Written by: James Maldonado
written by James Maldonado
UFC 134 takes place this Saturday and is headlined by a fighter that is widely regarded as the best fighter on the planet, Anderson ‘’The Spider” Silva (30-4 MMA, 13-0 UFC). He fights Yushin Okami (26-5 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in what will be a rematch that saw Anderson Silva suffer his last defeat. Let’s take a closer look.
Written by: Darnell Myrick
By Darnell Myrick
MMA has become a young man’s game now. Many fighters that are starting to take over MMA are young and hungry. Fighters like Jon Jones (24), Cain Velasquez (29), Dominick Cruz (25), and Jose Aldo (24) are examples of fighters who are winning belts at a young age. Now you do not see many champions at the age of 35 or older, unless your Anderson Silva, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, or Dan Henderson. A combination of the evolution of MMA and the youthful fighters entering the MMA world, it might be time for some of the older fighters take over the sport. Here are some current fighters who should go ahead and retire. (more…)
Written by: James Maldonado
written by James Maldonado
According to SportsBusinessDaily, the UFC has signed a multi-year deal with Fox to air up to four events a year. The deal also includes programming on the FX channel.
Written by: Darnell Myrick
By Darnell Myrick
Even though UFC 133 suffered so many injuries, the fight card still was able to produce like any other UFC event. We saw 4 finishes on the main card. In the main event, Rashad Evans was able to defeat Tito Ortiz in the second round by TKO. Rashad was able to weather the early storm of Tito Ortiz before Rashad took Tito down and used a devastating knee to the stomach that finished Tito. In the co-main event, Vitor Belfort was able to KO Yoshihiro Akiyama in under 2 minutes and won KOTN in the process. Vitor looked like the Vitor that defeated Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin with an impressive display of his quick hands. After the KO loss he suffered by the foot of Anderson Silva, Belfort looks poised to make another run at the Middleweight championship. (more…)
Written by: Josh Catania
2011 has been a fantastic year for rematches. Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard, Dominick Cruz versus Urijah Faber, and we can’t forget The Korean Zombie twisting Leonard Garcia’s head so far around that it looked like something from the Exorcist. Well, the year isn’t over folks. UFC 134 boasts an epic rematch of two former champions of the Light Heavyweight division with Mauricio Rua squaring off for the second time against Forrest Griffin.
Written by: James Maldonado
Written by James Maldonado
On July 30th 2011, less than a month before his 41st birthday, Dan Henderson (28-8 MMA, 3-1 SF and 3-2 UFC) took on Fedor Emelianenko (31-4 MMA, 1-3 SF) in a fight between two legends of the sport. Fedor, coming off of losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva, was looking to bounce back to the win column. His loss to Werdum was chalked up to a mistake on Fedors part by playing into the guard of the very dangerous BJJ fighter, and his loss to Silva was said to be because of the size difference between the two. Henderson had just won the LHW title from Rafael Cavalcante in March, which was preceeded by a big KO of Renato Sobral. This fight had a lot of potential because of many different reasons. How would Fedor handle someone closer to his size? Could Dan finish the nearly unfinishable Fedor? Who had the better weapons? Would Fedors speed be too much for Dan? Could Dan land his trademark right hand and put the emperor to sleep? Many questions, only one answer.
At 4:12 of the first round, Dan Henderson TKO’d Fedor Emelianenko. He did what Mirko Cro Cop, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and many others could not do. He put him to sleep. It wasn’t a complete out-cold moment like Liddell/Evans, but he hit him with a punch that made him go limp and faceplant into the canvas. With this win, Dan Henderson made a big statement. And that statement, is that he belongs in the UFC.
Written by: Seamus
Written by Seamus M.
Featuring fighting old and young, the once and future stars of Strikeforce answered questions and showed us what chapter they are on in the stories of their careers.
Tarec Saffiedine vs. Scott Smith
Saffiedine treated this fight as a glorified sparring contest against someone he didn’t want to finish. In control throughout, “The Sponge” showed off a variety of strikes from all angles, good movement, and ever-improving grappling under the tutelage of Dan Henderson and Team Quest. While caution is to be commended, and patience is certainly a virtue in the fight game, Saffiedine may one day pay if he allows a more dangerous opponent to stick around when he could have finished.
Smith, by contrast, showed very little. His head-movement was non-existant, and he simply ate jabs at points with little effort to fight them off. After a career built on a strong chin and heavy hands, Scott Smith looks in danger of losing both.
Next for Saffiedine: Someone who will bring out the competitive best. Marius Zaromskis would be ideal.
Next for Smith: If not retirement or being cut, Roger Bowling might be a good co-main even to a Challenger’s card this winter.
Written by: Seamus
As the stoic man who once reigned as the sport’s greatest fighter stretched and warmed up, readying to finish his day with a fist fight, the announcers at ringside asked fans to text in a vote about whether or not the legend would retire. The heavyweight kingpin of PRIDE FC breathed as easily as if he stood alongside the Oskol River. The Last Emperor was as composed as ever even this close to what may be his final moment as MMA Royalty whether he won or lost.
Down the hall, another man was slowly beginning his warm up as well. This legend, however, held two championships. As he readied himself for the long-anticipated conflict, his student put on a show. Tarec Saffedine, who has spent much time learning grappling at the hands of a master, displayed the future of Dan Henderson regardless of how this conflict turned out. Recently saying there are a couple of years left in his body, the first man to hold a major championship in two weight classes knew this still may be the final climax of his career.
Both men breathed in deeply, both men exhaled. Both men were ready.
Written by: Jeff O'Neill
Fedor Emelianenko will look to defeat Dan Henderson this weekend.
Written by Jeff O.
In three days the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time will look to bounce back after two surprising losses. Standing in front of him is another great fighter, Dan Henderson. The two will meet this Saturday at the Sears Center just outside of Chicago, Illinois.
Also on the card Miesha Tate looks for Strikeforce gold when she takes on women’s 135 pound champ Marloes Coenen. Middleweights Tim Kennedy and Robbie Lawler both will try to get a rematch with Middleweight champ Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza. Paul Daley enters the cage for the first time since losing to Nick Diaz against fast rising prospect Tyron Woodley.
Other welterweight action includes Scott Smith against another prospect in Tarec Saffiedine. In other action Gesias Cavalcante takes on former King of the Cage champ Bobby Green in a lightweight battle.
Gesias ‘JZ’ Cavalcante vs Bobby Green
‘JZ’ is coming off of a No Contest when he poked Justin Wilcox in the eye a month ago. Green last fought in April winning a decision at a KOTC event.
Cavalcante has had a rough few years and in his past six fights he has only won one fight while dropping two with another two No Contests. Things could be looking up here as Cavalcante has won seven of 15 career fights by way of submission and out of Green’s four losses two have come that way. Cavalcante also has more experience in big show fights, they have fought the same amount of fights but Cavalcante’s competition far outweighs Green’s.
Prediction: Cavalcante wears Green down for a second round submission.
Tarec Saffiedine vs. Scott Smith
Following knockout losses to Cung Le and Daley, Smith finds himself in need of a win here against Saffiedine. ‘Hands of Steel’ made the drop to 170 in December and became a clip on Daley’s highlight reel after a brutal KO. The former ultimate fighter cast-mate last won in December of 2009 in an upset of Le. Smith will always be in any fight due to his heavy hands, just ask Pete Sell.
Scott Smith in the green shorts.
Saffiedine is also looking to bounce back from a loss, his to Woodley which came at a Strikeforce Challengers show. The Team Quest trained fighter has won half of his fights via submission and if he wants to stay conscious will look to take it to the ground early.
Prediction: Smith via decision, he may not come out as aggressive as always but he should be able to keep it standing the majority of the bout where he has an advantage.
Paul Daley vs. Tyron Woodley
Daley looked on his way to capturing Strikeforce gold in April, knocking champ Nick Diaz down twice and putting on a dominating round. However near the end of the round Diaz dropped Daley and finished the fight with seconds to go in the round.
Daley will now look to add another knockout to his record by taking on highly regarded prospect Tyron Woodley. Daley is great at one thing but not anything else. He can knock anyone out at anytime the only problem he has is getting the chance to, unless you’re crazy enough to stand with him like Diaz did. The easiest way to beat him is to take him down and try to beat him there like Josh Koscheck did at UFC 113.
Woodley has Daley’s kryptonite, wrestling and he has it in spades. Woodley was a two time all american at the University of Missouri before going 8-0 in his young career. He has also won five of his fights by way of submission and would be smart to take Daley down and not play with the bombs that Daley throws.
Prediction: Woodley takes him down throughout the bout before finishing with a late submission.
Tim Kennedy vs. Robbie Lawler
Kennedy is probably one of the most awesome people alive but that wont matter to Lawler who will try to take his head off nonetheless. Both men last lost to middleweight champ Jacare Souza, Lawler getting submitted whereas Kennedy lost a close decision.
Kennedy got back into the win column with a submission win over Melvin Manhoef in March. Kennedy is also a former Green Beret who also won the Bronze Star for valor under fire. He also had an amateur career that saw him go (30-1) and is now 13-3 as a professional. The former pit trained fighter is very well rounded and wants to get back in the title mix immediately as he plans on going back to combat.
Lawler hasn’t fought since his loss to Souza but that wont likely change what he will try to do versus Kennedy. ‘Ruthless’ likes to
Robbie Lawler shows off his handywork.
knock people out and his knockout of Matt Lindland was bone chilling. Still Lawler has shown a weakness to grapplers in the past and if Kennedy can get it to the ground Lawler may be in some trouble.
Prediction: Kennedy should be able to keep Lawler at bay long enough to get him to the floor and submit him, if he can’t Lawler might put his lights out quick. Kennedy via second round submission.
Miesha Tate vs. Marloes Coenen
The only title fight on a great card is between two of the top women’s fighters in the world. Coenen secured the title with a submission over Sarah Kaufman this past October and recently defended it against Liz Carmouche. Tate has won five straight and will look to become a Strikeforce Champion for the first time.
Coenen likes to submit people, out of 19 career wins, 14 of them have come by submission and in her last fight she pulled out a submission in the fourth round in a fight that she was losing. Tate will have to stick on Coenen all night long if she wants to win this fight.
Prediction: Coenen is too good on the ground for most and she will continue it here. Coenen via third round submission.
Main Event: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson
The fight that many have waited for, the fight that could be their last. Both men are getting up there in age, Henderson more so than Fedor but Henderson has won two straight while Fedor has lost two straight. No one ever thought that Fedor would lose to Fabricio Werdum but he did and the follow up loss to Antonio Silva had to have been crushing. However both of those men don’t posses a challenge that Henderson does. Attached to Henderson is a bomb that when it hits someone they tend to get knocked out, ahem Michael Bisping.
Dan Henderson's power
Hendo will come into the fight smaller than Fedor but he may have a speed advantage, his cardio may be a problem if he hasn’t fixed it since the Shields fight. Henderson has to worry about Fedor’s power and his ground game but as long as he keeps it standing he has a good chance to win.
Fedor has fought men with power before but none in a long time. The problem with picking against Fedor is that he could win at any second as well as evidenced by his fight with Brett Rogers. Fedor probably doesn’t have to worry about being submitted by Henderson the worry mostly lies in his power, but if he can get Hendo down himself he might be able to submit him. Can Fedor go on one last run? Can he prove that he’s not done?
Can Fedor pull it off one more time?
Prediction: In what should be a highly entertaining bout, expect Fedor to take another arm home with him. Fedor via armbar first round.
Written by: Seamus
Written by Seamus M.
To read part one, click here
In part one of this piece on the new era in Mixed Martial Arts we looked at how athletes in the United States were likely to take advantage of the platform created by the T.U.F. Era. Today, we will examine how the macro-trends in globalization and economics make possible a higher level of international athletes to join MMA.
First, one important aspect of the current state of world economics is that the crises of 2008 was a much more difficult time in the “first world” than it was in the developing world. While the United States and nations in Europe are still struggling to recover from the mammoth meltdown of the financial sector, many others continued their rapid growth.
While India’s GDP growth dipped to 5.7% for a year, it returned to 9.7% growth by 2010. China’s GDP growth rate never fell below 9%. The B.R.I.C. nations, safely protected by their natural resources and rapidly growing population of working age people, show strong growth and little sign of stopping in the near future. The same is true of many African, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets as well. In addition to the raw numbers, Fareed Zakaria presents the case, The Post-American World that even some of the most American icons have been “fully appropriated by foreigners. The world’s largest Ferris Wheel is in Singapore. Its number one casino is not in Las Vegas but in Macacao, which has also overtaken Vegas in annual gambling revenues. The biggest movie industry…is Bollywood, not Hollywod.”
This rise in financial means has many obvious benefits for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts when it takes hold in those countries. A stronger and more vibrant economy can mean better training facilities, higher purses, larger organizations, and more travel opportunities for young aspiring fighters. The result is a much higher quality of fighter in the international community than what could have been produced ten years ago.