

Well, after looking for some infos about The Ring of Fire event, I found out that Josh Barnett won't be fighting here, although he would be coaching Team Barnett, facing other teams like Ken Shamrock's lion's den, Royce Gracie's Team Gracie and Gokor Chivichyan's Team Gokor.

Among the big names who would be fighting in that event are, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Jeff "Snowman" Monson, Yuki Kondo, John "The Bull" Marsh, Rico "Suave" Rodriguez, Ivan Salavery and many more.

I still don't have any news on the announced fight, but there's no way I'm going to miss this.

More here

The Canadian Who Saved Christmas

2007-12-05T05:26:00.000-08:00

From Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.COM Original link here

Thanksgiving. A time for celebration and to get away from it all for at least a day or two.

Not for Dana White though, Instead, the UFC President got hit with the worst possible news on Thursday night – the main event on the organization’s big year-end show on December 29th – a welterweight title bout between champion Matt Serra and former 170-pound boss Matt Hughes – was off after Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back last Monday night.

“I was on suicide watch for about five hours,” joked White during a media teleconference Monday. “But you’ve got to bounce back and we started working on what we could do.”

The next day, ironically the huge shopping day known as Black Friday, the UFC started shopping for a replacement, not even sure if Hughes would agree to fight another high level opponent on short notice and risk his guaranteed title shot at Serra. Soon, Hughes made it known that he wanted to fight. Then another call came in from a fighter looking to give White and UFC fans an early Christmas present – former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who eagerly tossed his name in the hat for consideration in the UFC 79 sweepstakes.

By Saturday night, Hughes was in, GSP was in, and the UFC had a main event rubber match possibly even bigger than the fight it replaced. And no one was happier than the 26-year old from Montreal, who couldn’t contain his joy when told the news that night.

“I’m so excited to get this fight,” said St-Pierre, who broke off between sentences to shout to his friends about the impending bout. “I’m fighting Matt Hughes for the interim title right now, and then after that I’m going to go after Serra. I’ve wanted that rematch against Serra, and this is the best scenario that can happen.”

Monday with reporters, two days after the interim welterweight title bout was announced, St-Pierre was a little more subdued, but no less excited, not only because he will be fighting a man in Hughes he stopped in two rounds in November of 2006, but that a win will give him the chance to redeem his upset loss to Serra from last April. But St-Pierre isn’t about to take Hughes – who handed him his first pro loss in 2004 – lightly.

“I’m not overconfident at all,” said St-Pierre (14-2). “I remember that Matt beat me once and I beat him once. Now it’s equal. We’re both going to be different fighters this time. We both grew up from our wins and losses and it’s going to be a totally different match.”

Both fights between the two were vastly different, with Hughes winning the first via submission, and St-Pierre evening the score with a dominating two round stoppage. It was after GSP’s huge win that everything got a little cloudy for “Rush”.

Expected to dominate the division for as long as he wanted to after his one-sided win over Hughes (which was preceded by big wins over Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and BJ Penn), St-Pierre was a heavy favorite against Serra in their UFC 69 bout in Houston. Instead, Serra blitzed St-Pierre via a first round TKO to send the 26-year old crashing back to Earth. It was a costly lesson for St-Pierre, who later admitted to a number of outside distractions in the lead up to his first title defense.

“I faced the greatest honor by winning the world title before, and I also faced the humiliation,” said St-Pierre. “I know what I want and what I don’t want right now. This loss to Matt Serra was probably the best thing that ever happened for my career. I don’t want to give any excuses. If you look at any sport, for example baseball, it’s not always the best team that wins the game. The team who is the most well-prepared and who plays the besp wins the game. It’s the same thing in fighting. It’s not always the best fighter who wins the fight, but the fighter who is the most well-prepared and who fights the best. I will come very-prepared and my mental game can not be better than it is right now.”

Many questioned St-Pierre’s place among the welterweight elite after the upset loss to Serra, but in August, he silenced the critics who questioned his mental toughness under fire with a lopsided three round decision win over highly-regarded Josh Koscheck that not only got him back in the win column, it got him a measure of confidence back.

“I went through a lot of things in my life, a lot of personal issues, and I just had the worst time in my life,” said St-Pierre of his past. “But right now it’s behind me, and I just look up to the future. This win (over Koscheck) made me a way better fighter, and I’m the type of guy who won’t make the same mistake twice. I learned from it (the loss to Serra), I grew up from it, and what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

So when the opportunity to face a fighter like Hughes on short notice came up, St-Pierre didn’t shy away. In fact, he asked for it.

“I’m at the top of my game right now, and I’m in great shape,” he said. “I’ve been training with Rashad Evans to get him ready for his fight, and the only thing I was doing wrong was not eating as well as I should have. I just have to change this and keep training like I was doing.”

It’s the mark of a champion, just like Hughes’ acceptance of the fight marks him as one of the greats to ever grace the Octagon. Now, what it all comes down to is training, gameplan, and execution. They’ve each won one fight each. Who will break the tie?

Georges St-Pierre has some ideas.

“I have a lot of respect for Matt Hughes, but that night when I put my shorts on, and my gloves, I’m gonna come out with my killer instinct,” he said. “I have a job to do and my job is to destroy my opponent.”

RIP SAMMY VASQUEZ

2007-12-05T05:22:00.000-08:00

MMA's first casualty.

May God welcome you in the gates of heaven and bless your family for the rest of their lives.

UFC 79: Nemesis

2007-12-05T05:19:00.001-08:00

The best card on the year as advertised.. and I couldn't agree more. After having Welterweight Champion Matt Serra withdraw due to back injuries, who would've ever expected that the current champion's injury would be a blessing in disguise to us fight fans and to the organization itself.

A day after Serra withdrew from his title bout against Matt Hughes, UFC.com confirmed that former Welterweight Champion and current number 1 contender Georges "Rush" St.Pierre would be fighting Matt Hughes, and it will be for the Interim Welterweight Championship.

Not only will we see two of the best welterweights in history, we will also get to see the rubber match of the said fighters. In the war of '04 (UFC 50), Matt Hughes defeated Georges St.Pierre via submission with only a second left in round 1. However, GSP bounced back from that loss in UFC 65: Bad Intentions, where in he dominated the then champion Matt Hughes from the get go until the fight was stopped early in the second round.

After that GSP loss his title in an upset to Matt Serra in UFC 69:Shootout then outwrestled wrestler Josh Koscheck at UFC 74:Respect. Matt Hughes won his match against Chris Lytle at UFC 68: UPRISING, then went on to coach the ultimate fighter series, against Matt Serra.

In the Co-Main event of the evening, the match everyone has been waiting for. The most dominating Light Heavyweight in UFC history Chuck Liddell takes on the most dominating Middleweight in PrideFC history, Wanderlei Silva.

This match is long overdue, considering that the two fighters are coming off of two loses. And some would even say that the match wouldn't be as good as it should've been two to three years ago. But either way, I expect this match to be a war.

Another match worth waiting for is the debut of the African Assasin in the UFC, Rameau Sokoudjou as he takes on undefeated Light Heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida.

Other matches in the event are:

Nate Mohr vs Manvel Gamburyan (Lightweight)

Rich Clementi vs Melvin Guillard (Lightweight)

Tony DeSouza vs Roan Carneiro (Welterweight)

Dean Lister vs Jordan Radev (Middleweight)

Doug Evans vs Mark Bocek (Lightweight)

Eddie Sanchez vs Soa Palalei (Heavyweight)