UFC: The Modern Warriors [Archive]

maudlin career

09-16-2009, 01:25 PM

What You’ve Missed in the UFC

Heavyweight
In July, Brock Lesnar walked away from UFC 100 with an impressive second round stoppage over Frank Mir. The MMA world was on their toes about who they thought could beat the former WWE wrestler. Of course, the popular answer was Fedor Emelianenko, but seeing that he had no interest in fighting in the Octagon, no matter the cost, getting who BlurCat dubs as the best Pound 4 Pound Fighter was next to near impossible. With the unfortunate inability to sign Emelianenko, the Zuffa brass were on their heels to decide who Brock Lesnar would fight next.

At the UFC 102 Press Conference, Dana White announced to those in attendance that the main event between Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would decide who would get the next crack at Brock Lesnar. Though it really came as no surprise, it was at least refreshing to see that the UFC had a set contender for a champion that seemed unbeatable.

Tens of thousands came to Oregon to witness a battle of the century. This fight meant everything to the hardcore MMA fans. You had Antonio Nogueira who, pre-Fedor was considered the top dog of PRIDE. Then you had Randy Couture who is widely considered to be one of the best heavyweights to compete in the division.

Nogueira proved to be a challenge early on in the opening round. He trapped Randy Couture against the cage and began boxing on him. Couture however persevered and shocked the world as he dropped Nogueira with a solid right and then proceeded to rain down on Nogueira with a series of punches. At first it seemed Nogueira was able to defend himself with little trouble, but the more punches that came, the less responsive Nogueira got. With 46 seconds left in the opening round, Randy Couture had given Antonio Nogueira his second TKO in his illustrious career.

With such an impressive victory of Nogueira, not only was Couture guaranteed a rematch with Lesnar, but many considered him to fair better the second time around and UFC 107 would feature the biggest rematch in heavyweight history.

There they stood in mid-December; current champion and former champion; Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture. Couture had everything riding in this fight: Reclaiming his title, reclaiming the number one spot in UFC, and most importantly, rejuvenating his MMA career.

From the individual entrances to the pre-fight stare-down, the tension was there. That same tension was a plague that infected fan and journalist alike. The bell sounded and everyone stood from their chairs, their eyes fixated on the cage. Lesnar scored with a solid right, but Couture took it like a champ and took Lesnar off of his feet. The next two minutes featured Couture beating down on Lesnar, before eventually the referee pulled him off. Not only did Couture beat Lesnar, but he demolished him. This victory not only put him in BlurCat’s Pound 4 Pound Rankings, but it earned him the 2009 Fighter of the Year Award.

Meanwhile, it was believed that after knocking out both Junior Dos Santos and Ben Rothwell that Shane Carwin would be the next one to get a fight with Couture. The MMA world was stunned when it was revealed that DREAM signed Carwin to a two-year multi-fight contract the day his contract with UFC expired. This sent Zuffa Inc into an upheaval, but they needed to respond, in an effort to replace Carwin. Two days later it was announced that Dana White had managed to sign Josh Barnett to a five fight deal.

Josh Barnett entered the UFC in January not only defeating, but destroying Cain Velasquez in 1:45 in the first round. Everyone immediately knew then that Barnett would be the next man to take on Randy Couture and sure enough, Dana White announced that the fight would take place in May.

Couture stepped back into the Octagon to take on Josh Barnett in what was considered another big rematch in UFC History. For three rounds straight Barnett dominated Couture, taking him to the ground several. While the many in attendance thought they were going to see a new champion, Couture had different plans.

Barnett took Couture down to the mat for the sixth time in the fight and began pounding away on Couture from the guard. Barnett was tired, but only Couture could sense it. He continued to allow Barnett to swing away, before eventually he wrapped his legs around Barnett and cinched in a triangle choke. Barnett tried his hardest to fight out of it, but he was given no other choice, but to tap.

While Couture was enjoying a three-fight win streak over some high quality talent, a young man by the name of Roger Gracie, the latest prodigy from the Gracie family, was taking the Heavyweight Division by storm. He was the reverse twin of Shane Carwin in that he had so far made all of his opponents tap-out in under 2:45.

His impressive victories didn’t mean he was in way of a title shot, after all, he had only defeated Tim Hague, Justin McCully, Mike Russow, and Mike Wessel. It was finally decided that he needed to take on a top level opponent. As such they placed him in the Octagon against Gabriel Gonzaga, who at that moment was enjoying a five fight win-streak himself. As soon as the bell sounded, Gracie took Gonzaga to the mat and got him to submit via armbar. Dana White didn’t even need to confirm it; Gracie was the new Heavyweight contender.

In the early fall of 2010 Couture and Gracie would meet up. Many had this fight in favor of Couture, but Gracie was developing quite the cult-following. For five rounds, MMA fans took witness to one of the purest grappling exhibitions to ever take place inside the Octagon. Though it wasn’t an amazingly exciting fight by any means, both fighters got to display their jiu-jitsu and wrestling skills immensely.

For five rounds you had Couture trying to wrestle Gracie to the mat, only for Gracie to pull him into guard and take control. There wasn’t a moment in the entire 25 minutes of the fight where it looked like Randy was in firm control of the fight.

The bell sounded to end the fight and both Couture and Gracie embraced in the ring. Bruce Buffer announced the Judges’ Scores and Roger Gracie decisively took the fight 50-47 across the boards. This was huge for UFC for the Heavyweight Division was believed to be the only division that didn’t have a lock-on for top dog. The Lightweight Division had BJ Penn, the Welterweight had GSP, the Middleweight had Anderson Silva, and the Light Heavyweight had Lyoto Machida. With Roger Gracie as the title holder, it was firmly believed that the Heavyweight Division had their first dominant Champion in a long time.

Then enter Kevin Ferguson…better known as Kimbo Slice. Yes the same Kimbo Slice known for his internet fights. The same Kimbo Slice that Dana White claimed would never fight in an Octagon. Well, it just so turns out that Kimbo Slice equals money. And no matter what your personal feelings are, you can’t turn down money when operating a multi-million dollar business.

So Dana White announced at a UFC 2011 FanExpo that Kimbo Slice was coming to the UFC. Kimbo apparently didn’t want easy competition like EliteXC was giving him, and asked for someone that was going to make him test all the new “skills” he had been trying out at the gym. Dana White didn’t disappoint him and gave him Mirko CroCop for his first fight.
As much as people claim not to like Kimbo, the fans came in droves to watch Slice fight with CroCop. CroCop and Kimbo circled around the Octagon while everyone else was at the edge of their seat waiting for the first move. CroCop moved in and a caught a right-hook that earned Kimbo Slice Knock Out of the Night.

Dana White put Kimbo in the ring with Brock Lesnar next. This was a fight that casual fans had been dying for since Brock’s entrance into the MMA world. Brock Lesnar moved in and gave Kimbo Slice his second Knock Out of the Night in only his second fight with the company. To the surprise of everyone, White immediately gave Slice a title match against Roger Gracie.

The BlurCat staff and hardcore fans alike thought this fight would show Kimbo’s lackluster ground skills. This was considered to be Kimbo’s first real fight in the UFC since everyone else he had fought were predominantly strikers. Gracie would take Kimbo to the ground and make him tap.The bell sounded and Kimbo proved that theory wrong by catching Gracie with a right-hook that knocked him off of his feet. Kimbo began dropping bombs and before the referee could stop it, Gracie was already knocked out. That made it three consecutive Knock Out of the Night and the UFC Heavyweight Championship as a consolation prize. Nobody ever thought Kimbo Slice would be representing the UFC’s Heavyweight Division.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes UFC, DREAM, and Sengoku were still at war with one-another. DREAM had managed to make Shane Carwin their biggest asset and Sengoku had managed to sign Rashad Evans to a multi-fight deal. After three years of mild success, Affliction could no longer manage to keep up with the funds and had no option but to close its doors. The second this was announced, Sengoku, UFC, and DREAM went at war over the new pool of free agents. When the smoke cleared, UFC managed to re-sign Andrei Arlovski and finally sign Alistair Overeem to a UFC contract. Since they were supposed to meet at Affliction’s April 2011 show for the Affliction Heavyweight Championship, they fought in the UFC Octagon to decide who would get the next shot at Kimbo Slice instead.

Andrei Arlovski dominated Overeem in the first round and managed a TKO in the second. Arlovski would now be Kimbo’s next opponent in the UFC. At this time, the fans were riding high on Kimbo Slice, thinking his knock-out power would be the one thing to keep him on top in the UFC. Arlovski however, managed to get Kimbo Slice on the ground…something no one else could do…and locked in an armbar to force Slice into tapping out.

With Arlovski as the current champ, it is currently unknown as to who his next opponent will be. Since Roger Gracie got an impressive submission victory over Josh Barnett, many firmly believe another chance at the title is in his favor. While others think that relative UFC newcomer, Todd Duffee, who is enjoying a 4-1 UFC record deserves the next fight.

zackufc

09-16-2009, 02:25 PM

Andrei Arlovski champ again YES! I wil be reading and I can't wait for an update.

RBM1

09-16-2009, 03:06 PM

good write up, are you going to do this for every division?

maudlin career

09-16-2009, 05:08 PM

What You've Missed in the UFC

Light Heavyweight
After swift knockouts over Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans, Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida is by and large considered the future of the Light Heavyweight Division if not MMA itself. Dana White would next put him in the Octagon with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 104. Though Rua managed to survive any major onslaught from ‘The Dragon’, he still took a five round Unanimous Decision loss for all of his troubles.

At UFC 105, Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson would meet up to decide who would fight Machida next. In the first round Jackson knocked Evans against the cage and began firing away to win a TKO victory in the first round of the fight. In the post-fight interview, Jackson told Joe Rogan that he was ready to enter the Dragon, and that he would walk away with the Light Heavyweight Championship.

At UFC 109, Jackson entered the dragon, and much like Rua, he walked out with a five round Unanimous Decision lost. This knocked Jackson from the #1 Pound 4 Pound to #4. Many firmly believed that Forrest Griffin, who had just rebounded from his two-fight losing streak by knocking Chuck Liddell out in two minutes flat would get the next attempt at slaying the dragon. Griffin’s camp, however announced that he had suffered an injury during training and would be out for several months. This announcement removed potential encounter between Griffin and Machida from the table.

In the UFC 116: Couture vs. Gracie Post-Fight Press Conference, Randy Couture was asked when he wanted his Heavyweight Title rematch. Couture announced that he didn’t want a Heavyweight Title rematch, and instead told Dana White right then and there that he wanted the next shot at Lyoto Machida. Dana White was stunned and replied by saying that’ll be discussed later. Two days later, it was announced that the two would meet in February 2011. Some considered it Randy Couture’s re-entrance into the Light Heavyweight division. Some considered it to be Lyoto’s chance to prove why he’s the best fighter in the world. Everyone considered it to be a dream match.

February came sooner than many thought. The fans were all over this match. You had your Couture fans thinking he would come out as Light Heavyweight Champion. Then there were the Lyoto fans who thought precision and patience would award Machida with another easy victory.

Couture opened the fight by trying to wrestle with Machida, but Machida slipped away every time. In the third round, Couture finally managed to get Machida against the cage. Machida had other plans and squirmed away from the predicament. With Couture now backed into the cage, Machida began firing away. Couture dropped to one knee and the referee moved in to end the fight. Machida, without a shadow of a doubt, proved that he was the toughest fighter in the UFC.

The fight also turned out to be a second hand blessing; it gave Forrest Griffin just enough time to return to the UFC from his injury. He first had a rematch with Rashad Evans. More than just a title shot was on the line here, this was Evans’s last match before he would leave the UFC for DREAM. Griffin had to retain UFC’s honor.

After a tough 15-minutes of back and forth fighting, Griffin was awarded the split-decision. He told Rogan he was ready for whatever Machida had and wanted to make up for his embarrassing loss against Anderson Silva. The two met in August of that year and Griffin was another fighter who had a chance to enter the dragon only to walk away with a five-round Unanimous Decision loss.

With Randy Couture retiring, Rich Franklin leaving UFC, and Forrest Griffin losing his title match, the question remained: Who can beat Lyoto? #5 Ranked Light Heavyweight Jon Jones thinks he can and after defeating Alexandre Ribeiro in a Title Contention fight, only time will tell.

In addition to that, the Light Heavyweight Division has various other major players. You have the three former contenders in Griffin, Jackson, and Rua looking for a rematch. There’s Wanderlei Silva, who may or may not drop down to Middleweight. Then you have Alexandre Ribeiro who even though lost to Jon Jones, is still considered a prospect of the sport. Then you have relative new-comer, Muhammed Lawal. He defeated Quinton Jackson in his first UFC fight to put an end to the grudge the two have had off cameras. And will be looking to fight Forrest Griffin at UFC 131 on November, 5th in the main event of the night. One would think that with a victory over another top level Light Heavyweight that Lawal could be next in line.

maudlin career

09-16-2009, 06:29 PM

What You've Missed in the UFC

Middleweight
To say that Anderson Silva is the superstar of the Middleweight Division is an understatement. He not only destroyed most of the Middleweight competition, but also made top level Light Heavyweights like Forrest Griffin seem like low-tier fighters.

How can you go wrong with Anderson Silva? Simple, you can’t. He’s the hottest thing out there, next to Georges St. Pierre…and if you know anything about those two, you know their respective fans are already arguing about who’s better.

Since Dana White knew that you couldn’t go wrong with Anderson Silva, he simply had one thing to focus on: how to put the best show together for SuperBowl Weekend of 2010. That pretty much answered it. With Georges St. Pierre dismantling Thiago Alves and Anderson Silva dismantling Forrest Griffin every MMA fan in this world had to see who would win a super-fight. Ask enough and you shall receive for in October of 2009, Dana White announced that Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre would meet in a Catchweight SuperFight on SuperBowl Weekend Saturday of 2011.

Nearly 30,000 people filled the arena at UFC 107: The Show and over a million people tuned in at home to see the dream fight between ‘The Spider’ and GSP. From the moment the two fighters made their way to the Octagon until the sounding of the opening bell, fans were on their feet to support their favorite fighter. Anytime you heard cheering for Georges St. Pierre, you had an equal number of fans responding by showing support for Anderson Silva.

The bell sounded and Silva wasted little time in opening up on GSP. GSP hit the ground and Silva stood back letting him stand back up. GSP and Silva then went from one side of the Octagon to the next exchanging strikes before GSP managed to take Silva off of his feet. The fight appeared to be in GSP’s favor, but Silva slipped out and was now standing over GSP. Silva fired away with some vicious punches, and just as many expected the fight to come to an end, GSP managed to grab Silva’s arm and lock in an armbar. Silva tried powering out, but he just couldn’t get out. With GSP adding to the pressure, Silva had no other option but to tap out.

And the arena burst into pandemonium, the age old arguments were put to an end. Every MMA fan got that one fight they had to see before they died, and it delivered. GSP and Silva embraced in the ring and raised each other’s hands. Everyone in attendance got out of their chairs and applauded for delivering one of the best fights the UFC has had in a while.

With the dream-fight over, both Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre would take several months off. While this was taking place, Dan Henderson defeated Nate Marquardt and received a rematch against Anderson Silva. The fight took place at UFC 115 which was aptly named Return of the Spider.

In the opening round, Henderson was all over Silva, slamming him several times on the Octagon, with Silva not getting any chance to unleash any of his potent strikes. The second round opened up and Henderson seemed to want to stay with his game plan. He circled Silva before deciding to grapple in. Silva finally figured out his pattern and caught Henderson with a stiff jab and then began firing away. Henderson was huddled in the cage and so the referee moved in to end the fight. Anderson Silva had not only beaten Henderson for the second time, but ended Henderson’s mythos of never being knocked out or technically knocked out.

While Anderson Silva proved to everyone that he was back, a rumor involving GSP being interested in moving up in weight spread around the MMA circles. Though the report was never confirmed or denied, GSP had a fight with Martin Kampmann lined up and thus it was believed and the Zuffa brass were already looking for Anderson Silva’s next opponent.

Enter Jake Rosholt. Though relatively unknown, the man had a four fight win streak over Chris Leben, Amir Sadollah, Michael Bisping, and Ricardo Almeida. Those are four names that were all at one point associated with being in title contention.

Despite that fact the fans were very vocal about being disappointed with Rosholt being chosen as Silva’s opponent. They deemed him unimpressive and that Anderson Silva would make light work of him in no time. In an interview with BlurCat Rosholt addressed these statements and said that he thinks he’ll stand a good chance against Anderson Silva.

February of 2011, Jake Rosholt and Anderson Silva would meet. The bell sounded and Rosholt immediately took Anderson Silva off of his feet with a nice takedown. He couldn’t capitalize as Anderson Silva immediately scrambled out and ended up back on his feet. Rosholt took this opportunity to bring in some more wrestling and had Silva against the cage. He hit Silva with some decent punches, but Silva managed to power out.

What looked like a fight in Rosholt’s favor was turning the other way. Silva began to play with Rosholt’s lackluster striking ability and succeeded in hitting Rosholt with some decent combos. A straight jab took Rosholt right off of his feet and Anderson went in for the kill. To everyone’s surprise, Rosholt recovered from the punch and managed to hook Silva’s legs to take him down. However, the round was seconds from ending, and as such neither could capitalize.

And that’s how the entire fight went down, 25 minutes of Jake Rosholt taking the best Anderson Silva’s fists had to offer and suffering through them in an effort to get Silva to the ground. Never in Silva’s title run had really had an opponent who could not only go the distance, but could also put up a hell of a fight while doing so. In the end, Anderson Silva managed to pull off 49-48 Unanimous Decision. Even though Rosholt left the Octagon with a loss, he also left with a lot of new fans.

Anderson Silva’s next opponent would be UFC newcomer Robbie Lawler who dismantled Dan Henderson in 2:15 by giving Henderson his second TKO. Because Lawler had beaten Dan Henderson so viciously with his striking, many wondered if he would be able to give Anderson Silva a decent stand-up fight. Not only did Silva knock off of his feet, but Silva followed it up by locking in a heel-hook to get the tap. With three straight victories, Silva was back on top in the BlurCar World Rankings.

Finally, after the rumors surfaced and disappeared only to resurface and disappear. Georges St. Pierre confirmed that he had interest in fighting at Middleweight. Dana White furthered this by announcing that GSP would take on Michael Bisping in a Middleweight fight to headline the 2011 SuperBowl Weekend card.

George St. Pieree made light-work of Bisping and beat him 2:21 of the second round by TKO. GSP immediately told Joe Rogan that he wants another fight with Anderson Silva, this time for his Middleweight Championship. This declaration had the MMA world buzzing all over again.

While millions of people speculated just when this fight would happen, GSP went back to defending his Welterweight Championship while Anderson Silva had two successful fights against Jake Rosholt and Robbie Lawler. Eventually, people believed that it would never happen, but Dana White came forth and announced that the two would have a Middleweight Championship fight on September 17th

Over 20,000 people from all wakes of life traveled to California to witness the match, while over one-million watched it at home. Pandemonium filled the arena once again. This time people firmly believed this fight was in Silva’s favor since he wouldn’t have to cut weight to meet at an agreement with GSP.

And so far they were right. Silva had nullified every takedown attempt that GSP had to offer. GSP got caught with a couple of crisp punches that firmly gave Silva the first round of the fight. In the second round, GSP looked to get Silva against the cage, but Silva wasn’t having it. The two remained on their feet for the rest of the round, and once again, Silva took a round. In the third round GSP and Silva met in the center and fireworks were produced. GSP finally managed to get Silva to the mat. Silva tried fighting out of the guard, but GSP took the opportunity to move to side control and once again cinch in another armbar. Anderson Silva’s Middleweight run was over and GSP did what no man could do before him: hold two major titles at the same time.

No one knows what the future lies for the Middleweight Division. Will Anderson Silva look for a rematch? Or will one of the newer Middleweights like Ronaldo de Souza be looking for a title shot?

maudlin career

09-16-2009, 10:01 PM

What You've Missed in the UFC

Welterweight
Georges St. Pierre opened the year of 2010 by fighting and defeating Anderson Silva in what was widely considered to be the ultimate dream fight. Many wondered what would happen next. For instance, would GSP enter into the Middleweight Division to claim Middleweight Gold or would he stick with the Welterweight Division.

Everyone believed to have an answer as GSP rebounded from his fight with Anderson Silva by defending his Welterweight Championship against Martin Kampmann, Jon Fitch, and Josh Koscheck. Needless to say, with the exception of Jon Fitch, neither of the fighters made it through the first round with GSP, whereas Jon Fitch took a fifth round Unanimous Decision loss.

Meanwhile at Ultimate Fight Night: Swick vs. Hughes, Mike Swick made light work of Matt Hughes by securing a second round TKO. It was widely believed that he would be GSP’s next opponent, but Dana White didn’t make any move to confirm it.

The hype and speculation about what would happen in a rematch between GSP and Anderson Silva died down, but no sooner than it did GSP came forth and announced his intention on moving up in weight to challenge Anderson Silva for his Middleweight Championship.

Before that match would come through he would have to take on top Middleweight contender, Michael Bisping, and GSP did just that and managed to defeat Bisping with relative ease. The long awaited rematch between Anderson Silva and GSP was announced for September. September came and the rematch of the century saw GSP not only beat Anderson Silva with a third round submission, but made GSP the only man in UFC history to hold two titles at the same time.

Two days after this, it was announced that GSP would drop his Welterweight Championship and stay at Middleweight. Many were baffled by this decision, but once GSP explained that he had no wish to see-saw his diet to make weights for two different classes all was forgiven. GSP officially declared that he would stay at Middleweight until he lost his Championship. In the event that that occurs, he will then decide if he wants to fight back at Welterweight or not.

With the Welterweight Championship, many wondered what would be done. Two days after it was revealed that GSP was dropping the belt, Dana White announced an eight man tournament between the top ranked UFC Welterweights. The tournament will feature former challengers Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Josh Koscheck, and Martin Kampmann. To round up the tournament, former Lightweight Champion BJ Penn, WEC Alumni Urijah Faber, and UFC Welterweight prospect Andre Galvao will fill in the rest of the tournament bracket. The tournament will start at UFC 130 and the finals will be held at a future Ultimate Fight Night.

maudlin career

09-16-2009, 10:37 PM

What You've Missed in the UFC

Lightweight
After stopping Kenny Florian at UFC: 101, BJ Penn was considered one of the top ranked fighters in the world. There was little speculation as it was already determined that Diego Sanchez would be Penn’s next opponent, after gaining a Split Decision over Clay Guida in one of the best fights of 2009 at the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale. The two would Co-Headline UFC 106 along with Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar, making it a must buy PPV.

The two met and there wasn’t a dull moment. Penn was all over Sanchez in the opening rounds with some beautiful striking, but Sanchez managed to absorb Penn’s onslaught, and shock the world by dizzying Penn with an uppercut and gaining a TKO victory late in the fourth round.

Sanchez would have little time to celebrate his reign as his first fight would be just as tough as his fight with Penn: A rematch with Guida who had just defeated Sean Sherk in the first round of their encounter. Their rematch would headline Ultimate Fight Night: Ultimate Showdown in May of 2010 and it didn’t disappoint.

The fight saw the two fighters scrap for the entire 25 minutes. Sanchez was all over Guida until the fifth round, when Guida managed to power Sanchez to the ground. Guida was working his strikes in before looking for a rear naked choke. Before anything could come to fruition, the fight ended and the outcome saw Diego Sanchez take a Unanimous Decision victory.

Zuffa and Dream Stage Entertainment were on the early onset of their war. Dream Stage had fired the first shot by snatching Shane Carwin away from the UFC banner. Despite the fact that it seemed like Zuffa wasn’t looking to retaliate, it was announced in May of 2011 that UFC had signed DREAM Lightweight grappling phenom Shinya Aoki.

UFC 112: Evans vs. Franklin would feature another dream match in the vein of Silva and GSP: Shinya Aoki vs. BJ Penn. Though Aoki was relatively unknown in the states, the hardcore fans finally wanted to settle who the top Lightweight fighter was.

In the first round BJ Penn took control using his supreme striking to keep Aoki at bay. In the second round, Aoki’s judo came through and Penn found himself the victim of several throws at many different moments in the fight. In the third round, Penn and Aoki had an amazing grappling exchange on the ground. Penn looked to be in control, but Aoki would slip out and take mount, only for Penn to reverse the situation and force Aoki in guard. The fight came to an end and was immediately dubbed Fight of the Night by all who had witnessed it. BJ Penn took a hard earned Split Decision victory and would also rematch with Sanchez.

The two would meet in December at UFC 118. Sanchez tried his original tactic, but Penn would not let their last encounter repeat itself. So for five rounds Penn paced himself and never let Sanchez find his rhythm. While the fight wasn’t the most exciting fight the two have had, it did make BJ Penn a two time Lightweight Champion via a five round Unanimous Decision.

Nate Diaz rebounded from his losing streak by defeating notable WEC Lightweight Donald Cerrone. He would then go on to surprisingly beat Shinya Aoki in a three round Unanimous Decision, something not even BJ Penn could do. With these two huge wins, Diaz would get the next crack at BJ Penn.

At UFC 125, the two would meet in the Octagon. Diaz would try to strike with Penn, but was completely outmatched. A few crisp punches from Penn took Diaz to the mat. Penn followed up by locking in a rear naked choke that forced Nate Diaz to tap out in the first round.

Before Strikeforce shutdown in 2009, Josh Thomson had an impressive Lightweight title run. He would then go on to Affliction to win their Lightweight Championship. Winning two Lightweight Championships in two of America’s bigger promotions made Josh Thomson a fighter worth looking at.

2011 marked the second promotion that Thomson had represented as Lightweight Champion that would have to close its doors. Before DREAM or Sengoku could make the signing, UFC managed to get Josh Thomson to represent their promotion. Their idea: Champion vs. Champion. Penn vs. Thomson.

The two met at Ultimate Fight Night: Champions and Penn dominated Thomson for two rounds…or so we thought. Penn tired out in the third round and Thomson took advantaged and locked in a kimura lock to force Penn into tapping. Josh Thomson is the only fighter to hold three major titles in the three largest promotions in America.

As of now, there are no plans for who Thomson will meet in his first defense, especially with BJ Penn now fighting at Welterweight to compete in the Welterweight Tournament, but there are still plenty of people to choose from. For instance, UFC staged the second assault on DREAM by signing Eddie Alvarez, Joachim Hansen, and Takanori Gomi. Alvarez and Gomi have already won their first matches in UFC and will meet each other at UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi. Then there’s Shinya Aoki who managed to get Clay Guida to tap out in three minutes in the first round.

maudlin career

09-17-2009, 01:47 AM

Ultimate Fighting Championships: The Modern Warriors

Where We’re At in the Now

We have now found ourselves at Tuesday, September 27th, 2011. Exactly three days after the historic rematch between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva at UFC 129: Battle of the Century. UFC is now preparing for UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi which will be headlined by Takanori Gomi versus Eddie Alvarez and Urijah Faber vs. Jon Fitch in the opening round of the Welterweight Tournament. Mike Swick and Thiago Alves will also be opening the card which means two opening round Welterweight Tournament fights will be on the card.

The event will be held on October 22nd, 2011 returning to the MMA Capital of America, Nevada. As of now it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a worthy follow up to Battle of the Century, but with Takanori Gomi and Eddie Alvarez topping off the night in what’s already being deemed a war, it’s definitely worth a buy for any huge MMA fan.

Ahead of that, UFC will be making its way to New Jersey for UFC 131: King of the Octagon. The already announced main event fight will be between Muhammed Lawal and Forrest Griffin. Leading into the Light Heavyweight brawl will be Fedor Emelianenko’s brother, Aleksander Emelianenko, taking on the best pure-striker in UFC, Mirko CroCop, in a PRIDE rematch. Andre Galvao vs. Josh Koscheck has also been announced for the card so the Welterweight Tournament seems to be picking up speed already. UFC 131 will take place on November 5th, 2011.

After UFC 131 wraps up, UFC will head back to Nevada for UFC 132 which will feature Cain Velasquez getting his first title shot against Andrei Arlovski. The follow up to the fight will feature Bobby Lashley, who is currently enjoying a three fight win streak taking on Todd Duffee. One could wonder what this will do in terms of title contention. Other than that, no other news has been announced regarding UFC 131.

Other than the main UFC cards, a UFC Fight Night has been announced for December. No official word on the card, however.

Previous Event

UFC 129: Battle of the Century (September 27th, 2011)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Dennis Siver defeated Corey Hill via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Round 3)
Welterweight: Dan Hardy defeated Frank Lester via Submission (3:35, Round 2)
Middleweight: Ryan Jensen defeated Nate Quarry via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Round 3)
Lightweight: Melvin Guillard defeated Matt Veach via Knock Out (1:35, Round 3)
Heavyweight: Heath Herring defeated Dillen Michel via Submission (4:57, Round 1)

Main Card
Heavyweight: Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Chris Tuchscherer via Submission (4:52, Round 1)
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar defeated Anthony Pettis via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Round 3)
Light Heavyweight: Jake O’Brien defeated Mauricio Rua via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Round 3)
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar via Submission (2:13, Round 2)
Light Heavyweight: Thiago Silva defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via TKO (:26, Round 3)
Middleweight: Georges St. Pierre defeated Anderson Silva via Submission to win the Middleweight Championship (4:55, Round 3)

Next Event

UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi (October 22nd, 2011. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Spencer Fisher vs. Joe Stevenson
Light Heavyweight: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Goran Reljic
Light Heavyweight: Eliot Marshall vs. Karen Grigoryan
Lightweight: David Baron vs. Donald Cerrone

Main Card
Welterweight: Thiago Alves vs. Mike Swick
Light Heavyweight: Matt Hamill vs. DaMarques Johnson
Heavyweight: Maresuke Maeno vs. Junio Dos Santos
Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. Denis Kang
Welterweight: Urijah Faber vs. Jon Fitch
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Takanori Gomi

Announced Events

UFC 131: King of the Octagon (November 5th, 2011. New Jersey) 

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: George Roop vs. Josh Neer
Middleweight: Timothy Cool vs. Frederick Pendergarst
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Chris Wilson
Middleweight: Thomas Goodridge vs. Tim Credeur
Heavyweight: Mike Wessel vs. Justin McCully

Main Card
Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii vs. Cheick Kongo
Light Heavyweight: Aaron Simpson vs. Keith Jardine
Lightweight: Jorge Masvidal vs. Shinya Aoki
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. Josh Koscheck
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Mirko CroCop
Light Heavyweight: Muhammed Lawal vs. Forrest Griffin

UFC 132 (Date TBA. New Jersey)

Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

Ultimate Fight Night (December. Location TBA)

Card TBA

maudlin career

09-17-2009, 02:32 AM

Ultimate Fighting Championships: The Modern Warriors

Current Roster

Heavyweight
Aleksander Emelianenko
Alistair Overeem
Andrei Arlovski©
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Ben Rothwell
Bobby Lashley
Brock Lesnar
Cain Velasquez
Cheick Kongo
Chris Tuchscherer
Dillen Michel
Frank Mir
Gabriel Gonzaga
Heath Herring
Josh Barnett Junior Dos Santos
Justin McCully
Kimbo Slice
Maresuke Maeno
Michael Russow
Mike Wessel
Mirko CroCop
Roger Gracie
Satoshi Ishii
Tim Hague
Todd Duffee

Heavyweight Rankings
1. Andrei Arlovski
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Roger Gracie
4. Satoshi Ishii
5. Josh Barnett
6. Gabriel Gonzaga
7. Cain Velasquez
8. Frank Mir
9. Alistair Overeem
10. Ben Rothwell

Light Heavyweight
Aaron Simpson
Alexandre Ribeiro
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Brandon Vera
Caremlo Marrero
DeMarques Johnson
Eliot Marshall
Eric Schafer
Forrest Griffin
Hector Ramirez
Jake O’Brien
James Lee
Jon Jones
Karen Grigoryan
Keith Jardine
Krzysztof Soszynski
Kyle Kingsbury
Luis Arthur Cane
Lyoto Machida©
Mark Munoz
Matt Hamill
Mauricio Rua
Muhammaed Lawal
Phil Davis
Quinton Jackson
Razak Al-Hassan
Ryan Bader
Steve Cantwell
Thiago Silva
Tim McKenzie
Wanderlei Silva

Light Heavyweight Rankings
1. Lyoto Machida
2. Muhammed Lawal
3. Forrest Griffin
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Jon Jones
6. Thiago Silva
7. Wanderlei Silva
8. Luis Arthur Cane
9. Alexandre Ribeiro
10. Mauricio Rua

Middleweight
Alan Belcher
Amir Sadollah
Anderson Silva
CB Dollaway
Chris Leben
Dan Henderson
Dan Miller
Demian Maia
Denis Kang
Drew McFedries
Ed Heman
Frederick Pendergarst
Georges St. Pierre©
Gerald Harris
Goran Reljic
Jake Rosholt
James Irvin
Jason Miller
Kendall Grove
Michael Bisping
Mike Massenzio
Nate Marquardt
Nate Quarry
Nick Catone
Patrick Cote
Ricardo Almeida
Rob Kimmons
Robbie Lawler
Ronaldo de Souza
Rousimar Palhares
Ryan Jensen
Sugita Yamanaka
Thales Leites
Thomas Goodridge
Tim Credeur
Timothy Cool
Tom Lawlor
Tomasz Drwal
Wilson Gouveia
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Yushin Okami

Middleweight Rankings
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Anderson Silva
3. Nate Marquardt
4. Michael Bisping
5. Thales Leites
6. Demian Maia
7. Robbie Lawler
8. Yoshihiro Akiyama
9. Yushin Okami
10. Dan Henderson

Welterweight
Andre Galvao
Anthony Johnson
Ben Saunders
BJ Penn
Brad Blackburn
Carlos Condit
Chris Wilson
Dan Cramer
Dan Hardy
Danillo Villefort
Dong Hyun Kim
Dustin Hazelett
Edgar Garcie
Frank Lester
Jake Ellenberger
James Wilks
Jason High
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Sanders
John Hathaway
John Howard
Johny Hendricks
Jon Fitch
Jonathan Goulet
Josh Koscheck
Kevin Burns
Marius Zaromskis
Martin Kampmann
Matt Brown
Matt Hughes
Matt Serra
Mike Pyle
Mike Swick
Nick Osipczak
Norifumi Yamamoto
Paul Taylor
Paulo Thiago
Ricky Story
Rory Markham
Thiago Alves
TJ Grant
Urijah Faber
Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Welterweight Rankings
1. Jon Fitch
2. BJ Penn
3. Josh Koscheck
4. Mike Swick
5. Thiago Alves
6. Urijah Faber
7. Martin Kampmann
8. Andre Galvao
9. Matt Hughes
10. James Wilks

Lightweight
Aaron Riley
Andre Winner
Anthony Pettis
Benson Henderson
Brian Cobb
Cameron Dollar
Clay Guida
Cole Miller
Corey Hill
Daisuke Nakamura
Dale Hartt
David Baron
Dennis Siver
Diego Sanchez
Donald Cerrone
Eddie Alvarez
Efrain Escudero
Frankie Edgar
George Roop
George Sotiropoulos
Gleison Tibau
Gray Maynard
Hermes Franca
Jeremy Stephens
Jim Miller
Joachim Hansen
Joe Lauzon
Joe Stevenson
Jorge Masvidal
Jose Aldo
Josh Neer
Josh Thomson©
Junie Browning
Justin Buchholz
Kenny Florian
Kurt Pellegrino
Kyle Bradley
Mac Danzig
Mark Bocek
Matt Veach
Matt Wiman
Melvin Guillard
Nate Diaz
Paul Kelly
Phillipe Nover
Rafael dos Anjos
Rob Emerson
Roger Huerta
Roli Delgado
Ronnys Torres
Ross Pearson
Sam Stout
Sean Sherk
Shane Nelson
Shannon Gugerty
Shinya Aoki
Spencer Fisher
Takanori Gomi
Thiago Tavares
Tyson Griffin

Lightweight Rankings
1. Eddie Alvarez
2. Josh Thomson
3. Shinya Aoki
4. Jose Aldo
5. Diego Sanchez
6. Joachim Hansen
7. Frankie Edgar
8. Gray Maynard
9. Kenny Florian
10. Roger Huerta

UFC Champions
Heavyweight Champion
Andrei Arlovski

Light Heavyweight Champion
Lyoto Machida

Middleweight Champion
Georges St. Pierre

Welterweight Champion
Vacant

Lightweight Champion
Josh Thomson

UFC Pound 4 Pound Rankings
1. Lyoto Machida
2. Georges St. Pierre
3. Andrei Arlovski
4. Jon Fitch
5. Anderson Silva
6. Eddie Alvarez
7. Josh Thomson
8. Muhammed Lawal
9. Forrest Griffin
10. Nate Marquardt

maudlin career

09-17-2009, 10:29 AM

Blurcat MMA News

World News for Week 4 of September

Sengoku 29 Filling Out
World Victory Roadreturns to PPV this October with Sengoku 29; the event will be headlined by Stephan Bonnar vs. Christian M’Pumbu and Jason MacDonald vs. Vitor Belfort. In addition to that, Gilbert Yvel vs. Moise Rimbon, Roan Carneiro vs. Jorge Ortiz, and a Middleweight clash between Kiyoshi Tamura and Andrews Nakahara have all recently been announced for the card. Sengoku 29 will take place on Saturday, October 8th.

‘The Pitbull’ and ‘The Hammer’ on Crackdown
2-Time Current UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski made an appearance on Blurcat’s Radio Network show, Crackdown. On the show, he discussed with Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks how great it felt to be back in UFC, how ecstatic he is that he’s won the UFC Heavyweight Championship in his second fight back, and how he’s been training non-stop for Cain Velasquez. He gave props to Velasquez, citing that his relentless takedowns might present a problem. However, Arlovski revealed that he’s been training with some wrestlers, so he’s looking to nullify Velasquez’s technique.

To wrap up the show, Bellator FC Featherweight Joe Soto sat down with us. Of all the various things he talked about, he mainly expressed that he wished Bellator would create a Featherweight Championship. Soto believes that Bellator has a Featherweight Division just as deep as WEC…and with a professional record of 11-1, it’s hard to disagree.

You can download the Podcast here!

Scott Adams Announces WEC in October
WEC will be hosting its 67th show on Friday, October 28th. We’ve learned that the event will be called WEC 67 and it will also be headlined by a Bantamweight bout between Yoshiro Maeda and Joe Warren. No other news has been announced.

Adrenaline: Robinson vs. Kyle Weigh-Ins a Success
For those of you who don’t keep up with your regional MMA, Adrenaline will be holding a show exactly twenty-four hours from now titled Adrenaline: Robinson vs. Kyle. Tonight the Blurcat staff had a chance to attend the weigh-ins and were happy to report that everyone had made weight. Adrenaline: Robinson vs. Kyle will feature a Heavyweight main event with Colin Robinson taking on Mike Kyle. The lead-up to the fight will be a Lightweight bout between Yves Edwards and Jason Ireland. Be sure to come to Blurcat for the full report.

Somdet and Taitano to Co-Headline WEC 67
Late Friday, Scott Adams announced that in addition to the Yoshiro Maeda and Joe Warren match that Muay Thai artist Rambaa Somdet will be taking on Jesse Taitano at WEC 67: Warren vs. Maeda. Both fighters are undefeated in WEC with Somdet being 4-0 and Taitano being 5-0. This is a big fight for WEC as Scott Adams looks to prove that the WEC Flyweight Division is no joke.

DREAM Looking to Expand Viewership
It’s being reported that Dream Stage Entertainment are currently in negotiations with England based Sky Box Office in an attempt to gain exposure outside of the Japanese market. With UFC and World Victory Road being the only promotions to broadcast events internationally, this is a big move for DREAM. Also, seeing that World Victory Road are only streaming their events online, a move like DREAM securing a British PPV contract could spell big trouble for DREAM’s Japanese rival. We’ll be sure to report with further news as we hear it.

World MMA Event Results

Adrenaline: Robinson vs. Kyle (Thursday, September 22nd. Iowa)

Preliminary Card
Matt Kakowski defeated Josh Haynes via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round.)
Kestutis Smirnovas defeated Jorge Rivera via TKO (:26. First Round)

Main Card
Po’ai Suganuma defeated Ron Fairchild via Knock Out (:38. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Joseph Beneteau defeated Scott Wright via Submission (3:45. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good Fight
Logan Clark defeated Raymond Daniels via Submission (:40. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Yves Edwards defeated Jason Ireland via Submission (2:04. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Mike Kyle defeated Colin Robinson via TKO (2:25. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight

DREAM 32 (Sunday, September 25th. Tohoku)

Preliminary Card
Rafael Cavalcante defeated Tim Boetsch via Submission (2:16. Second Round.)
Dong Yi Yang defeated Eddie Sanchez via Split Decision (5:00. Third Round.)
Valentijn Overeem defeated Wesley Correira via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round.)
Scott Jorgensen defeated Marcos Galvado via Knock Out (1:21. First Round.)

Main Card
Siala-Mou Siligia defeated Kiril Sidelnikov via Split Decision (5:00. Third Round.) Blurcat Verdict: Good Fight
Paul Daley defeated Akihiro Gono via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round.) Blurcat Verdict: Decent Fight
Phil Baroni defeated Hiromitsu Miura via Knock Out (1:38. First Round.) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Ricardo Arona defeated Rich Franklin via Submission (5:30. First Round.) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Gesias Cavalcante defeated Mike Thomas Brown via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Second Round.) Blurcat Verdict: Poor Fight

UFC News for Week 4 of September

Signings
No new fighters have been signed to represent UFC

Re-Signings
Kevin Burns has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Jesse Lennox has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Wilson Gouveia has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Paul Kelly has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Carmelo Marrero has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Patrick Cote has re-signed a six fight multi-year deal with UFC
Razak Al-Hassan has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
John Hathaway has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Eric Schafer has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
No fighter has been released from their current UFC contract.

UFC 129 Financial Report
It looks like Zuffa will be up to their nose in money as UFC has been reported as making as much as $4,613,292 in PPV Buyrates alone and an additional $1,673,440 in ticket sales from UFC 129. Seeing that the event was headlined by a rematch between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre for the Middleweight Championship, it was believed that UFC would have a prosperous month, but no one thought they’d make this month. One wonders how this will affect UFC 130 which is headlined by two fighters who have no where near close the name value of GSP and Anderson Silva.

Big…Big Report
For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see the post-fight press conference for UFC 129, you missed a huge announcement that might change the UFC Heavyweight Division forever. GSP and Anderson Silva sat on opposite sides of Dana White. Silva was asked by a reporter when he plans to rematch. While everyone was waiting for the official word, Anderson Silva reported that losing this match and the Middleweight Championship was a blessing in disguise because he’s always been interested in moving up in weight and now that he no longer holds the Middleweight Championship, he can finally look to move up weight. Silva furthered his statement by saying he’s going to take eight to nine months off before returning and by that time he hopes to at least be 230 pounds. That’s right, you read correctly: Anderson Silva wants to fight at Heavyweight.

maudlin career

09-17-2009, 11:35 PM

Blurcat October MMA News

Scheduled MMA Events in October
PFC 36: Adrenaline Rush (Palace FC. Saturday, October 1st)
RAW Combat: On the Edge (RAW Combat. Sunday, October 2nd)
Sengoku 29 (World Victory Road. Saturday, October 8th)
Bellator FC 34 (Bellator FC. Tuesday, October 18th)
UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi (UFC. Saturday, October 22nd)
WEC 67: Warren vs. Maeda (WEC. Friday, October 28th)

World News for Week 1 of October

The War Wages On
DREAM and UFC are back at war to claim another fighter. After an impressive knock out at DREAM 32, Scott Jorgensen had officially completed his DREAM contract. Dream Stage Entertainment was looking to quietly re-sign the Team Quest fighter, but after Zuffa caught wind of the free-agent status, Jorgensen was immediately contacted about a potential UFC debut. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on what takes place in the coming days.

Adrenaline Announce October Event
As if six events in one month weren’t enough, Monte Cox came forth Wednesday night to announce a new Adrenaline event for October, 29th. The main event will see Doug Marshall in his first Adrenaline Middleweight Championship against David Loiseau. Lightweights Alvin Robinson and Duane Ludwig will be co-headlining the card. The rest of the fights will be announced in the weeks to come.

Warlock Joins American Top Team
‘The Warlock’ Harold Brook looks to break out of the amateur MMA in a major way by joining the American Top Team training camp. The camp has produced notable UFC vets like Bobby Lashley, Todd Duffee, and Thiago Silva.

This is a big move for Harold Brook who already holds a professional record of 6-0 and joining a camp like American Top Team can only further help develop his wrestling skills. Expect to see Brook make a splash in the MMA world in years to come.

PFC Weigh-Ins Tonight!
Five hours from now, Palace FC will be entertaining the California MMA fans with an exciting night of martial arts action with PFC 36: Adrenaline Rush. The fight will be headlined by Featherweights Mark Hominick and Jesse Moreng and Bantamweights Abel Cullum and Daniel Lima. Be sure to check our website tomorrow morning for a detailed report on the event.

MMA Event Results

PFC 36: Adrenaline Rush (Saturday, October 1st)</b

Preliminary Card
Abe Wagner defeated Roy Nelson via Submission (2:14. First Round)
Nathan Coy defeated Luis Sapo via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)

Main Card
Jim York defeated Rex Richards via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average Fight.
Matt Fiordirosa defeated Tenkei Fujimiya to retain the PFC Featherweight Championship via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average Fight
So Tazawa defeated Justin Robbins to retain the PFC Bantamweight Championship (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor Fight
Abel Cullum defeated Daniel Lima via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average Fight
Jesse Moreng defeated Mark Hominick via TKO (4:37. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent Fight

UFC News for Week 1 of October

Signings
No new fighters have been signed to represent UFC

Re-Signings
James Lee has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Rob Kimmons has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Bobby Lashley has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Steve Cantwell has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida has re-signed a seven fight multi-year deal with UFC
Dustin Hazelett has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Joe Lauzon has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
Rob Emerson has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
Mike Pyle has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
Matt Veach has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
Ronny Torres has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Shannon Gugery has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Mark Bocek has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Mike Massenzio has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
No fighter has been released from their current UFC contract.

Ryan Bader Leaves Arizona Combat Sports
After suffering four losses in a row in UFC, many believe that Ryan Bader's future with the company could be in jeopardy. Bader, who still has three fights left on his contract, is looking to improve his game by leaving Arizona Combat Sports.

"I like the team there, the guys are like brothers, but I just need to see what else is out there right now." Said Ryan Bader in a recent interview with Blurcat.

A decision like this could be the kind of move that could help Bader improve in the grand scheme of things. No word on where Bader will look to train next, but we'll be sure to keep you posted.

UFC Fighters Join Crackdown Radio
Blurcat Radio Network returned to Blurcat.com this Friday with another episode of Crackdown. This time UFC fighters Wilson Gouveia and John Howard joined Gavin Banks and Alex Emerson. The four discussed a number of things, including who they would like to fight next, what they thought about the exploding MMA scene in Japan with World Victory Road and DREAM growing at exponential rates, and how long they could see themselves in MMA.

All in all it was another fun edition of Crackdown. The Podcast is available here!

maudlin career

09-18-2009, 11:57 AM

Blurcat.com - Your Number One Source for MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi Press Conference Notes & Recap (Tuesday, October 11, 2011)

My 2-Cents
For those of you who have been living under a rock, we are exactly eleven days from UFC’s next big event, UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi. The main event of the night will feature Eddie Alvarez and the former and last PRIDE Lightweight Champion,Takanori Gomi, going at it in what seems to be a three-round war. To go along with the Lightweight Main Event, former WEC superstar and Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber will return to MMA action after a six-month lay-off. Faber, who now fights in the Welterweight Division, will square off with Jon Fitch in the first round of the Welterweight tournament.

With the last UFC event featuring a battle between Anderson Silva and GSP, UFC 130 could turn out to disappoint many people. For one, neither Takanori Gomi nor Eddie Alvarez has the name value that GSP and Anderson Silva do. Secondly, the Welterweight Tournament comprises of five people that GSP has already defeated and thus we wonder just how credible that will make the tournament seem. This event could turn out to hurt UFC in the short-term, but if it helps Gomi or Alvarez propel into a title match, it could have some very long-term benefits.

The major question has been presented: Will UFC 130 do well from a financial stand-point? Personally, I say no. Not many American fans are interested in Gomi or Alvarez, so I could see this one taking a drastic decline in PPV buys. From an event stand-point, though, you’d have to be an idiot not to think that Gomi and Alvarez won’t go to war in the main event.

Press Conference Notes & Recap
-Dana White started off the conference by addressing future plans with the UFC. The previously announced Ultimate Fight Night gets a confirmed date of December 14th of this year. The event will now take place in Indianapolis, Indiana. No fights were announced, but White stated they’re working on delivering a good card. Afterward he states that he feels UFC 130 is an adequate card. He explains the Lightweight Main Event will be a definite highlight reel finish for either fighter. He then explains how important the two Welterweight Opening Round Tournament fights will be in the months to come. He hypes both Junior Dos Santos and Maresuke Maeno by saying he thinks they are future Heavyweight players. He wraps up by saying Denis Kang will be looking to claim Middleweight Championship contention with a victory over the best pure grappler in the sport, Demian Maia.

-Jon Fitch came out and said that this would be his chance to shine. He’s disappointed that Georges St. Pierre won’t be fighting at Welterweight any longer, because he really wants his rematch. He does however say that he feels honored to be selected to participate in the Welterweight Tournament, and promises everyone that he will walk out as the next Welterweight Championship.

-Urijah Faber finally came out of hiding after a sixth month hiatus, and he looks great. For a guy who had just been fighting at Featherweight some sixth or seven months ago, he looked like he naturally belonged in the 170lb division in UFC. He explained that he left WEC mainly for money reasons, but that there are no hard feelings between him, the staff, or any of the fighters there. When asked if he ever saw himself going back to WEC to compete in his natural weight class, he responded by saying that right now his mind was focused on capturing the newly vacated Welterweight Championship.

-Takanori Gomi came out decked in a rather stylish suit. He provided the opening entertainment for the night by posing for those in attendance in various different ways. Once he took his seat, Gomi began speaking to his translator. His translator revealed that Gomi said he had caught word that many were disappointed in the main event, but guaranteed that everyone would walk away with a smile on their face. He said he never lost the PRIDE Lightweight Championship and hopes that a victory over Eddie Alvarez will put him next in line.

-Since Thiago Alves couldn’t make it, Mike Swick was hyping their fight solo. Swick says he knows Alves is a lethal striker, but after his quick TKO victory over Matt Hughes, he feels confident in his own striking ability. Swick says he knows that his opening fight with Alves will be the most talked about fight of the year. Swick promises he will be the next Welterweight Champion.

-Finally, Eddie Alvarez spoke about the main event of UFC 130. He understands that everyone is disappointed, but points out that he and Gomi aren’t jokers. He goes through Gomi’s accolades in MMA and talks about his lethal striking. Alvarez then talks about his stint with DREAM and all the events he headlined in Japan. He more or less was trying to justify why Gomi and Alvarez would make a good main event, and honestly, he did a good job. He says words can’t describe how amazing it feels to know he’s headlining a UFC event.

-The Press Conference wrapped up with a little Q&A and some photo-ops. All in all, Dana White & Co. did a great job of hyping up UFC 130.

maudlin career

09-18-2009, 04:38 PM

Blurcat October MMA News

World Headlines for Week 2 of October

-After being dismantled by the hands of Juro Hayami, Renato Sobral has been given a four month medical suspension.

-PFC President Kazushi Sakuraba has announced that the next PFC show will take place Thursday, November 3rd. The event will be held in California. As of now, nothing else has been announced.

-RAW Combat and DREAM to also hold November events.

-Dream Stage Entertainment announces that James Thompson vs. Ibragim Magomedov/Murilo Rua vs. Falaniko Vitale will headline DREAM 33.

-Sengoku 29 weigh-ins are tonight. Be sure to check out our Weigh-In Roundtable with special guest Joe Warren here!

-Be sure to check Blurcat Saturday night for Sengoku 29 results!

World MMA Event Results

RAW Combat: On the Edge ( Sunday, October 2nd)

Main Card
Deividas Taurosevicius defeated Ryan Schults via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent Fight
Stephane Vigenault defeated Yves Jabouin via Submission (3:57. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Brendan Barrett defeated Ricardeau Francois via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average Fight
Juro Hayami defeated Renato Sobral via TKO (2:09. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic Fight
Jay Hieron defeated Alex Serdyukov via Submission (3:26. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight

Sengoku 29 (Saturday, October 8th)

Preliminary Card
Miguel Torres defeated Michihiro Omigawa via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Jess Liaudin defeated Artur Oumakhanov via Submission (4:34. Third Round)
Joe Doerksen defeated Bryan Baker via Submission (3:53. Third Round)
David Douglas defeated Lyle Beerbohm via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)

Main Card
Andrews Nakahara defeated Kiyoshi Tamura via TKO (:30. Third Round)Blurcat Verdict: Decent Fight
Moise Rimbon defeated Gilber Yvel via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent Fight
Roan Carneiro defeated Jorge Ortiz via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)) Blurcat Verdict: Average Fight
Vitor Belfort defeated Jason MacDonald via TKO (3:13. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great Fight
Stephan Bonnar defeated Christian M’Pumbu via Split Decision. (5:00 Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent Fight

UFC News for Week 2 of October

Signings
Scott Jorgensen has opted out of contractual negotiations with DREAM and has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC.

Re-Signings
Thiago Silva has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Roger Gracie has re-signed a seven fight multi-year deal with UFC
Nick Catone has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
Ricardo Almeida has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
UFC have decided not to extend Ryan Jensen’s current contract.

Ryan Bader Finds New Home At Xtreme Couture
Last week we reported that Ryan Bader left Arizona Combat Sports. At the height of this news, no body—Not even Ryan Bader himself—knew what would happen next. We are happy to report that Bader will now be training under the Xtreme Couture banner.

This is a great move for Ryan Bader as he will now be training under the tutelage of MMA Legend Randy Couture, himself. We’re excited to see how this training will help him with his future inside the Octagon.

maudlin career

09-18-2009, 06:04 PM

Blurcat.com - Your Number One Source for MMA

Blurcat’s UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi Weigh-In Roundtable

Alex Emerson: Hello all and welcome to another anticipated edition of Weigh-In Roundtable brought to you by none other than the Blurcat Radio Network. I’m Alex Emerson, Blurcat’s Main Editor. Here to join me tonight are Blurcat regulars Tom Bradburn, Gavin Banks, and Stuart Teacher. Our special guest tonight is UFC Hall of Famer and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Chuck Liddell. Liddell is great to have you.

Liddell: Thanks, I’m happy to be here.

Emerson: For those who are new to this radio program, I’ll explain it to you. During the night of any respective promotion’s weigh-ins, the Blurcat staff gets together to discuss that promotion’s card and call who we think the winners will be. Twenty-four hours from now, UFC will be hosting it’s 130th event. Chuck, 130th! Can you believe that?

Liddell: It’s crazy to hear you say that, but when I was fighting back at 106 and 97, I knew they’d get there.

Banks: Well before you go any further Emerson, let me ask you: are you excited for the card?

Emerson: I’m personally excited for tomorrow night’s card. Granted, I went to the UFC 130 Press Conference, so my view and input on the event might be different from others.

Teacher: In my opinion, the card seems shallow, especially after what we were presented with at 129.

Liddell: Let me be the first to defend UFC here, after all they did give me my big break. How can you follow up with Silva and Pierre? There’s not a card in this world that could follow that up.

Emerson: Except Liddell and Couture IV.

Liddell: You’re getting on my good side Alex.

Bradburn: I don’t know, I think Gomi and Alvarez have what it takes to close the show. Plus, Faber makes his UFC debut. There are a lot of hardcore fans who have been waiting to see that.

Emerson: Ok then that leads to our game of Weigh-In Round Table:

First Question: Will UFC 130 Be a Success or Failure?

Alex Emerson says:
Personally, I think it’ll be an exciting night of fights. From the opening fight (Alves vs. Swick) until the end (Alvarez vs. Gomi) the entire card is stacked. So that’s my answer. How it will do financially, I don’t know. As of now, I think it’s a Success.

Chuck Liddell says:
UFC rarely disappoints. Even their worst cards are still good. There’s a reason why UFC are still the number one promotion today and that’s because they deliver what the fans want to see. The card itself may not be up to par with UFC 129, but Gomi and Alvarez are going to have a lot of people talking. My verdict: A success.

Gavin Banks says:
You guys are looking at it from an entertainment perspective. If that’s the criteria, I’ll say success too. However, that’s not the criteria. When you are asking if it will succeed or fail you have to take all aspects into account, including financially. As it stands, Eddie Alvarez and Takanori Gomi do not have the name value to bring in the dollars. I’m saying this show will flop.

Stuart Teacher says:
As much as I hate to, I gotta agree with Gav. You can’t stick two semi-popular names in the Octagon and call it a main event. There will be ramifications for this.

Tom Bradburn says:
Again, Gomi and Alvarez are going to tear it up tomorrow night. Plus The California Kid is making his way to PPV. There are a lot of people who want to see that. I'm thinking it'll succeed

The Verdict: Majority says succeed.

Second Question: Thiago Alves vs. Mike Swick?

Chuck Liddell says:
I gotta give this one to Alves. This guy was around when I was still fighting in the UFC and man was he tough as hell. I haven’t been able to keep up with UFC as much as I want to, so I’m not too sure on the entire Welterweight deal, but I understand this is a tournament fight. As I said, it’s been a while since I’ve watched UFC, so I don’t know who’s in the tournament, but I’m calling Thiago Alves as the next Welterweight Champion.

Gavin Banks says:
If you haven’t been watching UFC lately, I guess you didn’t see Mike Swick destroy Matt Huges. I think Mike Swick has proven that he’s a legitimate threat in the Welterweight Division, and is one of only three fighters in the tournament to have not fought GSP. I’m picking Mike Swick.

Alex Emerson says:
Chuck, I know we had a moment a few minutes ago, but I’m going with Swick too. The guy has just looked beyond impressive in his last couple of fights. There’s just no other way of going with this one.

Tom Bradburn says:
Chuck, I think we’re going to be best friends after this, because obviously everyone has forgotten how lethal Thiago Alves is standing up. Do you guys seriously think Swick is going to be able to stand-up with Alves like he did with Hughes? I see Thiago Alves ending Mike Swick in the first round by way of knock out.

Stuart Teacher says:
This is a tough one. Both fighters are dangerous. Why this is even opening UFC 130 is beyond me, because this is a major match. I can’t decide. If I had a gun to my head, I think I’d agree with Tom and Chuck, Alves has lethal hands, lethal feet, and lethal knees. I don’t see Mike Swick making it out of this.

Final Verdict: Majority says Thiago Alves

Third Question: Matt Hammill vs. DeMarques Johnson?

Stuart Teacher says:
Who has Johnson fought lately? In his last three fights, Johnson has only managed to defeat Krzysztof Soszynski. Hammill on the other-hand was on a winning streak up until fighting Luis Arthur Cane. You’d be an idiot to pick DeMarques Johnson

Chuck Liddell says:
I’m not an idiot, so I’m picking Matt Hammill.

Tom Bradburn says:
Not only do I not care about this fight, but I do not think Johnson stands a chance.

Alex Emerson says:
Do I even need to give my prediction?

Gavin Banks says:
Part of me wants to be an ******* and pick DeMarques Johnson, but I’m a big fan of Hammill, so looks like this is a unanimous pick.

Final Verdict: Everyone unanimously says Matt Hammill

Fourth Question: Maresuke Maeno vs. Junior Dos Santos?

Tom Bradburn says:
This fight is going to produce some bombs. Dos Santos is great, but he lost to Bobby Lashley. Then again Maeno suffered a loss to Tuchscherer. This means both fighters will be hungry for that big win, and this fight is that big win. I’m calling an early knock out in favor of Dos Santos.

Gavin Banks says:
Ditto

Chuck Liddell says:
I don’t think Maresuke has yet to fight anyone on the talent level that Dos Santos has. So far Maeno has gotten some easy fights where as all of Dos Santos fight have been wars. I think this will be an easy fight for Dos Santos.

Alex Emerson says:
I’ve seen the guy train. Maresuke is a machine. I think Dos Santos is going in this fight expecting an easy one like all of you guys are saying, but he will be in for one hell of a fight. I’m thinking Maresuke locks in a submission and takes a victory over Dos Santos.

Stuart Teacher says:
If there’s one fight I don’t care about on this card, this is the one. I know it’s going to be a brawl, but I honestly do not care about either one. Mainly because I see Junior Dos Santos taking Maeno to the slaughter house in this one.

Final Verdict: Majority says Junior Dos Santos

Fifth Question: Demian Maia vs. Denis Kang?

Gavin Banks says:
Demian Maia has looked absolutely terrible since returning to UFC. How the guy could go from being the #3 ranked Middleweight in the world to suffering a submission loss to Michael Bisping—I hate that guy—is beyond me. You know what, just because he lost to Bisping, I’m picking Kang!

Alex Emerson says:
I think this will be the fight that puts Demian Maia back on the leader boards. Kang is a tough opponent, but Maia has finally gotten that Octagon rust off of him. Demian Maia is going to walk away with this one.

Chuck Liddell says:
They call Demian Maia the best pure grappler in the sport for a reason. I think we’ll see some of that tomorrow night. So yeah, I’ll pick Maia too.

Stuart Teacher says:
Maia is awful at stand-up, but Kang isn’t a good striker. This will be a good match for Maia as it will allow him to apply his grappling and submissions on Kang and pull of an early victory.

Tom Bradburn says:
I hate Michael Bisping, too, and losing to Michael Bisping is absolutely unforgivable…unless your Matt Hammill because he’s awesome. Since I don’t see Demian Maia using sign language, no offense Hammill, Denis Kang better win!

Final Verdict: Majority says Demian Maia

Sixth Question: Urijah Faber vs. Jon Fitch?

Stuart Teacher says:
Earlier, Chuck said he sees Thiago Alves winning this whole tournament. Well that’s how I feel about Jon Fitch. In all honesty, they pretty much gave him an easy first fight. Don’t get me wrong, Faber is great, but he’s been out of the game for nearly sixth months. Jon Fitch is not a tune-up match. Fitch is walking away with an easy win.

Alex Emerson says:
As I said earlier, I went to the UFC 130 Press-Conference, and Urijah Faber is in great shape. He doesn’t look bulky and, like I mentioned in my Press-Conference notes, he looks like he naturally belongs at Welterweight. I think he’s going to make a return in a big way and get a victory over Fitch.

Gavin Banks says:
California Kid all the way. He simply is one of my favorite fighters. I’m not just saying that because he loves visiting the Blurcat staff…ok maybe I am a little. No seriously though, Emerson is right. Faber looks incredible. You cannot underestimate him.

Chuck Liddell says:
I don’t see how you can pick Faber when thus far, Fitch is one of the only men who was able to push GSP into the distance. Faber is tough, but Fitch is tougher. Now you guys didn’t hear me say this, because it can get me in a lot of trouble, but I think Teacher is right: Fitch got an easy fight.

Tom Bradburn says:
Earlier I said a lot of people have been waiting for a Faber UFC debut. Those same people will be sorely disappointed tomorrow night. Fitch has his name all over this fight. I agree with Teacher, I think Fitch is going to be UFC's next Welterweight Champion.

Final Verdict: Majority says Jon Fitch

Final Question: Takanori Gomi vs. Eddie Alvarez?

Alex Emerson says:
The man had on a kick-ass suit last week. For the suit alone, I’m picking Gomi. No seriously, I understand Alvarez is considered by many to be one of the Pound 4 Pound players, but Gomi is on fire. He seriously will do anything to get the UFC Lightweight Championship and if Alvarez is his only obstacle, things are going to get ugly. I think Gomi will take this one.

Stuart Teacher says:
You mentioned rankings and you know what: Gomi isn’t even in UFC’s Top 10 Lightweights, let alone Pound 4 Pound. With that said, I think Gomi is going to give Alvarez hell, but despite what people think, rankings exist for a reason. Gomi won’t last past the first round with Alvarez.

Chuck Liddell says:
Eddie Alvarez is the toughest man in the Lightweight Division in the UFC and the entire world. There’s my pick.

Gavin Banks says:
You know, even when Gomi was PRIDE Lightweight Champion, he still lost a lot of fights in PRIDE. Ok maybe not a lot, but let’s just say if more of his fights were for the title, he wouldn’t have the honor of being the last Lightweight Champion. Eddie Alvarez is taking this one.

Tom Bradburn says:
I think I’m going to pick Takanori Gomi. After seeing what he did to Stevenson in his UFC debut, I’m convinced that Gomi is for real about being back on top.

Final Verdict: Majority says Eddie Alvarez

Alex Emerson: We hope you enjoyed this edition of Weigh-In Roundtable. Be sure to come back tomorrow night for a full recap of UFC 130. Also, don’t forget to e-mail me your predictions at Emerson-Blurcat@aol.com. Winner will receive a free Blurcat T-shirt signed by Chuck Liddell. Thanks a lot and have a great night!

Full UFC 130: Alvarez vs Gomi Card

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Spencer Fisher vs. Joe Stevenson
Light Heavyweight: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Goran Reljic
Light Heavyweight: Eliot Marshall vs. Karen Grigoryan
Lightweight: David Baron vs. Donald Cerrone

Main Card
Welterweight: Thiago Alves vs. Mike Swick
Light Heavyweight: Matt Hamill vs. DaMarques Johnson
Heavyweight: Maresuke Maeno vs. Junio Dos Santos
Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. Denis Kang
Welterweight: Urijah Faber vs. Jon Fitch
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Takanori Gomi

Be sure to send in your predictions!

maudlin career

09-18-2009, 09:20 PM

World Headlines for Week 3 of October (continued)

-Jared Hess and Jorge Santiago join Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks on Monday’s Crackdown

-Joe Soto has signed an exclusive deal with WEC

-Join the Blurcat staff for another edition of Weigh-In Roundtable. This time we will be covering Bellator FC 34. Our special guest of the evening will be Brett Rogers.

-Former UFC fighter Brock Larson has signed a two fight deal with RAW Combat.

-Kaitlin Young and Roy York join Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks on Friday’s Crackdown.

MMA Event Results

Bellator FC 34 (Tuesday, October 18th)

Main Card
Estevan Payan defeated Micah Miller via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Yahir Reyes defeated Shawn Bias via TKO (1:44. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Brett Cooper defeated Omar de la Cruz via Submission (2:45. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Dave Herman defeated Tim Sylvia via TKO (4:50. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Eric Reynolds defeated Nick Agallar to win the Bellator FC Lightweight Championship
via TKO (1:38. First Round.) Blurcat Verdict: Great

UFC News for Week 3 of October

Signings
No new fighters have been signed to represent UFC

Re-Signings
No fighters have had their contracts extended

Cuts
No fighter has been released from their current UFC contract

Gabriel Gonzaga: I want Silva
UFC Heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga conducted a phone interview with Alex Emerson earlier this year. On a wide list of subjects, Gonzaga confirmed that he is currently working on an extension deal. The biggest news however was Gonzaga addressing Anderson Silva’s potential move up to Heavyweight by stating he would love to be Silva’s first opponent.

That could be the perfect Heavyweight entrance for Silva as both fighters are stand-up strikers. It’s been said every time, but Gonzaga could prove to be Silva’s toughest opponent yet. No word on if this will happen or not, but if it does, it will not disappoint.

To get the full interview, click here.

December Fight Night Gets Pushed Back
A previously announced Ultimate Fight Night scheduled for December 14th has instead been pushed back to the following week on December 21st. Fights are still being talked about, but Dana White has stated that he will reveal the headlining fights at the UFC 130 Post-Fight Press Conference

UFC 132 Full Card Announced
UFC 132 has finally come to a complete. In addition to Arlovski vs. Velasquez and Duffee vs. Lashley, Anthony Johnson and Ben Saunders will open up the event, and two additional fights between Hermes Franca and Mac Danzig and Wilson Gouveia and Yoshihiro Akiyama will round up the card. The event will take place on December 3rd in Las Vegas, Nevada. For any further information, including the Preliminaries, check out the UFC schedule here.

UFC 130 Report
The results are in. Was UFC 130 a failure or success? Did Alvarez or Gomi walk out as winner? Who advanced in the Welterweight Tournament? We have all the answers. Find out here!

maudlin career

09-18-2009, 11:28 PM

Blurcat.com - Your Number One Source for MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi Full Report (Saturday, October 22nd)

Tonight is the night that puts all the stories and gossip to rest. After a successful and historic rematch between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva at UFC 129, many wondered if UFC could properly follow up and deliver a proper card for UFC 130.

The early answer was simple: no. With the announced main event being a Lightweight bout between Eddie Alvarez and Takanori Gomi, many people felt that it was a poor decision on the part of Zuffa. But seriously, let’s think about this: Is there an adequate way to rebound from a big fight between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva?

That answer is simple, too: no. You cannot get a guaranteed fight of the year between UFC’s biggest stars and then expect UFC to deliver something equal to or better than that. As it stands, if this were UFC 128 or UFC 127, Gomi and Alvarez would be an excellent main event. Honestly, I still think it’s an adequate main event, and as I have said countless times. Gomi and Alvarez will have people talking for the months to come.

With that said, it’s time to deliver the goods. You guys came here to get your UFC 130 results, not to here me babble about fickle fans. Luckily for you, I happened to catch UFC 130 in its entirety. We’ll see just how well UFC 130 did.

UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi (Saturday, October 22nd.)
A vignette opened UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi. Eddie Alvarez appeared on screen first saying that in DREAM he never had a chance to fight Takanori Gomi when they were both fighting for the company. Takanori Gomi then shows up and says that he has been looking forward to this fight since it was announced. Gomi continues to say that he's nervous because he understands the fans are disappointed, but he promises he will knock out Alvarez. The screen switches to Alvarez who says he will beat Takanori Gomi and he will win the UFC Lightweight Championship.

The screen switches to a flashback where 'The California Kid' is holding the WEC Featherweight Championship. Urijah Faber shows up on screen saying that he would love to return after a six-month hiatus and capture the UFC Welterweight Championship. Jon Fitch appears on camera and says that he will be George St. Pierre's successor.

Another flashback shows up where Mike Swick is shown pounding on Matt Hughes to win a TKO victory. The camera then switches to Alves winning destroying to Thiago Alves. Mike Swick says that they both proved to be vicious stand-up fighters by taking out one of the best in the Welterweight Division. Swick also says he's concerned about Thiago's more potent striking game, but says he will see through it. Alves says he's been preparing three months for a war and if Swick doesn't bring it to him, he will bring it to Swick.

"Face the Pain" by Stemm hits the PA system and UFC 130 gets underway. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan welcome MMA fans to another exciting night of fights. The two play by play men run down tonight's card and share their perspective on each fight. Swick and Alves appear on the monitor signaling that the first fight was seconds from beginning.

Welterweight: Thiago Alves vs. Mike Swick

The Fight
Alves opens up the round by hitting Swick with a nice roundhouse kick. Swick doesn’t let the kick discourage him and steps in to exchange some strikes with Alves. Overall, it’s a bad choice for Swick, Alves is completely outgunning him. Because of this, Swick decides to stop to find his rhythm and the two fighters circle around. The round ends with Alves entering a grappling war with Swick in an attempt to get him to the floor. The round ends and both fighters look decent.

Early in the second round, Swick stuns Alves with a right-jab, and Alves has to back pedal. Swick tries to capitalize and force Alves into the cage, but Alves uses this time to hook Swick’s legs and get a takedown. Alves spends most of his time on the ground smothering swick, but this does allow him to recover from the jab. The referee stands them up, to no avail as the round tidily wraps up.

Swick finds his rhythm in the third round and comfortably exchanges punches with Alves. Alves slows Swick’s pacing by chopping at his thigh with a nice kick. Alves rushes in and catches Swick with a knee that sends Swick wobbling into the cage. Alves is looking for that knock out, but Swick isn’t having it. The two exchange leather, but the fight ends up going to the judges.

Once both fighter’s corners calm down, they move to the center of the Octagon so that Bruce Buffer can announce the Judges’ Scores. The judges give the fight a Unanimous score of 29-28 in favor of Thiago Alves.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Thiago Alves

The Post-Fight
Joe Rogan enters the Octagon and speaks with Thiago Alves first. He congratulates him on a victory and asks who he thought he was fighting next: Faber or Fitch. Alves says he isn’t sure right now, but he will be watching the fight closely in the back so he can do what it takes to win the Welterweight Championship.

The Verdict
Wow, Thiago Alves and Mike Swick went to war in that Octagon. There were a couple of fight ending moments, like the knee from Alves and the second round jab from Swick, but both fighters proved why they are fighting in the UFC. This is a huge win for Thiago Alves. With an impressive win over a competitor like Mike Swick, Alves could very well be the next Welterweight Champion. All in all, I’d say this was a great fight to open the show with.

Light Heavyweight: Matt Hammill vs. DeMarques Johnson

The Fight
Johnson is looking to strike with Hammill, which seems to be the only hope Johnson has of winning this fight as Hammill’s boxing is sloppy. Hammill knows this though and presses Johnson into the cage. Hammill kept Johnson against the cage giving Johnson no hope of breaking out. The referee decides to do Johnson a favor and restart the fight. It was absolutely pointless though as Hammill pushes Johnson right back into the cage. The first round ends with Johnson pinned against the cage.

Johnson opens the second round with a takedown, but Hammill stuffs up and uses it as an opportunity to push Johnson back into the cage. There they are…again…stuffed against the cage…with absolutely nothing going on. Hammill finally throws a couple of small inside bunches. Johnson uses this opportunity to slip behind Hammill. A rear naked choke is coming, but Hammill keeps his chin firmly against Johnson’s wrist. With the submission attempt going no where, Johnson pulls Hammill to the mat. Just when there’s going to be some action in an otherwise stale fight, round two comes to an end.

It’s Hammill’s turn for a takedown, but Johnson manages to fight it and locks up with Hammill in the process. Hammill pushes his weight into Johnson and…yep…you guessed it: Hammill has Johnson against the cage again. At this point in the fight, the fans are booing. I kind of wish Hammill wasn’t deaf; hearing the booing would definitely force him to do something. I’m going to hell for that one. Anyway, since we can’t have things our way though, Hammill and Johnson spent the rest of the round against the cage.

The fighters meet at the center where Bruce Buffer unsurprisingly announces a 30-27 Unanimous Decision for Matt Hammill.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Matt Hammill

The Post-Fight
One Hammill’s translators must’ve told Hammill how the fans felt about the fight; he apologized and told Joe Rogan that he was disappointed with his performance. He then told Rogan that he was going to spend more time in the gym and promised Las Vegas that when he returned to the Octagon, they would not be disappointed.

The Verdict
I could count how many punches were thrown in this fight with both hands. All would have been forgiven if we received a decent grappling exchange, but all we got was Hammill pinning Johnson into the cage instead. I will have to give Johnson props for actually trying to choke out Hammill, but unfortunately, Hammill fought it. All in all, this was a poor fight.

Heavyweight: Maresuke Maeno vs. Junior Dos Santos

The Fight
Maeno surprisingly takes Santos off of his feet by catching a body kick and pushing him to the ground. Maeno wastes little time in engaging Dos Santos on the ground, but apparently Dos Santos is more than ready for it. No matter how many attempts, Maeno couldn’t get firm control on the ground and thus the referee forced them back on their feet. Maeno wants to get Dos Santos back on the ground and pays the ultimate price! A right hook sends Maeno crashing to the ground. Dos Santos runs in, but Maeno is back up. Maeno and Dos Santos start throwing down! Maeno throws a 3-punch combo, but Dos Santos sees through it and drops Maeno with another right. Maeno survives the punch and scrambles back to his feet and the bell stops the first round brawl.

Maeno goes low and gets Dos Santos off of his feet. Though Maeno manages to hit Dos Santos with a couple of decent punches from half-guard, they’re not going to stop the fight. Maeno cannot get past Dos Santos’s excellent ground defense and the referee brings them back to their feet. Maeno moves in and catches jab flush on the jaw. Maeno’s legs give in and he’s back on the mat. Before Dos Santos can move in, Maeno is back on his feet. I’ll say it now: Maresuke Maeno is one tough son of a bitch! How he managed to survive another round is beyond me.

Maeno and Dos Santos exchange punches, and Maeno is hit cleanly with a right hook. Maeno’s head rolls back and he hits the Octagon hard! Dos Santos looks to capitalize, but there’s no need. Maresuke Maeno is out cold! There’s a highlight reel knock out for Junior Dos Santos!

Winner via Knock Out – Junior Dos Santos (:16. Third Round)

The Post-Fight
Junior Dos Santos had one thing to say: he wants to fight the very best. I’d love to see this guy take on a striker like Cheick Kongo or Gabriel Gonzaga.

The Verdict
Junior Dos Santos looked amazing in this fight. If I recall correctly, I seem to remember giving this fight Maeno. Not only did Junior Dos Santos spoil my prediction, but he destroyed Maresuke Maeno. The fans got their highlight reel knock out, that’s for sure. This was definitely a good fight for UFC.

Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. Denis Kang

The Fight
Kang and Maia displayed a good exchange of grappling with both fighters shooting in for takedowns at several instances in the first round. After failing for at least the fifth time, Maia settles for pushing Kang against the cage. While everyone was expecting another Matt Hammill incident, Maia proved them wrong by grabbing Kang’s right leg trying to trip him to the ground. Kang grabs Maia tightly and pulls his leg away from Maia’s grasp and hooks his arms around Maia’s body. Kang pushes Maia into an adjacent fencing of the cage to end the first round.

Maia and Kang clinch in and push each other around the Octagon. Maia finally manages to win the power struggle and forces Kang into the corner. Maia throws a couple of strikes, but Kang absorbs them. Maia then switches up and looks to take Kang to the ground. Kang hooks his arms under Maia and powers out of the grapple. The two are now pacing around the ring, and due to their wrestling game are both very tired. I can see the fans turning on this fight very quickly, especially with this second round looking like a near clone of Hammill/Johnson. The two clinch in once more, but the bell separates the two.

Kang and Maia clinch in again and the fans are booing. Kang forces Maia into the cage and Maia tries powering out. Maia appears to be the more tired of the two fighters as he cannot get out from the cage. The referee does us all a favor and restarts the fight. The two move around the ring and Kang tries to add some excitement to the fight by hitting an uppercut. Maia moves back in to clinch with Kang, but finds himself backed into the cage. Ladies and gentlemen the good news is that this fight is over. The sad news is we can’t get our 15-minutes of living back.

In the center of the ring, Bruce Buffer announces the Judges’ unanimous scoring of 30-27 to give Denis Kang the victory.

Winner via Unanimous Decision - Denis Kang

Post-Fight
Neither fighter gave a post-fight interview

The Verdict
This was a poor match-up. The only thing I can see this match possibly doing is send Demian Maia back to the list of free agents. To survive Maia’s grappling only proves that Denis Kang has been improving tremendously. I’d like to see this guy fight a couple of top ranked Middleweights and then maybe even possibly getting a Middleweight Championship fight.

Welterweight: Urijah Faber vs. Jon Fitch

The Result
Fitch takes Faber out of his game with an quick takedown. Faber is trying to fight out, but he only succeeds in giving Fitch full mount. Faber covers up and manages to roll to his side. Fitch takes his arm and cinches in an armbar. Faber tries fighting it off, but he has to tap. Holy ****! Jon Fitch is the real deal.

Winner via Submission – Jon Fitch (2:02. First Round.)

Post-Fight
Jon Fitch tells Joe Rogan that he wants that Welterweight Championship. He also states for the millionth time that he wants Georges St. Pierre in a rematch. With a win like that over Urijah Faber, I think he very well could give GSP a run for his money.

Rogan talks to a very emotional Faber. Faber tells Rogan that he did not expect to his first UFC fight as fast as he did and he will be heading back to California to do some serious thinking. Faber says he will be back and it will be soon. He promises that he won’t allow his career in the UFC to end up a disappointment.

The Verdict
Oh my God. Oh my God. Fitch destroyed Faber. Faber didn’t get a sliver of offense in this fight. If Fitch shows up like this in his next fight, Thiago Alves could be in trouble. This was a fantastic win for Jon Fitch.

Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Takanori Gomi

The Result
Gomi hits a couple of nice jabs and decides to shake things up by shooting in on Alvarez. Alvarez sprawls the attempt and begins firing some vicious hammer-fists to the side of Gomi’s head. Gomi rolls away from Alvarez, but Alvarez follows behind and takes mount. Alvarez fires away on Gomi, but Gomi shows resilience and rolls out. Alvarez hooks takes advantage and has Gomi’s back. He fires off some punches on Gomi, but Gomi manages to cover up. The bell sounds and Gomi survives a first round slaughter.

Gomi looks for an uppercut that could threaten to end the fight. Alvarez slips through and takes Gomi to the mat. Gomi paces himself under Alvarez and manages to pin Alvarez leg. With Alvarez stuck in half-guard an attempt for mount or side control is near impossible. Alvarez looks to pound away on Gomi, but Gomi covers up and manages to scramble back to his feet. The fans are getting into it and Gomi and Alvarez begin to exchange blows. Gomi hits Alvarez with a nice right, but the bell sounds and stops him from firing off.

Gomi is tiring out and as such he isn’t looking to run in there and wildly swing at Alvarez. Alvarez fakes a jab and uses it to grapple with Gomi. Gomi clinches with Alvarez and pulls him toward the cage. Alvarez breaks out and the two circle around. Gomi looks for a low kick, but Alvarez steps away. There’s a left from Alvarez and it looks good, but Alvarez absorbs it and steps in to fire off on Gomi. Gomi is backed against the cage and tries firing back. Both fighters are getting some decent punches, but the bell has sounded. How these two managed to last for 15-minutes is beyond me.

The fighters got to the center of the ring where Bruce Buffer announced a unanimous score of 30-27 for Eddie Alvarez. Takanori Gomi looks down in disappointment, but he accepts the loss, knowing he didn’t do enough to take the win.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Eddie Alvarez

The Post Fight
Eddie Alvarez hugs Takanori Gomi and tells Rogan that Gomi pushed him to his limits tonight. He looks at Gomi and says whenever he wants a rematch, he’s game to give him one. As far as what’s next for Alvarez, he has no idea. He would like to fight Josh Thomson, but understands that he’s not so high on the pecking order right now. He expresses interest in fighting Diego Sanchez, Shinya Aoki, Gray Maynard, or Joachim Hansen next. Only time will tell for Alvarez.

Gomi says Thank You in broke English. His translator elaborates by saying the most important thing to Gomi was headlining a UFC event. He’s glad he was given the opportunity and hopes he can main event many future events. He shakes hands with Alvarez and leaves the Octagon, allowing Alvarez and his camp to celebrate.

The Verdict
You know, part of me feels disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Gomi and Alvarez did their thing tonight, but I was really expecting one or the other to get a win in a big way. However, a decision is good for both fighters as neither will have a horrible knock out or submission to affect their mental game when they head back to the gym. However, with a decision win between two guys I thought would destroy each other makes this a pretty average main event, especially with how Dana White had been advertising the fight.

UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi Final Verdict:
From a fight perspective, I really enjoyed the show as I’m sure many others did as well. You got a beautiful opening fight between Thiago Alves and Mike Swick, a brutal knock out from Junior Dos Santos, Jon Fitch make Urijah Faber look like a joke, and you got a main event that set the standard for what’s to come in the Lightweight Division.

From a financial stand-point, I can’t see this event going to well. In fact, considering that the follow up card to a show featuring GSP and Anderson Silva saw two beyond boring Decisions and a disappointing main event Decision to end the fight, I can see this event doing awful in terms of money made.

Aside from that, the show was worth watching. The Welterweight Tournament is looking like it’s going to be amazing and again, Junior Dos Santos got a brutal knock out win over Maresuke Maeno. I’d love to see what the UFC will do with Dos Santos after that win, so here’s hoping we see more of him. As always, I’d love to hear what you guys thought about the event. You can send any and all comments and concerns by way of e-mail: Emerson-blurcat@aol.com.

UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi Full Card Breakdown

Preliminary Card
Joe Stevenson defeated Spencer Fisher via Submission (3:11. First Round)
Krzysztof Soszysnki defeated Kyle Kingsbury via Submission (4:59. First Round)
Goran Reljic defeated Gerald Harris via Submission (3:50. First Round)
Karen Grigoryan defeated Eliot Marshall via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Donald Cerrone defeated David Baron via Submission (2:50. First Round)

Main Card
Thiago Alves defeated Mike Swick via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Matt Hammill defeated DeMarques Johnson via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Junior Dos Santos defeated Maresuke Maeno via Knock Out (:16. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Denis Kang defeated Demian Maia via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Jon Fitch defeated Urijah Faber via Submission (2:02. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Eddie Alvarez defeated Takanori Gomi via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average

PoisonedSuperman

09-18-2009, 11:45 PM

I LOVE this. Best show writes up on any WWMA Diary ever. I love the personality you have put into this diary! Good luck, keep it coming, I'll be reading!

Jon Fitch is one of my personal favorite fighters glad to see him win, sucks to see Swick lose but he had a good opponent.

Looking forward to reading more of this.

maudlin career

09-19-2009, 05:19 PM

Blurcat.com - Your Number One Source for MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 130: Alvarez vs. Gomi Post-Fight Press Conference Report

-The UFC Post-Fight Conference was hosted by Dana White and featured Mike Swick, Thiago Alves, Junior Dos Santos, Denis Kang, Jon Fitch, Urijah Faber, Takanori Gomi, and Eddie Alvarez.

-Dana White starts off by announcing matches for the December Ultimate Fight Night Event. He says Luis Arthur Cane and Wanderlei Silva will be headlining the Indianapolis, Indiana Fight Night, and the final opening round of the Welterweight Tournament between Martin Kampmann and BJ Penn will be the lead in.

He also announces UFC 132 for Superbowl Weekend of January. The event will be held in California and finally feature the Light Heavyweight showdown between Lyoto Machida and Jon Jones. Kimbo Slice will return to the Octagon on that same night to fight MMA Hall of Famer Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

-The UFC 130 Post-Fight Conference starts off with Dana White announcing the award bonuses. Thiago Alves and Mike Swick win Fight of the Night. Junior Dos Santos wins Knock Out of the Night. Jon Fitch wins Submission of the Night.

-Alvarez opens up by stating he thought he had a good fight with Gomi, but he wishes he could have ended it sooner, but that Gomi is just one tough fighter. He expresses interest in fighting Diego Sanchez or Shinya Aoki before getting a shot at Josh Thomson.

-Junior Dos Santos says he would like to fight again as soon as possible. He thinks a fight with Ben Rothwell would be a good move and hopes he can get in the Octagon and fight someone of his caliber. Dana White doesn’t comment.

-Urijah Faber says that he’s incredibly disappointed with his performance, and that this will definitely affect him mentally when he goes back to training. He does admit that Fitch was just the better man tonight, but promises that he will have a better outing in his next UFC fight.

-Alves looks to Fitch and says he’s ready for their fight and that he's wanting to avenge his loss.

-Fitch responds by saying it’ll be a classic match up between a striker and grappler, and that he’s not so much worried about Alves’s striking ability.

-Takanori Gomi says after the first round, he knew he lost the fight. He says Alvarez may be one of the toughest opponents he’s ever faced. However, Gomi wants a rematch and he will win. As far as his next fight, Gomi hopes it’s soon.

-Mike Swick isn’t sure what he’s going to do. He says he feels kind of cheated because he originally was the next Welterweight Championship contender and has instead been eliminated in the first round of a tournament to crown the Championship. Swick then says that a loss to Alves says a lot about his potential reign as champion, and thus it was a huge wake-up call.

-A Q & A session follows up and that’s a wrap. See you all UFC 131: King of the Octagon!

maudlin career

09-19-2009, 06:40 PM

World Headlines for Week 4 of October

-Kurt Otto announces Bellator FC 35 for November 21st.

-World Victory Road looks to add Ikuhisa Minowa to its roster.

-Roy Nelson and Shayna Baszler join Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks on Wednesday’s Crackdown.

-Allan Goes and Ivan Serati to headline Bellator FC 35

-Sengoku 30 to take place November 25th.

-Join us for WEC 67: Warren vs. Maeda Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest will be Anthony Johnson!

-Join us for Adrenaline: Rhino vs. Loiseau Weigh-In Roundtable. Joining us will be Gilbert Melendez!

-WEC 67 results are in! Check them out here!

World MMA Event Results for Week 4

WEC 67: Warren vs. Maeda (Friday, October 28th)

Preliminary Card
Tyson Nam defeated Adrian Wooley via Submission (3:49. Third Round)
LC Davis defeated Antonio Carvalho via TKO (1:11. First Round)
Yasuhiro Uru****ani defeated Denbe Jippensha via Submission (3:03. First Round)

Main Card
Enoch Wilson defeated Erik Koch via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Kajan Johnson defeated Danny Castillo via Submission (1:59. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Richard Crunkilton defeated John Mahlow via Submission (3:16. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Rambaa Somdet defeated Jesse Taitano via Split Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Joe Warren defeated Yoshiro Maeda via Submission (4:57. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

Adrenaline: Rhino vs. Loiseau (Saturday, October 29th)

Preliminary Card
Rodney Sapir defeated Vinicius Magalhaes via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Nate Mohr defeated Joe Pearson via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)

Main Card
Dustin Danes defeated Hector Urbina via Submission (3:37. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Randall Peck defeated Gan McGee via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Emanuel Newton defeated Robert Drysdale via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Duane Ludwig defeated Alvin Robinson via Split Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
David Loiseau defeated Doug Marshall to win the Adrenaline Middleweight Championship via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Fifth Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent

UFC News for Week 4 of October

Signings
No new fighters have been signed to represent UFC

Re-Signings
Cheick Kongo has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC.

Cuts
No fighter has been released from their current UFC contract

World Victory Road Wants Gonzaga
In a bid to increase their Heavyweight Division, World Victory Road has expressed interest in signing Gabriel Gonzaga to a multi-year deal. We last spoke to Gonzaga a week ago where he revealed that he was currently in the middle of a UFC contract extension. World Victory Road caught word and has apparently offered a HUGE contract to convince Gonzaga to fight overseas. We’ll keep you updated on what happens.

Jon Fitch on the Big Cat Show
Jon Fitch joins Stuart Teacher and David Saint-Claire on the Big Cat Show. He mainly discussed his preparations for a future fight against Alves. He doesn’t know when it’ll happen, but he’s thinking a 2012 spring encounter is the most likely. Teacher somehow managed to convince him to sing the Macarena song. You can download the audio here!

UFC 130 Financial Report
To all those who thought UFC 130 would tank, the numbers are in. The results are shocking to say the least. Despite being considered a disappointment by many, UFC 130 managed to make $4,751,816 on PPV buys and an additional $2,106,215 in ticket sales. It looks like GSP and Anderson Silva managed to bait in new fans and thus UFC 130 got the benefits of increased interest in the current product. This is good news for Zuffa!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 131: King of the Octagon (November 5th. New Jersey)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: George Roop vs. Josh Neer
Middleweight: Timothy Cool vs. Frederick Pendergarst
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Chris Wilson
Middleweight: Thomas Goodridge vs. Tim Credeur
Heavyweight: Mike Wessell vs. Justin McCully

Main Card
Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii vs. Cheick Kongo
Light Heavyweight: Aaron Simpson vs. Keith Jardine
Lightweight: Shinya Aoki vs. Jorge Masvidal
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. Josh Koscheck
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Mirko CroCop
Light Heavyweight: Muhammed Lawal vs. Forrest Griffin

UFC 132: Modern Warriors (December 3rd. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweight: Tim McKenzie vs. Hector Ramirez
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Corey Hill
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Heath Herring
Lightweight: Shannon Gugerty vs. Jose Aldo

Main Card
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig
Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Main Card
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Main Card
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

maudlin career

09-19-2009, 11:38 PM

Blurcat.com - Your Number One Source for MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 131: King of the Octagon Press Conference Notes & Recap (Tuesday, October 30, 2011)

My 2-Cents
We are less than a week away from UFC’s latest installment, UFC 131: King of the Octagon. At this event, Mo Lawal returns to the Octagon to face Forrest Griffin. This is a big fight for both individuals. Griffin looks to rebound from his loss to Lyoto Machida and Lawal gets a chance to prove to his skeptics that he’s the real deal.

That’s the main question being presented with this event: is Lawal the real deal. Since coming into the UFC and getting Quinton Jackson as his first opponent, many stated that Lawal would get crushed. We even unanimously gave Quinton Jackson the win at that event’s Weigh-In Roundtable. Lawal proved everyone wrong and picked up an impressive victory over Jackson.

Suddenly, after Lawal beats Jackson, many deem it a fluke while others say Jackson didn’t take the fight seriously enough. Now, at UFC 131, Lawal gets a chance to prove that he is a legitimate Top 10 Light Heavyweight Fighter when he takes on Forrest Griffin.

Will Mo Lawal prove that he is legitimate by defeating Forrest Griffin? This is a tough one to call, I’m personally a fan of the guy, and have been since his first fight. Many, for whatever, reason think he’s a joke. Maybe that’s due to his flash entrances he used in Japan. In terms of ability, the guy is a monster. All in all, this will be a great fight to break Lawal into the Top 10.

Press Conference Notes & Report
-Dana White apologizes for holding the Press Conference so late. He acknowledges that the UFC usually holds their pre-fight press conferences a week in advance, but that the UFC schedule has been so hectic, that there had to be a delay.

In terms of the current UFC schedule, White doesn’t have much to add. Ultimate Fight Night gets a full five-card fight. He doesn’t announce any matches, but says Ben Henderson, James Wilks, Brandon Vera, and Ryan Bader will be fighting on the card. White says the full card will be revealed later tonight on the UFC website. No word on UFC 133’s full card.

-Neither Mirko CroCop or Aleksander Emelianenko were in attendance at the press conference. They’re both taking this rematch very seriously. CroCop sees it as a way to goad big brother Fedor into giving him a long-awaited PRIDE rematch. Aleksander wants to avenge his loss to CroCop. This could make for a brutal fight.

-Josh Koscheck says he’s not taking Andre Galvao lightly, as he’s known for his incredible jiu-jitsu work. Koscheck says he’s going to trade in his wrestling and feed Galvao some leather. Kosheck hopes BJ Penn beats Martin Kampmann at Fight Night, because he wants to be the next one to prove Penn can’t hang with the Welterweights.

-Andre Galvao replies and says Koscheck always relies on his wrestling when push comes to shove. Galvao follows up and says this kind of tactic is what’s going to make it an easy fight, as he won’t have to work as hard to get Koscheck on the ground.

-Muhammed Lawal shows up in a suit that rivals Takanori Gomi. He addresses this by saying that after he saw Takanori Gomi come out at the UFC 130 conference, he just simply had to out-dress him. Lawal gets serious for a minute and says Forrest Griffin is tough, but he’s tougher. Lawal is going to prove that he is the real deal in the UFC with this fight.

-Forrest Griffin says he doesn’t understand why people are skeptical of Lawal’s skills, and begins praising him for his wrestling work. Griffin says he’s been doing his homework and will look to get a rematch with Machida.

-Shinya Aoki exchanges some Japanese words with his translator and apparently says that Jorge Masvidal is a young hungry Lightweight, but that he will be in trouble on Saturday. He compliments Masvidal’s skills, but he too wants a Lightweight Title shot and as such his mentality going into the fight will be more aggressive than ever.

-Cheick Kongo says he hopes for a quick win over Satoshi Ishii as he’s generally seen as the underdog going into this one. Satoshi Ishii is still in Japan at the moment and was not available to make a comment.

-Jorge Masvidal says he will beat Shinya Aoki and use his name as a stepping stone to get closer to Josh Thomson. Masvidal firmly believes that this will be the fight that puts Masvidal in the Lightweight Top 10.

-The Press Conference wrapped up with a Q&A session followed by some photo-ops. UFC 131 looks like a solid card.

maudlin career

09-20-2009, 12:38 AM

Blurcat.com - Your Number One Source for MMA

Blurcat’s UFC 131: King of the Octagon Weigh-In Roundtable (Friday, November 4th)

Emerson: Greeting Blurcats, I hope you’ve enjoyed your week. Unfortunately for me, I’ve had to work…all week. I don’t know how much of this traveling, talking to top level athletes, and watching events live for almost free I can take. For instance, tonight I have to do another episode of Weigh-In Roundtable with Stuart Teacher, Gavin Banks, Tom Bradburn, and special guest Gina Carano. I hate this job.

Banks: And how in the hell did Bradburn end up sitting next to Carano?

Bradburn: Show some professionalism Gavin. Sorry, Gina, the guys here are immature.

Carano: It’s ok, I’m used to it.

Teacher: Well while Bradburn is over there slobbering, I think it’s time we get to business. We saw how much money UFC 130 made so there’s no need to speculate on if 131 will be a success or failure. I have a different topic to open up the discussion with:

First Question: Is Muhammed Lawal the Real Deal?

Alex Emerson says:
The guy beat Quinton Jackson. If that doesn’t say much about him in terms of fighter quality, I don’t know what does.

Gina Carano says:
Muhammed Lawal is an aggressive wrestler. He took Jackson down at will. Yeah, I’d say he’s definitely legit.

Stuart Teacher says:
I guess I just asked this one to see how you guys felt. Yeah, he beat Quinton Jackson, he’s legit. MMA fans need to stop being so fickle.

Tom Bradburn says:
You know what? I say no. Yes he beat Quinton Jackson, but so what? Anyone can get lucky in their first fight? I don’t want to take anything away from Lawal, but you cannot let one fight determine his future.

Gavin Banks says:
The guy is undefeated Tom. This isn’t his second fight in MMA, he’s been doing this for a while. Muhammed Lawal is going to be a solid Light Heavyweight competitor.

The Verdict: Muhammed Lawal is the real deal.

Second Question: Satoshi Ishii vs. Cheick Kongo?

Gina Carano says:
I don’t know much about either fighter, especially Satoshi Ishii. I know Kongo has been known to upset fighters in the past. I’m thinking the same will happen against Ishii.

Gavin Banks says:
Gina, you’re beautiful, but you’re so so wrong. There’s a reason why Satoshi Ishii’s first fight in the UFC is on the main card against a striker like Cheick Kongo. Kongo is going to get wrecked.

Alex Emerson says:
Yeah, I just don’t see any other way to pick this one. Satoshi Ishii wins this one for sure.

Tom Bradburn says:
I gotta agree with Gina. Cheick Kongo is an upset artist. He’s fighting a relatively unknown Japanese fighter in the UFC and he’s being picked as the loser of this fight? Kongo is going to go into the Octagon looking hungry.

Stuart Teacher says:
Hmmm…I’ll say Ishii by way of submission.

The Verdict: Majority says Satoshi Ishii

Third Question: Aaron Simpson vs. Keith Jardine?

Tom Bradburn says:
This seems simple enough. You’re looking at an easy victory for Jardine.

Gina Carano says:
Yeah he’s right. Keith Jardine is a very competent stand-up fighter. I don’t see this going to well for Simpson.

Stuart Teacher says:
I’m picking Keith Jardine. Terribly mismatched fight by the way, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere.

Alex Emerson says:
If Simpson makes it past the first round, I’ll be surprised.

Gavin Banks says:
Yeah, I’m not picking Aaron Simpson.

The Verdict: The Roundtable unanimously says Keith Jardine

Fourth Question: Shinya Aoki vs. Jorge Masvidal?

Gavin Banks says:
Every time his name comes up, I pick him as my winner. You could put him against Brock Lesnar, and I’d still pick Shinya Aoki. I love that guy’s technique.

Alex Emerson says:
A win like this could be huge for Jorge Masvidal, but Shinya Aoki debut in UFC going to a Split Decision with BJ Penn. Do you seriously think Jorge can last with him?

Gina Carano says:
I gotta stick with the underdog. I’m picking Jorge Masvidal.

Tom Bradburn says:
Sorry Gina, but Masvidal doesn’t stand a chance.

Stuart Teacher says:
There are only a few fighters that I firmly believe can last in the Octagon with Aoki. Masvidal isn’t one of those guys.

The Verdict: Majority says Shinya Aoki.

Fifth Question: Andre Galvao vs. Josh Koscheck?

Gina Carano says:
Josh Koscheck is one of the best Welterweights out there. His wrestling and his improved striking will keep Galvao at bay.

Tom Bradburn says:
Josh Koscheck will be tapping tomorrow night. Galvao’s submission game is slick. It’s really some of the best I’ve seen in the Welterweight Division.

Alex Emerson says:
You know, I actually have Josh Koscheck winning the entire tournament. It’ll be interesting to see how the finals will play out seeing that Fitch and Koscheck are from the same camp.

Gavin Banks says:
We won’t have to worry about that, Galvao is beating Koscheck. I think Galvao is that wild card that none of us have considered as far as this tournament goes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked away from the tournament as the winner.

Stuart Teacher says:
That’s going a little too far. Galvao is good, but he’ll be in trouble with Koscheck. I think Koscheck will end the fight in the second round.

The Verdict: Majority says Josh Koscheck

Sixth Question: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Mirko CroCop

Gavin Banks says:
Someone’s going to die. CroCop has Octagon experience, Emelianenko doesn’t. I hope to God this convinces Fedor to jump on board. I already gave my answer, CroCop by murder.

Stuart Teacher says:
I like that: CroCop by murder.

Gina Carano says:
CroCop has those lethal kicks. If he gets one, consider this a done deal. I’ll agree with CroCop by murder.

Alex Emerson says:
And Gina Carano has joined the dark side, ladies and gentlemen. Before Shane Carwin came along, Aleksander was the top rated fighter in DREAM. If he’s as good now as he was in DREAM, CroCop is in for a long night of hurting. I’m definitely picking Emelianenko.

Tom Bradburn says:
As long as the man is a related to Fedor, I will pick him in every fight he’s in. Aleksander for the win!

Final Verdict: Majority says Mirko CroCop

Final Question: Muhammed Lawal vs. Forrest Griffin?

Stuart Teacher says:
Here’s a new one, I’m saying draw.

Alex Emerson says:
No way, I think I’m going to give Lawal the benefit of the doubt.

Tom Bradburn says:
Forrest Griffin will have his way in this match.

Gina Carano says:
I think I’m going to say Muhammed Lawal.

Gavin Banks says:
I wouldn’t be surprised either way, but I think Lawal is going to edge out a Decision win.

Final Verdict: Majority says Muhammed Lawal

Alex Emerson: That wraps up tonight’s edition of Weigh-In Roundtable. Be sure to come back tomorrow night for a full recap of UFC 131. Also, don’t forget to e-mail me your predictions at Emerson-Blurcat@aol.com. Winner will receive a free Blurcat T-shirt signed by the lovely Gina Carano. See you tomorrow night!

Full UFC 131: King of the Octagon Card

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: George Roop vs. Josh Neer
Middleweight: Timothy Cool vs. Frederick Pendergarst
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Chris Wilson
Middleweight: Thomas Goodridge vs. Tim Credeur
Heavyweight: Mike Wessell vs. Justin McCully

Main Card
Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii vs. Cheick Kongo
Light Heavyweight: Aaron Simpson vs. Keith Jardine
Lightweight: Shinya Aoki vs. Jorge Masvidal
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. Josh Koscheck
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Mirko CroCop
Light Heavyweight: Muhammed Lawal vs. Forrest Griffin

maudlin career

09-20-2009, 11:48 AM

Blurcat November MMA News

Scheduled MMA Events in November
RAW Combat – Face the Hangman (RAW Combat. Wednesday, November 2nd)
PFC 37: Featured Attraction (Palace FC. Thursday, November 3rd)
DREAM 33 (DREAM. Saturday, November 5th)
UFC 131: King of the Octagon (UFC. Saturday, November 5th)
Bellator 35 (Bellator FC. Monday, November 14th)
Sengoku 30 (World Victory Road. Friday, November 25th)
WEC 68: Takaya vs. Rios (WEC. Friday, November 25th)

World MMA Headlines for Week 1 of November

-WEC 68 main event between Hiroyuki Takaya and Albert Rios may decide who gets next shot at Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.

-At 39 years of age, Jason Black has finally decided to call it quits.

-Dan Lauzon joins Ned Charles and Matt Natchios on Big Cat Show.

-Ikuhisa Minowa has signed a three fight deal with World Victory Road.

-Join us for the RAW Combat: Face the Edge Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest for the evening will be Tim Sylvia! Come back for event results tomorrow night!

-Monte Cox announces a last minute Adrenaline event to take place on Saturday, November 26th.

-Join us for the PFC 37: Featured Attraction Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest for the evening will be Guy Mezger! Come back for event results tomorrow night!

-Dream Stage Entertainment signs a PPV deal with major Japanese network WOWOW3.

-Join us for the DREAM 33 Weigh-In Roundtable. Tito Ortiz will be the special guest. We’ll discuss how them holding an event on Saturday might hurt UFC’s PPV revenue and as always we’ll run down the card. Come back for event results tomorrow night!

World MMA Event Results

RAW Combat: Face the Hangman (Wednesday, November 2nd)

Main Card
David Faulkner defeated Gideon Ray via TKO (1:39. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Martin Thompson defeated Steve Bosse via Unanimous Decision (5:00. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Very Poor
Rodrigo Damm defeated Paul Rodriguez via Submission (4:03. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Alexandre Ferreira defeated Christian Wellisch via Submission (1:32. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Mike Ciesnolevicz defeated Semmy Schilt via Submission (1:28. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great

PFC 37: Featured Attraction (Thursday, November 3rd)

Preliminary Card
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev defeated Terry Martin via Knock Out (1:24. Second Round)
Matt Arroyo defeated Johnny Rees via Submission (4:18. Third Round)

Main Card
Aaron Rosa defeated Brad Morris via Submission (4:27. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Steven Bruno defeated Roman Mitichyan via Submission to retain the PFC Welterweight Championship. (3:35. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Richie Hightower defeated Ryan Madigan via Submission (3:41. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Joey Villasenor defeated Evangelista Santos via Submission (4:18. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Darrill Schoonover defeated Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou via Submission (3:25. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great

DREAM 33 (Saturday, November 5th)

Preliminary Card
Zak Jensen defeated Lavar Johnson via TKO (2:20. First Round)
Raphael Assuncao defeated Sergey Golvaev via Submission (4:24. First Round)
James Krause defeated Martin Stapleton via Split Decision (5:00. Second Round)
Victor Meza defeated Marcus Hicks via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Second Round)

Main Card
Brian Bowles defeated Kenji Osawa via Submission (2:46. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Nick Thompson defeated Melvin Manhoef via Submission (3:53. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Masanori Kanehara defeated Seung Hwan Bang via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Murilo Rua defeated Falaniko Vitale via Submission (4:47. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
James Thompson defeated Ibragim Magomedov via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average

UFC News for Week 1 of November

Signings
No new fighters have been signed to fight in UFC

Re-Signings
Gabriel Gonzaga has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
Donald Cerrone has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
Gerald Harris has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Mike Swick has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC

Cuts
No fighter has been released from their current contract

Ultimate Fight Night Ready To Go
As stated at the UFC 131 Press Conference earlier this afternoon, the Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane card has been revealed in its entirety on the UFC website. It looks like the Indianapolis, Indiana natives are going to be in for one exciting night of fights.

To see the full card, click here!

Urijah Faber on Crackdown
After Tyler East wrapped up his phone interview with Gavin Banks and Alex Emerson, Urijah Faber showed up to the Blurcat Radio Network studio to have a sit down with the guys. Faber was all smiles and had some fun with the Blurcat staff. He told Emerson that he’s upset that he’s never been invited to a Weigh-In Roundtable and that he better get invited to one soon. He then gets serious and talks about his loss to Jon Fitch and what he plans to do to prevent that from happening again.

To get the Podcast, click here!

Jason Miller: I’m Ready for Another One
Tom Bradburn got the chance to interview ’Mayhem’ Miller Wednesday night for a Blurcat video exclusive. Miller discussed his time on MTV Reality Show Bully Beatdown and followed it up by talking about how happy he is that he won his UFC return fight. Miller wants to be back in the Octagon by January and hopes he gets to face a top level Middleweight so he can get on the fast track to get a crack at Middleweight Champion GSP.

To see the exclusive video, click here!

UFC 131 Results Are In
Blurcat editor Alex Emerson has wrapped up his full UFC 131 report. Did Mo Lawal prove the skeptics wrong by beating Forrest Griffin? Who advanced in the Welterweight Tournament – Josh Koscheck or Andre Galvao? Was Aleksander Emelianenko and Mirko CroCop the war everyone thought it would be? Get your answers here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 132: Modern Warriors (December 3rd. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweight: Tim McKenzie vs. Hector Ramirez
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Corey Hill
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Heath Herring
Lightweight: Shannon Gugerty vs. Jose Aldo

Main Card
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig
Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Main Card
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

maudlin career

09-20-2009, 12:48 PM

Alex Emerson’s UFC 131: King of the Octagon Full Report (Saturday, November 5th)

Tonight is going to be a very tense night for Muhammed Lawal. When it was first announced that Lawal signed a deal with UFC, many said his undefeated streak would come to an end. When it was then announced that his first opponent would be Rampage Jackson, those same people thought that Jackson would exploit Lawal’s lack of skill.

Muhammed Lawal proved them all wrong and picked up a Unanimous Decision victory over Quinton Jackson. Instead of the skeptics admitting that they were wrong, they came up with new reasons to hate him: they criticized Lawal for not being able to finish Jackson, they blamed Jackson for not taking this fight seriously, and some even called the win lucky.

Tonight, Lawal has the chance to prove them all wrong, because he’s been given another tough opponent: former Light Heavyweight Champion and contender Forrest Griffin. Griffin lost his last match against Lyoto Machida and thus is looking for any opportunity to get back in the title hunt. A win over Lawal could put him in the right direction.

At UFC 131, they both have something to prove. Will ‘The King’ be able to claim his throne or will Forrest Griffin give a reason for the Lawal skeptics to continue their bashing? I guess it’s time you read ahead and find out for yourself.

UFC 131: King of the Octagon (Saturday, November 5th)
Like usual, a vignette played to the New Jersey audience to get them all hyped up for the stacked card at tonight’s event. First to appear was Muhammed Lawal he really made Forrest Griffin look good by complimenting and citing all of his accolades. For a man as aggressive as he is in the ring, Lawal is a really humble guy. He follows up by saying he needs to prove the skeptics wrong and show that he is the real deal.
Once Lawal fades away from the screen Forrest Griffin shows up. He says he doesn’t want the win to say anything about Lawal’s skills, because he knows you don’t get lucky and beat Rampage. If anything, he hopes beating Lawal will get him back into title contention, because he will beat Machida and Jones.

The main event build-up finishes with Lawal saying he will knock out Griffin he has to. Griffin then wraps it up by saying Muhammed will lose.

Mirko CroCop displays next on the screen and says this is kind of a weird situation for him. He follows it up by saying he’s on the down slope in his career while Aleksander Emelianenko has been picking up a nice winning streak in Japan. CroCop says Emelianenko couldn’t beat him in PRIDE and he won’t beat him in UFC. CroCop needs this win so he can get back into title contention.

Aleksander Emelianenko shows up on screen and says this is his first fight in UFC and that he will avenge his loss to CroCop. Emelianenko says the only guy that has managed to beat him in the last two years is Shane Carwin, and that Mirko CroCop is not Shane Carwin. He promises that things will be nasty in this fight and that he hopes to walk away with CroCop keeled over.

Josh Koscheck appears and promises that he will be the next Welterweight Champion. He doesn’t think Andre Galvao has what it takes to get him to the mat and make him submit. Koscheck says Andre Galvao is a good fighter, but he’s no where near in the same category as himself.

Andre Galvao responds by saying talk is cheap and that Koscheck will leave the Octagon with sore joints. Galvao has been training seriously for this fight and has studied Koscheck fighting. He thinks Koscheck will take it to the ground which will ultimately end the fight.

Jorge Masvidal appears on screen and says beating Shinya Aoki would be huge. He says Nate Diaz has done it, so he knows he can do it too. He hopes that a win over Shinya Aoki will put him higher in the ladder for a title fight.

Shinya Aoki wraps up the vignettes by saying Jorge Masvidal is definitely a feared Lightweight, but that he will be sorely disappointed tonight if he thinks he’s going to win. Aoki intently expresses his desire to become Lightweight Champion and he will not let Jorge Masvidal stand in his way.

The vignettes break away and the camera pans around the arena to the tune of “Face the Pain” by Stemm. The camera finally focuses on Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan who run down tonight’s card. Both commentators do a good job of hyping up the main event and call it an important, historic match for both Lawal and Griffin.

The camera pans backstage and shows Muhammed Lawal in his dressing room going over his striking routine. The camera then switches and shows Forrest Griffin who is jogging in place in one of the corridors. When the camera switches back to the arena, Satoshi Ishii and Cheick Kongo’s fight cards appear on the screen. It looks like the first fight of the night is about to start.

Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii (6-0) vs. Cheick Kongo (16-8-1)

The Fight
With little trouble, Satoshi Ishii manages to get Cheick Kongo on the ground. Ishii is displaying excellent ground dominance and hits Kongo with several big elbows. Kongo shows resilience though and manages to roll under neath Ishii. Ishii uses this pins Kongo and the Frenchmen is stopped in mid-roll. Ishii slowly progress to side control and hits a punch. Kongo covers up, and Ishii somehow manages to grab and arm for an armbar attempt. There’s no way this can work. Holy ****. Ishii somehow has Kongo locked in an armbar from Kongo’s side and it looks gruesome! Kongo taps!

Winner via Submission – Satoshi Ishii (4:10. First Round)

The Post-Fight
Joe Rogan moves into the Octagon to speak with Ishii. Rogan compliments Ishii and tells him he’s never seen an armbar done like that. Rogan asks Ishii what’s next. Ishii’s translator speaks and says right off the bat that Satoshi Ishii is happy that he had a successful performance in his first American match. The New Jersey audience shows support to that statement with some loud cheering. The translator continues to say that Ishii wants to fight the very best UFC has to offer. I’m thinking a match with Junior Dos Santos might be in working order.

The Verdict
My God, that armbar was gruesome. I think we have a lock-in for the Submission of the Night bonus. Cheick Kongo didn’t get to do anything in this fight. The audience got a first round stoppage and got a stomach turning submission. I’ll say this was a great opening match.

Light Heavyweight: Aaron Simpson (7-1) vs. Keith Jardine (16-9-1)

The Fight
Keith Jardine steps in looking for an early knock-out. He’s swinging for the fences, but Simpson goes low and takes Jardine off of his feet. Jardine tries scooting for guard, but Simpson is showing cat-like reflexes by hopping right into mount. Keith Jardine tries covering up, but Simspon begins delivering punches to Jardine’s body. To counter this, Jardine grabs Simpson’s right hand, and catches a left punch to the jaw. Jardine is stunned and Simpson begins teeing off! Herb Dean runs in to pull Aaron Simpson off. We have our first upset for the night!

Winner via TKO – Aaron Simpson (2:11. First Round)

The Post-Fight
Aaron Simpson is ecstatic and says that he knew he was the underdog going into this fight. Simpson finishes by saying he’s not too concerned for what’s next, he just wants to climb up the ladder and hopes he can one day be in a headline fight for the Light Heavyweight Championship, but until that day comes, he’ll fight whoever they put him in the Octagon with.

The Verdict
I did not see in a million years Aaron Simpson getting a TKO win over Keith Jardine. We’re only two matches in and already the fans have gotten a nasty submission and an explosive TKO. This was both a fantastic fight for the audience and Aaron Simpson.

Lightweight: Shinya Aoki (23-6) vs. Jorge Masvidal (21-7)

The Fight
Masvidal is looking to strike with Aoki and throws a couple of feint jabs that convince Aoki to stay back. Aoki uses Masvidal’s repeated jabs to detect a pattern from the striker. Apparently Aoki finds it out and waits for Masvidal to throw a straight-jab before moving in to grapple with him. Aoki has Masvidal pinned against the cage. Masvidal tries powering out, but finds himself tossed to the mat like a rag-doll. Ladies and gentlemen, that is why they call Aoki a grappling phenom. Aoki patiently waits in Masvidal’s guard looking for a moment to strike. However, the end of the round comes and we have our first fight to go past the first round.

Aoki uncharacteristically opens the second round by catching Masvidal with a body kick. The kick takes Masvidal out of his game, and Aoki is looking to tee-off on Masvidal! Aoki fires off a four punch combo and forces Masvidal against the cage. Masvidal rocks Aoki with an uppercut and follows it by a jab! Someone is going to get knocked out. Aoki hits a straight punch and slips through a slow uppercut from Masvidal and tries to grapple him. Masvidal slips out and hits Aoki on the side of the face with a left. Masvidal looks to move in on Aoki and we have another small stand-up war. Aoki and Masvidal get several clean shots on each other. They finally back away, neither wanting to get knocked out by a counter-punch. The second round ends with the New Jersey audience completely hyped up.

Masvidal manages to stop two takedown attempts from Aoki. Masvidal hits Aoki with a punch and then follows with a kick. Aoki catches the kick and trips Masvidal to the mat! Aoki enters side control and begins looking for a joint. Masvidal rolls out and Aoki takes his back. Masvidal manages to slip away from Aoki and rolls on his back. Aoki tries to follow behind him, but Masvidal hikes his legs up and keeps Aoki in guard. Aoki is trying to advance, but the clock manages to save Masvidal.
Our third fight of the night goes to the Judges and all three score it 29-28 in favor of Shinya Aoki

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Shinya Aoki

The Post-Fight
Shinya Aoki’s translator says Aoki wants Alvarez next. The translator follows up by saying he thinks it’s a fight that both the fans want and that he himself wants. I hope it happens, to be honest.

The Verdict
The third round was a nice ground war, and I gotta give Jorge Masvidal props for managing to hang with Aoki on the ground. In our first fight of the night we definitely got our Submission of the Night. I’m going to go ahead and say that this is the Fight of the Night recipient. However, considering the first two bouts had some decisive victories I can see this fight coming off as an average UFC match, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Welterweight: Andre Galvao (7-1) vs. Josh Koscheck (15-5)

The Fight
It looks like Galvao has called this fight all along: Koscheck shoots in to wrestle with Galvao and Galvao hooks him and pushes him into the cage. Against the cage, Koscheck eats a couple of light punches and Galvao looks for a takedown afterward. Koscheck manages to squirm away from Galvao, but Galvao doesn’t take the bait and as such, doesn’t chase after him. Koscheck misses an uppercut by a wide margin and Galvao shoots in for a takedown. Koscheck back pedals against the cage and uses the fencing to keep him positioned. It doesn’t look like Koscheck is walking away with the first round victory.

Galvao wastes little time in pushing Koscheck against the cage. I think Galvao realizes that Koscheck doesn’t have the tools to beat him. Galvao hits a couple of punches to Koscheck’s midsection and finally manages to trip Koscheck to the ground. I’m thinking Koscheck is about to lose at this moment, but Koscheck proves me wrong by displaying some good ground defense. On several attempts, Galvao tries to attempt some kind of forward movement, but Koscheck is not having it. Another round ends in Galvao’s favor. Koscheck needs to do something or he’s out of this tournament.

Josh Koscheck mentally communicated with me and knocks Galvao off of his feet with an uppercut. Galvao is a tough bastard and firmly waits for Koscheck to attack. Koscheck should have let Galvao stand back up, but he’s feeling the adrenaline high from that uppercut and rushes in to strike on Galvao. Galvao clinches him and locks in a guillotine. Koscheck fires some rabbit punches to Galvao’s midsection, but Galvao is not releasing the submission. Koscheck looks blue in the face, but he isn’t going to tap! Koscheck has managed to survive the third round without tapping out!

At the end of the fight Koscheck embraces Galvao and calls him a tough bastard. The two move to the center of the ring where Bruce Buffer announces the Judges’ unanimous 29-28 scoring in favor of Andre Galvao

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Andre Galvao

The Post-Fight
Galvao says he’s ready for all of them: Penn, Kampmann, Fitch, and Alves, but wishes all of them the best of luck in their tournament fights.

Koscheck says he didn’t know what he was doing out there. He said he thought the uppercut was going to finish Galvao for sure, but when he saw Galvao waiting for him, he lost all train of thought and was looking for the kill. He admits that if the round were five seconds longer that he would have tapped out.

The Verdict
The fight wasn’t too exciting until the very end where both fighters looked like they were seconds away from ending the fight. It looks like Aoki and Masvidal might have some tough competition for fight of the night as I think this might be a solid contender too. Again though, the first round wasn’t too exciting, so I’ll say this another average fight for UFC. However, I do feel that with this win, Andre Galvao is now the official wild-card in this tournament.

Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko (18-6) vs. Mirko CroCop (26-8-2)

The Fight
Emelianenko takes CroCop off of his feet and begins dropping bombs on CroCop. CroCop tries covering up by a hammerfist catches him cleanly on the jaw and CroCop’s hands go down. Emelianenko is murdering CroCop and Yves Lavigne has seen enough. Welcome to the UFC, Aleksander!

Winner via TKO – Aleksander Emelianenko (1:22. First Round)

The Post Fight
Aleksander wants to do what his brother won’t do: Win the UFC Heavyweight Championship. I think the Heavyweights might be in trouble.

The Verdict
Mirko CroCop needs to call it a career. To think a majority of us called this fight CroCop via murder says a lot about where CroCop is going. Emelianenko on the other hand, has an amazing debut in the UFC and I see his career going places. This was a great fight to make up for the previous two decision fights.

Light Heavyweight: Muhammed Lawal (11-0) vs. Forrest Griffin (19-7)

The Fight
King Mo and Griffin circle around the ring to start the fight off. Both fighters have no idea what to expect from the other, and so I expect to see a lot of feeling out from both of them this round. Griffin looks for a jab, and this gives Mo enough incentive to clinch with Griffin and power him against the cage. Griffin doesn’t seem to have an answer at first, and is pinned against the cage as a result. Griffin finally manages to find some strength and ends up being the one pinning Lawal to the cage. Lawal pushes away and the two circle around some more and this round just doesn’t look good for either fighter.

Griffin shoots in low and King Mo pancake sprawls the attempt, the two wrestle back to their feet with Muhammed Lawal pushing Griffin back into the fencing. Griffin somehow wins the power struggle and it’s Lawal who winds up back into the cage. Griffin hits a few punches and Lawal is off-balance. Lawal ends up on the mat with Forrest Griffin in his guard. Though it looks to be advantageous for Griffin, he can’t manage to do anything, but get a few punches in. The best word to describe this fight so far is disappointing.

I’m eating my words as we speak: Griffin and Mo start off the third round swinging. Griffin misses a jab and Lawal hits Griffin with a barrage of bombs. Griffin falls back and lands straight on his ass. Lawal shows amazing finesse and tackles Griffin. Lawal is in mounted on Griffin and the former Light Heavyweight Champion is eating some bombs. Griffin manages to cover up and survives the third round! That’s how you end a fight!

Once the New Jersey crowd calmed down from the fireworks display in the third round, Bruce Buffer came out to announce the Judges’ unanimous scoring of 29-28 in favor of Forrest Griffin.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Forrest Griffin

The Post Fight
Forrest Griffin thanks his team for making sure he was in the right shape for this fight. He then expresses his wish to get another Light Heavyweight title shot. He calls Muhammed Lawal a tough fighter and says he almost had him in the last round. He wraps up by saying that when he leaves tonight, he’s going to head back to the gym to prepare for whoever he has to fight next. I think Alexandre Ribeiro might be waiting for him next.

Muhammed Lawal tells Joe Rogan that he’s not disappointed in his performance. He said he was nervous in the first two rounds, because he didn’t know what to expect from Griffin. He follows up by saying that once he realized he was losing the fight he had to come out in the third swinging and if he did that from the very beginning he’d be the one leaving tonight with a win. He continues to say that he can’t take anything away from Forrest Griffin because the better man won. He knows the fight won’t get his haters to shut up, but he hopes they’ve at least seen a taste of things to come. He promises that he will be a future Light Heavyweight Champion.

The Verdict
The last round made up for the entire fight. Actually, in retrospect, the first two rounds were ok. The first round was a feeling out process so I can accept that. The second round had some good wrestling with Forrest getting a nice takedown, so that’s pretty good. The third round was an all out war. The third round alone made it a decent show closer. It’s good to see Griffin back on his winning ways, and I have no idea what this going to do mentally for Muhammed Lawal.

UFC 131: King of the Octagon Final Verdict
I’ll just go ahead and say it: the show was good. Griffin has win a big match, and even through losing, Lawal looked impressive. Honestly, the entire card was pure gold. Satoshi Ishii got a gruesome armbar. Josh Koscheck was nearly suffocated by the arms of Andre Galvao. And Aleksander Emelianenko practically killed Mirko CroCop.

It’s hard to say what this does to the UFC Rankings and Championship ladder. I imagine Forrest Griffin might need another fight or two before going against Machida again. I say put him in there with winner of Cane/Silva or give him a fight with Alexandre Ribeiro next. As for Muhammed Lawal, Mauricio Rua and Thiago Silva would make good opponents for him.

I definitely hope we get to see more of Satoshi Ishii. White would be crazy not to give him some spotlight in 2012. And Shinya Aoki had a pretty good win against Masvidal. I think an Aoki/Alvarez match is waiting for us down the line.

As always, be sure to let me know what you thought about the event by e-mailing Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. See you at UFC 132!

UFC 131: King of the Octagon Full Card Breakdown

Preliminary Card
Josh Neer defeated George Roop via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Frederick Pendergarst defeated Timothy Cool via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Dan Cramer defeated Chris Wilson via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Thomas Goodridge defeated Tim Credeur via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Mike Wessel defeated Justin McCully via Split Decision (5:0.. Third Round)

Main Card
Satoshi Ishii defeated Cheick Kong via Submission (4:10. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Aaron Simpson defeated Keith Jardine via TKO (2:11. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Shinya Aoki defeated Jorge Masvidal via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Andre Galvao defeated Josh Koscheck via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Aleksander Emelianenko defeated Mirko CroCop via TKO (1:35. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Forrest Griffin defeated Muhammed Lawal via Unanimous Decision (5:00. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent

maudlin career

09-20-2009, 11:54 PM

Blurcat.com – Your Number One Source For All Things MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 131: King of the Octagon Post-Fight Conference Notes & Report (Saturday. November, 5th)

-Dana White began running down the schedule for UFC and announces that the card for UFC 133: Year of the Dragon has been finalized. He didn’t reveal the entire card, but does announce a Lightweight bout between Joachim Hansen and Clay Guida. The big news of the night was for UFC 134 in February, the acclaimed Superbowl weekend event.

Dana White announces that Anderson Silva claims that he will be able to make at least 215lbs by February and so tt looks like the main event for UFC 134 will be Anderson Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga. In addition to that, Quinton Jackson will also return that night to take on Alexandre Ribeiro. And it finally looks like GSP will get his first Middleweight Championship defense as Jake Rosholt and Nate Marquardt will fight to determine the next contender. UFC 134 looks like it could be an amazing card. White claims the UFC 134 card is complete and both 133 and 134 will be up on the UFC homepage later tonight.

-Once White was done going through the UFC schedule, the UFC 131 bonus awards were handed out. In the Fight of the Night category, both Forrest Griffin and Muhammed Lawal are awarded the bonus. To no surprise, Aleksander Emelianenko wins Knock Out of the Night. Satoshi Ishii wraps up the bonus awards by securing Submission of the Night.

-Satoshi Ishii’s translator speaks up and says that Ishii feels very confident with is place in UFC. He goes on by saying that Ishii loves America and hopes that he can fight here for a long time. Ishii hopes he gets to fight another solid competitor, because he wants to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

-Aleksander Emelianenko’s translator speaks and says that Emelianenko is very proud to avenge his loss in such a quick and decisive fashion. He also says that he wants his next opponent to be even tougher and that everyone in the Heavyweight Division is in trouble. While his translator recites the aforementioned statement, Emelianenko looks over in Ishii’s direction. I think the seed for an Ishii/Emelianenko fight has just been planted.

-Of course, someone asks if Aleksander signing to UFC will increase the chances of seeing Fedor in the Octagon. Dana White responds by saying that he’s satisfied with just having Aleksander.

-Muhammed Lawal says he’s disappointed by his loss, but that Forrest Griffin is tough. He does point out that Griffin didn’t knock him out nor did he make him tap. He thinks that’s at least enough to make him look like a viable fighter.

-Josh Koscheck congratulates Andre Galvao on his win, but says he wishes he could have put more pressure on him from the very beginning. He says that whenever Galvao is game, he wants a rematch.

-Andre Galvao graciously accepts and says that next time it will be for the Welterweight Championship. I guess we know who Andre thinks will win the tournament.

-Shinya Aoki says it plainly: He wants Eddie Alvarez and then he wants Josh Thomson. He’s glad to have a second win in the UFC, and is ready for a title match.

-Aaron Simpson is ecstatic about his win over Jardine. Simpson says he hopes the win will allow him to get a big career making match. Dana White responds by saying he’s definitely considering Simpson’s options. It looks like a fight with Jake O’Brien or Matt Hammill is in Simpson’s foreseeable future.

-Forrest Griffin wraps up the conference by saying that he’s ready for Machida or Jones. He thinks their January meet-up will be one hell of a fight, but he’s ready to reclaim his belt. He knows he’ll need another fight or two before being placed in contention. He thinks a Rampage rematch and an encounter with Thiago Silva will be enough to do the trick.

-A Q&A session ends the conference. That’s a wrap for UFC 131!

maudlin career

09-21-2009, 06:56 PM

Blurcat November MMA News

World MMA News for Week 2 of November

-Kazushi Sakuraba has announced PFC 38: Sweet Pain for Monday, December 5th.

-In addition to Palace FC’s next event, Dave Houshiar has announced RAW Combat: Brave New World for Sunday, December 4th.

-WEC will debut on the IN Demand 2 PPV service in December.

-Kazushi Sakuraba has extended Aaron Rosa’s Palace FC’s contract for an additional two matches.

-Joey Villasenor and Hector Lombard join Gavin Banks and Alex Emerson for Sunday’s edition of Crackdown.

UFC News for Week 2 of November

Signings
Rodney Sapir has signed a two fight six-month deal with UFC

Re-Signings
Andre Galvao has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC

Cuts
Zuffa has decided not to extend Justin McCully’s contract with UFC

*Globosat Programadora 2 has agreed to extend UFC’s PPV deal for an additional eight shows.
*IB Sports 1 has agreed to extend UFC’s PPV deal for an additional eight shows.
*Bell Express VU 2 has agreed to extend UFC’s PPV deal for an additional eight shows.

Thiago Alves: I’m Bringing My A-Game, I Hope Fitch Will Too
Thiago Alves sat down with Jim Archibald for an exclusive Blurcat interview. In said interview, Thiago Alves says he hopes that he and Jon Fitch fight as soon as possible, because he’s ready to avenge his loss. He finishes by saying he hopes Fitch will be at his very best when they meet.

133 and 134 Fight Cards Finalized
As announced at the UFC 131 Post-Fight Conference, both UFC 133 and 134 are officially up on the UFC website. While we could reveal the card ourselves, we’d rather not ruin the surprise and just direct you to this link here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 132: Modern Warriors (December 3rd. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweight: Tim McKenzie vs. Hector Ramirez
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Corey Hill
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Heath Herring
Lightweight: Shannon Gugerty vs. Jose Aldo

Main Card
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig
Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

maudlin career

09-21-2009, 10:01 PM

Blurcat November MMA News

World MMA Headlines for Week 3 of November

-James Thompson has re-signed a three fight deal with DREAM

-Dream Stage Entertainment have confirmed DREAM 34 for Sunday, December 11th

-Be sure to check out the Bellator FC 35 results here!

-Jake Shields will defend the DREAM Middleweight Championship against Paulo Filho at DREAM 34

-Duane Ludwig joins Matt Natchios and Ned Charles on Big Cat Show.

-Kazushi Sakuraba is looking to sign Chael Sonnen to mix things up in Palace FC’s Middleweight Division

-World Victory Road is looking to sign Alexandre Ferreira

World MMA Results for Week 3 of November

Bellator FC 35 (Monday, November 14th)

Main Card
Ryan Healy defeated Thomas Schulte via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Lyman Good defeated Koa Ramos via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Yosmany Cabezas defeated Damien Stelly via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Uriah Hall defeated Benji Radach via TKO (:23. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Ivan Serati defeated Allan Goes via Knock Out (4:39. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

UFC News for Week 3 of November

Signings
Zak Jensen has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Xavier Foupa-Pokam has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Bill Whitworth has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Re-Signings
Muhammed Lawal has re-signed a seven fight multi-year deal with UFC
Frederick Pendergarst has re-signed a three fight one-year deal with UFC
Josh Neer has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Chris Wilson has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
No fighter has been released from their current UFC contract

Michael Russow to Sign With Adrenaline?
For those who didn’t know, Mike Russow’s current contract with UFC has expired here recently. Upon hearing the news, Monte Cox, who is looking to expand Adrenaline’s Heavyweight Division has apparently contacted Russow’s camp. Dana White has yet to comment on the situation. We’ll report more info as we here it.

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 132: Modern Warriors (December 3rd. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweight: Tim McKenzie vs. Hector Ramirez
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Corey Hill
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Heath Herring
Lightweight: Shannon Gugerty vs. Jose Aldo

Main Card
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig
Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

maudlin career

09-22-2009, 12:39 AM

Alex Emerson’s UFC 132: Modern Warriors Press-Conference Notes & Recap (Monday, November 21st)

My 2-Cents
Over the last two years, we’ve witnessed one of the best Cinderella Stories in MMA history with Andrei Arlovski. Now, in twelve days, we get to see if that same Cinderella Story was merely luck or if Andrei Arlovski is back for good.

For those of you who are unaware, after Arlovski left UFC back in 2008, he fought in both EliteXC and Affliction. In Affliction, he suffered a horrible knock out loss to Fedor Emelianenko. Five months later, Arlovski would step into Strikeforce to meet Brett Rogers. In 22 seconds flat, Brett Rogers managed to pull a TKO victory off on ‘The Pitbull’. With that loss, many people, including Arlovski himself, deemed his career to be on the brink of being over.

Arlovski resurfaced in Adrenaline to challenge Adrenaline Heavyweight Champion Jeff Monson. Arlovski showed up as a last minute fill in opponent, and many thought he was doomed to lose. Monson controlled the first three rounds, but Arlovski scored a surprising counter-jab to win the Adrenaline Heavyweight Championship in twenty-three seconds of the fourth round.

Arlovski would go on to pick up an additional two wins in Affliction, defeating Neil Grove and Roy Nelson. This would put him in a Championship match against Affliction Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem. However, Affliction closed down before the fight itself to come to fruition. Dana White, wanting to expand his Heavyweight Division, immediately picked up Overeem and Arlovski’s contracts. Arlovski and Overeem would get their match inside the Octagon where the winner would be the first to take on Kimbo Slice. Twenty-seven seconds into the first round, Arlovski trapped Overeem against the cage and picked up a TKO win.

Andrei Arlovski would finally get his chance at the UFC Heavyweight Championship once more, fighting Kimbo Slice. Though it appeared that Kimbo Slice was out-striking him, Arlovski managed to take Slice to the ground and pick up a submission win and the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Needless to say, Arlovski has made a huge comeback in his career. In twelve days, he meets new Heavyweight Contender Cain Velasquez. Will the Cinderella Story of Andrei Arlovski reach another chapter, or will Cain Velasquez finally get his big break?

Press Conference Notes & Report
-Andrei Arlovski is the first to say anything at the conference. He looks at his UFC Heavyweight Championship and says he can’t believe that he’s back at the top again. Arlovski gives Cain Velasquez all the credit in the world, but says he refuses to let anyone stop his comeback.

-Cain Velasquez says he feels like he’s waited forever to get a title shot and that he’s happy for Arlovski, but that his story is coming to an end. Velasquez says he’s leaving Nevada as the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

-Todd Duffee speaks next and says that all the Heavyweight Title talk is getting him excited and says that he hopes a win over a solid wrestler like Bobby Lashley will put him next in line for a title shot. He says he’s not sure what he’ll do if Lashley manages to get him to the ground, but he does say he’s going to win for sure.

-Bobby Lashley said he’s proven that he belongs in the MMA game after pulling off four consecutive wins over big name UFC fighters, including Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos. He feels that his fight with Todd Duffee is an important fight and agrees that one of them will definitely be looking at title shots with a decisive win next Saturday.

-Anthony Johnson jokingly says he’s upset with Dana White and wants to know why he wasn’t chosen to participate in the Welterweight Tournament. He gets serious and says that Ben Saunders is a dangerous dude, but promises the Nevada audience another knock out.

-Ben Saunders replies that he thinks he and Anthony Johnson are a shoe-in for fight of the night and also promises some serious scrapping inside the Octagon.

-Mac Danzig comments on his rebound from his five fight losing streak, and hopes he can add Hermes Franca as his second victim. He says he’s been training hard for this fight and thinks the win will propel him further up the Lightweight ladder.

-Hermes Franca doesn’t want to suffer a third loss in a row and says he’s looking to break the drought by beating Danzig in a big way. Franca promises that things are going to get ugly on the 3rd.

-Yoshihiro Akiyama says he has the spirit of Korea and Japan fighting with him in Nevada and says Wilson Gouveia has no chance of winning. Akiyama also says that he would love a rematch with fellow Japanese native Yushin Okami.

-Wilson Gouveia says he isn’t sure if he’s considered the underdog of this fight or not, but says if it is, consider his win to be upset of the night.

-Dana White finishes the conference with some Q&A and some photo-ops. Another conference is in the books.

maudlin career

09-22-2009, 09:52 PM

Blurcat November MMA News

World MMA Headlines for Week 4 of November

-Kurt Otto has announced Bellator FC 36 for Sunday, December 18th.

-Joseph Benadvidez joins Ned Charles and Matt Natchios on Tuesday’s Big Cat Show.

-Bellator FC 36 to feature Welterweight Championship bout between Jesse Taylor and Kevin Knabjan.

-Trevor Prangley calls it quits at 39.

-Chael Sonnen signs with DREAM.

-Join us for WEC 68: Takaya vs. Rios Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest for the evening will be Urijah Faber! Be sure to check for results tomorrow night.

-Join us for Sengoku 30 Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest for the evening will be Carlos Newton. Be sure to check for results tomorrow.

-WEC President Scott Adams has been fired from his current position as WEC President. This will put into question WEC’s future, who have now fallen in popularity due to Adams’s mis-management. More news as we get it.

-Adrenaline: Parisyan vs. Liles results are up. Check them out here!

World MMA Event Results for Week 4 of November

Sengoku 30 (Friday, November 25th)

Preliminary Card
Takashi Nakakura defeated Fabricio Camoes via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Luigi Fioravanti defeated Katsuya Inoue via Submission (3:50. Third Round)
Ryan McGivern defeated Travis Lutter via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Jared Hamman defeated David Heath via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)

Main Card
Frank Shamrock Defeated Virgil Lozano via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Din Thomas defeated Masakazu Imanari via TKO (1:12. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Roman Zentsov defeated Assuerio Silva via Knock Out (1:43. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Nick Diaz defeated Josh Burkman via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Ryo Chonan defeated Hayato Sakurai via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor

WEC 68: Takaya vs. Rios (Friday, November 25th)

Preliminary Card
Josh Grispi defeated Rumina Sato via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)

Main Card
Masakatsu Ueda defeated Jeff Curran via TKO (1:59. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Clay French defeated Luciano Azevedo via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Takeya Mizugaki defeated Joseph Benavidez via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Very Poor
KJ Noons defeated Cristiano Marcello via TKO (:25. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Albert Rios defeated Hiroyuki Takaya via Split Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor

Adrenaline: Parisyan vs. Liles (Saturday, November 26th)

Preliminary Card
Rolles Gracie defeated Dan Evensen via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
Joseph Beneteau defeated Tim Petty via Submission (4:54. First Round)

Main Card
Monkhon WiWasuk defeated Derrick Noble via Unanimous Decision to retain the Adrenaline Lightweight Championship (5:00. Fifth Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Lew Polley defeated Po’ai Suganuma via Submission (4:54. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Raymond Daniels defeated Logan Clark via TKO (1:38. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Mike Kyle defeated Brad Imes via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Karo Parisyan defeated Donnie Liles via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent

UFC News for Week 4 of November

Signings
Matt Brown has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Re-Signings
Dan Cramer has re-signed a two fight one-year deal with UFC
Heath Herring has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
Michael Russow has opted out of his UFC contract and has signed with World Victory Road

James Irvin: A Win Over Sadollah Will Be Huge
Steven Monk sat down with UFC fighter James Irvin to discuss his upcoming match with Amir Sadollah at UFC 133. In the interview, Irvin told Monk that he thinks a win over Sadollah will decide his future standing with UFC. He calls Sadollah a tough man and thinks that by beating him, he will get closer to fighting for a chance to win the Middleweight Championship.

John Hathaway On Crackdown
UFC Fighter John Hathaway joined Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks on the latest edition of Crackdown. Hathaway commented on Anderson Silva’s move to the Heavyweight Division by saying that a lot of guys at the 265lb weight class were in for some trouble. Hathaway says he expects to be fighting inside the Octagon by May of 2012 at earliest. For the full Crackdown show, click here!

Dan Henderson Announces Last Match—It’s A Surprise
Dan Henderson has confirmed his last MMA fight: Last July. Sound confusing? Well Dan Henderson has come forth and announced that after his loss against Jake Rosholt in July, he realized that his career was sadly coming to an end. At the age of 41, Dan Henderson has officially put an end to his illustrious MMA career.

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 132: Modern Warriors (December 3rd. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweight: Tim McKenzie vs. Hector Ramirez
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Corey Hill
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Heath Herring
Lightweight: Shannon Gugerty vs. Jose Aldo

Main Card
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig
Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

maudlin career

09-23-2009, 06:44 PM

Blurcat.com – Your Number One Source for All Things MMA

Blurcat’s UFC 132: Modern Warriors Weigh-In Roundtable (Friday, November 4th)

Alex Emerson: Though it is an opinion, many say UFC is arguably the best promotion in the MMA World. While many MMA purest would like to argue that, the numbers tend not to disagree. Once again, we’ll see Zuffa’s own UFC potentially pull millions of buy-rates when they return to PPV with UFC 132. Personally, I’m excited as I believe tomorrow night’s card will be one of the best we’ll ever see. I’ll just sum it up with one of many reasons: Andrei Arlovski’s first title defense. Joining me at the Roundtable tonight are Gavin Banks, Tom Bradburn, Stuart Teacher, and recent retiree Dan Henderson.

Henderson: What’s up guys?

Teacher: Dan, first off, I’m going to go ahead and announce your big news. You will officially be inducted into the Blurcat MMA Hall of Fame Class of 2011 come this January. I believe so far you and Randy Couture are the only ones to have been given the honor this year. How does it feel to know that you have joined the likes of Royce Gracie, Chuck Liddell, Masakatsu Funaki, and the aforementioned former UFC Heavyweight Champ?

Henderson: Well, quite frankly, it’s an honor. I’ve busted my butt day in and day out. Whether it was PRIDE or UFC, I gave it my 100% every time. And it’s special to me to know that people are recognizing it. I guess you never realize how much the fans really supported you and your endeavors until it’s all over.

Banks: I’ve gotta ask: Do you wish things could be different?

Henderson: I do. I thought long and hard about it: Do I want to continue or is it time to call it a day in the office? Then I suffered two TKO losses and followed up by just getting outwrestled by Jake Rosholt. It was my time. I wish I could pull an Arlovski comeback, but I’m getting old.

Emerson: That was the best segueway on the history of our show. You should stay with Blurcat, man. So now that Dan has perfectly lead us up to Arlovski, let’s go ahead and get to the Roundtable discussion!

First Question: Is Andrei Arlovski’s Story Coming to an End?

Tom Bradburn says
Cain Velasquez is one of the most aggressive wrestlers out there. In all honesty, Arlovski has yet to be tested in this department. Think about it, he’s never fought Randy Couture or Brock Lesnar—Who I think are the toughest wrestlers to ever enter the Heavyweight scene. Since being back he’s fought Alistair Overeem—who is a great fighter in his own right—has been inconsistent since joining UFC, and Kimbo Slice a guy who still needs to work on his ground game. While I won’t say this is the last we’ll see of Arlovski, I do think he’ll lose this one.

Gavin Banks says
When Brett Rogers knocked him out in Strikeforce, I think Arlovski really took it hard. I mean you guys remember all those retirement rumors right? Many people really thought that Andrei Arlovski was going to stop fighting. Instead he went back to the gym trained harder than he ever did in the past, and look at where he’s at now: Two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. I don’t think Arlovski is going to let Cain Velasquez stop his ascension.

Alex Emerson says
All stories come to an end, that’s all I’m going to say.

Dan Henderson says
All stories do come to an end, but in Arlovski’s case, his is just beginning.

Stuart Teacher says
Cain Velasquez is beyond hungry. Many thought Velasquez would be a Champion by 2010, but after suffering a loss to Josh Barnett, it never happened. Nearly two years later, Velasquez finally gets that title shot. It will certainly be a battle of will, and right now, I think Velasquez has more riding in this fight. Sure, Arlovski’s could lose the belt, but we know he’ll still be around after we’ve seen what he did to his last two opponents. But with Velasquez, if he loses tomorrow night, who knows how long it’ll be before he gets another chance. That mentality alone is what will help Cain Velasquez in this fight.

The Verdict: Majority says The Storybook comes to a close.

Second Question: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders?

Dan Henderson says
Anthony Johnson is a very inconsistent fighter, but when he brings his A-Game, everyone knows it. I think Anthony Johnson might have been a shoe-in for the Welterweight tournament had someone not politicked their way into it. We’ll see Johnson’s A-Game tomorrow night, because of that.

Gavin Banks says
A BJ Penn vs. Dan Henderson fight would be interesting. Oh wait, I wasn’t supposed to reveal who you were referring to was I? Ha, in all seriousness, I agree with the Hall of Famer. Anthony Johnson would have been in that Tournament, and because he’s not, he’s going to want that first crack at the future Champion. Ben Saunders is going to be in trouble.

Alex Emerson says
Saunders’s only losses in the UFC were due to Swick and Hughes and we all know they’re tough fighters. Like Anthony Johnson, Ben Saunders is looking for a way to climb back up the Welterweight ladder, and this is it. He knows that and as such he’s going to give Anthony Johnson his all. My money is on Ben Saunders in this one, guys.

Stuart Teacher says
If it wasn’t for Johnson’s inconsistency, I’d be willing to put him on a list of pound 4 pound fighters—maybe not the Blurcat Top 10, but a Top 25 or 30 at the very least. Saunders just hasn’t fought as many quality opponents as Johnson has. Anthony Johnson should be able to comfortably pick up a win tomorrow night.

Tom Bradburn says
I could see Anthony Johnson in a Top 30 P4P, like The Teach said, minus the inconsistencies in his performance, Top 30 P4P is very realistic. I don’t think Ben Saunders will be able to hang with the guy for very long.

The Verdict: Majority says Anthony Johnson

Question Three: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig?

Alex Emerson says
First off, can anyone explain to me how four straight losses and then an awful decision win over George Roop can get you on the main card—let alone in a fight with a guy like Hermes Franca? Franca will be all over this guy.

Stuart Teacher says
If there’s one thing UFC 131 taught me, it’s never underestimate a fighter. Actually, no, Hermes Franca just defeated Kenny Florian recently. Sorry Danzig, this one isn’t happening.

Dan Henderson says
This is a fight that just doesn’t seem to work in favor of Danzig. I don’t want to take anything away from him, he’s not a bad fighter. It’s just that there’s a major difference between fighting George Roop and fighting Hermes Franca. Danzig is going to find that out tomorrow night.

Gavin Banks says
After we called the Simpson/Jardine fight embarrassingly wrong last time, I’m going to play it safe and say Mac Danzig. You guys have no idea how badly I wish I could have picked Simpson last time just so I could rub it in all of your faces.

Tom Bradburn says
Yeah, there’s nothing to calling this one. Hermes Franca is leagues ahead of Mac Danzig currently. If Danzig wins, then that’s great for him, but I just don’t see it happening in any possible way.

The Verdict: Majority says Hermes Franca

Question Four: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama?

Dan Henderson says
Akiyama is a guy I wish I could have fought. He’s a tough competitor. I really see him in the Middleweight title picture in the near future. I like Gouveia a lot, but Akiyama is dangerous. The guy had a 15-fight win streak until he fought Marquardt. Gouveia is looking at a big win here, but I just don’t see that happening with Akiyama.

Tom Bradburn says
Henderson said it best. This is a big fight for Gouveia, but you’re looking at Akiyama—who I, too, think will be in the title picture next year. Yeah, this fight could do huge favors for Gouveia if he wins, but think about what it means if Akiyama loses…Akiyama is going to bring the fighting spirit with him tomorrow night to prevent that from happening.

Alex Emerson says
You guys covered the topic fairly well. Akiyama is my pick.

Gavin Banks says
I firmly believe Gouveia is looking at this in an entirely different light. Gouveia has been training non-stop for this fight and I think we’re going to see a different fighter in Gouveia tomorrow night. I’m going to pick Gouveia.

Stuart Teacher says
Well there goes our unanimous pick, thanks Gav. You guys all know that Akiyama is one of my favorite fighters. I can’t really pick against him, especially in this fight.

The Verdict: Majority says Yoshihiro Akiyama

Question Five: Todd Duffee vs. Bobby Lashley?

Stuart Teacher says
So far, I think Bobby Lashley has been doing a good job for himself. He’s another WWE cross-over fighter, and has managed to pick up victories over Cheick Kongo, Heath Herring, Junior Dos Santos, and Brock Lesnar. I was really going to pick Todd Duffee in this fight, but realistically, has Todd Duffee fought anyone on the level of Lashley’s opponent. I’m picking the pro-wrestler in this one.

Dan Henderson says
You know a lot of people dismissed Brock Lesnar when he debuted and those same people are doing the same with Bobby Lashley. Lashley is seriously a dangerous wrestler. The man made Brock Lesnar tap out. I like Duffee, he’s a great kid, but he’s going to be hurting tomorrow.

Gavin Banks says
Man this is a tough one, actually. Todd Duffee is young and hungry, but as you guys have said, he hasn’t really fought anyone too tasking with the exception of Heath Herring. Bobby Lashley came in and due to his cross-over status was thrown into main card fights against marquee fighters. He’s beaten them though. If you asked me this question before Lashley joined the UFC, I would have picked Duffee. Now that I’ve seen what the former TNA Superstar can do, I really think this fight is Lashley’s.

Alex Emerson says
If we’re going off of track records, then I guess you could pick Lashley. But I’ll ask you this: How many of you are going to pick Kimbo Slice in his fight with Nogueira? I mean didn’t Kimbo knock out CroCop, Dos Santos, Lesnar, and Gracie? But you guys won’t pick Slice because you know Nogueira has more experienced and is more skilled. To me, the same applies for Duffee and that’s my final answer.

Tom Bradburn says
I’m actually picking Kimbo Slice in that fight. Call me fickle, but I’m a firm believer on the “you’re only as good as your last fight” statement. I think Lashley will be able to wrestle Duffee to the ground and I think that’ll be it.

The Verdict: Majority says Bobby Lashley

Final Question: Andrei Arlovski vs. Cain Velasquez?

Alex Emerson says
We covered this in the first question, so I guess a simple final answer will be appropriate for this one, guys. Cain Velasquez

Dan Henderson says
Andrei Arlovski

Tom Bradburn says
Velasquez

Stuart Teacher says
Velasquez

Gavin Banks says
‘The Pitbull’

The Verdict: Majority says Cain Velasquez

Alex Emerson: And that wraps up this edition of Weigh-In Roundtable. I hope you guys enjoyed and as always, be sure to check out UFC 132 tomorrow to see how right we all were. Also, as always, participate in our Roundtable contests by sending your predictions to Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. The one who gets the most fights correct will receive PRIDE 33 on DVD where Dan Henderson made MMA history by owning two titles in two different weight classes. The DVD will also be signed by Mr. Hall of Famer himself. Thanks for tuning in!

Full UFC 132: Modern Warriors Card

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jake Ellenberger vs. Dan Hardy
Light Heavyweight: Tim McKenzie vs. Hector Ramirez
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Corey Hill
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Heath Herring
Lightweight: Shannon Gugerty vs. Jose Aldo

Main Card
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Ben Saunders
Lightweight: Hermes Franca vs. Mac Danzig
Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Todd Duffee
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski© vs. Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

I hope to hear from you all!

maudlin career

09-24-2009, 09:13 AM

Blurcat December MMA News

Scheduled MMA Events for December
PFC 38: Sweet Pain (Palace FC. Thursday, December 1st)
UFC 132: Modern Warriors (UFC. Saturday, December 3rd)
RAW Combat: Brave New World (RAW Combat. Sunday, December 4th)
Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (UFC. Wednesday, December 21st)
Bellator FC 36 (Bellator FC. Sunday, December 25th)

World Headlines for Week 1 of December

-Be sure to check out Monday’s PFC 38: Sweet Pain Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest for the evening will be none other than Karo Parisyan. Come back tomorrow for full results.

-The World Victory Road staff have confirmed Sengoku 31 for December 31st

-World Extreme Cagefighting have announced their 69th event for December 31st as well.

-Adrenaline will not have an event in December, but President Monte Cox announces a January 3rd event to take place in Iowa.

-After an eight month disappearance, Luke Rockhold returned to the MMA world at The Ohio River Fighting Challenge. He won a TKO victory over Phil Collins in what was dubbed to be the greatest fight of the night. The fight has been uploaded on Youtube, courtesy of [/i]Ohio River Fighting Challenge[/i].

World MMA Results for Week 1 of December

PFC 38: Sweet Pain (Thursday, December 1st)

Preliminary Card
Shinichi Kojima defeated Yuki Shoujou via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round)
John Gunderson defeated Naoyuki Kotani via Unanimous Decision to win the PFC Lightweight Championship (5:00. Third Round)

Main Card
Atsushi Yamamoto defeated Damacio Page via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Abe Wagner defeated Eli Joslin via TKO (:21. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Ian McCall defeated Seth Dikun via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Pete Sell defeated Luis Sapo via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Matt Brown defeated Chris Lytle via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average

UFC News for Week 1 of December

Signings
No signings were announced this week.

Re-Signings
No re-signings were announced this week.

Cuts
No cuts were announced this week.

Tim Hague Joins Crackdown
Tim Hague sat down with Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks to discuss his upcoming Preliminary Bout with Heath Herring. Hague says he knows it’s an important fight for two reasons: 1) Heath Herring, though has had some unfortunate losses, is a very talented and dangerous fighter. 2) This fight could very well determine his future with UFC. He said he’s been training hard for this fight, because the Octagon is his home, and if losing this fight threatens to kick him out of his home, then Herring needs to be ready for war.

Matt Brown Injured
Recent UFC signee and current PFC fighter Matt Brown will be out of action for up to four months following his victory over Chris Lytle. In the fight, it was believed that he tore his pectoral muscle near the end of the second round. This could spell trouble for Brown in the UFC for several reasons. He still wants to fulfill his PFC contract obligations and has lost three fights in a row in PFC while being signed to UFC, he’s yet to debut in the Octagon, and his recent injury will only delay his first fight in the Octagon. Expect to see Brown show up sometime in the near future in the Cuts list.

UFC 132 Full Report
Did Andrei Arlovski continue his story or has Cain Velasquez finally reached the top of the mountain? We have the full report here! If you didn’t see UFC 132 last night, then go ahead and click the link. Go ahead, nobody’s looking.

Scheduled UFC Events

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

maudlin career

09-24-2009, 11:42 AM

Alex Emerson’s UFC 132: Modern Warriors Full Report (Saturday, December 3rd)

One of the last major UFC events of the year has been one of the most talked about events in recent months. There’s no GSP or Anderson Silva superfight. There’s no Champion vs. Champion dream match. No, tonight, all eyes are on one man: Andrei Arlovski.

If you told anyone two years ago that Arlovski would be a two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, many would laugh at you and question how much MMA knowledge you really have. In reality though, Arlovski took his 2009 losses quite seriously and took his training to a level that’s never been seen.

Now we’re in 2011 and the man that everyone doubted has picked up a six-fight win streak and is the current and two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. Many, including Hall of Fame Bound Dan Henderson, have called it the greatest Cinderella Story in MMA History. I’d have to agree.

Tonight, a young man looks to end that story and begin his own. Not for greed, envy, or hate, but because it’s what he has to do if he wants to make it to the top. That man is Cain Velasquez.

Thought to be a destined UFC Heavyweight Champion in 2009, Velasquez suffered some unfortunate losses and was knocked back to the beginning of the food chain. At the end of 2011 Velasquez made a come back, picking up some very big wins over Brett Rogers, Rich Franklin, and Alistair Overeem. These wins have put him across the Octagon, opposite of Andrei Arlovski. Will Velasquez finally achieve his destiny? Let’s start the show and find out.

UFC 132: Modern Warriors (Saturday, December 3rd)
My story isn’t over. Being the UFC Heavyweight Champion is everything to me. – Andrei Arlovski

I want that belt. If that means ruining his comeback, then that’s unfortunate, but that belt is why I fight. – Cain Velasquez

This win will get me to the places that I need to be; Arlovski, Velasquez, Lashley, or whoever…I will be the next Champion. – Todd Duffee

I’m going into that Octagon to make a statement, like I’ve been doing. Everyone’s right, this isn’t pro-wrestling. That’s why I get in there and hurt people…Duffee is going to find that out – Bobby Lashley

Gouveia is good, but the spirit of Korea and Japan are within me. I will NOT disappoint my people. – Yoshihiro Akiyama

I’m not going to let Akiyama ruin my streak. He’s going to bring his best game out there tonight, but that’s not going to be enough. I need to ascend this Middleweight ladder. – Wilson Gouveia

I’m going for a knock out. Simple as that. – Anthony Johnson

All I can say is good luck to Anthony Johnson. If he’s going to try a stand-up war with me, I’ll just give him some Muay Thai and boom lights out. That’s all there is to it. – Ben Saunders

The vignettes finally wrapped up and “Bring the Pain” by Stemm hit the PA System and spread across the Las Vegas arena. The camera panned on Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg who welcomed MMA fans to another exciting night of UFC action. They both ran down the main card and followed up by hyping the main event for tonight. Rogan says he wants Arlovski’s story to continue, but says Velasquez is a tough, hungry dude so Arlovski has a lot of work ahead of him.

Mike Goldberg says the main event will be an important one not only for UFC history, but for both fighters involved. He supports his statement by saying if Arlovski loses that means he’s right back at the drawing board in his career. Then he says if Velasquez loses, who knows if he’ll ever get another chance at the gold.

The Tale of the Tape for Anthony Johnson and Ben Saunders displays on the screen and Goldberg directs our attention to Mike Buffer for an exciting night of action.[/i]

Welterweight: Anthony Johnson(10-6) vs. Ben Saunders(10-2-2)

The Fight
In the opening round both fighters are looking for a comfort zone: Saunders via taking the fight to the ground and Johnson via throwing bombs. Both fighters were a little hesitant in the opening minutes, neither wanted to make a match costing mistake. Saunders finally breaks the monotony by throwing a low kick that Johnson tries to grab for. Saunders slips away from Johnson’s grasp, but stumbles and Johnson sees some opportunity. Johnson hits a jab-straight combo, and Saunders does at least manage to cover up on the straight. Saunders quickly circles away from Johnson to prevent being pinned up against the cage, and that sums up the round.

I’m assuming Saunders’s corner feels that Johnson picked up the first round, because Saunders pins Johnson against the cage via a clinch. Saunders hit a couple of shots to the body, and Johnson fires a knee on the inside. The knee forces Saunders to back up a little, but it gives enough space for Johnson to turn the tides! Johnson is now firing away on Saunders against the cage, and Saunders replies with a standing guillotine. Saunders knows that he needs to apply more pressure and thus falls to the ground. Johnson slips out and begins firing away on Saunders! Saunders grabs Johnson’s head and gains side control after a confusing scramble. Saunders scores a couple of knees to the ribs of Johnson, but both fighters make it to the final round.

Saunders fakes a shoot and instead pulls Johnson into a grapple. The two hit the fencing and Johnson slips out and hits Saunders with a jab. The jab stuns Saunders and Johnson looks to tee off! Saunders is playing possum and uses the opportunity to take Johnson off of his feet. From guard, Saunders forces Johnson to cover up after throwing some nice punches. Johnson uses his feet to push Saunders away and succeeds. Johnson turns to get to his feet, and Saunders immediately tackles him back to the ground. Saunders has Johnson’s back. Johnson struggles, but Saunders eventually slips the wrist under Johnson’s chin. Saunders hooks his legs! The rear naked choke is in. Johnson taps out!

Winner via Submission – Ben Saunders (4:28. Third Round)

The Post-Fight
Saunders tells Rogan that he doesn’t care who he fights, he just hopes it’s a top opponent like Johnson, because he wants to fight the best and prove to all that he deserves to be here.

The Verdict
Man, the last two rounds of the fight completely made up for the lackluster first. Based off the first round alone, I thought Johnson would firmly pick up a win. Saunders increased his game by 100 in the last two rounds and Johnson could do well to hang for long. Las Vegas was treated to a good opening fight on the main card of UFC 132.

Lightweight: Hermes Franca(20-9) vs. Mac Danzig(19-9-1)

The Fight
There’s lots of cage control in the opening round. It starts off with Franca looking to take Danzig to the ground, but has to settle for pushing him into the cage. From there, Franca begins to fire some rabbit punches on Danzig and then switches up by looking to trip Danzig to the mat. Danzig shows excellent balance and causes Franca to lose his own. This leads to Danzig taking control of the clinch with Franca against the cage. Danzig tries for his own takedown, but eats a knee that forces him to relinquish control. At the end of the round, Danzig and Franca box a little before heading to their corners.

Franca must be tired, because Danzig has him stuck against the cage. At several instances Franca tries to slip out, but Danzig keeps him pinned. Danzig is looking for a takedown, but it’s not working. As a result, Danzig begins firing some punches to the midsection of Franca. Franca fires back and we get a small war at the cage. Danzig slips through a jab and catches Franca with an elbow. Franca is cut bad and in almost no time Franca is covered in blood. Oh man, the cut looks like it’s just above the eyelid, and it looks like the Yves Lavigne is breaking the fight up to allow the ringside doctor to look at the cut. There’s several seconds of debate before Hermes Franca’s corner erupts in anger. The doctor’s have called an end to the fight. Wow!

Winner via Doctor Stoppage – Mac Danzig (4:13. Second Round)

The Post Fight
Hermes Franca is visibly upset, and Danzig tells Rogan that he’s not happy about it either, but does say that a win is a win. He tells Franca that they will settle this fight in a rematch. Franca nods his head and he and Danzig shake hands.

The Verdict
Oh yeah, there’s definitely going to be a rematch, that’s for sure. As far as the fight goes, it honestly looked like Mac Danzig had control for the entire fight. This is a big win for Danzig who now adds a second win to his current streak. As far as the fight itself, it was a decent crowd pleaser that did its job.

Middleweight: Wilson Gouveia(14-6) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama(15-2)

The Fight
The two step in and Gouveia catches Akiyama with a punch that rock Akiyama. Akiyama stumbles back and Gouveia shows relentless offense by hitting Akiyama with a hook. Then Gouveia follows up with a left. Akiyama tries to grab Gouveia, but eats an uppercut that knocks Akiyama to his knees. Gouveia stands over him and continues to fire away. Mario Yamasaki pulls Gouveia off! Gouveia runs around the Octagon ecstatic about his win.

Winner via TKO – Wilson Gouveia (2:13. First Round)

The Post Fight
Once Gouveia manages to calm down he tells the Rogan that this is the new Gouveia and then proceeds to warn the Middleweight Division. Gouveia also says that he hopes th be in the Octagon again soon.

The Verdict
Wow. Wow. Wilson Gouveia has NEVER looked that good. Simply put, the fans got a great first round fight ender and Gouveia pulls off a huge upset.

Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley(8-2) vs. Todd Duffee(8-1)

The Fight
Lashley shows absolute power by picking Duffee off of his feet and slamming him down to the Octagon. Lashley begins firing away at Duffee, but Duffee is a tough bastard. Lashley looks like he’s tiring himself out and begins to slow down the rate of his punches. Duffee grabs an arm and tries for a kimura, but there’s a war for position that sees Duffee take side control. Lashley isn’t satisfied with giving Duffee a dominant position, and another scramble develops that sees both fighters end up on their feet.

In the second round, Duffee is getting pushed against the cage, but some how manages to slip to the side of Lashley. Duffee just tosses Lashley into the cage and begins to strike on him. Lashley absorbs the blows and picks Duffee up slamming him again! Lashley swivels and gains side control, but for whatever reason stands up. Duffee isn’t looking too hot this round and is looking for a takedown out of despearation. Lashley pancakes Duffee and begins firing off some punches that are just destroying Duffee.

There’s a small boxing exhibition in the opening minutes of the final round. Duffee hits Lashley with a couple of jabs and then decides to go low for the legs. Lashley pancakes him again, but Duffee manages to roll out and hits Lashley with a punch. Duffee and Lashley end up against the cage, but it’s really a rest-period for both fighters. Duffee is still fixated on getting Lashley to the ground, but Lashley force his weight on Duffee to flatten him against the mat. There are some punches from Lashley, but they’re not enough to put Duffee away before the round ends.

Once both fighters cool-off they meet in the middle of the ring where Bruce Buffer announces the Judges’ Score Cards. The score is 30-27 across the board in favor of Bobby Lashley.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Bobby Lashley

The Post Fight
Lashley bluntly tells Arlovski and Velasquez that he’s coming for them. I think I can see Bobby Lashley possibly getting the next shot after a win like this. Actually no, I’d suggest putting him in the ring with winner of Nogueira/Slice in January to determine the next challenger.

The Verdict
A very decent main event lead-in that saw Bobby Lashley display raw power at various instances in the fight. I think Lashley is slowly proving to be more of a threat to the HW Division than Brock Lesnar ever did.

Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski©(21-7) vs. Cain Velasquez(11-2) for the UFC Heavyweight Championship

The Fight
A right hook hits Velasquez right on the button and Velasquez could be done. Arlovski follows it up by throwing a roundhouse kick, but in a random effort of defense, Velasquez takes Arlovski off of his feet. Arlovski rolls around, but Velasquez is quick to keep up with Arlovski. Velasquez has Arlovski’s back and begins firing some elbows. Arlovski’s head bounces against the elbows like some warped looking basketball. Oh man Arlovski needs to do something. Herb Dean’s seen enough and steps in. Ladies and gentlemen we have a new Champion!

Winner via TKO and new UFC Heavyweight Champion – Cain Velasquez (4:04. First Round)

The Post Fight
Arlovski looks defeated both mentally and physically. The fans show Arlovski some support and begin clapping for him. He congratulates Velasquez and says he will be back before departing from the Octagon.

Velasquez is very excited about this win and promises the fans that he will have an exciting title run. He tells Rogan that he would love to fight Nogueira, Slice, Lashley, Arlovski again, it doesn’t matter. Arlovski finishes the interview by saying that the punch really hurt him, but he had worked hard for this fight and wouldn’t take a loss that easily.

The Verdict:
The fans got it all in this one: Andrei Arlovski almost had this fight with a punch; Velasquez used a desperation takedown to make a comeback. There was some brutal ground and pound. And to top it off, a first round win from the new champion. Simply fantastic

UFC 132: Modern Warriors Final Verdict

On the entire card, including the Preliminaries, only one fight ended in Decision and that Decision fight saw some amazing power from Bobby Lashley. Las Vegas was treated to a title match—the first title match in two months, in fact—that saw Velasquez outright destroy and put an abrupt end to Andrei Arlovski’s second title run. Honestly, I think UFC 132 was a fantastic event for the UFC brand.

As always, be sure to send your input on the event to Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. I’m always curious to see what the Blurcats think about any and all MMA events. That’s a wrap for UFC 132. I’ll see you in two weeks time for Ultimate Fight Night!

UFC 132: Modern Warriors Full Card Breakdown

Preliminary Card
Dan Hardy defeated Jake Ellenberger via Knock Out (:39. Third Round)
Tim McKenzie defeated Hector Ramirez via Knock Out (4:53. First Round)
Aaron Riley defeated Corey Hill via TKO (2:05. Third Round)
Carlos Condit defeated Danillo Villefort via TKO (:40. First Round)
Heath Herring defeated Tim Hague via Submission (2:09. First Round)
Jose Aldo defeated Shannon Gugerty via TKO (4:59. Second Round)

Main Card
Ben Saunders defeated Anthony Johnson via Submission (4:28. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Mac Danzig defeated Hermes Franca via Doctor Stoppage (4:13. Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Wilson Gouveia defeated Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO (2:13. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Bobby Lashley defeated Todd Duffee via Unanimous Decision (5:00. Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Cain Velasquez defeated Andrei Arlovski via TKO to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship (4:04. First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic.

maudlin career

09-25-2009, 12:02 PM

Blurcat.com – Your Number One Source for All Things MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 132: Modern Warriors Post-Fight Conference Report (Saturday, December 3rd)

-Dana White had a few announcements before getting to the Award Bonuses. Firstly, Ultimate Fight Night would not get the typical press-conference treatment, because White and his team need to do some small promoting in and outside of Indianapolis to make sure the attendance for UFN makes the trip worth it. After that, he announced that if Luis Cane defeats Wanderlei Silva, then he’ll become the next Light Heavyweight contender. He also announces that the winner of Quinton Jackson and Alexandre Ribeiro will meet with Forrest Griffin to determine who will be next in line. A Forrest Griffin/Rampage Jackson rematch would be amazing.

As far as future events go, White has announced UFC 135. However, there’s no date, there’s no location, and there’s no fight announcements. White did state that he’s talking to a few fighters and it’s looking like the second round Welterweight Tournament fights might wrap up at that event. Again, though, he’s not entirely sure yet.

-As far as the awards are concerned, Ben Saunders walked away with two bonuses: He gained Submission of the Night for his rear naked choke on Anthony Johnson, and both he and Johnson received Fight of the Night for opening the event with one of the closest fights in recent history that almost went the distance. The Knock Out of the Night went to Preliminary fighter Tim McKenzie for buckling Hector Ramirez near the end of the first round.

-Since we’ve already received confirmation on the next two or three Light Heavyweight contenders, Dana White addresses the Heavyweight title picture. As of now there are seven fighters in the current Heavyweight Division that White is looking at as far as potential title contenders go: Andrei Arlovski, Roger Gracie, Kimbo Slice, Antonio Nogueira, Satoshi Ishii, Bobby Lashley, and Aleksander Emelianenko. He’s not sure what he’s going to do about the aforementioned list of contenders, but does say depending on the outcome between Nog and Slice, either one could be the very next in line. He also says Andrei Arlovski definitely deserves a rematch, because the punch he caught Cain Velasquez with almost ended the fight. He comments on Satoshi Ishii, by saying you don’t just come into the UFC on your first fight and make a guy like Cheick Kongo submit like Ishii did. For once it looks like the Heavyweight Division has entered a period of constant turmoil, especially considering that there’s still Anderson Silva, Frank Mir Brock Lesnar, and Gabriel Gonzaga to think about.

-The first to speak on their win tonight is Mac Danzig. He’s kind of disappointed that the fight ended the way it did, but says that he spoke to Dana White about a potential rematch. Danzig says he’d be more comfortable taking a Hermes Franca rematch before moving up in fights. White confirms it and says they’ll rematch at one of the upcoming 2012 Ultimate Fight Nights.

-Wilson Gouveia is still on his winning high. He looks terribly excited, and I say good for him. He says a win like that has shown everyone that he has what it takes to be fighting the good Middleweights. White actually follows up by considering either Michael Bisping or Yushin Okami as his next opponent. Either/or would be a pretty solid match-up.

-Andrei Arlovski arrives looking mentally diminished. He stands up and shakes hands with Cain Velasquez calling him the better fighter. Andrei comments on a potential Velasquez rematch, and says he’d rather fight someone else on the contender list before being thrown right back into the spotlight. I think a possible Arlovski/Emelianenko match would be huge.

-Ben Saunders hints at the possibility of a Matt Hughes rematch, but isn’t sure if it’s too possible right now. Dana White says there’s a kid on the Preliminary Card who would love to get his big break by fighting a guy like Saunders, but doesn’t say who. I could be wrong, but I’m at least 99.9% sure he's referring to Carlos Condit.

-Cain Velasquez says it’s a scary time to be Heavyweight Champion, because there are a number of people in the Division who can beat you at any time. He says he’s going to stay on his toes and spend even more time at the gym, because he’s looking to cement his name in the Hall of Fame. He finishes up by saying right now even he’s thinking about who his next opponent could be.

-Once there are no more questions, Dana White & Co round up and leave the conference room. That’s a wrap for UFC 132!

maudlin career

09-25-2009, 05:16 PM

Blurcat December MMA News

World Headlines for Week 2 of December

-RAW Combat: Brave New World results are up. You can check them out here!

-Hayato Sakurai will fight under the World Victory Road banner for another four fights.

-World Victory Road is looking at Tito Jones and Eddie Wineland in an effort to expand Sengoku’s Featherweight Division.

-Dave Houshiar has announced RAW Combat: Gangland for Wednesday, January 11th. The event will be headlined by David Faulkner and Brock Larson

-Jameel Massouh picked up a victory at Calgary’s Maple Leaf Martial Arts Fight League by picking up a Unanimous Decision over Alonzo Martinez. This is a big win for Massouh who had been on a six-fight losing streak prior to the event.

World MMA Event Results

RAW Combat: Brave New World (Sunday, December 4th)

Main Card
Brendan Barrett defeated Bill Mahood via TKO (1:34, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Jim Wallhead defeated Rowan Cunningham via Submission (4:14, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Joe Riggs defeated Che Mills via Submission (3:50, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Joseph Duarte defeated Rich Clementi via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Andrew Riddles defeated Kazuhiro Nakamura via Submission (3:31, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average

UFC News for Week 2 of December

Signings
Joseph Beneteau has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Re-Signings
There are no re-signings to announce this week.

Cuts
Michael Bisping has left UFC after not coming to an extension agreement with Zuffa

Scheduled UFC Events

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane (December 21st. Indiana)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135 (Date TBA. Location TBA)

Card to be announced

maudlin career

09-27-2009, 02:39 AM

Blurcat.com – Your Number #1 Source for All Things MMA

Blurcat’s Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane Weigh-In Roundtable (Tuesday, December 20th)

Alex Emerson: Hello Blurcats! For some, tomorrow is just another night of MMA action, for others tomorrow night is FREE UFC! There are no thematic questions to this one. I mean, there’s no need to debate if it’ll be a success or not, even if Dana White is worried about the Indianapolis attendance being a little light, it doesn’t matter…people will watch free MMA, there’s no doubt about it. So I guess we all know what that means. It’s Tuesday night, tomorrow is Ultimate Fight Night, we’re doing a show…could it be?

Gavin Banks: Why yes, I think it could. Weigh-in Roundtable, suckas!

Alex Emerson: Since tonight isn’t one of the big shows, we’re going to do things a little differently. First off, there’s no overall question to ask. We’re going right to the fight card. Also, we do not have a special guest for tonight’s event. Tonight it’s going to be me, Gavin Banks, Tom Bradburn, Stuart Teacher, and Roundtable alternate Matt Natchios.

Natchios: I love how unimportant you guys make me seem.

Teacher: We hate you, get over it.

Natchios: I’m not going to take this abuse all night, you know what, screw it. Emerson let’s just cover the card so I can get the hell out of here.

Bradburn: Language, bud!

Emerson: Ok, since Natchios apparently has better to do, let’s get this thing underway.

First Question: Ben Henderson vs. Cole Miller?

Matt Nachios says
You gotta go with ‘Smooth’ on this one. Ben Henderson was one of the shining stars of WEC and out of him, Faber, Cerrone, and Pettis, Henderson is the only one to come into the UFC and walk through most of the competition. While Cole Miller is good, Ben Henderson is a future Lightweight Champion, he’ll show that in this fight.

Alex Emerson says
Yeah, I see what Matt Natchios is saying. Henderson has lost what? One out of five fights in the UFC? That’s a pretty good track record and I doubt Miller will have the tools to stop Henderson in this one.

Gavin Banks says
You guys are terribly underestimating Cole Miller. The guy has only two losses so far in the UFC and they’re both to Jeremy Stephens. Yeah, Ben Henderson is good, but in my opinion, Cole Miller has fought much tougher opponents, including Garcia, Cerrone, and Browning. I think this is Miller’s fight.

Tom Bradburn says
You know, either way, this is going to be a pretty solid fight. I guess if I was forced to pick a winner, I’d agree with Banks and say Cole Miller.

Stuart Teacher says
Ben Henderson. The guy was on the cusp of attaining the WEC Lightweight Championship and we all know there aren’t any pushovers in the WEC. I agree that Miller has fought tougher opponents in UFC, but Banks, you’re totally overlooking Henderson’s WEC Career. I’d say they’re at a pretty even level in terms of their track record.

The Verdict: Majority says Ben Henderson

Second Question: Jason High vs. James Wilks?

Tom Bradburn says
Ah man, James Wilks is tough, but so is Jason High. You know, I think High will be hungrier because of that knock out loss he took from Anthony Johnson. He’ll push himself to pick up a win in this fight.

Gavin Banks says
James Wilks is a UFC Top 10 Welterweight. High couldn’t even beat Johnson, who is #15 at the very least. I know rankings don’t gauge a fighter’s skill, but this is, no pun intended, high level competition for Jason High. Last time he was given a high profile fight, again no pun intended, he took a huge loss. I see the same happening tomorrow night.

Stuart Teacher says
I think both of you guys explained it well enough, so I’m just gonna call Jason High.

Alex Emerson says
Jason High is a very game opponent, but like Banks says, he seems to lock-up when he’s given a big fight. Also consider this: This is going to be live on TV. Can you imagine what that’s going to do to Jason High?

Matt Natchios says
I gotta agree with you three. Things aren’t looking too good for Jason High going into this fight.

The Verdict: Majority says James Wilks

Third Question: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader?

Gavin Banks says
It’ll be interesting to see how Ryan Bader’s training with Xtreme Couture will play into this, but the two fought before and it wasn’t pretty for Bader. I’ll just pick Vera by default.

Alex Emerson says
Yeah, uh the first fight Vera dominated Bader. It’ll happen again.

Stuart Teacher says
History does tend to repeat itself. Brandon Vera

Tom Bradburn says
Why is this rematch happening so soon anyway? There’s no way Ryan Bader’s received enough Xtreme Couture training to put up a decent fight.

Matt Natchios says
Brandon Vera based on their last fight alone.

The Verdict: The Roundtable unanimously says Brandon Vera

Fourth Question: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn?

Matt Natchios says
Kampmann is a lethal striker, but this is BJ Penn we’re talking about. The guy has granite chin and some very dangerous jiu-jitsu. Kampmann would be lucky to survive past the first round.

Gavin Banks says
Y’know, there are some fights where you just have to throw caution on the win and bet against the odds. I think Kampmann will win a very close fight.

Alex Emerson says
Nah..no way for Kampmann. BJ Penn is simply better in every aspect.

Stuart Teacher says
Don’t get me wrong, Kampmann is a great fighter, but I don’t think he and Penn are in the same league.

Tom Bradburn says
You guys covered this perfectly. Now I have no need to explain why I’m picking Penn.

The Verdict: The Roundtable unanimously says BJ Penn

Final Question: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane?

Tom Bradburn says
You’re looking at the future Light Heavyweight contender, Luis Cane is winning this one.

Matt Natchios says
Remember when everyone though Alexandre Ribeiro would beat Wanderlei to get a title shot and Wanderlei ended up knocking him out? I see the same thing happening.

Alex Emerson says
Yeah, I think Silva will pick up another knock out, as well.

Stuart Teacher says
I gotta go with Bradburn, Luis Cane is one of the best Light Heavyweight fighters out there. I will say this: Wanderlei is going to give him a great fight, but I do believe Cane will walk away as winner.

Gavin Banks says
I don’t know, there’s been so much to think about in the MMA world, that I haven’t been able to really think about this one too deeply. I guess this is Luis Cane’s ticket into a headlining fight, so I don’t think he’s going to go in there and take a man as dangerous as Wanderlei Silva lightly.

The Verdict: Majority says Luis Arthur Cane

Emerson: And that concludes another Weigh-In Roundtable. As always, you’re welcomed to send your predictions via e-mail to Emerson-blurcat@aol.com for a chance to win a free Blurcat T-Shirt. We hope you tune in tomorrow night to catch one of the most solid fight cards ever offered on free TV.

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jessie Sanders vs. Kevin Burns
Middleweight: Mike Massenzio vs. Drew McFedries
Welterweight: Marius Zaromskis vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Phillipe Nover

Main Card
Lightweight: Benson Henderson vs. Cole Miller
Welterweight: Jason High vs. James Wilks
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader
Welterweight: Martin Kampmann vs. BJ Penn
Light Heavyweight: Wanderlei Silva vs. Luis Arthur Cane

BHK1978

09-27-2009, 02:49 AM

I love the new diary (I know it has been around for some time)! I really like the Weigh-In Roundtable, how you write up the pre-show interviews for the fighters and the Post-Fight Conference Report. These enhance the diary for me and they are welcome additions. Keep up the great work!

Thomato

09-28-2009, 12:58 AM

This is an incredible diary you've got going here. I'll be sure to keep reading.

maudlin career

09-28-2009, 07:05 PM

Blurcat.com December MMA News

World Headlines for Week 3 of December

-Join us for DREAM 34 Weigh-In Roundtable! Our special guest for the night will be Stephen Quadros! Come back tomorrow night for full results!

-Eddie Wineland has signed a 3 fight deal with World Victory Road

-Lyle Beerbohm sat down with Tom Bradburn on Friday to discuss his recent and future fights in the World Victory Road Sengoku events. For an audio file of the interview, click here!

-Tom Murphy discussed retirement plans with Mark Johnson in an exclusive Blurcat interview. For the entire interview, click here!

World MMA Events Results for Week 3 of December

DREAM 34 (Sunday, December 18th)

Preliminary Card
Kiril Sidelnikov defeated Valentijn Overeem via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round)
Dan Lauzon defeated Hideki Kadowaki via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round)
Carl Seumanutafa defeated Marcio Cruz via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round)
Jeff Lawson defeated Luke Caudillo via Submission (6:20, First Round)

Main Card
Akitoshi Tamura defeated Manny Tapia via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
David Terrell defeated Ralek Gracia via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Luke Stewart defeated Phil Baroni via Uanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Very Poor
Fabricio Werdum defeated Shane Carwin via Submission (2:09, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Paul Filho defeated Jake Shields via Submission to win the DREAM Middleweight Championship (4:50, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

UFC News for Week 3 of December

Signings
There are no signings to announce this week.

Re-Signings
Urijah Faber has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC

Cuts
Zuffa has decided not to extend Marius Zaromski’s current UFC contract

Dana White Speaks on Bisping Leaving
Dana White, always notorious for letting his feelings out, has decided to come out and address Michael Bisping's departure from UFC. To put it cleanly and family-friendly, in the interview, White more or less calls Bisping a moron. He goes on to explain that Michael Bisping left, because he wanted a ridiculous (again family friendly word replacement) bonus on his extension. Dana White dissects what he means by saying that during negotiations, Bisping wanted an additional 90% of what he already makes in the event that he wins. He then says that he's never given anyone a $600,000 signing bonus, especially when they've only won two of their last five fights. White ends the harassment by calling Bisping a piece of trash. Ouch.

UFC 132 Report
Zuffa continues to roll in the dough as the early figures for their Velasquez/Arlovski headlined UFC 132 are $1,946,720 in ticket sales and $4,755,200 in PPV buys. With numbers like these, it doesn’t look like the MMA craze is slowing down anytime soon

Shogun Rua and Dan Hardy on Crackdown
Mauricio Rua and Dan Hardy were the special guests on Blurcat Radio Network’s Crackdown. On the show, Rua told Emerson and Banks that he’d be very interested in taking on Muhammed Lawal. He feels that Lawal would bring out the best in him and that a solid win over Lawal just might add stock to his name. He also said he’s very interested in fighting Jake O’Brien again.

Ed Herman showed up later on the show and said he felt like he was a solid pick for next crack at the Middlweight Championship until Thales Leites defeated him. Herman follows up by saying he’s not letting the loss get to him too much and is hoping to be back in the Octagon by spring of next year.

For the full episode of Crackdown, click here!

Ultimate Fight Night Results
Will Luis Arthur Cane be next in line for Machida? Who will be facing Andre Galvao? We have your results, and we’ll it be known right now: Ultimate Fight Night was worth watching. If for some odd reason you missed it, click here!

Paul Kelly On Big Cat Show
UFC Lightweight Paul Kelly joined in on Thursday’s Big Cat Show. He basically went down his training regiment with the crew and said that UFC probably has the deepest Lightweight Division in the world, and exemplified this by running down a list of ten people he thinks could hold the belt at any given time. Although UFC has no current plans for him, he hopes he’ll be back to fight soon.

For the full audio, click here!

Lesnar on Saturday’s Big Cat Show
To close off this week in MMA, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar sat down to do an interview. In the interview, Lesnar confirmed that his next opponent in the UFC would be Alistair Overeem. He said that it won’t be at the upcoming 135 show, but that it should be around that timeframe. He calls Overeem a lethal striker, but says he’s been training harder than ever and hopes to be headlining again in no time.

For the full audio, click here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135 (Date TBA. Location TBA)

Card to be announced

maudlin career

09-28-2009, 10:51 PM

Alex Emerson’s Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane Full Report

If memory serves me correctly, I do believe this is the first time UFC has ever made an appearance in the Midwest state of Indiana. This is exciting news for various reasons: 1) MMA is continuing to expand and become more accepted 2) UFC is continuing to gain in popularity 3) Indiana MMA fans finally get a big show…and what a show it is.

Tonight, Indianapolis plays host to another episode of Ultimate Fight Night in what many consider to be one of the biggest Ultimate Fight Night cards in history. From top to bottom, the event will display many exciting fights. You have Ben Henderson who continues to gain popularity in the UFC taking on Cole Miller. Then there’s the final fight in the opening round of the Welterweight Tournament featuring former Lightweight Champ BJ Penn taking on the very lethal Martin Kampmann. The most important fight, however, is perhaps the main event. ‘The Axe Murderer’ will return to the Octagon to take on potential title contender Luis Arthur Cane.

But the most exciting aspect of this card: it’s all on free TV. Looking at this event, I could easily call it a must-buy PPV event, but as Dana White once said a year or so ago, “When UFC does huge numbers; I’m going to give back to the fans.” And give back he did.

To be honest, I’m not even sure why I’m doing a report, because you’d have to be living under a rock to miss this event. I do realize some of us have lives outside of this sport, and for whatever reason, some of you were not able to catch the event. So, let’s get right down to it. Ultimate Fight Night on Spike TV!

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane
-That Welterweight Championship is mine. I’m not interested in fighting at any weight class, but Welterweight. If Martin Kampmann thinks he’s going to derail me, I feel sorry for him ¬– BJ Penn

-I know BJ Penn is considered one of the most dangerous fighters in the Lightweight Division, but this is different. Last time he fought in Welterweight, he was giving too much weight to GSP, and we all saw what happened to Faber. Penn is out of his element. – Martin Kampmann

-I’m not afraid of Wanderlei Silva, some prefer not to trade punches with him. I’m not worried about taking a punch, and I’m more than willing to exchange with him. – Luis Arthur Cane

-I’ll do what I do best: hurt him. – Wanderlei Silva

As usual, the familiar song from Stemm plays throughout the Indianapolis venue. The camera starts off by panning around the audience while Mike Goldberg welcomes those watching on Spike TV to one of the most stacked Ultimate Fight Night cards in history. The camera then focuses on Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. They do their usual pre-fight build up and go through the rules for the night. Joe Rogan plays up the main event and says some one is going to get hurt in the Silva/Cane fight. Mike Goldberg highlights the Penn/Kampmann fight and says we’ll finally see who will make it to the next round. Ben Henderson makes his way to the Octagon, and Goldberg directs our attention to Bruce Buffer to get the fights underway.

Lightweight: Ben Henderson(15-3) vs. Cole Miller(18-4)

The Fight
It looks like they’re going to start off with some grappling, but Miller suddenly changes his mind and backs away. Henderson doesn’t take the bait and Cole Miller gets away scot free. While trying to shoot in on Miller, Henderson gets rocked by a nasty uppercut, but apparently Henderson is the next name to add on the list of granite chins as he’s able to take the punch and closes off the round by still trying to take Miller off of his feet.

Henderson starts off the next round with a different game-plan and begins swinging on Miller. Miller eats two or three punches, and he looks stunned! In an effort to defend himself, Miller clinches in with Henderson, but Henderson just pushes him into the fencing. Henderson fires off an uppercut and the grapple is broken! Henderson is teeing off on Miller, and is just feeding his opponent some punches. Before the Yamasaki can step in, Miller covers up and fights his way out of the fence. Henderson fairs much better this time around

Miller throws a kick and is caught by a jab that takes him off of his feet. Henderson keeps himself calm and allows Miller to stand back up. Miller throws a jab, but Henderson fires off on him. Miller is stumbling backwards and uses this chance to shoot in. It doesn’t work and Henderson uses his strength to push Miller into the fencing. Henderson closes off the round by shooting a couple of knees into Miller’s ribs.

The fighters find their way back to the center of the Octagon where two judges score the fight 29-28 and the other scoring it 30-27 in favor of Ben Henderson.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Ben Henderson

The Post-Fight
Henderson tells Rogan that he’s happy he picked up a big win tonight, and says he’ll keep fighting whoever they put him in there with. He also says he hopes the Indianapolis people enjoyed the fight.

The Verdict
On free TV, the fight probably seemed amazing. In front of the Indianapolis crowd, it was probably exciting. However, this was another dime a dozen UFC fight. I’m not saying it was bad, because it wasn’t. Just an extremely average fight for a UFC event.

Welterweight: Jason High(12-2) vs. James Wilks(8-2)

The Fight
The two open the round up with some light striking, that doesn’t really seem to go anywhere nor give either one any sort of advantage. High eventually finds his rhythm and manages to catch Wilks with a couple of decent counter punches. Wilks begins to realize he can’t out-strike High, and as such looks to shoot-in. High clinches in tight with him before Wilks can go low and the two end the round against the cage.

Wilks comes into the second round still looking for a takedown, but High uses some jabs to keep at Wilks at a distance. High fakes a low kick and clinches tightly with Wilks. Wilks looks to shift his weight to throw High off balance, but High is a much dominant wrestler and as such Wilks is pinned against the cage again. Wilks can’t seem to do much to get out and it looks like he loses another round.

Wilks finally manages to get High to the ground, but High shows amazing ground defense, and as such, Wilks can’t seem to get anywhere. In what seems like forever, Lavigne finally forces the fighters back to their feet. Wilks once again looks for a takedown, but High sprawls to escape. High turns the sprawl into a clinch and hits Wilks with a couple of good knees. Wilks looks to escape, but is instead saved by the bell.

To much of no surprise, Jason High is awarded a 29-28 Unanimous Decision

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Jason High

The Post-Fight
Neither fighter conducted a post-fight interview.

The Verdict
It looked like High was looking for a finish throughout the entire fight, whereas Wilks was just hoping to outscore via lay and praying and takedowns. The fight wasn’t great by any means, but it definitely wasn’t Hammill/Johnson bad. I guess one could call the fight decent

Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera(12-6) vs. Ryan Bader(10-4)

The Fight
The first round is a snore. Bader shows some incredible wrestling by forcing Vera into the cage. At several instances, Vera tries to get out, but nope, Bader just isn’t having it. After about a minute or so of keeping Vera against the cage, I begin to wonder why Yamasaki isn’t asking for a restart. He finally grants my wishes and the two separate. Vera takes this opportunity to shoot in, but Bader pancakes him and begins to fire down some wild punches to end the round.

Bader pins Vera against the cage…again…Wait, no Vera gets out. The two clinch up, but then break apart and afterward Vera throws a jab that’s blocked. Bader catches a kick and trips Vera taking him down to the mat. Bader explodes on Vera, but obviously Bader has tired himself out. Bader lowers his head to catch his breath, and Vera wraps his arm around Bader’s neck. Bader tries standing up, but damn that guillotine is locked in tight! Any minute Bader will ta-there it is! Ryan Bader taps out. Oh man!

Winner via Submission – Brandon Vera (4:50, Second Round)

The Post-Fight
Brandon Vera says that Bader gave him a tougher fight this time around, but when he saw Bader trying to catch his breath, he knew that was his moment to strike. Vera says he’s hoping a few more wins will put him up there with the other title contenders, because he wants a chance to win the Light Heavy belt

The Verdict
A pretty good fight. Bader looked much improved, but his cardio got him stuck in a pretty nasty guillotine. Hopefully White and Zuffa see Bader’s improvements and keep him around for at least two or three more fights.

Welterweight: BJ Penn(17-7-1) vs. Martin Kampmann(17-5)

The Fight
Penn catches Kampmann with two snapping jabs before taking ‘The Hitman’ off of his feet. Kampmann tries to show a little resistance, but the superior Penn manages to find a way to get side-control. Penn hits Kampmann with a few solid punches from side and looks to mount; Kampmann knows what being mounted means and manages to shift away. There’s a bit of a scramble on the ground, and Kampmann manages to end the round by forcing Penn back into his guard.

Penn catches a kick and knocks Kampmann down with a jab. Penn immediately mounts Kampmann. Kampmann tries covering up but after six consecutive elbows, Kampmann’s hands leave his face. Penn continues to drive elbows into Kampmann and Kampmann is looking hurt! Yamasaki has seen enough and pulls Penn off of Kampmann! Andre Galvao might be in trouble.

Winner via TKO – BJ Penn (1:51, Second Round)

The Post-Fight
BJ Penn tells Rogan that he wants his belt and that Fitch, Alves, and Galvao will get what he calls ‘The Kampmann Treatment’.

The Verdict
The crowd loves a good TKO or Knock Out, and they definitely got one tonight. With a crowd as hot as Indianapolis, an early TKO like that makes for a good fight.

Light Heavyweight: Luis Arthur Cane(14-2) vs. Wanderlei Silva(34-12-1)

The Fight
Cane keeps his promise and decides to stand-up with Silva and looks good doing it. He hits a couple of jabs on Silva that seem to prevent Silva from going wild. Silva hits a low kick, but loses balance doing it. Cane pushes in and gets a Muay-Thai plum. Silva breaks through and hits some punches! Cane responds back and fires off on Silva! A straight right from Cane catches Silva right on the button and Silva topples over. Cane follows him to the mat, and begins to fire down, but Wanderlei shows that he’s a veteran and manages to pull Cane in, giving up his side in the process. Though Cane being in side control could prove to be dangerous for Silva, he manages to make it past the first round.

Wanderlei and Cane step in and Cane fires off a right-hook. The punch catches Silva cleanly and Silva’s mouth-piece ejects from his orifice and slides across the mat. Silva crashes down to the mat and that’s the fight! Cane has knocked out Wanderlei Silva!

Winner via Knock Out – Luis Arthur Cane (:28, Second Round)

The Post-Fight
Luis Arthur Cane tells Lyoto Machida and Jon Jones that he’s coming for either of them so they better be ready.

The Verdict
Ultimate Fight Night just ended with one of the greatest knock outs in UFC history. I’ll say it again: the knock out was great. I honestly think both Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida will be in serious trouble against Luis Cane.

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane Final Verdict

On free TV, you got to see BJ Penn dismantle Martin Kampmann and you saw a guy as dangerous as Wanderlei Silva get knocked out in just 28 seconds of the second round. I’m not going to type a long piece about what makes this an excellent event. No, just know that it was an excellent event and if for whatever reason you missed out on it, shame on you.

Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane Full Card Breakdown

Preliminary Card
Kevin Burns defeated Jesse Sanders via Submission (4:35, Third Round)
Drew McFedries defeated Mike Massenzio via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Mike Pyle defeated Marius Zaromskis via Split Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Phillipe Nover defeated Daisuke Nakamura via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)

Main Card
Ben Henderson defeated Cole Miller via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Jason High defeated James Wilks via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Brandon Vera defeated Ryan Bader via Submission (4:50, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
BJ Penn defeated Martin Kampmann via TKO (1:51, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Luis Arthur Cane defeated Wanderlei Silva via Knock Out (:28, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great

maudlin career

09-29-2009, 08:14 AM

Blurcat.com – Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Alex Emerson’s Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Cane Post-Fight Conference Report (Wednesday, December 21st)

-Dana White comes out with a rather nice smile on his face, which can only mean good things for UFC. He announces that the show was more than a success and says that more than a million was made at the gate, and that the official number will come in later in the week. That’s pretty good news for UFC.

-It looks like UFC 135 is set to go. Dana White announces that the card will be headlined by Aleksander Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski. Diego Sanchez and Eddie Alvarez will be co-headlining the card. As always, White baits everyone by suggesting we go to the UFC website to see the full card.

-In the Bonus Awards category, Luis Arthur Cane picked up Knock Out of the Night after ejecting Wanderlei’s mouthpiece in just twenty-eight seconds in the second round and Kevin Burns, who opened up the show, took the other two bonuses: Submission of the Night for pulling a triangle choke near the end of the third round on Jesse Sanders. Then the two earned Fight of the Night bonus for having an exciting back and forth opening fight to start off the night.

-Brandon Vera starts off tonight’s Q&A by saying that Ryan Bader was a lot tougher tonight, but that he looked very tired going into the second round and that when he saw Bader trying to take a breather, he had to go in for the kill. Brandon Vera finishes by saying he has no idea who he wants to fight next, but he’s already thinking about it.

-Jason High is disappointed in his performance against James Wilks. He’s glad that he won the fight, but hoped he could have won a more decisive battle. Dana White tells him he’s too hard on himself and says a win is a win. White also says the UFC audience will be seeing much more of High and Ben Henderson.

-Upon hearing his name, Ben Henderson was the next to address some Q&A. He tells the conference room that he hopes to be Lightweight Champion by 2012. He also says he wants to be back in the Octagon by late March at least. As far as opponents go, Henderson is very interested in fighting any top ranked Lightweight.

-BJ Penn says there’s no one in the Welterweight Tournament that poses a threat. He does compliment the other fighters, but is 100% positive that none of them will be a major issue. He says that as far as he goes, anyone who steps in the ring with him will get what Martin Kampmann got. Penn does say that he’ll need at least two months off to mentally prepare for the next fight, which is pretty good considering that Andre Galvao will be medically cleared in that same time frame.

-Luis Arthur Cane had very little to say, but did say that he would be in attendance at UFC 133 and will be watching Jones and Machida very closely. Cane doesn’t care which one he’ll have to end up fighting, because he firmly believes he’ll be leaving the Octagon as champ anyway.

-The questions wrap up and Dana White confirms a UFC 133 on New Year’s Day. The group rounds up and that concludes Ultimate Fight Night.

maudlin career

09-29-2009, 09:13 AM

Blurcat.com December MMA News

World Headlines for Week 4 of December

-Join us for Bellator FC 36 Weigh-In Roundtable! Our special guest for the evening will be Nick Diaz. Be sure to check back for results tomorrow night.

-Rumors of Jesse Taylor leaving Bellator FC are surfacing. This is a big deal, as many see the twenty-eight year old fighter as being a major player in the future of the MMA scene. We’ll keep you updated on the happenings as we hear them.

-Bellator FC fighter Brett Cooper joined Ned Charles and Matt Natchios on Tuesday’s Big Cat Show. Check it out here!

-Abe Wagner conducted a Blurcat exclusive interview with Steven Monk Wednesday night. To see the video in its entirety, click here!

-Former UFC fighter Justin McCully has signed a two fight deal with Adrenaline

-Ricardo Arona sat down with Ned Charles and Matt Natchios on Thursday’s edition of the Big Cat Show. On the show, Arona called out a specific UFC Light Heavyweight. To find out who he was talking about, click here!

-Kurt Otto confirms Bellator FC 37 for Sunday, January 15th.

World MMA Event Results for Week 4 of December

Bellator FC 36 (Sunday, December 25th)

Main Card
Joey Beltran defeated Tom Murphy via TKO (:49, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Daniel Tabera defeated Jaime Fletcher via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Nicholas Salmon defeated Brett Cooper via Split Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Jamie Varner defeated Toby Imada via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Jesse Taylor defeated Kevin Knabjan via Submission to retain the Bellator FC Welterweight Championship (3:04, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent

UFC News for Week 4 of December

Signings
There are no new signings to announce this week.

Re-signings
Wanderlei Silva has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
Martin Kampmann has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC

Cuts
There are no cuts to announce this week

Ultimate Fight Night Financial Report
It looks like Dana White wasn't lying when he announced that the Indianapolis hosted Ultimate Fight Night earned over a million in ticket sales. The official number coming in is $1,260,210. Looks like Ultimate Fight Night was more than just a success.

Jake O’Brien: My Next Fight? Not Soon Enough.
Jake O’Brien conducted a Blurcat exclusive interview with Stuart Teacher. One of the main things Jake O’Brien addressed was not being on any of the upcoming UFC fight cards. He said he’s going to talk to Dana White later in the week to hopefully discuss future UFC plans. At the current moment, O’Brien has expressed interest in maybe fighting Thiago Silva.

For the full interview, click here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135 (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Caremlo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

maudlin career

09-29-2009, 08:28 PM

Blurcat.com – Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Blurcat Staff Presents: 2011 End of the Year Awards

Alex Emerson: Hello all, and happy New Year! While the majority of you are probably already drunk, and I, myself will undoubtedly be drunk in due time, we here at Blurcat have decided to do what we do best before anything else: talk MMA. Since tonight is the first night of the year of 2012, and the world thankfully didn’t end, it’s time to hand out those special awards. With me I have Blurcat staffers Gavin Banks and Steven Monk.

Monk: 2011 was a very solid MMA year, so much stuff happened. Affliction went under, Andrei Arlovski made a big comeback, and of all people, Kimbo Slice became UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Banks: Plus there was GSP vs. Anderson Silva II and we saw Paulo Filho dethrone Jake Shields at the end of the year.

Emerson: As you all can see, 2011 had many memorable moments. So with that, let’s get down to the awards.

Fighter of the Year

The Breakdown
This award is given to a fighter that we all deem as just being beyond impressive. For the entire year, said fighter has been on a tear, by not only keeping a very credible win streak, but by also beating quality opponents. We had many names to look at this year, and it was pretty damn hard to pick just one. However, after his recent performance, it was pretty easy to pick out he we thought deserved it.

And the winner for Fighter of the Year: Cain Velasquez

Blurcat Staff says
The man had a total of four fights this year: Brett Rogers, Rich Franklin, Alistair Overeem, and Andrei Arlovski. None of the four managed to even make it past the first round. To the uninformed, this might not seem like a big deal, but in reality, all four fighters are considered to be major threats. To go in there and make them seem like amateurs is just unheard of, especially for someone as young as Velasquez.

Female Fighter of the Year

The Breakdown
Like Fighter of the Year, the same qualities apply. However, since female fighting has just gotten off of its feet here in the last two or three years, it’s much easier to just give them their own category as opposed to comparing them to the male fighters. Since Strikeforce was the only promotion to have a Women’s Division, it’s been much harder to really follow and determine a winner of this award. After doing some extensive regional and independent event reports, a winner was determined.

And the winner for Female Fighter of the Year: Kaitlin Young

Blurcat Staff says
Since the closing of Strikeforce of EliteXC, many of the female fighters have found other vocations to take up their time. Gina Carano, for instance, is making movies and Cristiane Santos is spending more time training with the Chute Boxe camp. Meanwhile, Kaitlin Young has stuck to the game and in the year of 2011 alone has picked up a five-fight winning streak in the American regional scene. Way to go Kaitlin!

Rookie of the Year

The Breakdown
Pretty self explanatory. This award is all about a relative newcomer making a name for himself in a big way. Again, this was a hard one as there were a ton of young up and coming fighters who were beyond impressive this year. However, we did manage to find one that we felt broke out of the pack.

And the winner for Rookie of the Year: Tyron Woodley

Blurcat Staff says
Though he only had two fights in the year of 2011, he came into the year on a three-fight win streak. Then, in his first 2011 fight, he defeated Karo Parisyan to take the Adrenaline Welterweight Championship and then followed up by successfully defending it against Luke Cummo. If that’s not enough, the man only has one loss in his ten fight career. At the age of 29, Tyron Woodley is definitely a guy to look out for in 2012.

Rise of the Year

The Breakdown
This award is fairly similar to Rookie of the Year, but as opposed to being a fresh newcomer, it’s more so adjusted to those who have been in the game for a little bit of time and are finally beginning to show how much of a threat they really are to those in their division. Honestly out of all the awards, this one was fairly easy.

And the winner for Rise of the Year: Bobby Lashley

Blurcat Staff says
The man completely outwrestled Todd Duffee, Heath Herring, and Cheick Kongo this year; to add to that, he not only had his way with Brock Lesnar, but forced him into submission via a guillotine. Keep in mind this is all in the year of 2011. If this is a taste of things to come, the UFC Heavyweight Division could be in trouble.

Fall of the Year

The Breakdown
Think of this as the opposite of Rise of the Year. This is a fighter who looked impressive at first, but in the end, had succumbed to a set of losses that really put to question his true skill set. In the last two year end awards, some very combat hardened veterans took the fall of the year mantle, but now in what looks like a first, a former Rise of the Year runner-up has now taken the Fall of the Year award.

And the winner for Fall of the Year: Brett Rogers

Blurcat Staff says
After running through Arlovski and Nelson in Strikeforce, Rogers would make his next appearance in UFC. He displayed horrible ground game against Gabriel Gonzaga and took two separate submission losses. He then took two TKO losses from Cain Velasquez and Todd Duffee. After being released from his UFC contract, he showed up at Bellator FC 33 where he took a submission loss to Dan Christison. One wonders if Rogers will ever be able to bounce back.

Promotion of the Year

The Breakdown
Another self-explanatory award. This award is handed out to an MMA promotion for a number of reasons: Consistency, roster, fanbase, and booking. In all honesty, there were at least four promotions, but here recently one stood out among them all.

And the winner for Promotion of the Year: RAW Combat

Blurcat Staff says
The Canadian MMA promotion has been spiking in fan attendance here recently. They also have recently acquired a very solid roster featuring the likes of Mike Ciesnolevicz, Alexandre Ferreira, David Faulkner, and Juro Hayami. And when it comes to consistency, RAW Combat has it down pat. Twelve events throughout the year of 2011 and all received the Blurcat Verdict of being good to great. Will RAW Combat keep up the good work in 2012? We shall see.

Team of the Year

The Breakdown
This is an award where we focus on the different fight camps. Every year, we break down each Fight Camp and look at what fighters they have to offer, and how those fighters perform based on Camp training. As always, there are a lot of solid Camps out there to choose from, but here recently, we’ve only been looking at one.

And the winner for Team of the Year: American Top Team

Blurcat Staff says
Bobby Lashley, Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves, Wilson Gouveia, Yves Edwards, Ben Saunders, Gesias Calvacante, Mike Brown, and Denis Kang are only a small percentage of the names worth mentioning from ATT. You’ve seen Lashley outright control his opponents. You’ve seen Silva get knock out after knock out. Alves almost knocked out Swick. Gouveia pulled off a shocking upset on Akiyama. And Calvacante and Mike Brown headlined one of the more recent DREAM events. American Top Team is the way to go for anyone looking to take their training seriously.

Show of the Year

The Breakdown
To put it simply, this award is handed out to what we dubbed to be the best show of the year. Whether it be anticipation, a solid card from top to bottom, or even that one main event that just had everyone talking for months to come. For those requirements, there’s only one promotion to look at.

And the winner for Show of the Year: UFC 120: Couture vs. Machida

Blurcat Staff says
Many were expecting UFC 129 to win this one, and really we did consider picking that for a long time. However, we finally looked back at UFC 120, and man it was amazing. Whether it was realized at the time or not, those who saw UFC 120 witnessed a piece of history; PRIDE Legends Mirko CroCop and Antonio Nogueira rematched, Quinton Jackson tied up his feud with Wanderlei Silva to 2-2, and Lyoto Machida outright destroyed MMA Legend Randy Couture.

Fight of the Year

The Breakdown
When picking a Fight of the Year, we look for that one fight that had consistent high points in a fight. Everyone loves a good first round knock out or submission (which we’ll get to later), but the fights that go the distance with both fighters getting a fair amount of offense are almost always overlooked. There were plenty to pick from this year, but there was one that took place just last night that had many MMA fans flooding the Blurcat message boards.

And the winner for Fight of the Year: Gilbert Melendez vs. Adriano Martins

Blurcat Staff says
This was an excellent brawl for the Sengoku Lightweight Championship. In the first round, Martins had clear control of the fight for the first two and a half minutes, but then Melendez turned up the heat and it turned into a fast and exciting striking war that saw both Melendez and Martins get rocked on several occasions. Somehow, they made it to a second round where Martins dropped Melendez with an uppercut. Melendez showed a superior chin and managed to scatter back to his feet. Martins used Melendez’s recover time against him and tried firing off a barrage of punches. The two ended up on the ground, where somehow, someway, Melendez pulled off an armbar that saw the fight come to an end at 2:49. It was definitely one of the most exciting fights in company has ever put on in recent years.

Worst Fight of the Year

The Breakdown
Worst Fight of the Year is to Fight of the Year as to Fall of the Year is to Rise of the Year. I’m sure with that sentence alone; this doesn’t need much of an explanation. To clarify it to those who still don’t understand, this award is given out to only the worst of the worst. They can be deemed bad for many reasons: Not a lot of action, too much running from one fighter, inexperience, or general lack of fan interest in the participants involved. With that, it looks like World Victory Road does the impossible and takes an award for both Best and Worst Fights of the Year

And the winner for Worst Fight of the Year: Antonio McKee vs. Kiuma Kunioku

Blurcat Staff says
Thankfully, the fight itself was only a Preliminary Fight. That means those who actually anticipated the event didn’t have to sit through a fifteen minute snore-fest. However, if you paid attention at all during Sengoku 25, you’ll notice there were a ton of people in the background watching the event. In the business world, we call those people the audience. And yes, that very audience had to sit through fifteen minutes of two fighters too afraid to strike on each other. If you’ve ever wished you could see a World Victory Road event, just be glad it wasn’t this one.

Knock Out of the Year

The Breakdown
A knock out is a knock out. As such, this award only goes to the nastiest, most brutal of knock outs. We’re talking, mouth pieces firing out of mouths. We’re talking about ragdollesque bodies flopping to the mat. We’re talking “is that guy still alive?!” after the fight has been deemed over. This was by far the easiest one to pick.

And the winner for Knock Out of the Year: Kimbo Slice on Brock Lesnar

Blurcat Staff says
Kimbo Slice has taken his second consecutive Knock Out of the Year and oh man did this one topple his 2010 knock out of Mirko CroCop. To put it simply, Lesnar looks like he wants to shoot in on Slice. Slice throws a wild looking punch in hopes of stopping Lesnar. Lesnar’s head bobs back, his eyes roll to the back of his head, and the former UFC Heavyweight Champion goes crashing down like a Raggedy Ann doll. And considering the sheer size of Brock Lesnar, that’s not something anybody can ever say they’ve done…except Kimbo.

Submission of the Year

The Breakdown
Take everything that was said about Knock Out of the Year, and replace it with things that apply to submissions. Think Toby Imada on Jorge Masvidal style or even Antonio Nogueira on Bob Sapp style. Basically, we’re talking about those submissions that either came from out of no where to end the fight, or the ones that looked so painful that we had to look away.

And the winner for Submission of the Year: Paulo Filho on Jake Shields

Blurcat Staff says
No one in the Blurcat Staff saw this fight ending the way it did. Shields looked impressive, and many wondered if he would be the one to dethrone GSP and Anderson Silva in the Middleweight Division. While not necessarily dominating Filho, Shields still looked like he had the fight firmly in his favor. Then Shields turned his game up ten-fold and took Filho down to the mat with a beautiful slam. Big mistake; a transition or two later and Shields was locked tightly in a beautiful triangle choke that forced him to hand over his DREAM Middleweight Championship to the Brazilian fighter.

Main Event of the Year

The Breakdown
The one ending fight that made the entire show worth it, even if the rest of the fights were garbage. No matter who you are, there’s always been that one show that made you mind numbingly bored. Whether it be because the fights stunk or because you generally just weren’t interested in the undercard, the fact is, you felt the show was awful. Then the fight that you had been waiting for finally arrives. The show closer that, while the rest of the card stunk, you knew would be a solid fight through and through. And in truth, it really was good…no…better than even you thought it would be

And the winner for Main Event of the Year: Gilbert Melendez vs. Adriano Martins

Blurcat Staff says
There’s not enough words in the dictionary to describe how excellent this fight was. The first round alone was amazing for all the back and forth striking that took place. Then you have the second round where it looks like Melendez is hurt, but only leads to Melendez pulling off an amazing submission to win the fight and retain his title. A lot of people are probably upset that Machida/Couture, Silva/GSP, or Filho/Shields didn’t pick up this award, but those same people probably didn’t see this Sengoku 31 main event. Look it up if you haven’t already.

Upset of the Year

The Breakdown
You know those times when the Blurcat Staff have a Weigh-In Roundtable and completely call one fighter to destroy the other, but then the exact opposite happens? Yeah…it happens a lot, blame it on their lack of fanboyism or just plain idiocy. Whatever the case may be, those kind of fights half-way define Upset of the Year. The other half come from the moments where logic dictates one fighter to have his way with another, only to have the direct opposite happen in the actual match-up.

And the winner for Upset of the Year: Siala-Mou Siligia defeats Fabricio Werdum

Blurcat Staff says
Yeah…talk about completely miscalling a fight. We predicted Werdum via submission in the early first round. Hell, considering that Werdum just made Shane Carwin many of us would still look back at that fight and call it the same. However, for fifteen minutes, Werdum was dominated by the much more aggressive Siala-Mou Siligia. Werdum tried for several takedowns, but Siligia wasn’t having it and even almost threatened a victory by way of TKO. In the end, Werdum was saved by the clock, but still took a Unanimous Decision lost by way of 30-27. Who would ever see that one coming?

Blurcat MMA Hall of Fame 2011 Inductees

Randy Couture (19-12)

Blurcat Staff says
‘The Natural’ Randy Couture completed the UFC Trinity with Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell that saw UFC and MMA in its entirety reach heights that never seemed possible in the United States. The man won the UFC Heavyweight Championship on four and the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship twice, thus making him the first fighter to hold two different titles in two different weight classes in MMA. The man closed his career by defeating Brock Lesnar in a highly anticipated rematch to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time, and then went on to face Lyoto Machida in what many deemed an unthinkable dream fight. Though he may not have the most impressive record in MMA, the guy has done a lot for the sport. That alone makes him a no-brainer for this year’s Hall of Fame.

Dan Henderson (27-10)

Blurcat Staff says
From the moment Dan Henderson won the UFC Middleweight tournament at UFC 17, we all know that his future looked very bright, we just underestimated how bright. The man went on to win the RINGS King of Kings tournament and then won the 2005 PRIDE FC Welterweight GrandPrix, becoming the first Welterweight Champion in the process. Then at PRIDE 33 he met Wanderlei Silva for the Middleweight Championship where he knocked out ‘The Axe Murderer’ to become the first man to ever hold two different titles simultaneously. Dan Henderson continued to find success in the UFC and even had two amazing performances against Anderson Silva. And how could we even begin to forget that brutal knock out punch he delivered to Michael Bisping? Like Randy Couture, Henderson getting inducted was a no brainer.

Emerson: And that concludes our 2011 Year-End Awards. As always, send all comments and critiques to Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. Be sure to check back later as we go through the Year-End Blurcat Rankings! Until then, enjoy your New Year!

maudlin career

09-30-2009, 07:49 PM

Blurcat.com – Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Blurcat’s Year-End Rankings Report
As always, along with the End of the Year Awards comes the Blurcat Year-End Rankings Report. What that means is we’ll now take the next several minutes or so in giving you an extensive list of who the Blurcat Staff considers to be the best of the best from Heavyweight to Flyweight, from male to female.

Remember, though these are the Year-End Rankings, the Rankings themselves are updated quarterly, and thus the next official update will be in March. So if you’re curious to see how future fights will affect the Blurcat Ranking System, check back on the first of March. With that out of the way, let’s get this taken care of.

Pound 4 Pound

The Breakdown
The most used phrase when MMA fans talk about their favorite fighter. To put it in easy terms, Pound 4 Pound usually describes a fighter who is considered to be the best fighter relevant to his weight class to the point that one could make an argument that he could step out of his natural weight and still present a challenge to the top fighters who represent other divisions.

10. Mike Brown (27-5)

Blurcat Staff says
The guy made Urijah Faber seem like a pushover to win the WEC Featherweight Championship. The American Top Teamer then went on to have four successful Featherweight title defenses before leaving WEC for the Japanese based DREAM. While in Japan, Brown decided to move up a weight-class, and proceeded to defeat top DREAM Lightweights, Andre Dida, Takanori Gomi, and Marcelo Garcia. Brown would be much higher on the list if it weren’t for our next entrant.

9. Gesias Calvacante (18-4-1)

Blurcat Staff says
Considered by many to be the best fighter to never hold a major title. Gesias Calvacante has proved to be a consistent threat to DREAM Lightweights. He avenged a previous loss to Tatsuya Kawajiri by putting him to sleep with an arm triangle. Chase Beebe felt the power of his hands and suffered a TKO loss. Takanori Gomi fell to a first round heel-hook. If that resume wasn’t impressive enough, Calvacante ended the 15-fight win streak of Mike Brown by dominating the #10 P4P for an entire 15-minute bout. Only at the age of 28, the sky is the limit for Gesias Calvacante

8. Josh Thomson (22-2)

Blurcat Staff says
There’s possibly no one in the sport who has had as many accolades as Thomson. The man entered Strikeforce and reigned as Lightweight Champion for a successful three defenses before the company went under. Upon hearing of Strikeforce’s demise, Affliction President, Tom Atencio immediately scooped up a handful of Strikeforce alumnus, including Josh Thomson. After defeating three of Affliction’s top contenders, Josh Thomson added the Affliction Lightweight Championship to his list accomplishments. However, bad luck followed with Thomson and thus Affliction folded too. Dana White, very keen on Thomson, signed him to the UFC brand. After destroying Josh Neer in the first round in his UFC debut, a Champion vs. Champion match was booked, Penn vs. Thomson. Thomson, who looked like he was being controlled for the duration of the fight, showed that it was all in his game-plan and made a tired out BJ Penn submit to a Kimura lock. To add on to that, the man is currently enjoying a nice 12-fight win streak.

7. Eddie Alvarez (24-2)

Blurcat Staff says
The man has been undefeated since 2008 and has added the likes of Satoru Kitaoka, Kenny Florian, and Takanori Gomi to his list of recent victims. Since his loss to Shinya Aoki, no one has even been able to score a round off of him. And in the event that he is able to defeat Diego Sanchez in March, a meet-up with our #8 P4P pick, Josh Thomson is inevitable.

6. Forrest Griffin (20-7)

Blurcat Staff says
The man rebounded from a 2009 loss to Anderson Silva in some major ways: He picked up a TKO victory in a fight that more or less made Chuck Liddell face his skeletons and call it quits in the sport of MMA. He avenged a previous loss to fellow TUF winner, Rashad Evans. He managed to look good even in losing against Lyoto Machida. And most recently, he defeated Muhammed Lawal, who at the time was looking to be a major threat in the UFC. Because of these feats, Forrest Griffin comfortably fills the #6 spot.

5. Anderson Silva (28-6)

Blurcat Staff says
Oh, how the might have fallen. There was a time where we all considered Anderson Silva to be the P4P King. He destroyed everyone who came his way in the UFC Middleweight Division. He took a few fights in the Light Heavyweight Division, including one that saw Forrest Griffin get outright demolished in the opening round. Enter Georges St. Pierre. Not only did he nullify Silva’s striking with excellent wrestling, but he also killed that Supermanesque aura by exposing what lack of submission defense ‘The Spider’ really has. With Anderson Silva stepping up to Heavyweight, he just may very well reclaim his throne as the ultimate P4P King.

4. Jon Fitch (24-4)

Blurcat Staff says
If Mike Brown made Urijah Faber look like a pushover, then Jon Fitch made him look like a sparring dummy. In Faber’s UFC debut, Fitch had very little trouble taking the former WEC Featherweight to the mat and locking in an armbar for the submission victory and in his second encounter with Georges St. Pierre, Fitch managed to wrestle the former Welterweight Champion to the mat on many occasions. If he can manage a victory of Thiago Alves and the winner of Penn/Galvao, we could be looking at the next dominant Welterweight Champion.

3. Miguel Torres (41-1)

Blurcat Staff says
Many naysayers will discredit Torres, for the simple fact that he fights at what is considered by many to be a skeptical weight division. However, no matter what weight class you’re in, claiming a 41-1 win/loss record is something no one on this list can claim. Not only that, but keep in mind that Miguel Torres now fights in DREAM where he has moved up to the Featherweight Division and already has two victories under his belt. Love him or hate him. Miguel Torres has proven that he’s no fluke.

2. Lyoto Machida (19-0)

Blurcat Staff says
After defeating Rashad Evans, Joe Rogan went on to say that the Machida Era has officially begun. Almost three years later, we’re only now beginning to realize how prophetic that statement really was. Thus far, no one has even come close to being a threat to the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Not ‘Rampage’ Jackson, not Forrest Griffin, not ‘Shogun’, and not even Randy Couture. This May will mark his sixth year since turning pro and he’s still undefeated! Jon Jones will have to bring his absolute best if he expects to defeat Machida.

1. Georges St. Pierre (26-2)

Blurcat Staff says
Only two fighters have been able to defeat GSP: Matt Hughes and Matt Sera. George St. Pierre made sure to avenge those losses, doubly so for Matt Hughes. If that’s not impressive enough, George St. Pierre went on to have SEVEN Welterweight Championship defenses. Georges St. Pierre also set another standard for he is thus far the only man to hold two different championships at the same time after dethroning Middleweight King, Anderson Silva. How much of a threat GSP will pose in the Middleweight Division will be seen when he faces either Jake Rosholt or Nate Marquardt. As of now though, not many people can say they’ve managed to beat Anderson Silva twice…and dominate him at that. You’re looking at the new King of the Mountain, ladies and gentlemen.

Division Rankings

The Breakdown
Now that we’ve gotten the much anticipated Pound 4 Pound Rankings out of the way, it’s time we breakdown who we consider to be the best of the best for every single weight class. Since there is so much to follow in so little time, we’ll just give you a general breakdown.

There have been some major changes since the last year-end awards. For instance, with Strikeforce gone, Women’s MMA has gone back to the State-side scene. As such it’s gotten harder to extensively cover women fights. While we have compiled a decent Women’s rankings, the Women’s P4P category has officially been removed. Also, you’ll notice that a few fighters will show up in weight divisions they no longer fight in. That is simply because those aforementioned fighters have not had enough fights in their weight division to gauge where their standing is in that weight class. So if by the end of this you’re wondering why Aleksander Emelianenko shows up at Super Heavyweight, or why Anderson Silva is considered the #2 Middleweight, there’s your answer.

With that taken care of, let’s get the rankings down.

Super Heavyweight

1. Shane Carwin (15-1)
2. Aleksander Emelianenko (19-6)
3. Carl Seumanutafa (11-4)
4. Siala-Mou Siligia (8-4)
5. James Thompson (18-14)
6. Mark Hunt (7-9)
7. Benjamin Berik (4-0)
8. Sebastian Martinez (5-0)
9. Hong-Man Choi (3-5)
10. Rob Broughton (10-4-1)

Heavyweight

1. Andrei Arlovski (21-8)
2. Cain Velasquez (12-2)
3. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-7-1)
4. Roger Gracie (8-1)
5. Tyler East (6-0)
6. Satoshi Ishii (7-0)
7. Fabricio Werdum (16-5-1)
8. Josh Barnett (26-8)
9. Gabriel Gonzaga (14-5)
10. Frank Mir (13-7)

Light Heavyweight

1. Lyoto Machida (19-0)
2. Forrest Griffin (20-7)
3. Quinton Jackson (33-9)
4. Rashad Evans (16-3-1)
5. Muhammed Lawal (11-1)
6. Jon Jones (15-1)
7. Luis Arthur Cane (15-2)
8. Ricardo Arona (18-5)
9. Thiago Silva (16-2)
10. Vladimir Matyushenko (27-5)

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva (28-6)
2. Nate Marquardt (30-9-2)
3. Paulo Filho (22-2)
4. Uriah Hall (8-0)
5. Jorge Santiago (25-7)
6. Jake Shields (28-5-1)
7. Michael Bisping (21-4)
8. Vitor Belfort (23-9)
9. Thales Leites (16-3)
10. Robbie Lawler (20-7)

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre (26-2)
2. Jon Fitch (24-4)
3. Thiago Alves (18-6)
4. Karo Parisyan (21-6)
5. Josh Koscheck (15-6)
6. Mike Swick (18-3)
7. Paul Daley (27-8-2)
8. Andre Galvao (8-1)
9. Nick Diaz (26-7)
10. Martin Kampmann (17-6)

Lightweight

1. Eddie Alvarez (24-2)
2. Josh Thomson (22-2)
3. Gesias Cavalcante (18-4-1)
4. Mike Brown (27-5)
5. BJ Penn (18-7-1)
6. Mitshuhiro Ishida (23-5-1)
7. Shinya Aoki (24-6)
8. Gilbert Melendez (20-3)
9. Diego Sanchez (24-3)
10. Joachim Hansen (22-8-1)

Featherweight

1. Miguel Torres (41-1)
2. Jose Aldo (21-1)
3. Takeshi Inoue (23-3)
4. Brian Bowles (11-2)
5. Urijah Faber (25-6)
6. Josh Grispi (18-3)
7. LC Davis (20-3)
8. Leonard Garcia (16-6)
9. Joe Soto (12-1)
10. Akitoshi Tamura (18-8-2)

Bantamweight

1. Masakatsu Ueda (13-3-2)
2. Atsushi Yamamoto (16-8-1)
3. Joseph Benavidez (14-2)
4. Takeya Mizugaki (17-5-2)
5. Jeff Curran (33-14-1)
6. Joe Warren (7-3)
7. Damacio Page (16-5)
8. Abel Cullum (21-4)
9. Koetsu Okazaki (5-2-1)
10. Daniel Lima (11-6-2)

Flyweight

1. Shinichi Kojima (14-3-5)
2. Mamoru Yamaguchi (23-6-3)
3. Rambaa Somdet (11-2)
4. Yasuhiro Uru****ani (19-6-6)
5. Jesse Taitano (9-4-2)
6. Yuki Shoujou (9-10-2)
7. Ryuichi Miki (10-8-3)
8. Pat Runez (3-3)
9. Ulysses Gomez (4-4)
10. Denbe Jippensha (2-3)

Female Rankings

Featherweight

1. Gina Carano (7-0)

Bantamweight

1. Tara LaRosa (20-1)
2. Shayna Baszler (12-6)
3. Sarah Kaufman (15-1)
4. Kaitlin Young (8-4)
5. Roxanne Modafferi (13-7)
6. Patiricia Scott (6-0)
7. Joyce Diaz (4-0)
8. Ginele Marquez (7-9-1)
9. Miesha Tate (6-3)
10. Carina Damm (9-4)

Flyweight

1. Megumi Fujii (17-0)
2. Leiticia Pestova (0-2)

maudlin career

10-01-2009, 09:41 AM

Alex Emerson’s UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Press Conference Notes & Report (Monday, January 2nd)

My 2-Cents
In one week, we’ll witness another fighter enter the dragon as Jon Jones faces off with Lyoto Machida in an attempt to claim the Light Heavyweight mantle. A lot is riding into this fight. For instance, Jon Jones presents a new challenge that Lyoto has yet to face. The man has defeated every top ranked Light Heavyweight they threw his way and has done so in convincing fashion. That’s not to say the same for Lyoto, who since debuting in UFC, is still undefeated.

In a recent UFC interview, UFC President, Dana White referred to 2012 as the year of ‘The Dragon’ which is why they’ve sub named the UFC 133 event as such. However, one has to wonder if getting that kind of endorsement from employer will put extra pressure on the employee and if so who?

Could it be Jon Jones, whose first main show headlining fight will be against the very dangerous and tactile Lyoto Machida? Or will it be ‘The Dragon’ himself, who not since his UFC debut in 2007 has been promoted as heavily as he has been recently? When Jon Jones enters the dragon, will he be the first one to slay it?

Press Conference Notes & Report
-Dana White does fight hyping for 133. He says he’s 100% positive this will be one of the most exciting fights to ever be had in the 205 Division. He compliments both fighters and tells those in the conference room that they’d be crazy to miss out on this fight.

-Kimbo Slice is asked if he’s ready for a submission fighter at the caliber of Nogueira, and he replies by saying that after suffering such a fast armbar loss to Arlovski, he’s been really working on his ground game. He finishes by saying he has a few tricks up his sleeve for Antonio Nogueira.

-Jon Jones says he’s not nervous at all about his fight with Lyoto. He continues to say that he’s been training very hard and will not make the mistakes all of Machida’s other opponents have. Jones feels that the time for him to be Light Heavyweight Champion is now and that he’s not going to disappoint himself.

-Both Jones and Machida are asked if they’re thinking about the upcoming fight with Luis Cane? Both respond by saying that at the current time, the only fight on their mind is the fight with each other.

-Jesse Lennox calls Dong Hyun Kim a dangerous opponent, but says if beating him brings him that much closer to the Welterweight Championship, he’ll do whatever it takes.

-Antonio Nogueira simply says that boxing with Kimbo Slice is out of the question. Nearly everyone in the conference chuckles at the statement. Nogueira gets serious and says if he can’t get Slice on the ground early, it could present some serious problems.

-Dong Hyun Kim’s translator speaks up by saying Kim has spent at least 9 hours a day in the gym for the past four months and that he will be at his very best condition at UFC 133. This could spell out issues for Jesse Lennox.

-Clay Guida says he knows he’ll need this win over Joachim Hansen if he ever wants to be back in the Lightweight title picture. He says you can sum his game plan in one word: relentless.

-Amir Sadollah states that his training with Wanderlei Silva has really gotten his striking game down. In the fight, he’ll be looking to stand up with James Irvin, and he promises the crowd that you will see fireworks.

-Joachim Hansen says that Clay Guida is a very dangerous opponent, but that he’s fought against that kind of style before. He finishes off by saying if Guida’s game plan is relentless, then he better bring a bucket of ice with him to the Octagon.

-James Irvin says Amir Sadollah is a fighter not to be taken lightly, especially with his Wanderlei Silva training. Irvin does say that he’s in no way intimated, though and will give Sadollah the fight of his life.

-Finally, the Champ speaks; Lyoto Machida says he never goes into a fight thinking he’s going to win, because it’s a terrible mindset to be in. He says when he sees Jon Jones on January 14th, he sees a man that could very well be the Light Heavyweight Champion, and that alone is fueling his drive to bring out his very best to beat Jones. He wishes Jon Jones the very best of luck and says he’s looking forward to a great fight.

-Once the Q & A wraps up, the fighters gather round for some photo-ops to wrap up the conference.

maudlin career

10-01-2009, 09:52 AM

Blurcat.com January MMA News

Scheduled MMA Events in January
Adrenaline: Starnes vs. Devela (Adrenaline. Tuesday, January 3rd)
Palace FC 39: Payback’s A Bitch (Palace FC. Saturday, January 7th)
RAW Combat: Gangland (RAW Combat. Wednesday, January 11th)
UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (UFC. Saturday, January 14th)
Sengoku 32 (World Victory Road. Saturday, January 21st)
Bellator FC 37 (Bellator FC. Saturday, January 22nd)

World Headlines for Week 1 of January

-Join us as we do a two-in-one Weigh-In Roundtable for December’s very last MMA events, Sengoku 31 and WEC 69. Our special guest for the night will be Dominick Cruz! Be sure to check back tomorrow night for the full results

-Fighting & Entertainment Group has announced DREAM 35 for Friday, January 27th.

-The Adrenaline: Starnes vs. Devela results are up. For those interested, click here!

-Fighting & Entertainment Group has announced a Lightweight encounter between Vitor Ribeiro and Tatsuya Kawajiri for DREAM 35.

-Cory Foster will now be training with Team Rough House.

-The Fertitta Brothers look to extend WEC’s name to Japan as they are currently in the midst of working out a PPV deal with Japanese broadcaster, WOWOW2

-Join us for the PFC 39: Payback’s A Bitch Weigh-In Roundtable. Our special guest for the night will be Ron Waterman. Be sure to check back later on for the results.

World MMA Event Results for Week 1 of January

Adrenaline: Starnes vs. Devela (Tuesday, January 3rd)

Preliminary Card
Aaron Brooks defeated Randall Peck via Submission to retain the Adrenaline Heavyweight Championship (3:10, First Round)
Dan Hornbuckle defeated Matt Makowski via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)

Main Card
Tim Kennedy defeated Jorge Rivera via TKO (4:07, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Tommy Speer defeated John Alessio via TKO (:21, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Alvin Robinson defeated Jason Ireland via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Matt Grice defeated Joe Jordan via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Corey Devela defeated Kalib Starnes via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Very Poor

Palace FC 39: Payback’s A Bitch (Saturday, January 7th)

Preliminary Card
Yuki Kondo defeated Crafton Wallace via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Tenkei Fujimiya defeated Jesse Moreng via Knock Out (1:23, Third Round)

Main Card
Nathan Coy defeated Richie Hightower via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Awful
Roy Nelson defeated Rex Richards via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Jason Lambert drew with Kyacey Uscola via Unanimous Draw (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Harris Sarmiento defeated Lance Wipf via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Brendan Schaub defeated Brett Rogers via TKO (2:50, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

UFC News for Week 1 of January

Signings
There are no new signings to announce this week

Re-Signings
Ricky Story has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Jake O’Brien has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
Brandon Vera has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC

Cuts
There are no cuts to announce this week

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (January 7th. California)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135: Arlovski vs. Emelianenko (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Caremlo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

maudlin career

10-01-2009, 03:56 PM

Blurcat.com - Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Blurcat’s UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Weigh-In Roundtable

Alex Emerson: And you guys thought you saw the last of us? Well shame on you, because Blurcat Radio Network is back with another edition of Weigh-In Roundtable. Exactly 24 hours from now, Dana White & Co will be setting up in California for UFC’s 133rd and as you all know, that means we get to sit around here and act like we know what we’re talking about. With me tonight I have Gavin Banks, Tom Bradburn, Stuart Teacher, and special guest, and former Strikeforce President, Scott Coker. Mr. Coker, welcome to the show.

Coker: I must say, the set-up is pretty interesting. Blurcat takes its MMA serious, and it’s refreshing to see something like this done.

Banks: As you all know, Coker helmed Strikeforce as it went under.

Coker: Haha, you make it seem like I was responsible.

Banks: Well that’s the point I was going to make. None of Strikeforce’s misfortunes was your fault, in fact you probably set up some of the best events in that period.

Teacher: So what exactly happened behind the scenes?

Coker: Ultimately, and I should have known this then, the Showtime suits just wanted too much involvement in the show. I had all these ideas and different directions I wanted to take the shows, but I had to pass the information along four or five Showtime executives before I could even get an OK. Being a Showtime proved to be a burden more than anything else. They switched our Strikeforce timeslot lord knows how many times. I mean, they’re telling us that we’re not bringing in enough viewers, but how can you gain a steady viewership when your events switch between late evening and graveyard time slots? Then to make matters much worse, they thought they knew matchmaking better than our own matchmakers. At the end of the day, we all know Strikeforce was going; we were just waiting for when.

Bradburn: And I think that will be a problem when and if any of these MMA promotions look for consistent network access which is why you’ll never go beyond seeing the occasional four or five UFC events a year on free-TV.

Emerson: While I know we could spend two hours extensively talking about the role television execs will play on MMA in the future, and undoubtedly we will on Tuesday’s Crackdown…cheap plug…we gotta get down to business.

First Question: Is 2012 The Year of the Dragon

Scott Coker says
Weren’t the last two years the Year of the Dragon? Who has defeated Lyoto Machida? No one. Who has Lyoto Machida defeated? Well that’s easy, Randy Couture, Shogun, Rampage Jackson, and Forrest Griffin. I think a better question would be will the Machida Era ever end?

Tom Bradburn says
You know, even if Jon Jones or Luis Cane beat him, Machida will still have a firm holding on the MMA scene. Honestly, the only reason why I think Jones and Cane are even being given title shots are a Griffin/Machida or even Jackson/Machida rematch just doesn’t sound interesting at this moment.

Alex Emerson says
Yeah I really do think Lyoto Machida has a very high chance of being the best mixed-martial-artists of all-time. Like Bradburn said, even if Jones somehow beats him, Machida will still remain dominant.

Stuart Teacher says
Scott Coker said it best: Every year since 2009 has been the Year of the Dragon.

Gavin Banks says
I still think he’s boring. As a matter of fact, since his fight with Rashad Evans, the only fighter Lyoto Machida has even been able to finish was Randy Couture. Is a successful champion? Yes, but he’s a very stale fighter and thus he’ll never really be that amazing superstar fighter that you’re all making him out to be.

Final Verdict: Majority says 2012 will be the Year of the Dragon

Second Question: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim?

Gavin Banks says
Who cares? No, seriously, when was the last time we’ve ever talked about either of these fighters? Why is this the opening fight of the card when you have a fight like Donald Cerrone and Efrain Escudero on the Prelims? If deciding a winner of this fight is the difference between life and death, I’m picking Dong Hyun Kim.

Stuart Teacher says
Jesse Lennox is completely outmatched in every form. I know he’s hungry, but I really don’t believe he’s in the same league as Dong Hyun Kim.

Scott Coker says
I’ll pick the underdog just to make it interesting, Jesse Lennox

Alex Emerson says
If what Dong Hyun Kim said at the press conference is true, then like I said in my notes, Jesse Lennox will be in trouble.

Tom Bradburn says
Dong Hyun Kim. Though I more or less agree with Gav more than anything else.

Final Verdict: Majority says Dong Hyun Kim

Third Question: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah?

Tom Bradburn says
If Irvin decides to stand-up with Sadollah he might as well just forfeit the fight. I’m not too sure if the fight will fair better for Irvin on the ground, but considering Sadollah has a pretty solid submission game, it might not even matter.

Alex Emerson says
I’m still trying to figure out when Amir Sadollah was ever known for having incredible hands. You do realize that out of his five wins, three were by submission and the other two were by decision. I don’t think three months worth of striking is going to make him an incredibly fierce stand-up artist. I see Irvin completely out-gunning him in every aspect.

Scott Coker says
Regardless of what Amir can do on his feet, having a man as dangerous as Wanderlei Silva at his corner can only mean good things for The Ultimate Fighter winner.

Stuart Teacher says
I think that if Sadollah’s striking fails, he’ll at least be able to get Irvin from the ground, and judging from Sadollah’s last couple of wins, the ground is the last place you want to be with this guy.

Gavin Banks says
I’m going with Amir Sadollah. You know what? I’ll say it now, this kid is going to be a future Middleweight Champion.

Final Verdict: Majority says Amir Sadollah

Fourth Question: Clay Guida vs. Joachim Hansen?

Scott Coker says
I had the pleasure of working with Clay Guida in the past, so I have to go with him on this one.

Gavin Banks says
Joachim Hansen is lethal in every way. If Guida tries to shoot in, guess what? Knee to head. If Guida gets him on the ground, guess what? Guida’s tapping out. Joachim Hansen is picking up an easy win tomorrow night.

Alex Emerson says
Did I just hear you correctly? Did you call Clay Guida an easy fight for Joachim Hansen? Undoubtedly, ‘Hellboy’ is a very solid Lightweight and from a statistical perspective, Guida’s odds of winning this fight are pretty slim. However, Guida is not the kind of guy you should doubt. I bet he’s going to go in that Octagon and put it on overdrive in this fight. I see sheer endurance being the key in Clay Guida picking up a win.

Stuart Teacher says
As ridiculous as Gavin Banks usually sounds, he made the most sense. I don’t see any kind of strategy working in Clay Guida’s favor.

Tom Bradburn says
Every time I doubt Clay Guida, he pulls off the win. I think this will be one of those times. He’ll go in there and completely dominate Joachim Hansen. I’m sure of it.

Final Verdict: Majority says Clay Guida

Fifth Question: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Nogueira – Knock Out of the Night or Submission of the Night?

Scott Coker says
After what Nogueira did to Bob Sapp back in PRIDE’s day, it’s hard not to say Submission of the Night.

Stuart Teacher says
The much more experienced Nogueira will get the Submission of the Night.

Gavin Banks says
Junior Dos Santos – Knocked Out, Mirko CroCop – Knocked Out, Brock Lesnar – Knocked Out, Roger Gracie – TKOed. Gotta go with Mr. Ferguson on this one. Youtube doesn’t lie.

Alex Emerson says
Andrei Arlovski proved that if you can see past Slice’s punches, you can defeat him. Antonio Nogueira arguably has the strongest chin in the game. Therefore, I don’t see Slice getting anywhere with the punches.

Tom Bradburn says
Submission of the Night.

Final Verdict: Majority says Submission of the Night.

Final Question: Lyoto Machida vs. Jon Jones?

Alex Emerson says
This was more or less the first question reworded. I’m sticking with Lyoto Machida.

Gavin Banks says
I think…no…I hope Jon Jones beats him. Someone needs to put ‘The Dragon’ to rest.

Scott Coker says
Lyoto Machida. He’s the very best at this moment.

Tom Bradburn says
Sorry Gav, Lyoto Machida.

Stuart Teacher says
It’ll be a long time before I pick opposite of Lyoto Machida

Final Verdict: Majority says Lyoto Machida

Emerson: And that concludes another successful Weigh-In Roundtable. If you’re not ordering the Pay-Per-View, be sure to check back tomorrow night for a full report of the show. And as always, send your predictions via e-mail to Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. Winner will receive the Scott Coker endorsed and signed Strikeforce: Crash & Burn DVD which features the very best and very worst in Strikeforce’s four year history. We hope we’ll hear from you soon!

Full UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Card

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Jonathan Goulet
Welterweight: Paul Taylor vs. Ricky Story
Middleweight: Gerald Harris vs. Nate Quarry
Welterweight: Frank Lester vs. Chris Wilson
Light Heavyweight: Kyle Kingsbury vs. James Lee
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Efrain Escudero

Main Card
Welterweight: Jesse Lennox vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Middleweight: James Irvin vs. Amir Sadollah
Lightweight: Joachim Hansen vs. Clay Guida
Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida© vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

maudlin career

10-01-2009, 09:34 PM

Blurcat.com January MMA News

World Headlines for Week 2 of January

-After suffering a brutal TKO loss to Brendan Schaub, Brett Rogers has been given a three month medical suspension.

-Monte Cox has announced the next Adrenaline event to take place on Sunday, January 29th.

-Join us for the RAW Combat: Gangland Weigh-in Roundtable tonight. Our special guest for the evening will be Chad Mendes.

-After his RAW Combat meet with Jay Hieron, Jeff Joslin has been issued a four month medical suspension.

-Kazushi Sakuraba has announced Palace FC 40: Rip It Out for Wednesday, February 8th.

World MMA Event Results for Week 2 of January

RAW Combat: Gangland (Wednesday, January 11th)

Main Card
Eiji Mitsuoka defeated Soa Palelei via Submission (3:59, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Bryan Travers defeated Luiz Azeredo via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Henry Martinez defeated Jean Silva via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Jay Hieron defeated Jeff Joslin via Submission (4:58, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Brock Larson defeated David Faulkner via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

UFC News for Week 2 of January

Signings
There are no new signings to announce this week

Re-Signings
There are no re-signings to announce this week

Cuts
There are no cuts to announce this week

Urijah Faber Announces Special Catchweight Fight
Just this Tuesday, Urijah Faber has announced that he will be making a special appearance at the upcoming WEC 70 on February 3rd. Well we have gotten official word and apparently, it’s more than just a special appearance. Urijah Faber will be headlining the upcoming WEC event by taking on Fredson Paixao in a long-awaited rematch.

The fight itself will be held at Catchweight since Urijah Faber will in no way be able to make 145 in time and as such will be meeting somewhere between the 155 to 163 lb mark.

Since WEC basically functions as UFC’s sister promotion, Dana White has absolutely no problem with making this fight happen. Fans of WEC rejoice!

UFC 133 Recap
Did Jon Jones slay ‘The Dragon’ or is 2012 really the year for Lyoto Machida? We have all the answers, come check them out here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135 (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Carmelo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

maudlin career

10-02-2009, 12:17 AM

Alex Emerson’s UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Full Report (Saturday, January 17th)

2011 came and went and in its place, 2012 welcomes all to another twelve months of highs, lows, and everything in between.

In the UFC world, we left 2011 knowing Luis Arthur Cane would be the next one to get a Light Heavyweight title shot, we just didn’t know against whom. 2012, gracefully welcomes us by solving that problem for us: Jon Jones or Lyoto Machida.

Many in the business are calling 2012 the Year of the Dragon. In Chinese astrology, this proves to be true, but I doubt Dana White had that in mind when naming this event. You see, ‘The Dragon’ he’s referring to is none other than Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida.

Meanwhile, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is the next valiant knight to take arms and enter the dragon. When he comes out of that eight sided cavern, will he have the dragon’s head? Or will he erupt in flames like everyone else before him?

There’s only way to find out, and that’s to keep reading.

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon (Saturday, January 14th)

I cannot let James Irvin beat me. – Amir Sadollah

He keeps talking like I should be worried about his hands, but he has yet to finish anyone with a punch. – James Irvin

Like I said, I just gotta be relentless…that’s the only way to beat a guy like Joachim Hansen – Clay Guida

If Clay Guida tries his Energizer Bunny routine on me, he won’t make it past the first round – Joachim Hansen

I’m here to leave an impression. Kim will find that out. – Jesse Lennox

At this moment, my spirit is unbeatable. – Dong Hyun Kim

**** the haters. I’m a do me and show Nogueira what I’m all about. – Kimbo Slice

He’s dangerous, but my submissions will get me through. – Antonio Nogueira

I came here to slay ‘The Dragon’. That’s what I’m going to do. Failure is not an option. – Jon Jones

He’s going to bring his very best and as such I’m going to give him my very best. That’s all I’ll need. – Lyoto Machida

Once the vignettes finished up, “Bring the Pain” filled the PA which immediately got the California audience off of their feet. The camera panned throughout the audience, picking out only the most excited of fans as a testament to show how exciting UFC 133 was going to be.

Mike Goldberg welcomed everyone to the broadcast which prompted the cameras to switch where both he and Joe Rogan were now the main focus. Once Mike Goldberg went through his usual spiel, he welcomed Rogan’s input. As always, Rogan ran down the card before posing our very own Blurcat question: Is 2012 The Year of the Dragon?

That question led to UFC 133’s Texting Poll: Who will win between Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida? By pressing the number 1, it signified a vote for Jon Jones and 2 for Machida.

Once the Texting Poll image disappeared from the screen, Jesse Lennox and Dong Hyun Kim’s Tale of the Tape took the center stage. With this now on the main screen, Mike Goldberg directed all attention to ‘The Voice of the Octagon’ Bruce Buffer.

Welterweight: Jesse Lennox(12-1) vs. Dong Hyun Kim(14-5-1)

The Fight
Jesse Lennox uses some feint jabs to keep Kim back. Once Kim looks tentative with a defense plan, Lennox switches up by shooting in for a takedown. Kim is ready for it and manages to reverse the situation and ends up with a side mount. Kim fires an awkward knee to Lennox’s ribcage, and Lennox uses this time to scuffle away from his aggressor. Kim tries to keep up with him, but slips up and Lennox pushes him over and Kim is now the one with his back to the mat. Somehow, someway, Kim gets his legs around Lennox and locks him in a triangle. Just when it looks like it’s all over for Lennox, he picks Kim up and just slams him! The triangle is broken and the round ends with Lennox covering a dazed Kim with a side mount.

Lennox blocks an early takedown attempt and locks his arms tightly around Kim. Lennox tosses Kim to the mat and Kim has no choice, but to pull guard. Lennox begins firing away on Kim with some right hands. Once the punches start winding down, Kim grabs Lennox’s right hand and looks to complete a Kimura from the bottom. Lennox takes his time to find a way out, but Kim switches up and catches the unaware Lennox with a guillotine! Lennox almost has his head out, but no Kim is able to shift Lennox off of him to lock it in tighter Lennox taps out!

Winner via Submission – Dong Hyun Kim (4:34, Second Round)

The Post-Fight
Kim’s translator tells Rogan that he trained hard for this fight and that he’s glad it all paid off. He finishes off by saying he would love a fight with any of the Top Ten ranked UFC Welterweights.

The Verdict
The first match of the night was a very solid back and forth display that ended with some very slick submission work from Kim. I was totally impressed with both of their performances and felt that this was a very good match to open UFC 133 with.

Middleweight: James Irvin(16-7) vs. Amir Sadollah(5-3)

The Fight
To Irvin’s surprise, Sadollah opens up the round with some striking. Firstly, Irvin catches a solid kick to the thigh and then has to cover up to prevent himself from catching a jab-straight combo. Sadollah doesn’t ease off the pressure and continues to throw jabs Irvin’s way. Finally, Irvin manages to counter with a straight and it forces Sadollah to go into Plan B and clinch up with his opponent. The two find their way against the cage, but the clock winds down and puts the action on halt.

Sadollah is looking great in the second round by snapping some nice kicks to the ribs and thighs of Irvin. Irvin throws a jab, but Sadollah steps away and follows up with a kick to the knee that forces Irvin to stumble. Sadollah takes the opportunity to clinch in with Irvin. Irvin tries firing some punches to the side of the head, but Sadollah uses it to his advantage to cinch in a Muay Thai plum. Sadollah doesn’t even get a chance to fire off a solid knee before the round ends.

Sadollah catches Irvin with a jab and Irvin steps to the side. Sadollah feints with a left and steps forward for a…WHOA a roundhouse kick that nearly knocks Irvin’s head right off of his shoulders! Irvin collapses to the ground, and the fight is over! I take back everything I said about Sadollah’s stand-up game!

Winner via Knock Out – Amir Sadollah (1:56, Third Round)

The Post-Fight
Joe Rogan immediately tells Amir Sadollah that he looked great in the Octagon tonight, and Sadollah replies by saying he’s only going to get better as the months go by. Sadollah then warns everyone in the Middleweight Division that he’s coming for them.

The Verdict
Sadollah promised fireworks in the UFC 133 Press Conference, and he delivered. The fans were all over this fight, and that knock out kick will inevitably find its way on Youtube in due time. I gotta say, this was a pretty damn good fight through and through.

Lightweight: Joachim Hansen(22-8-1) vs. Clay Guida(27-14)

The Fight
Guida storms right into Hansen and takes him off of his feet with a beautiful tackle. Guida looks to rain down some punches, but Hansen switches between covering up and rolling his head through the strikes. Once the punch from guard tactic fails, Guida decides to try to change positions, but Hansen keeps his legs wrapped firmly around him. The two stay motionless on the ground and Mario Yamasaki is forced to bring them back to their feet. From then on, it’s Hansen’s game who hits Guida with three consecutive jabs. The last jab forces Guida into the cage and Hansen throws a flying knee. Guida, through sheer will blocks the knee and takes Hansen back down to the ground. Guida begins to pound away on Hansen, but can’t get the finish before the round closes.

Hansen looks to come in and out-strike Guida once more, but Guida smothers him against the cage to nullify any punches. Guida just manhandles Hansen against by dragging him around before trying for a takedown. Hansen, manages to prevent himself from being taken to the ground and also manages to slip away from Guida in the process. Guida however, continues to show his relentless game plan and immediately storms after Hansen. He somehow manages to pick Hansen up and drop him to the mat. Hansen tries to lock in a guillotine, but Guida slips out and fires off an elbow. With the second round coming to an end, things aren’t looking good for ‘Hellboy’

Guida forces Hansen to the ground again and begins firing off elbows! Hansen covers up and Guida shifts position and gains side control. Guida fires off some knees to the ribs, and they look like they’re doing damage. Hansen tries to roll away, but Guida gets a hold of Hansen’s left arm. I think he ma be going for an armbar…wait no…there’s an Americana. Damn, is it locked in tight! ‘Hellboy’ agrees and he taps out. Guida looked unstoppable!

Winner via Submission – Clay Guida (4:12, Third Round)

Post Fight
Clay Guida tells Joe Rogan that being relentless is going to be his new game plan for every fight. Guida does say that there’s always the possibility of gassing out, but that right now, his cardio is simply at its best.

The Verdict
Clay Guida just outright controlled this fight. I’ve never seen Joachim Hansen get handled like that…ever. Three fights in and the fans have yet to be disappointed. As always Clay Guida is an exciting fan favorite, and seeing how he controlled Joachim Hansen for a third round submission, you can call this one another solid, good fight for UFC 133

Heavyweight: Kimbo Slice(7-2) vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira(33-7-1)

The Fight
Nogueira plays it smart by working on Slice with some leg kicks to make it easier for takedown attempts later on in the fight. Slice has had enough of the kicks and manages to catch Nogueira with a light jab. Nogueira fires off a kick to the knee and tries to soften up Kimbo with some punches, but a right hook rocks Nogueira. Nogueira displays his granite chin and is somehow still standing. He fires off a couple of more leg-kicks to end the round.

Kimbo looks for the knock out punch, but Nogueira goes low and takes Slice to the ground. Nogueira softens Kimbo up with some decent punches and looks to shift to side. At the Press Conference, Kimbo said he had some tricks up his sleeve, and apparently he does: Antonio Nogueira cannot get past his guard! Kimbo hits Nogueira with an elbow and Nogueira grasps his arm for an Americana. Kimbo blocks it, but it was only used as a diversion for Nogueira to get side control, which he successfully does. Nogueira fires off a couple of knees to Kimbo’s ribs to end the second round.

Kimbo catches Nogueira with a violent swing, but ‘Minotauro’ is still on his feet. Kimbo is looking a little gassed, and as such, can’t capitalize on the moment. Nogueira gets his wits about him, but catches another wild punch from Slice and Nogueira drops to the floor. ‘Minotauro’ is still very much in the fight, and Slice sees that as well. To prevent Nogueira from recovering like last time, Slice hovers over Nogueira. Nogueira however fools Slice by moving to guard to anticipate Slice’s next move. Slice backs up and waits for Nogueira to stand up. The two begin to strike on each other, and a war of the leather has started. Nogueira rocks Kimbo with a couple of punches and uses the opportunity to take Slice to the ground. After a brief tussle, Nogueira ends up pulling at Slice’s arm for an armbar attempt. I thought I’d never say this, but Slice rolls through and the armbar is no more. The two are back on their feet, and the crowd is all over this one. Before it can go anywhere else though, the bell sounds.

Both fighters hug each other after the fight and the audience gives a standing ovation. Once everything calmed down Bruce Buffer announces the Judges’ Scores of 29-28 across the board in favor of Kimbo Slice.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Kimbo Slice

The Post-Fight
Kimbo Slice says this was by far the biggest fight he’s ever had. He said this fight with Nogueira was more important to him than even winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship. He finishes by saying if he had to call the MMA game quits tonight, it’s an honor to know his last fight would be with a man like Antonio Nogueira.

The Verdict
This fight was simply unforgettable. This was MMA Casual fan vs. MMA Purist fan and tonight, both had very valid arguments to present to the table. Kimbo Slice caught Antonio Nogueira with some very fight threatening punches, but at the same time, Nogueira almost walked away with a submission victory at several instances in the fight. This fight was great, and as such, I’m betting it will be talked about for months, if not years.

Light Heavyweight: Lyoto Machida©(19-0) vs. Jon Jones(15-1) for the Light Heavyweight Championship

The Fight
Machida completely dominates Jones in the stand-up game in the opening round. Jones catches several kicks to the leg that will ultimately play against him if the fight goes to the later rounds. Out of desperation, Jones goes for a Superman Punch, only to catch a crisp counter-punch from Lyoto that takes Jones off of his feet. Lyoto follows Jones to the ground and mounts him, but Jones is back to his senses and somehow manages to slip back into guard to end the round.

Jones tries to smother Machida against the cage, but it doesn’t work. Machida slips away and hits Jones with a couple of jabs as he backs away. Machida looks to fire away on Jones some more, but Jones catches Machida with an uppercut that puts any of Machida’s actions on halt. Jones looks to come in, but Machida grapples with him. Both fighters end up against the cage where Jones actually looks like he has control. However, the round winds down and Jones has no other choice but to give up his position.

Jones pushes Machida against the cage and begins to hit a couple of inside punches. Machida throws Jones off balance and pushes Jones off of him. Jones throws a punch, but Machida counters with a kick, but it looks like that was part of Jones strategy! Jones catches the foot and moves his foot on the inside to trip Machida to the ground! Jones fires a couple of punches, but seeing that they aren’t going anywhere, he stands up and waits for Machida to do the same. Jones tries to go for a punch, but a counter punch makes him stumble over his own footing. Machida doesn’t capitalize, but only because the round is over.

Jones tries to get in close to Machida, but eats a counter punch. Jones is stumbling around again, and Machida uncharacteristically looks for a takedown. Apparently Jones knew Machida was going to go for it and shows so by playing possum and pancaking Machida to the ground. Jones hits Machida with some nasty punches, but Machida is able to pull away before taking too much damage. Machida is actually looking tired and Jones exploits it by cinching in a Muay Thai plum! Jones fires off three kness, but none of them look like they’re doing much. We’re anticipating the upset of the century at any moment, but the bell sounds to end the round.

Machida catches Jones with some excellent counter jabs, but Jones springs to life by hitting and rocking Machida with his own counter punch in the process. Machida stumbles into the cage and Jones follows up by pinning him there. Jones fires off a couple of inside knees and then backs away and catches Lyoto with an on the mark jab. Lyoto tries to fight back, but gets rocked with an uppercut. The bell sounds and I’m pretty ****ing sure we might have a new Light Heavyweight Champion.

The fans show their approval of the five round war by giving an ovation that rivals that of the Nogueira/Slice one. Once Buffer steps to the center of the ring everyone quiets down to see what the judges have scored it.

48-47

Machida

48-47

Jones

48-47

JONES

My God! Jones has done what no man has done before! Jones has slain the dragon!

Winner via Split Decision and new Light Heavyweight Champion – Jon Jones

The Post Fight
Jones is at a loss for words and breaks up the silence by going over to Lyoto’s corner where the two have that typical post-fight emotional hug out. Lyoto raises Jones arm and calls him simply the best. While this goes on Rogan welcomes the next contender, Luis Cane to the Octagon who congratulates both fighters on an amazing performance but then breaks up the positive vibes by telling Jones that he better not let this win go to his head, because when they fight, he’s going in for the kill.

The Verdict
My God, these guys tore it up in there. For five rounds, these guys gave it their all. Think about it, for twenty-five minutes, these guys did their thing and there wasn’t even a second of slowdown. Whether you realize it or not, history has been made to night, and someone has actually put an end to the Machida era. Does that mean the ‘Bones’ era has started? We’ll find out when he fights Cane. As far as this one goes though, this was a good fight to end the show with. Wow.

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Final Verdict

You know, somehow, someway I can see someone out there saying this was a very poor event for stupid reasons. For instance, you had Kimbo Slice beat Antonio Nogueira, Clay Guida outright dominate Joachim Hansen, and Jon Jones hand Lyoto Machida his very first defeat.

As hard as a fact that is to accept, the truth is, most MMA fans are pretty fickle and when they get disappointed, they completely show their disgust. However, I went to the event with an open mind as did the thousands in attendance and the millions watching at home. This event was a classic, probably the best UFC has ever had. And it’s a damn shame, because fickle MMA fans will probably **** on this one for years to come.

As always, you can voice your own opinion, however invalid it may or may not be, by shooting e-mails my way at Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. I’ll be seeing you all again at UFC 134, where Anderson Silva makes his Heavyweight Debut!

UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Full Card Breakdown

Preliminary Card
Jonathan Goulet defeated Dan Cramer via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Ricky Story defeated Paul Taylor via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Gerald Harris defeated Nate Quarry via TKO (3:30, First Round)
Chris Wilson defeated Frank Lester via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Kyle Kingsbury defeated James Lee via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Donald Cerrone defeated Efrain Escudero via Knock Out (:23, Third Round)

Main Card
Dong Hyun Kim defeated Jesse Lennox via Submission (4:34, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Amir Sadollah defeated James Irvin via Knock Out (1:56, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Clay Guida defeated Joachim Hansen via Submission (4:12, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Kimbo Slice defeated Antonio Nogueira via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Jon Jones defeated Lyoto Machida via Split Decision to win the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship (5:00, Fifth Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

maudlin career

10-03-2009, 09:14 AM

Blurcat.com - Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 133: Year of the Dragon Post Fight Conference Report (Saturday, January 14th)

-As per usual, Dana White spens several of the opening minutes discussing UFC’s schedule. With UFC 133 out of the way and having one of the best fight cards he’s ever seen put together, it’s given him clear direction on what he wants to see happen for the rest of the year. With that said, expect to see the Jon Jones/Luis Cane title clash take place sometime in either June or July. He then announces that if Eddie Alvarez successfully defeats Diego Sanchez in March, he will be the first to get a crack at Josh Thomson, and that the winner of an upcoming Clay Guida/Shinya Aoki fight will get next dibs.

In the not so far off future, Dana White confirms a UFC 136 for April 21st. He goes on to say that the card has been finalized and will be headline by a meet up between Roger Gracie and Bobby Lashley and the already confirmed Alistair Overeem/Brock Lesnar fight will be the lead-in. In addition, the semi-finals of the tournament will wrap up as BJ Penn will face off with Andre Galvao. He also hints that if Bobby Lashley gets an impressive victory over Gracie, then he could possibly be the next Heavyweight Championship contender.

In the final news of the UFC’s schedule, White announces that he wants another Ultimate Fight Night to bridge 135 and 136. In other words, some time around the end of March, expect another UFC event to take place on free TV. He does say that nothing has been confirmed yet, but if he’s talking with Spike TV now, so it could happen.

-We next move on to the Bonus Awards. White says that this was by far some of the best night of fights he’s seen so it was hard to pick distinct winners in some of the categories. He proves this true as both Clay Guida and Dong Hyun Kim earn Submission of the Night. Knock Out of the Night was a much easier choice as Amir Sadollah picks it up with almost no competition, save for the Donald Cerrone’s own knock out. Obviously though, Sadollah’s looked more damaging and will ultimately serve its purpose in a highlight reel for years to come. In the Fight of the Night department, Antonio Nogueira and Kimbo Slice barely edge out Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida.

-Amir Sadollah is the first fighter to speak and says that he’s been exclusively working on his stand-up game in these recent months and is very glad to see that all the training came through. Sadollah thinks that a win like this has put him back on the map and wants to fight top-ranked guys immediately.

-Clay Guida speaks next and the subject matter is Shinya Aoki. He admittedly says his relentless game-plan may not work on Shinya Aoki, because if they end up on the ground, he knows he’s done for, but says if you thought he was aggressive tonight, wait until he steps in there with Shinya Aoki.

-Lyoto Machida calls Jon Jones the better martial artist tonight, and would definitely love a rematch sometime. Dana White says whether it’s for the Light Heavyweight strap or not, it will happen again. As far as Machida’s upcoming plans, he says he’s just going to take some time to wind down, but when UFC has a fight for him, he won’t turn it down. He finishes by saying he will be Light Heavyweight Champion again before the year is over.

-Dong Hyun Kim doesn’t speak much, but when he does, he says he wants any Welterweight that they’re willing to put in there with him.

-Kimbo Slice speculates about his next fight and thinks it may be against the winner of Arlovski and Emelianenko or even Lashley or Gracie. He says he knows the fans are interested in a Gracie rematch, but he personally would love to fight Arlovski again to make up for his one UFC loss.

-Jon Jones speaks and says he would love to celebrate tonight, but knowing that a fighter as lethal as Luis Cane is his next opponent forces him to hit the gym and get back to work. However, he is still ecstatic and speechless about being the first man to defeat Lyoto Machida, and tells the former champ that as far as a rematch is concerned, he’s ready whenever the matchmakers are.

-After the Q&A dies down, Dana White wraps up the press conference by stating that he’ll see us all at UFC 134.

maudlin career

10-04-2009, 02:39 AM

Blurcat.com January MMA News

World Headlines for Week 3 of January

-Gegard Mousasi has signed a four fight deal with Palace FC

-Semmy Schilt and Stephane Vignel are expected to headline newly named RAW Combat: Big Bang event

-Former UFC fighter, Chris Lytle has will return to the sport of MMA by taking on Ryan Madigan at Palace FC’s 40th event

-Fighting & Entertainment Group have done a fantastic job of keeping Shane Carwin’s contract status hidden as they recently announced as of Thursday night that he has re-signed a three fight multi-year deal with DREAM

-Join us for Sengoku 32 Weigh-In Roundtable! Our special guest for the night will be ‘Judo’ Jim Wallhead. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the full event breakdown

UFC News for Week 3 of January

Signings
Jay Hieron has signed a four fight 21-month deal with UFC

Re-Signings
Roger Huerta has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Yoshiyuki Yoshida has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Jim Miller has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
John Howard has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Nate Quarry has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
Frank Lester has been released from his current UFC contract

*Sky Box Office 1 has extended their Pay-Per-View deal with UFC for an additional eight shows
*Main Event PPV 1 has extended their Pay-Per-View deal with UFC for an additional eight shows
*IN Demand 4 has extended their Pay-Per-View deal with UFC for an additional eight shows

UFC 136 Finalized
As Dana White announced at the UFC 133 Post-Fight conference, UFC 136 is good to go. According to the UFC homepage, the event is to be sub-named "Driven". As always, for further information on the event, head over to the UFC website.

UFC 133 Financial Report
Lyoto Machida vs. Jon Jones proved to be a success as UFC 133: Year of the Dragon pulled a gate of $2,034,645 with an additional $5,615,184 in Pay-Per-View buys. This of course makes UFC 133 the highest grossing event next to UFC 107.

King Mo on Big Cat Show
Muhammed Lawal joined Ned Charles and Matt Natchios on Wednesday’s edition of The Big Cat Show. Lawal first opened the discussion by going over his loss to Forrest Griffin and how it affected him mentally. He says he’s been training non-stop since and hopes he gets a rematch with Griffin as he felt that he was making a great comeback in the third round. He closes the interview by hinting at possibly headlining the unconfirmed Fight Night.

To get the Podcast, click here!

Japan In Hughes’s Future?
According to our sources, World Victory Road has expressed intense interest on signing Matt Hughes who has recently been reported as being on the market. When we tried to contact the former UFC Welterweight Champ, we couldn’t get a response. However, several fighters who have fought on the Sengoku events have more or less confirmed that the WVR execs have been vying to sign Hughes, along with several other UFC fighters for at least the last month or so. We’ll keep you updated on the information as we hear it.

Thiago Tavares On Crackdown
Thiago Tavares appeared on Friday night’s Crackdown and went over his current schedule with Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks. He started off by discussing his training and how he has one of the best boxing coaches in his corner. He then said he was contacted recently about fighting on an upcoming card, but he’s not sure what card or who his opponent will be. He finalizes by saying that now is the best time to be a Lightweight in UFC, because there are so many top ranked Lightweights in the company and says that there’s at least twenty guys that can be in the Top 10 at any point in time.

For the full Podcast, click here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135 (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Carmelo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

UFC 136: Driven (Saturday, April 21st. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jesse Sanders vs. John Hathaway
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Frank Lester
Heavyweight: Dillen Michel vs. Joseph Beneteau
Welterweight: Chris Wilson vs. Brad Blackburn
Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. CB Dollaway

Main Card
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Andre Winner
Light Heavyweight: Thiago Silva vs. Aaron Simpson
Light Heavyweight: Jake O’Brien vs. Matt Hamill
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. BJ Penn
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Roger Gracie

zackufc

10-04-2009, 09:33 PM

Keep this going this one of the few dynasties i fallow. Everything looks good i just think when you post your signing(s) and Cut(s) you should say why. you don't have to right too much but it could be cool. Anyway i am just trying to help and I will keep reading.

maudlin career

10-05-2009, 08:13 AM

Big cuts I explain by either reporting why they were cut or doing follow-ups.

Take Bisping for example. In the cuts listing I said he was cut because he and Zuffa couldn't come to an agreement on an extension. Then on the next news feed, I did that whole segment where Dana White ran down Bisping explaining why they didn't sign him and how much of a piece of **** Bisping was.

If it's a big surprising fighter being cut, I'll explain it. However, if it's a guy who's lost like five fights in a row, I think that speaks for itself.

I am trying to figure out what to do for my signings though.

zackufc

10-05-2009, 02:07 PM

I seen that i kinda mean more of signings like Jay Hiero made say why you hired him somthing like he will imporve our ww division or maybe some one from a third party like news site veiw example " I don't know why they hired this guy the UFC must need a new gatekeeper etc. But anyway I love this and please keep it up.

maudlin career

10-06-2009, 12:48 AM

Blurcat.com - Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 134: Redemption Press-Conference Notes & Report (Tuesday, January 24th)

My 2-Cents
Next Saturday, MMA fans will rejoice as Anderson Silva looks to make a triumphant return to the Octagon at UFC’s 134th event. This time however, Silva has a task much bigger to accomplish than setting the record even with Georges St. Pierre, and I mean that quite literally.

If you haven’t been following MMA news as closely as you should, shortly after losing the Middleweight belt to Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva announced his intention to take this opportunity to move up in weight. While we all initially thought he meant permanently moving to Light Heavyweight, he fooled and stunned us all by expressing his wishes to fight at Heavyweight.

During the time of the announcement, Silva said he’d probably need six or seven months to appropriately make the weight. However, only four months later, Anderson Silva has declared that he has successfully made weight and sure enough, he’s in the main event.

Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of Heavyweights willing to welcome him to their ranks, most notably Gabriel Gonzaga, who feels a win over Silva will propel his name to even further heights. And with Gonzaga as his opponent, Silva faces some major problems, as Gonzaga has submitted four of his last five opponents and is perhaps most famous for knocking out CroCop back in 2007.

February will be a true trial for both individuals. Many feel a solid win for Gonzaga could easily match him against the current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Cain Velasquez. While many others think that if Anderson Silva is able to dominate his UFC 134 opponent like he has his Middleweight competitors, the 265 Division could be in major trouble.

Notes & Report
-Dana White by confirming a Fight Night for March 27th. Dana White also says that he wants to follow the formula that Affliction Live and Strikeforce on CBS had by offering major shows on free TV as opposed to just giving a free night of fights which is why guys of the quality of Wanderlei Silva and Luis Cane headlined the last Fight Night and why the Welterweight Championship will be awarded at a future Fight Night. With that, he announces that the card will be headlined with a Heavyweight encounter between Satoshi Ishii and Todd Duffee. If that’s not enough, he announces that Ronaldo De Souza will make his UFC debut by taking on established Middleweight, Denis Kang in the main-event lead-in. He throws the bait, and as usual, we bite and so we’re told to go to UFC.com for more information.

-Matt Serra opens up the Q&A by acknowledging he’s approaching the twilight of his career. He says that so far he’s had no regrets, but he wishes to disappear with more than just being the guy that defeated Georges St. Pierre. He admits that Johny Hendricks is much younger and much faster, but he’s going to give the fight off of his life just so he can get one step closer to regaining the Welterweight strap.

-Chris Tuchscherer says he’s definitely worried about Junior Dos Santos’s hands, but he’s not going to let that psychologically affect his game. He says the last thing he’ll want to do in the Octagon is exchange punches with Junior, but if it’s the only way he’s going to win the fight, he’ll do it.

-‘Rampage’ makes it short and sweet: His loss to Lawal was a fluke, he’s gonna beat Ribeiro’s ass and then he wants a rematch with Lawal so he can beat his ass too.

-Nate Marquardt says he wants to beat Jake Rosholt mainly so he can be the one to tell Georges St. Pierre that he doesn’t belong with the Middleweights.

-Jake Rosholt said that out of everyone, he’s been the only one able to hang in there consistently with all the top level Middleweights and says if Nate Marquardt thinks he’s next in line, then he’s sorely disappointed. Jake Rosholt also promises that he’ll be Middleweight Champion before the year ends.

-Alexandre Ribeiro says Quinton Jackson’s trash talk doesn’t bother him as he knows that’s how Quinton is. He then says that he does all of his talking with his submissions and unfortunately for ‘Rampage’, he’s going to find that out next Saturday.

-Junie Browning says he’s probably more excited for his fight than anyone else on the card and follows up by saying it’s been a while since he’s fought in the UFC and on top of that he gets to fight one of the best Lightweights in the company. Browning finishes by saying it won’t be long before he’s Lightweight Champion.

-Johny Hendricks addresses Matt Serra’s statement and says he doesn’t mean to disrespect Serra, but he’s sadly mistaken if he thinks he stands a chance in the Octagon.

-Unfortunately, Anderson Silva couldn’t make it to the conference as he is still working on his weight to make sure it’s solid for next Saturday. This means Gabriel Gonzaga is doing fight hype solo and says that he feels that he’s a much stronger striker than Anderson Silva, and since Silva isn’t familiar fighting at the 220+ range, he’s going to be in trouble.

-Joe Stevenson wishes Junie Browning all the best of luck, but says he absolutely cannot lose this match.

-Junior Dos Santos says he’s going to go in there and look for another solid knock out. He wraps up by saying if Chris Tuchscherer wants to stand-up with him, that’s fine, but that he will lose him the fight.

-Dana White wraps up by getting everyone together for some photo-ops, and then tells everyone he hopes to see them next Saturday. That’s a wrap for the press-conference.

CNAfish

10-06-2009, 06:54 AM

kimbo beating minotauro?? LOL how much have u jacked up his stats?

maudlin career

10-06-2009, 09:52 AM

Actually, I haven't jacked up any fighter's stats. That's just the way things are.

maudlin career

10-06-2009, 10:50 PM

Blurcat.com January MMA News

World Headlines for Week 4 of January

-Sengoku 32 results are up. Check them out here!

-Be sure to join us for Bellator FC 37 Weigh-In Roundtable! Our special guest for the night will be Michelle Waterson. Come back tomorrow night for the full results.

-Palace FC has decided to release Jens Pulver from his current contract.

-Albert Rios vs. Manny Gamburyan has been added to WEC 70: Faber vs. Paixao II.

-Undefeated Glen Reed has signed a two fight deal with Adrenaline.

-Join us for DREAM 35 Weigh-In Roundtable Friday night! Our special guest for the evening will be Manny Tapia.

World MMA Event Results for Week 4 of January

Sengoku 32 (Saturday, January 21st)

Preliminary Card
Tito Jones defeated Takeshi Yamazaki via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Miguel Torres defeated Wagnney Fabiano via Submission (3:19, First Round)
Jim Bova defeated Lyle Beerbohm via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Leonard Garcia defeated Hideo Tokoro via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)

Main Card
Antonio Silva defeated Moise Rimbon via Knock Out (3:34, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Roger Hollet defeated Alexandre Ferreira via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Pedro Rizzo defeated Roman Zentsov via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Roan Carneiro defeated Carlo Prater via Submission (:29, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Vitor Belfort defeated Jorge Santiago via TKO to win the Sengoku Middleweight Championship (:47, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great

Bellator FC 37 (Sunday, January 22nd)

Main Card
Marlon Sandro defeated Nick Gonzalez via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Dave Herman defeated Karl Wilkes via Submission (4:59, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Nick Denis defeated Shawn Bias via Knock Out (2:17, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Abel Cullum defeated Koetsu Okazaki via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Hector Lombard defeated Jorge Patino via TKO (2:10, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic

DREAM 35 (Friday, Januayr 27th)

Preliminary Card
Chris Cariaso defeated Eduardo Dantas via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round)
Mark Oshiro defeated Ryota Matsune via Submission (8:25, First Round)
Dong Yi Yang defeated Lavar Johnson via Submission (5:42, First Round)
Rafael Cavalcante defeated Cyrille Diabate via Knock Out (1:17, First Round)

Main Card
Andre Gusmao defeated Brian Ebersole via Submission (1:02, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Tyler East defeated James Thompson via Submission (1:02, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Marcus Davis defeated Chael Sonnen via Submission (3:24, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Vitor Ribeiro defeated Tatsuya Kawajiri via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Very Poor
Sergei Kharitonov defeated Siala-Mou Siligia via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average

UFC News for Week 4 of January

Signings
There are no signings to announce this week

Extensions
Kurt Pellegrino has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Brian Cobb has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Yushin Okami has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Thales Leites has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Amir Sadollah has re-signed a four fight 21-month deal with UFC
Dan Miller has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Jon Jones has re-signed a seven fight multi-year deal with UFC
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
TJ Grant has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
There are no cuts to announce this week

*WOWOW 1 has extended their Pay-Per-View deal with UFC for an additional eight shows

March 27th Fight Night is Finalized
The previously announced Ultimate Fight Night for March 27th has been complete and the final card has been revealed on the UFC homepage. In addition to the known main events, Ben Henderson returns to the Octagon to take on Gray Maynard. For the entire card, head over to the UFC page.

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 134: Redemption (February 11th. Ohio)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 135 (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Carmelo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

Ultimate Fight Night: Duffee vs. Ishii (Tuesday, March 27th)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Cameron Dollar vs. Matt Veach
Middleweight: Nate Quarry vs. Tomasz Drwal
Lightweight: David Baron vs. George Roop
Light Heavyweight: Eliot Marshall vs. Kyle Kingsbury

Main Card
Lightweight: Gray Maynard vs. Ben Henderson
Welterweight: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Ben Saunders
Middleweight: Yushin Okami vs. Kendall Grove
Middleweight: Ronaldo Souza vs. Denis Kang
Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii vs. Todd Duffee

UFC 136: Driven (Saturday, April 21st. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jesse Sanders vs. John Hathaway
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Frank Lester
Heavyweight: Dillen Michel vs. Joseph Beneteau
Welterweight: Chris Wilson vs. Brad Blackburn
Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. CB Dollaway

Main Card
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Andre Winner
Light Heavyweight: Thiago Silva vs. Aaron Simpson
Light Heavyweight: Jake O’Brien vs. Matt Hamill
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. BJ Penn
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Roger Gracie

maudlin career

10-07-2009, 01:48 PM

Blurcat’s UFC 134: Redemption Weigh-In Roundtable (Friday, February 10th)

Alex Emerson: Gather round, young Blurcats, for tonight is story telling of Biblical proportions. Well…maybe not Biblical so much, but it will be one hell of an exciting night. Why you ask? Well you adorable little thing, you, Weigh-In Roundtable is back! And tonight, everyone’s favorite promotion, UFC will play host as their 134th event is live tomorrow night.

Gavin Banks: I think we all know what everyone’s really excited for.

Emerson: What, Anderson Silva’s Heavyweight debut? No! Everyone’s really excited for our returning special guest, Urijah Faber!

Faber: They loved me so much last time that I had to come back and do another show.

Emerson: Faber has decided to take time off from focusing on his upcoming fight with Fredson Paxiao to humor us here at the Roundtable.

Fable: That’s right.

Emerson: Along with Gavin Banks, Urijah Faber, and I, we also have Stuart Teacher, and newest Roundtable panelist, Ned Charles.

Charles: So this what you call work? I like this. My chair is quite comfy.

Emerson: Tom Bradburn, the jerk, is actually heading to Ohio to catch the fight live. That means we thankfully, won’t have to put up with Ned very long.

Charles: I love you too.

Emerson: Well, I think it’s time. Let’s go ahead and get this Roundtable underway.

First Question: Will Anderson Silva make a successful transition to Heavyweight?

Gavin Banks says
Well, we saw how it worked out for Urijah Faber. So, nah, Silva won’t find much success in a weight class that has a cut-off limit of 265. By the way Faber, please don’t hurt me.

Urijah Faber says
I’ll wait until we’re done with the show to exact my revenge. Anyway, they call Silva Pound 4 Pound King for a reason. I think he’ll use UFC 134 and the Heavyweight Division, for that matter, to reclaim that crown.

Ned Charles says
Will Anderson Silva have problems with Gabriel Gonzaga? No, probably not too many. Does that mean he’ll be able to go in there and fight guys the size of Alistair Overeem or Brock Lesnar? I honestly doubt it.

Alex Emerson says
Like Faber said, the guy is in the P4P Rankings. This is a guy that made Forrest Griffin look like a can back at UFC 101. If more power comes with his striking now that he’s picked up in weight, the Heavyweights are in trouble.

Stuart Teacher says
I’m honestly going to have to wait out on calling this until I see how he does against Gonzaga. If Gonzaga beats him, then clearly the answer is no. If he beats Gonzaga, then you have a ton of things to factor in; how he won the fight, or if Gonzaga was giving him trouble, or if the added weight harmed his cardio. It’s way too early to really tell.

Final Verdict: Unknown

Second Question: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson?

Stuart Teacher says
Let me make up for my indecisiveness by going first. I like Junie Browning a lot, but I don’t think he is anywhere at the level of Joe Stevenson. Stevenson has fought harder opponents including BJ Penn and Takanori Gomi. Browning on the other hand has spent the last year or so floundering on the undercard.

Alex Emerson says
I think Joe Stevenson has lost his touch. This was a guy who was on everyone’s top ten Lightweight list at some point, and then he just disappeared. I agree with Teach when he says experience plays a lot, but if you’re not in the game mentally, that hampers any skill you may have. Junie Browning will pick up the w.

Ned Charles says
Definitely the sleeper hit of the night, if you ask me. I’m going with Joe Stevenson because I really want to see him back in title contention. I don’t think he’s mentally exhausted with fighting; it’s just that he lacks motivation. If a win like this could put him on the track that leads to the Lightweight Championship, we might see some better performances.

Urijah Faber says
Browning has been on a tear in the UFC, so I think I’m going to stick with him.

Gavin Banks says
Junie Browning’s the man. You can’t underestimate him.

Final Verdict: Majority says Junie Browning

Third Question: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos

Urijah Faber says
Oh, man…Dos Santos has been killing people out there. I’ll tell you what, if Dos Santos doesn’t knock Tuchscherer’s head off, especially after Tuchscherer said he’d be willing to stand with him, I’ll be surprised.

Alex Emerson says
Punching with Dos Santos is probably the worst thing anyone should do right now. I don’t even know if Tuchscherer could handle Dos Santo’s ground game either. Dos Santos.

Gavin Banks says
I’m going to use this as my wild card and pick Chris Tuchscherer. Every event there’s always that one fight where we all think there’s a clear winner, but we get fooled in the end.

Stuart Teacher says
Yeah, I see this fight coming down to a knock out for Dos Santos.

Ned Charles says
Do I even need to pick? If Tuchscherer better not even try to box wit Dos Santos.

Final Verdict: Majority says Junior Dos Santos

Fourth Question: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra?

Ned Charles says
Let me be the first to say that if Serra needs help on deciding if he should retire, Hendricks will be the one to help him make that choice.

Stuart Teacher says
Johny Hendricks is beyond aggressive and we honestly haven’t seen much of Matt Serra since about March of last year. Serra just might be in trouble.

Urijah Faber says
You can never doubt Serra. He did beat Georges St. Pierre after all.

Alex Emerson says
If Matt Serra really has the retirement thing on the back of his mind, that’s not a good thing coming into this fight.

Gavin Banks says
I think it’ll give Matt Serra the necessary drive to finish this thing. You know, as a way to prove he still has it in him. Hendricks might be in for a rude awakening.

Final Verdict: Majority says John Hendricks

Fifth Question: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt?

Ned Charles says
Anytime you can go in the ring and last for an entire five rounds with Anderson Silva, giving him one of the hardest fights in the process, and then follow that up by giving Dan Henderson his second TKO career loss, says a lot about you as a fighter. I like Nate Marquardt, but Jake Rosholt is going to be all over him. I honestly think he might give GSP a run for his money.

Gavin Banks says
That’s what I’m thinking, too. The guy has won five of his last six UFC fights. The one loss was to Anderson Silva, no less. While Nate Marquardt is a great fighter, I don’t really see him going over Jake Rosholt.

Alex Emerson says
Never doubt Marquardt. The man has shown in the pass that he has serious knock out power. Rosholt’s chin has yet to be tested.

Stuart Teacher says
Rosholt took five or six of Silva’s best punches and he kept on coming with the wrestling. I think that says a lot about his chin. Marquardt better be at his very best.

Urijah Faber says
I gotta go with Rosholt. The man is like Randy Couture or Dan Henderson 2.0. Hell, maybe a combination of the two.

Final Verdict: Majority says Jake Rosholt

Sixth Question: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro?

Urijah Faber says
Quinton Jackson is pissed. I know he wants that Mo Lawal rematch, you know he wants that Mo Lawal rematch. If Alexandre Ribeiro is what’s standing in his way, then all I have to say is ouch…sorry Ribeiro.

Alex Emerson says
We saw Ribeiro’s chin when Wanderlei Silva knocked him clean out last year. Jackson has displayed countless times that he has power and will ultimately end up knocking him out. Not only that, but if Ribeiro tries some of his magical submissions, guess what? He’s going to get picked up and get slammed.

Ned Charles says
I don’t think Ribeiro matches well against dangerous strikers. Put him in there with a guy like Jones or Vera, and he has a solid win. Put him in there with a guy who knows how to knock people out, then he’s dead meet. Sadly for Ribeiro, Jackson loves knocking people out.

Stuart Teacher says
The keyword is mental state. That loss to Mo Lawal is still on the back of his head, and it will probably take him out of his element. I’m going to give Ribeiro the win in this fight.

Gavin Banks says
There’s no possible way Alexandre Ribeiro can win this one.

Final Verdict: Majority says Quinton Jackson

Final Question: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga?

Ned Charles says
Like I said before, Silva will probably pull off the win here. Gonzaga can be lethal, but I don’t think his striking is on par with Anderson Silva’s. Silva will probably wow us with some of his boxing technique.

Gavin Banks says
Silva has been known to have problems with submissions and Gonzaga’s last four wins have come by way of submission. 2 + 2 = 4.

Urijah Faber says
I think it’ll be a fairly challenging fight for Anderson Silva, but he’ll pull it off in a very decisive way. I’m personally excited for this one more than anything else.

Alex Emerson says
Like I said, he’s Pound 4 Pound. If a guy can destroy people a weight-class above him, what’s stopping him from doing to people two weight-classes above him?

Stuart Teacher says
As far as this fight goes, I think I’m more comfortable with picking Gonzaga than I am Silva. The weigh-ins start in an hour, so we’re not even sure what Silva will weigh in as. Not only that, but Gonzaga has absolutely nothing to prove in this fight, where as Anderson Silva has everything riding on this one. That’s going to hurt him mentally.

Final Verdict: Majority says Anderson Silva

Emerson: And there you have it. Another night of sitting around the Roundtable, another night of successful, or in most cases, god-awful predictions. Remember, you can always participate in the fun by sending your picks to Blurcat-emerson@aol.com. Winner will receive a Urijah Faber Silver Star t-shirt. We hope you enjoyed the show, and we hope you enjoy UFC 134 tomorrow. Be sure to check Blurcat.com for full results.

Full UFC 134: Redemption Fight Card

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

zackufc

10-07-2009, 07:45 PM

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller
Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Sugita Yamanaka
Lightweight: Mark Bocek vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Welterweight: John Howard vs. Paulo Thiago
Welterweight: Rory Markham vs. Scott Jorgensen

Main Card
Lightweight: Junie Browning vs. Joe Stevenson
Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer vs. Junior Dos Santos
Welterweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight: Jake Rosholt vs. Nate Marquardt
Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson vs. Alexandre Ribeiro
Heavyweight: Anderson Silva vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

maudlin career

10-07-2009, 10:28 PM

Blurcat.com February MMA News

Scheduled MMA Events for February
WEC 70: Faber vs. Paixao II (WEC. Friday, February 10th)
UFC 134: Redemption (UFC. Saturday, February 11th)
RAW Combat: Big Bang (RAW Combat. Monday, February 13th)
PFC 40: Rip it Out (Palace FC. Wednesday, February 15th)

World Headlines for Week 1 of February

-On Sunday, Kurt Otto announced Bellator FC 38 for February 26th.

-Renato Sobral has been handed another two month medical suspension after suffering a beating at the hands of Emanuel Newton

-World Victory Road look to re-negotiate their PPV deal with ProElite Online.

-Kijuro Toyoda has joined Satoshi Ishii and Mitsuhiro Ishida at the T-Blood fight camp.

-WEC is looking to expand on its Bantamweight division by adding Ryota Matsune and Chris Cariaso.

-Monte Cox has announced the next Adrenaline event to take place on March 3rd

-Join us for WEC 70: Faber vs. Paixao II Weigh-In Roundtable! Urijah Faber will do double duty and phones in his predictions.

-Fight & Entertainment Group have announced DREAM 36 for March 3rd

World MMA Event Results for Week 1 of February

Adrenaline: Aurello vs. Noons II (Sunday, February 5th)

Preliminary Card
Edilberto defeated Luke Cummo via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Jou Kuroda defeated Dan Evensen via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)

Main Card
Joe Pearson defeated Duane Ludwig via Submission (3:35, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Gan McGee defeated George Bush via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Raymond Daniels defeated Dough Marshall via Knock Out (1:35, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Emanuel Newton defeated Renato Sobral via TKO to win the Adrenaline Light Heavyweight Championship (2:56, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
KJ Noons defeated Marcus Aurelio via TKO (2:52, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

WEC 70: Faber vs. Paixao II (Friday, February 10th)

Preliminary Card
Tyson Nam defeated ‘Straight A’ Keith via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Enoch Wilson defeated Rumina Sato via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)

Main Card
Anthony Pettis defeated Clay French via Unanimous Decision to retain the WEC Lightweight Championship (5:00, Fifth Round) Blurcat Verdict: Average
Manny Gamburyan defeated Albert Rios via TKO (2:52, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Alexandre Franca Nogueira defeated Hiroyuki Takaya via Submission (4:24, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Roc McCullough defeated Yves Edwards via TKO (:26, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Urijah Faber defeated Fredson Paixao via Submission (4:30, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good

UFC News for Week 1 of February

Signings
There are no signings to announce this week

Extensions
Sam Stout has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Frank Mir has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
Matt Hughes has re-signed a four fight 21-month deal with UFC
Yoshihiro Akiyama has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
Zuffa LLC has decided not to extend Dan Cramer’s current contract with UFC

Thiago Alves Is Ready for Jon Fitch
Stuart Teacher had a sit-down interview with Thiago Alves Monday night. Thiago Alves made it clear and said his main focus was on Jon Fitch. He’s been training non-stop for the last two to three months and he is beyond ready to avenge an earlier loss to Fitch. To wrap up the interview, Thiago Alves vows to walk away from the Welterweight Tournament as Welterweight Champion.

To see the full interview, click here!

Frank Mir On Big Cat Show
On Tuesday’s edition of the Big Cat Show, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir sit down with Ned Charles and Matt Natchios. Of course, a barrage of questions were tossed his way, and the highlights include him wanting to be back in the Octagon as soon as possible, and that he’s been ready to fight for the last five months and he’s just waiting for the call. As far as a potential opponent, Mir expresses interest in working his way back to the top by fighting a guy like Todd Duffee or even Josh Barnett.

For the full Podcast, click here!

Josh Barnett on and Josh Neer on Friday Morning’s Crackdown!
Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks were joined by the UFC’s finest in Josh Neer and Josh Barnett.

First on the show was Josh Neer who discussed his training with the Blurcat staff. He told the two Crackdown hosts that he has been working on his striking a lot after suffering a TKO loss to Josh Thomson in June of last year, and hopes that something like that will not halt his progress in the future. As far as future fights go, he hasn’t been contacted yet, but he told the two that he’s ready to go.

Josh Barnett then wrapped up the show and discussed with Banks and Emerson what he’s been doing since his last fight. He claims he’s been taking it easy, but as always, he’s still training and practicing for future fights. Banks does a little instigating by telling Barnett that on the Big Cat Show, Frank Mir expressed interest in fighting Barnett. Barnett replied by saying it would be an interesting fight.

For the full Podcast, click here!

Faber Possibly Out for Six Months
Friday night, WEC 70 saw Urijah Faber return to glory by avenging a prior loss to Fredson Paixao in convincing fashion with a guillotine. At the end of the fight, there was a noticeable grimace on Faber’s face, but all was ignored once Faber celebrated his win in the post-fight interview. However, we’ve recently discovered that somewhere during the pre-guillotine ground scramble, Urijah Faber tore his groin. After initial doctor inspection, Faber could face upwards of six months of down-time. Faber isn’t at all happy with the potential recovery period as he already went through a six month rest period before returning to action September. We’ll keep you updated on the information as we get it.

UFC 134 Results Are Up
Did Anderson Silva make a successful transition to the Heavyweight division or did Gabriel Gonzaga further destroy Silva’s Superman-like aura? Did Quinton Jackson bounce back from his earlier loss to Muhammed Lawal or did Alexandre Ribeiro pick up another submission? Who will be GSP’s first Middleweight Championship challenger? We have all the answers to the questions that UFC 134 presented. To find out what happened, click here!

Scheduled UFC Events

UFC 135 (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Carmelo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

Ultimate Fight Night: Duffee vs. Ishii (Tuesday, March 27th)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Cameron Dollar vs. Matt Veach
Middleweight: Nate Quarry vs. Tomasz Drwal
Lightweight: David Baron vs. George Roop
Light Heavyweight: Eliot Marshall vs. Kyle Kingsbury

Main Card
Lightweight: Gray Maynard vs. Ben Henderson
Welterweight: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Ben Saunders
Middleweight: Yushin Okami vs. Kendall Grove
Middleweight: Ronaldo Souza vs. Denis Kang
Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii vs. Todd Duffee

UFC 136: Driven (Saturday, April 21st. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jesse Sanders vs. John Hathaway
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Frank Lester
Heavyweight: Dillen Michel vs. Joseph Beneteau
Welterweight: Chris Wilson vs. Brad Blackburn
Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. CB Dollaway

Main Card
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Andre Winner
Light Heavyweight: Thiago Silva vs. Aaron Simpson
Light Heavyweight: Jake O’Brien vs. Matt Hamill
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. BJ Penn
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Roger Gracie

maudlin career

10-08-2009, 12:44 PM

Blurcat.com – Your #1 Source for All Things MMA

Alex Emerson’s UFC 134: Redemption Full Report (Saturday, February 11th)

On September of last year, we all sat and watched with fervor when two of UFC’s most current stars finally decided to meet for a second, and possibly a last, encounter.

Firstly, to give a proper setting to the story, in January of 2010, at UFC 107: The Show, Dana White put together one of the biggest spectacles that saw Georges St. Pierre take on Anderson Silva. To call it a dream match is an understatement, there’s just no proper way to describe the emotions going into the fight. The fight itself saw Georges St. Pierre submit Anderson Silva in what we considered one of the best fights of the year.

This would almost inevitably set up the rematch, a rematch where not only GSP would not agree with a catch-weight, but would actually move up to Middleweight and challenge Anderson Silva for his Middleweight Championship. September 2011 came and with it, GSP vs. Silva II. The fight went three rounds and featured some very back and forth action that ultimately saw GSP make history by being the first man in UFC to capture two different titles and hold them at the same time.

Since September, neither superstar has made much of an appearance. Perhaps that’s why everyone is buzzing about tonight. Tonight, one of the two fighters that made UFC 107 and UFC 129 highly acclaimed MMA events has finally decided to break the silence. Tonight, Anderson Silva makes his return to the Octagon…only in a much bigger way…literally.

You see, on the onset of losing to Georges St. Pierre, Silva called the loss a blessing in disguise as he can finally now fight at a heavier weight class. The sports world considered that statement to be his official announcement to stay at Light Heavyweight. Needless to say, we were all flabbergasted when Silva instead expressed wishes to fight at Heavyweight.

It was a pipe dream, we all thought. There’s no way Dana White would let one of his big money makers take eight to ten months off just so he could come back and fight at a heavier weight. Once again, we were all stunned when White gave in and allowed Anderson Silva to take off as much time as needed to make weight.

The most shocking news, though, came when Anderson Silva cut his off-time in half and only five months later, he’s ready to fight again…

And his fight tonight is not going to be an easy one. Typically, one expects a big fighter’s return match to be one he can easily walk through. Tonight isn’t the case as Anderson Silva will be squaring off with Heavyweight star, Gabriel Gonzaga. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Gonzaga has defeated has won four of his last five fights, submitting Cheick Kong, Chris Tuchscherer, and Brett Rogers two times. Undoubtedly, that could mean Gabriel Gonzaga will try his submission game, and the few fights that Anderson Silva has lost have come down to him getting caught with submissions.

Could this be a bad match for Anderson Silva who will, without question, be embarrassed if he loses his first fight in the Heavyweight division? Will a win like this put Gabriel Gonzaga ahead of all the other Heavyweight competitors in terms of a Heavyweight Champion contender? The only hope we have of knowing is by keeping our eyes on the TV screen for UFC 134. With that, let’s get to the show.

UFC 134: Redemption (Saturday, February 11th)

It’s not time to call it quits, and I have to use this fight to prove that. – Matt Serra

I respect Matt Sera, and I hope he figures out what he wants to do with his career, but if that includes beating me to figure it all out, then he’ll end up disappointed. – Johny Hendricks

He is lethal, and he can knock me out, but he’s slower than I am, and he has no wrestling to speak of. – Chris Tuchscherer

I never go in there thinking I’m going to knock someone out, but if they choose to stand and exchange strikes with me, that’s what’s going to happen. – Junior Dos Santos

I need that big win. This is going to be it. – Junie Browning

A lot of people have been saying I haven’t been as focused, well I prove them wrong tonight – Joe Stevenson

I’m gonna win this fight, and then I’m going to force Georges St. Pierre into going back to the Welterweights. – Nate Marquardt

He’s using me as an afterthought. He’s too focused on a fight with GSP, that’s NOT going to happen, because he’s not focused on me. – Jake Rosholt

If he tries some of that submission ****, I’m just going to beat his ass. And then I’m coming for you, Mo. – Quinton Jackson

If this is the fight that stands between me and a title shot, I’ll use every submission in the book until I get the win. – Alexandre Ribeiro

They’ll enjoy what they see tonight. – Anderson Silva

I’m not really worried, but I know how dangerous Anderson Silva can be. I’ll be the next fighter to defeat Silva. That’s a promise. - Gabriel Gonzaga

The vignettes died down and the camera once again took in the hot Ohio crowd who were more than ready to see Anderson Silva’s return, and the many other fights that would take place on the card. The camera would stop moving around the audience, and switched views to Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan, and surprisingly, UFC Hall of Famer, Chuck Liddell.

Goldberg is the first to get the question out of the way when he jokingly asks what brings Chuck Liddell to these parts of the woods. Chuck Liddell replies by stating he’s excited to see how Anderson Silva does in the 265 class. Rogan pals around with Liddell for a little bit, and once that dies down, the three man team run down the fight card and share their thoughts and opinions on the fights.

The UFC Text-Poll screen comes up. By texting the number 1, Anderson Silva earns a vote. By pressing 2, Gabriel Gonzaga wins a vote. I’m too busy trying to see if I can spot Tom Bradburn in the crowd to really care about the poll. However, my attention is redirected to what’s taking place on the card as the Tale of the Tape for Junie Browning and Joe Stevenson flashes up. With this, Mike Goldberg passes the camera time over to Bruce Buffer

Lightweight: Junie Browning(5-2) vs. Joe Stevenson(31-12

The Fight
Within seconds of the fight starting, Stevenson has already gotten Browning on the ground, and The Ultimate Fighter 8 winner has no choice, but to pull guard. There’s a small tussle on the ground that ultimately sees Stevenson take side control. Browning, immediately sees the danger and tries to roll away, but Stevenson mounts his back. I’m expecting an RNC, but instead Stevenson begins to fire away on Browning. Stevenson could tire himself out if this doesn’t finish off Browning, but I’m proven a liar, because Herb Dean runs in to pull Stevenson off. Stevenson is back!

Winner via TKO – Joe Stevenson (3:46, First Round)

The Post-Fight
Rogan steps in the ring where Stevenson immediately screams on the microphone that he’s back. He says he feels good and also highlights how he didn’t take any damage in the fight. This, of course, means for Stevenson that he’s ready to fight again the second they need him. The fans approve.

The Verdict
Well from what Bradburn has texted me, the Preliminary Card was pretty boring, so it’s nice when the first fight of the night comes down to a vicious assault from a crowd favorite like Joe Stevenson. Plus even on PPV, the fight was damn enjoyable. I’ll say it’s a great way to open the show.

Heavyweight: Chris Tuchscherer(21-3) vs. Junior Dos Santos(11-4)

The Fight
Tuchscherer takes a kick to the hip just so he can move in and wrestle Dos Santos into the cage. He throws a couple of punches to the ribs of Dos Santos as a way to soften him up for an upcoming takedown attempt. The two move around the cage for a few seconds with Tuchscherer remaining in solid control. Tuchscherer hooks the waist and looks to pull Dos Santos to the mat. Tuchscherer lowers his head and Dos Santos sees it as an opportunity to wrench his arm around the neck. Tuchscherer is caught in a very weak guillotine, that I just don’t see working. Wait a minute! Tuchscherer has lost his balance and now they’re both on the ground. Dos Santos has the guillotine tighter and Tuchscherer taps out!

Winner via Submission – Junior Dos Santos (3:24, First Round)

The Post-Fight
Dos Santos says he’s ready for even bigger fights. Dana White just might have to oblige.

The Verdict
The second fight of the night sees a submission come from a guy who’s known solely for his knock out power. To add to that, the guillotine came out of no where and really looked like it wouldn’t work. Some last second slip ups and the choke was on and roaring. Great finish to a fight.

Welterweight: Johny Hendricks(7-1) vs. Matt Serra(9-8)

The Fight
The two pace around the ring, and Matt Serra finally cuts the tension by shooting in on Hendricks. Hendricks sprawls and begins to immediately pound away on Serra. The punches have stunned Serra who slowly rolls over on his back to try to pull Hendricks in guard. Hendricks shows lightning fast reflexes and mounts Serra. Serra tries covering up, but Hendricks doesn’t care and just begins wailing down on Serra. Serra is still glass-eyed from before and after three punches from the mount, his defense begins to falters. Mario Yamasaki has seen enough and we have a third fight that hasn’t gone past the first round!

Winner via TKO – Johny Hendricks (3:39, First Round)

The Post-Fight
Hendricks goes over to hug Serra, who is sitting in a corner of the Octagon, deciding what it is he should do next with his career. Hendricks allows Serra to speak to Rogan who tells the Ohio audience that it just might be time he calls it quits. Serra finishes up by telling everyone he’s so thankful that they appreciate him doing what it is that he does and then leaves the Octagon.

Hendricks speaks next and says he’s not sure who he would like to fight as a next opponent. He does say that he’s caught word of Matt Hughes re-signing a contract, and would love to fight a guy of his credentials.

The Verdict
Another fight that saw a vicious first round destruction of a former Welterweight Champion; Ohio is hot tonight, and reasonably so. Only three fights in, and the third fight was just as great as the first two.

Middleweight: Jake Rosholt(10-2) vs. Nate Marquardt(30-9-2)

The Fight
Rosholt looks to get some wrestling in, but Marquardt catches him with a jab in an attempt to halt his aggression. Rosholt takes the punch with little reaction and the two clinch up only for Marquardt to turn the situation around and take Rosholt to the ground. With Rosholt in guard, Marquardt begins to fire away some elbows, but Rosholt sinks in a guillotine! Marquardt swivels around and manages to slip away, but he gets caught again! Rosholt can’t seem to apply any pressure, though, and Marquardt finds his way back out. From there, not much happened on the ground so Steve Mazzagatti restarted the fight on their feet. With the clock quickly grinding away, Rosholt ended the round by pressing Marquardt against the cage where he began to fire away on him.

Rosholt hooks Marquardt’s legs, and the former Pancrase fighter is in guard. Rosholt sees it as a mistake and tries to pull away, and Marquardt confirms that mistake by wrapping his legs around Rosholt for a triangle choke. Rosholt slips out and takes side control, and Marquardt responds by grabbing an arm! It looks like Marquardt is trying for a kimura from the bottom and Rosholt has no idea what to do. The Xtreme Couture member tries to roll through it out of panic, and this only serves to give Marquardt side control. Marquardt still has hold of the arm, and Rosholt tries to roll through again. Marquardt rolls with him and Rosholt’s arm is extended in an armbar! Rosholt immediately taps out!

Winner via Submission – Nate Marquardt (3:19, Second Round)

The Post-Fight
Marquardt tells Rogan that he wants GSP right now. The camera pans to the audience where St. Pierre is watching the action somewhere in the first set of rows. He stands up and nods his head and Marquardt runs over to that side of the Octagon and tells GSP that he has his belt.

The Verdict
The fight looked a little slow in the first round, but the second round was pure grappler’s heaven. Rosholt is still a little green, and that’s evidenced by him not knowing what to do once Marquardt has the kimura attempt going. The second round alone made this a good fight worth following

Light Heavyweight: Quinton Jackson(33-9) vs. Alexandre Ribeiro(8-2)

The Fight
Time and a time again, Ribeiro tries to take Jackson off of his feet, but the Tennesee native doesn’t allow it and keeps pacing around the Octagon to look for an opening for some strikes. Jackson finally hits Ribeiro with an overhand right, and Ribeiro responds by going low. Jackson sprawls the attempt and follows up by tossing Ribeiro into the cage. Jackson fires off a couple of solid punches, but Ribeiro hooks the legs to try to catch Jackson off guard. Jackson repositions himself against the cage and uses it as support to keep him standing. Alexandre Ribeiro heads back to his corner looking beyond frustrated.

Ribeiro forces Jackson into the cage and then moves his leg inside to trip Jackson down. Ribeiro tries working to pass guard, but Jackson begins firing away at the top of Ribeiro’s head with elbows, and this forces Ribeiro to cover up as opposed to actively moving out of guard. Mario Yamasaki decides to stand the two up. The two circle around and Ribeiro once again looks for a takedown. Jackson catches him with a right, and Ribeiro stumbles back. If the round didn’t come to an end, Ribeiro just might have caught a beating.

Ribeiro gets Jackson back on the ground, but once again can’t do anything. Jackson begins firing away on Ribeiro from the guard and even nails the Brazilian with a few elbows. The elbows are making their point known and Ribeiro decides to remove himself from Jackson and the two are back on their feet. Jackson fires off a couple of jabs and the two clinch up. Jackson forces Ribeiro into the cage and fires off a knee. Ribeiro however catches and ‘Xande’ ends up in Quinton’s guard again to end the round.

The move to the center of the ring where the first round is 29-28 – Ribeiro, 29-28 – Jackson, Bruce Buffer then announced 29-28 and remains quiet to let the moment sink in before he announced Quinton Jackson as the winner via Split Decision.

Winner via Split Decision – Quinton Jackson

The Post-Fight
Jackson says he’s not happy with his performance, but that Ribeiro was just aggressive as hell. He then finishes up by saying he’ll fight Forrest Griffin again to determine the next Light Heavyweight contender, but that he’s really focused on getting Muhammed Lawal again.

The Verdict
Considering the two individuals involved, this fight could have been much better. That’s not to say the fight was awful, because we did get to see some very solid moments from both competitors. However, compared to how the rest of the card has played out, I can only call this a decent fight.

Heavyweight: Anderson Silva(28-6) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga(14-5)

The Fight
Gonzaga moves in and catches a combination of punches from Anderson Silva and uses a jab as the final exclamation. Gonzaga responds by looking to shoot in, but Silva slips out of the way and follows up by catching Gonzaga with a kick right to the calf. Gonzaga steps in for an inside kick, but catches three jabs from Silva and is forced to back away. Gonzaga finally gets some offense in and catches Silva on the thigh with a kick, but Silva responds by rocking Gonzaga with an uppercut! Gonzaga takes the uppercut and looks to shoot in, but a straight jab knocks him to the canvas, Gonzaga is inviting Silva to his guard, but there’s no time left in the round to do anything with it.

Gonzaga fires some strikes Silva’s way, but Silva sways through them all. Gonzaga switches up and grabs hold of Silva and takes him to the ground, and Silva has no choice, but to pull guard. Gonzaga fires off a couple of elbows and then switches to side-control. Gonzaga fires a knee to Silva’s rib and then grabs an arm for an armbar. It looks locked in, but no! Silva somehow manages to slip away and pull Gonzaga back into guard in the process. Gonzaga looks to fire away on Silva, but none of the shots land cleanly and the round finishes with Gonzaga looking both impressive and tired.

Gonzaga fires some punches at Silva, but Silva manages to slip past every single one of them. Silva catches Gonzaga with another jab, and though Gonzaga looks rocked, he continues to try to strike back. This only further exhausts Gonzaga and Silva responds to the exhaustion by catching Gonzaga with three more punches. Gonzaga pushes through and manages to take Silva back down to the ground. Gabriel Gonzaga is too tired to do much of anything on the ground this time around, so Silva ends the round practically unscathed.

The two fighters make their way to the center of the ring where the fight is scored 29-27 across the board in favor of…what the hell? Gabriel Gonzaga picks up a Unanimous Decision win.

Winner via Unanimous Decision – Gabriel Gonzaga

The Post-Fight
Gonzaga is satisfied with his win and hopes he gets Velasquez next. Rogan goes over to speak to Silva who says he’s disappointed in the loss, but that he’s here to say.

The Verdict
I have no idea what the judges were watching, but Silva rocked Gonzaga at several instances in that fight. In fact, the only time Gonzaga got any kind of offense is when he managed to get Silva to the ground, but even then he didn’t do anything on the ground. A very weird decision to say the least and it really hurts the fight’s overall rating. As far as a show closer, I’d say it was decent.

UFC 134: Redemption Final Verdict

Well, the card had some very solid and exciting fights, up until the main event. There’s definitely going to be some new matches set up John Hendricks and Junior Dos Santos. And it’s really nice to see a guy like Joe Stevenson return to his winning ways. However, Dana White is going to have to do some major repackaging to Anderson Silva after suffering such an odd loss to Gabriel Gonzaga. And Jake Rosholt’s inexperience has finally been exposed at the hands of an established veteran in Nate Marquardt.

The show did well enough, the Ohio crowd was hyped. The fights were pretty exciting. I just see Dana White having an awful time trying to figure out what to do with golden boys Anderson Silva, Jake Rosholt, and Alexandre Ribeiro.

As always, I love hearing what you guys out there have to say about the show. You can drop e-mails my way at Emerson-blurcat@aol.com. I guess I’ll be seeing you for UFC 135.

UFC 134: Redemption Full Card Breakdown

Preliminary Card
Jim Miller defeated Gleirson Tibau via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Dan Miller defeated Sugita Yamanaka via TKO (4:29, Second Round)
Kurt Pellegrino defeated Mark Bocek via Submission (3:56, First Round)
John Howard defeated Paulo Thiago via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)
Scott Jorgensen defeated Rory Markham via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round)

Main Card
Joe Stevenson defeated Junie Browning via TKO (3:46, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Junior Dos Santos defeated Chris Tuchscherer via Submission (3:24, First Round) Burcat Verdict: Great
Johny Hendricks defeated Matt Serra via TKO (3:39, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Nate Marquardt defeated Jake Rosholt via Submission (3:19, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Quinton Jackson defeated Alexandre Ribeiro via Split Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Anderson Silva via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent

Congratulations to zackufc for predicting the right amount of winners. As a result, he will receive the Urijah Faber Silver Star t-shirt.

zackufc

10-09-2009, 03:47 PM

Hurray For Zackufc :p

Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Anderson Silva via Unanimous Decision That just hurts to read :(

maudlin career

10-12-2009, 01:36 PM

Alex Emerson’s UFC 134: Redemption Post-Fight Press Conference Report & Recap (Saturday, February 11th)

-Dana White opens up the night by saying that he was really surprised with how the event turned out. He admits that he wasn’t sure how the Ohio crowd would respond to the fight card, but he’s certainly glad that they much approved.

He goes on to the upcoming UFC schedule, and says that they are currently in works of finding a suitable location for UFC 137. He goes on to state that they may or may not venture overseas for said event. He does say that he will do his best to keep everyone updated on any future UFC 137 news.

Next, Dana went over the bonus awards for the night. He called the night another tough night of picks, but he’s confident in the choices. For Submission of the Night, Kurt Pellegrino and Nate Marquardt both take home bonuses for respectively pulling Mark Bocek into a triangle choke after being slammed and using a kimura to roll Jake Rosholt into an armbar. Knock Out of the Night comes down to both Joe Stevenson and Johny Hendricks for picking up some vicious TKO wins over some very A-Game opponents. Fight of the Night is awarded to Jake Rosholt and Nate Marquardt. Dana White said both fighters were all over each other in the first round, but the second round was complete fireworks with all the submission attempts.

Finally, Blurcat’s own Tom Bradburn asks White about how the title picture looks with Gabriel Gonzaga going over a fighter as lethal as Anderson Silva(who is absent from the conference, might I add). Dana White responds by announcing that Cain Velasquez’s first Heavyweight challenger will be Gabriel Gonzaga. He projects a summer meet-up being the most likely time for their encounter.

-Dana White wraps up and we move on to our first question of the night which is directed at Junior Dos Santos: Is he ready to fight elite level Heavyweights? Junior Dos Santos replies by saying he’s ready to fight whoever they put him in the Octagon with, but would especially love to compete against a fighter at the level of Brock Lesnar, Andrei Arlovski, or Frank Mir.

-Next up is Joe Stevenson who is beyond satisfied with his win earlier tonight. Stevenson claims that he’s ready to fight at the next event if possible and expresses intense interest in getting a rematch with Takanori Gomi.

-Johny Hendricks is asked how he sees himself compared to the other Welterweights, and Hendricks says he’d love to fill-in if any of the Welterweight tournament fighters can’t make it to the finals. He goes on to say that while Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Andre Galvao, and BJ Penn go on to decide our new Welterweight Champion, he’ll go on to accumulate a nice little win streak. He then finishes by saying he’ll be waiting for whoever comes out of the tourney with the belt.

-This sparks Tom Bradburn to ask Dana White what Matt Serra plans on doing. Dana White addresses the situation by saying that Matt Serra went up to him and told him that he’s going to need some time to really think about what he’s going to do next. There’s still no clear word on if this really was Serra’s last fight or not.

-Nate Marquardt says he’s beyond ready for Georges St. Pierre. He calls Jake Rosholt a much better wrestler and takedown artist than GSP, and says that if he can withstand Rosholt’s onslaught, than Georges St. Pierre won’t fair too well. When asked how important would it be to pick up a win over Pierre, Marquardt replies by saying it’s going to be the only thing on his mind until they meet-up. Once again, Dana White announces a potential late-summer meet-up for the two.

-Quinton Jackson wants another match with Mo Lawal, but acknowledges that his next opponent will more than likely be Forrest Griffin. Jackson knows the fans would like a rematch, and he personally wouldn’t mind fighting him again. Plus, there’s a pretty likely chance that he’ll be looking at a Light Heavyweight title fight when he wins, so that means more money for him.

-Gabriel Gonzaga is proud of his win over Anderson Silva, but he felt that there were instances where his work needs refining. He’s going to spend the next few months preparing for his encounter with Cain Velasquez and finishes by saying he hopes to be the next UFC Heavyweight Champion.

-Dana White finishes by announcing that they will report ticket sales and Pay Per View revenue in their financial report later in the week. From the sound of it though, it sounds like Zuffa got another money weekend. The group then gathers around for photos and UFC 134 is officially in the books.

maudlin career

10-13-2009, 08:46 PM

Blurcat.com February MMA News

MMA Headlines for Week 2 of February

-Fighting & Entertainment Group have announced that Mitsuhiro Ishida will defend his DREAM Lightweight Championship against Gesias Cavalcante at DREAM 36

-World Victory Road have confirmed Sengoku 33 for Friday, March 2nd

-RAW Combat: Big Bang results are up. Be sure to check them out here!

-PFC 40 Weigh-In Roundtable is Wednesday night! Our special guest for the occasion will be the always entertaining Renzo Gracie. Check back tomorrow morning for the full event results.

-Rumor has it that Bellator FC are willing to do whatever it takes to sign WEC Bantamweight standout Antonio Banuelos.

-Cristiane Santos joins Friday’s episode of Crackdown. Click here to find out how she feels about the lack of a Women’s MMA scene in the US.

-Rashad Evans sat down with Blurcat’s Sam Stavarakakis for an exclusive interview. Within the interview, Evans talked about the change in scenery with switching from America to Japan when he signed with DREAM, and finishes up by saying that he loves his new home in DREAM. For the full interview, click here!

MMA Event Results for Week 2 of February

RAW Combat: Big Bang (Monday, February 13th)

Main Card
Deividas Taurosevicius defeated Paul Rodriguez via Submission (2:56, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Mike Ciesnolevicz defeated Chuck Grigsby via TKO (2:50, First Round) Blurcat Verdict: Fantastic
Rodrigo Damm defeated Ryan Schultz via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Poor
Alex Serdyukov defeated Che Mills via Submission (2:39, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Stephane Vigenault defeated Semmy Schilt via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Very Poor

Palace FC 40: Rip it Out (Wednesday, February 15th)

Preliminary Card
Terry Martin defeated Aaron Meisner via Unanimous Decision
John Fanchi defeated Matt Jaggers via Unanimous Decision

Main Card
Ross Pointon defeated Matt Arroyo via TKO (:24, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Great
Anthony Ruiz defeated Martin Desilets via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Ryan Madigan defeated Chris Lytle via Unanimous Decision (5:00, Third Round) Blurcat Verdict: Decent
Tim Sylvia defeated Abe Wagner via TKO (1:36, Second Round) Blurcat Verdict: Good
Alavutdin Gadzhiyev defeated Andrei Semenov via TKO to win the PFC Middleweight Championship (4:56, Third Round)

UFC News for Week 2 of February

Signings
Kijuro Toyoda has signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC.

Stuart Teacher says: This was an act of killing two birds with one stone as Dana White desperately wants to re-tap into the Japanese market and expand on his Heavyweight division. Kijuro Toyoda was a logical choice as the man is six fights into his career and is so far undefeated; if that weren’t enough, all of his previous wins have come by way of knock out. Dana White was smart to snatch him up before any of the other companies caught word.

Extensions
Goran Reljic has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Mauricio Rua has re-signed a five fight multi-year deal with UFC
Rousimar Palhares has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC
Alan Belcher has re-signed a three fight 18-month deal with UFC

Cuts
There are no cuts to announce this week

UFC 134 Financial Report
It looks like fans had intense interest in seeing Anderson Silva’s return fight in the Heavyweight division as Zuffa reported Monday morning that it’s 134th event titled Redemption that saw Anderson Silva square off with Gabriel Gonzaga in Silva’s first UFC Heavyweight bout gained $1,704,760 from ticket sales and an additional $4,847,696 in PPV buys. Of course, this means only good things for Zuffa LLC.

Big News for UFC 137
At the 134 Post-Fight Press Conference, UFC President Dana White expressed interest in going overseas with their next event. If memory serves correctly, the last time UFC held an event outside of the states was at Ultimate Fight Night: Japan back in September of 2010. Well, it seems like Dana White & Co will finally be packing their bags and venturing abroad as New South Wales will be the host location for UFC 137.

And it only gets better…

The Australian fans will not only be treated to their very first UFC event, but Nate Marquardt will meet Georges St. Pierre for the Middleweight Championship in the main event. We asked Dana White about why he was having their fight so soon when he announced a summer meet-up. Dana White replied to us by saying Marquardt is chomping at the bit for his title fight to take place as soon as possible, and GSP wants this match to happen as soon as possible, so why not treat the Australian crowd to a block buster main event?

In addition to that, ‘King Mo’ Muhammed Lawal will be returning to the Octagon to take on Light Heavyweight sensation Brandon Vera. This will be a test for both individuals as Muhammed Lawal is looking to once again prove himself as a major threat in the Light Heavyweight division and Brandon Vera is in need of that one big win to put him back into title contention.

The rest of the card is finalized and will be available on the UFC website by 5pm tonight. We’ll be sure to provide full details the minute we receive them.

John Howard on Big Cat Show
UFC fighter John Howard joined Ned Charles and Matt Natchios on Thursday’s edition of Big Cat Show. There wasn’t much going on around the studio, but both Blurcat staff members wanted to know how Howard felt over his 134 victory over Paulo Thiago. Howard laughs and says it was probably the worst fight on the entire card, but is really satisfied with a win over a quality opponent like Paulo Thiago.

As far as his future goes, Howard said he wants to be in the Octagon as soon as possible to make up for his very shoddy performance this past Saturday. Howards also hopes to be called up to the Main Card for his next UFC fight, but ultimately, it’s all up to Dana White and Joe Silva to determine that.

For the full show, click here!

Josh Barnett on Crackdown
We wrap up this week in MMA by having Josh Barnett join Alex Emerson and Gavin Banks for a Saturday night edition of Crackdown. Josh Barnett comments on UFC’s move to Australia by saying it’s big move on the international department but that he’s disappointed that he couldn’t be apart of the show. However, he does confirm that his next fight will be very soon.

As far as opponents go, Barnett didn’t say very much, but did hint that the previously mentioned Frank Mir could be a very likely possibility. He told the Crackdown hosts that he’s talked with both Mir and Dana White, and says that all parties seem very interested in that one taking place.

For the full Crackdown Podcast, click here!

Current UFC Schedule

UFC 135 (Saturday, March 17th. Pennsylvania)

Preliminary Card
Middleweight: Tom Lawlor vs. Rob Kimmons
Welterweight: Danillo Villefort vs. Nick Osipczak
Lightweight: Corey Hill vs. Melvin Guillard
Light Heavyweight: Carmelo Marrero vs. Karen Grigoryan
Heavyweight: Zak Jensen vs. Bill Whitworth

Main Card
Welterweight: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Dan Hardy
Heavyweight: Heath Herring vs. Ben Rothwell
Middleweight: Jason Miller vs. Patrick Cote
Welterweight: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Diego Sanchez
Heavyweight: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski

Ultimate Fight Night: Duffee vs. Ishii (Tuesday, March 27th)

Preliminary Card
Lightweight: Cameron Dollar vs. Matt Veach
Middleweight: Nate Quarry vs. Tomasz Drwal
Lightweight: David Baron vs. George Roop
Light Heavyweight: Eliot Marshall vs. Kyle Kingsbury

Main Card
Lightweight: Gray Maynard vs. Ben Henderson
Welterweight: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Ben Saunders
Middleweight: Yushin Okami vs. Kendall Grove
Middleweight: Ronaldo Souza vs. Denis Kang
Heavyweight: Satoshi Ishii vs. Todd Duffee

UFC 136: Driven (Saturday, April 21st. Nevada)

Preliminary Card
Welterweight: Jesse Sanders vs. John Hathaway
Welterweight: Dan Cramer vs. Frank Lester
Heavyweight: Dillen Michel vs. Joseph Beneteau
Welterweight: Chris Wilson vs. Brad Blackburn
Middleweight: Demian Maia vs. CB Dollaway

Main Card
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Andre Winner
Light Heavyweight: Thiago Silva vs. Aaron Simpson
Light Heavyweight: Jake O’Brien vs. Matt Hamill
Welterweight: Andre Galvao vs. BJ Penn
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar
Heavyweight: Bobby Lashley vs. Roger Gracie

UFC 137: Down Under (Saturday, May 12th. New South Wales, Australia)

Preliminary Card
Heavyweight: Tim Hague vs. Maresuke Maeno
Light Heavyweight: DaMarques Johnson vs. Eric Schafer
Lightweight: Aaron Riley vs. Josh Neer
Welterweight: Dustin Hazelett vs. Jake Ellenberger
Middleweight: Frederick Pendergarst vs. Gerald Harris
Welterweight: Jonathan Goulet vs. Kevin Burns

Main Card
Lightweight: Jose Aldo vs. Nate Diaz
Welterweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Carlos Condit
Heavyweight: Cheick Kongo vs. Junior Dos Santos
Light Heavyweight: Brandon Vera vs. Muhammed Lawal
Middleweight Championship: Georges St. Pierre© vs. Nate Marquardt