Monday, March 30, 2009

Demian Maia To Get Next Title Shot

Jiu Jitsu virtuoso Demian Maia will get the next middleweight title crack, after Thales Leites, reports Cage Potato:

There's no official date set, but our source says Maia's camp is expecting the bout to take place in late August, which would most likely put it at UFC 102 in Portland, Ore. The middleweight title bout would certainly bolster a card that's rumored to be headlined by Randy Couture returning home to the Pacific Northwest to take on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Considering Silva only has five fights left on his contract, it is significant that one is being spent on Maia. The up and coming star is certainly deserving, but he will not provide the big money fight that some other Silva pairings could.

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Saturday, March 28, 2009

UFC 101: Penn vs. Florian

MMA Weekly has confirmed this event:

The anticipated showdown between UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn and number one contender Kenny Florian will finally take place. A blog post on Penn's official website stated that Florian has already signed his bout agreement and "as for B.J., we received the bout agreement (Friday) afternoon and plan on making this fight happen."

The post states the bout will headline UFC 101 on Aug. 8 in Philadelphia.

The bout will be Penn's first defense of his lightweight title since defeating Sean Sherk at UFC 84 in May of last year. It will also mark his first action in the Octagon since a loss to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 in January, which has been mired in controversy over accusations of improper usage of Vaseline by St. Pierre's camp.

"I look forward to the challenge," Penn stated about the defense.

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Friday, March 27, 2009

Shamrock Adds New Talent To Team

Legendary Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Fighter Frank Shamrock Adds New Talent to his Fight Team.
A Strikeforce contract was awarded to the standout competitor.

San Jose, CA. – March 27, 2009 – Legendary mixed martial arts fighter and four-time world champion Frank Shamrock officially added new talent to his fight team on March 21st after holding open tryouts at his newest training facility in San Jose, California. Team Shamrock gained six new talented MMA fighters and a Strikeforce contract was awarded to the standout athlete.

The Team Shamrock tryouts, sponsored by TapouT , were open to experienced professional fighters with backgrounds in combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai and kickboxing. Frank Shamrock’s reputation as one of the most respected and skilled mixed martial artists in the world, paired with the opportunity to walk away with a Strikeforce fight contract, attracted over forty fight team hopefuls. Competitors traveled from across the U.S and abroad to compete for a coveted spot on Shamrock’s team.

“The tryouts were a great success; I liked the entire group of athletes that tried out and was very impressed with their skills. The skill level of the average fighter has definitely gone up considerably in the past few years, allowing me to add some phenomenal new talent to my team. I’m also very excited to be one of the first MMA coaches to award a Strikeforce contract at fight team tryouts.” stated Frank Shamrock, MMA Legend and founder of Shamrock MMA.

Middleweight Victor Cheng, the stand out athlete and winner of the Strikeforce contract, traveled to San Jose from Sweden to compete for a spot on the team. Cheng, who excelled in every level of the competition, clearly impressed the judges with his presence, level of conditioning, and unparalleled striking and ground skills.

New Team Shamrock fighters Victor Cheng, Floyd Nazereno, Nick Gennoe, Allen Stevens, Nicholas Eric Marcus and Christian Barber will officially represent Shamrock’s fight team and will have the opportunity to train with Frank Shamrock at his academy. In addition, each new team member will be awarded a contract opportunity with MMA Stars Inc ., a full service management and talent development company for mixed martial arts athletes, and may also have the chance to work with Strikeforce, as well as other local, national, and international fight promotions, various reality TV shows and media outlets.

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Monday, March 23, 2009

Dana White Comments On Affliction Counter Programming UFC 100

Shortly after Affliction announced that they would indeed counter program against UFC 100, FiveOuncesOfPain texted UFC President Dana White.

This is what they got back: “How do I feel about them trying to counter-program UFC 100?,” White began his statement, before continuing, “I love it. I fucking love it. I love it. I don’t like these guys and I want to see them spend more of their t-shirt money. What they should be worrying about is — they’ve already seen first hand that nobody gives a shit about Affliction MMA — what they need to starting worrying about is nobody wants to wear their goofy fucking clothes anymore either. The fad is over and they better start saving as much of that t-shirt money as they can.”

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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Bobby Lashley's Debut Lackluster

Two days ago, the question was posed: is Bobby Lashley the next Shane Carwin or the next Kimbo Slice. Last night, we learned the answer: something in between. Lashley wrestled and maintained control for a three round decision that was anything but exciting. It's encouraging that he's going back to American Top Team to train, but there's lots more work to be done.

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Friday, March 20, 2009

Bobby Lashley Set To Debut

Bobby Lashley will make his professional MMA debut tomorrow night against Jason Guida at a Roy Jones Jr. promoted event. Lashley has a decorated wrestling background, winning three amateur championships. However, at an injury-laden 32 years old, Lashley will not reap the benefit of years of training. He will need to be good soon, before his body begins to naturally deteriorate. So, the question remains: does Bobby Lashley stand to be the next Shane Carwin or the next Kimbo Slice?

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

UFC 100 Coming Together

So there's still no UFC 100 poster to show the fans, but that doesn't mean that the card isn't coming together nicely. Most people already know about 3 of the 5 main card bouts: St. Pierre/Alves, Mir/Lesnar, Henderson/Bisping.

However, some new bouts were added over the past few days, and actually bulk up the card quite nicely. Among them is the light heavyweight battle between Mark Coleman and Stephan Bonnar. This should make the main card as it features two big names trying to get back in the win column. I'm worried about the quality of the fight, as it features a striker against a wrestler, but I do believe that both guys will come in prepared and ready to battle.

Another addition, which I believe will be left off the main card, is Jon Fitch against Paulo Thiago. Thiago, riding high after his KO win over Josh Koscheck, will look to catapult himself into title contention with a win over Fitch. For the sake of the division, let's hops this doesn't happen. I believe that the UFC will keep this fight off the main card so as to keep Thiago more than one win away from a title shot.

The always exciting Jon Jones has been added to the card as well in a bout against Jake O'Brien. I think that this will be Jones' coming out party for those who don't already know.

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Friday, March 13, 2009

Glorious.

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2008 Writer's Draft Review

In 2008, some of the top writers in the sport sat down to draft their ideal MMA organization. Owners had to fill as many divisions as they liked; some filled 6, some had a women's division, some stuck to the traditional five. I return to the draft now, and rate each drafters performance.

Acosta

Hits: Hazelett in round 15 and Cerrone late were definitely Acosta's shining moments in the draft.

Misses: Acosta missed a ton, trying to find prospects over current talent. Penn with the first pick in the draft now seems like a waste. Nick Diaz with his second pick didn't help much either...Diaz probably would have fallen to the 4th or 5th round. Even Velasquez in round 4 seems premature.

Grade: D+. Nothing too good to say here...Acosta took some risks and hasn't seen the return, at least not at this point in 2009.

Zeidler

Hits: It's not really fair for me to evaluate myself, but here goes. GSP was a great first pick, although Lesnar in round 13 has to be the pick of the draft. Maia in 16, Carwin in 24, Cane in 35, and Wilson in 39 make me look like a genius.

Misses: Early on, I relied a little bit too heavily on past performance. I would call the Liddell pick a miss, along with Huerta in 7, Sokoudjou in 11, and good 'ol Kimbo Slice in 15. Hey, at least he'll sell tickets.

Grade: B+. Despite some misses in the first ten rounds, I cleaned up the rest of the draft. If I could split up my grades, I'd take a B- for rounds 1-10 and an A for the remainder of the draft. However, I do think I did a good job at creating compelling fights. I've got Arlovski-Barnett-Lesnar at 225, Liddell-Silva at 205, Henderson-Bisping at 185, GSP-Sanchez at 170 (or so I thought), and Huerta-Melendez at 155. Now that's a night of fights.

McCray

Hits: Alvarez with his 12th and Mousasi with his 16th was brilliant. Clearly, McCray was the only one watching DREAM at the time. Mir in 19 was a steal and the Miller brothers don't hurt either.

Misses: Torres in the 2nd round is a mistake (not marketable enough) and so is Rua in 3 (injury issues). McCray's problem is that he started the draft by picking one guy from each position. By the time he got around to picking opponents, the quality had dropped off. Picking in weight pairs would have helped him here.

Grade: B-. A nice draft overall, but not enough compelling matches.

Kutler

Hits: You can't go wrong with Fedor at 1. Evans in round 10 and Hamill in 17 were steals.

Misses: I might take some beatings for this, but I think Machida at 3 is wrong. How can you market this guy? I also think picking Randy Couture at 4 was a mistake...how many meaningful fights can he have left, at the most? Five?

Grade: C+. Just an average draft here. Some good picks, some flops, nothing mind blowing.

Arnold

Hits: Getting both Jackson and Griffin was a huge move here. Florian with the 8th pick was a nice draft and some late picks (like Danny Lauzon) show that Arnold's head was in the game even in the 47th round.

Misses: Faber appears to be a miss, partly because he lost since the draft and partly because of his division. Gomi with the third pick is a waste too. And then Filho is round 10? It's like the parade of ex-legends.

Grade: B-. Arnold's strength lies in the good matches he set up. He has enough for a really strong card. He didn't get enough of these up and comers, however, to warrant a better grade.

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2008 Writer's Draft Review

Check back later today for my breakdown of the 2008 Writer's Draft! Who won? Who lost?

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Jake Shields vs. Robbie Lawler

Jake Shields has been pulled from his bout with Joe Riggs so he can take on Robbie Lawler at an upcoming Strikeforce event. More information after the jump...

A bout between former EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields (22-4-1) and former EliteXC middleweight title-holder Robbie Lawler (16-4) will headline Strikeforce's May show, company officials today announced at a press conference in Los Angeles.

The two fighters recently joined Strikeforce after the organization acquired select assets from ProElite Inc., the parent company of the now-defunct EliteXC organization.

Shields told MMAjunkie.com the fight will take place at a catch-weight of 182 pounds.

No date or location has been confirmed for the May event, though the show is expected to take place in or near Seattle. An announcement is expected soon.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Around The Horn

Lots of action in the MMA world today, let's get to it:

First off, congrats to Irish Whip Fighting for their 500th post. That's quite an accomplishment, although not as good as the 600+ members that THE MMA Ad Net currently boasts.

Cheers to Lyoto Machida, who will be stepping in for Quinton Jackson at UFC 98. While I think Jackson/Evans would have been the more exciting fight, I don't think that anyone deserves this opportunity more than Lyoto Machida.

Jeers to Ken Shamrock, who tested positive for steroids. Typically, I'd go on and on about how sad this is and how Shamrock needs to hang 'em up, but I've been giving him that speech for three years now. He doesn't listen.

Finally, a sad farewell to Mask, co-founder of the brand TapouT.

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Rampage Out, Machida In?

Fight Network has the story:

After reeling off a unanimous decision against Keith Jardine at UFC 96, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's status as the next challenger to Rashad Evans' UFC light heavyweight title is in jeopardy.

Jackson has reportedly sustained injuries to his hand and jaw.

The light heavyweight title bout, originally reported on the UFC 96 broadcast last Saturday, was set to replace Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar.

The heavyweight title unification match-up between Mir and Lesnar has been postponed until UFC 100 after Mir suffered a knee injury and announced that he needed more time in order to be at 100 per cent for the rematch. Mir, who holds the accolade of being the only man to defeat Lesnar, underwent knee surgery on Thursday and will look to repeat history when the two clash at UFC's 100th show.

Plans to have the bout between Jackson and Evans at UFC 98 seemed set in stone as the title affair was heavily hyped throughout the UFC 96 telecast. After "Rampage" had defeated Evans' training partner Jardine in the main event, the Jackson-Evans tease was capped by a heated staredown.

"There's going to be some more black on black crime," said Jackson after the staredown before dropping the microphone and storming out of the octagon.

At the post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White denied that the two men were confirmed to face off at UFC 98.

The 205-pound tilt is now unlikely to happen on the May 23 card.

Although Jackson was not on the receiving end of a medical suspension from the Ohio Athletic Commission in the aftermath of UFC 96, he injured his hand in the bout against Jardine and is also scheduled to have an injured jaw checked out this week.

As of right now, UFC.com lists Evans' opponent as TBA.

In all likelihood, unbeaten Brazilian Lyoto Machida will step up to face Evans at UFC 98 for the title with the winner facing "Rampage" at a later date.

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UFC 96 Analysis

Follow the jump to see a little analysis I worked up for dreamfighters.com:

Winners:

Production values. The UFC unleashed some new graphics for their 96th numbered card, including slick fighter names presented while Rogan and Goldberg talked us through the match up. A new ring clock made its debut as well. The UFC is quickly approaching the larger cable networks in terms of its presentation.

Matt Hamill. His striking has improved steadily ever since his ugly loss to Rich Franklin. Tonight was no exception as Hamill continued his win streak in front of his home state with an unbelievable head kick KO of Mark Munoz. At the end of his post-fight interview, Matt exclaimed, “Hamill is back!” With a performance like tonight, it’s hard to argue.

Matt Brown. Where the hell did this come from? Just 3-4 in his last 7 fights, Matt Brown went off tonight, destroying Pete Sell in one round. He worked with the precision of Anderson Silva and the passion of Rashad Evans in this display of mixed martial arts expertise.

Shane Carwin. In his first main card bout, Carwin put an exclamation point on all of the praise he’s been receiving over the past few months. With a huge KO of Gabriel Gonzaga, Carwin proved that he can hang with the big guys. He’s probably a top 5 UFC heavyweight after this impressive performance.

Columbus, Ohio. They enjoyed 3 of 5 main card fights ending in a knockout in addition to one of the best main events so far this year. They were also knowledgeable and respectful of the sport and its fighters.

Jackson-Jardine post fight speech. Following the fight, Joe Rogan held the mic to Evans and Jackson, who engaged in the longest post fight trash talk session I’ve ever seen. It ended with Jackson proclaiming “you’re gonna see some black on black crime!”

Losers:

Mike Goldberg. Is anyone surprised to find Goldy here? During Maynard’s introduction, Goldberg initiated a bizarre tangent regarding his high school football days. Rogan quipped, “Live through those memories!” to which Goldberg excitedly answered “Got to!”

Logos in the octagon. I saw fighters slip on the logos, especially the center Bud Light one, on numerous occasions. These logos detract from the fighting by becoming an actual element in the bout. Some fighters (see: Patrick Cote, ACL) have said that they can cause injury as well. The UFC needs to think about how their advertising affects the quality of their product.

Yves Lavigne. During the Brown-Sell fight, Lavigne touched the fighters but didn’t stop the fight. That’s a no-no.

Gabriel Gonzaga. “Napao” has lost three of five and appears to only be capable of beating lesser-known fighters. When it comes to legitimate guys (Couture, Werdum, Carwin), Gonzaga crumbles.

Rashad Evans. The new light heavyweight champion would have enjoyed a stylistic advantage against Lyoto Machida. Instead, he’s drawn Quinton Jackson, who is a larger, stronger version of Evans. “Sugar” will need to heavily rely on his wrestling if he wants to hang with Jackson in May.

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Monday, March 9, 2009

UFC 96 Results

Shane Nelson beat Aaron Riley by first-round TKO (strikes)
Brandon Vera beat Mike Patt by second-round TKO (leg kicks)
Jason Brilz beat Tim Boetsch by unanimous decision
Kendall Grove beat Jason Day by first-round TKO (strikes)
Tamdan McCrory beat Ryan Madigan by first-round TKO (strikes)
Gray Maynard beat Jim Miller by unanimous decision
Matt Hamill beat Mark Munoz by first-round KO (head kick)
Matt Brown beat Pete Sell by first-round TKO
Shane Carwin beat Gabriel Gonzaga by first-round KO (punch)
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson beat Keith Jardine by unanimous decision


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Sunday, March 8, 2009

We're back (for real this time)

Readers!

I know we've taken a bit of a hiatus, but we're going to get back on track now. IWF may not be the biggest site or have the most volume of articles, but we always try to provide timely commentary in addition to getting the best interview on the planet.

Here to help us do just that is Aaron Richman, a buddy of mine from past MMA ventures. He'll take over the writing for a bit until Jordan and I can get back in the swing of things. Meanwhile, I'll get those rankings and predictions up to speed.

Everyone, join me in welcoming Aaron Richman to the staff!

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