Fighting World

Everything you need to know about MMA and more. (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-40723682-1', 'tumblr.com'); ga('send', 'pageview');

[fightingworld]

If you don't know, Rafael Dos Anjos is fighting Evan Dunham today on UFC on FX 8. Here's an old video of him kicking ass in Pancrease, just so you can know what this dude brings to the table.

[fightingworld]

Jerry Rips is back guys, and this time he's giving us a look into the madness that is Nick Diaz's corner. The video basically shows us what the Cesar Gracie fight team was doing and saying during and immediately after Diaz's bouts against BJ Penn, Carlos Condit and Georges St. Pierre. They pretty much went full 209. I don't want to spoil the video too much, but expect a lot of swearing, name calling, and general NorCal debauchery. Thank you Jerry Rips, thank you so much.

[fightingworld]

John "Doomsday" Howard once beat up one of the Boston bombers during a training session.

Here's a weird/interesting story. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the FBI's number one suspect in the bombing of the Boston Marathon, used to occasionally train at Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts in Allston, MA. Former UFC Welterweight John "Doomsday" Howard (who's currently riding a five fight winning streak) also trained/trains at Wai Kru. One day they crossed paths during a sparring session and it didn't exactly turn out to nicely for ol' Tsarnaev. Doomsday legit broke the bomber's nose. “I must have apologized like 20-30 times, and now I wished I had just kept hitting him,” Howard said. We wish you did too Doomsday, we wish you did too.

Props to Dethrone1989 for the find.

[fightingworld]

Here's a video of Carlos Condit doing what Carlos Condit does best. Hurting people. It's an old Pancrase bout between him and a Japanese fighter named Tasunori Tanaka. I've never heard of Tasunori Tanaka before and you probably haven't heard of him either, but that's not really important here. What's important is that this video shows us what Carlos Condit was/is capable of doing under old school Pride rules. Enjoy.

[fightingworld]

A Youtube user going by the name Jerry Rips, somehow managed to get a hold on some audio/video from UFC 145's bout between Miguel Torres and Michael Mcdonald. If you forgot, the bout ended with Mcdonald landing a nasty uppercut right on Torres' chin and Torres subsequently getting knocked out. This video shows the immediate aftermath of the knockout. Torres got concussed so badly, he couldn't remember who we was fighting, what weight he was fighting at, or the punch that did him in, even when his trainer had told him a few seconds beforehand. So, yeah, there's some pretty serious shit in it. If you're the squeamish type, you should probably skip this one. Otherwise watch it as soon as you can, cause Zuffa is probably gonna take it down pretty soon.  Props to Templeton_Peck for the find.

[fightingworld]

One of the judges in the Henderson-Melendez bout is an affiliate of Cesar Gracie.

It's been a few days since Benson Henderson won a controversial split decision over Gilbert Melendez. The result of the fight caused a lot of discussion in the MMA community. For the past we've been talking about incompetence in judging, Henderson's inability to finish fights and alot of other stuff. At this point we've said everything that needed to be said about that fight. Except for one thing. There's one aspect of the fight that hasn't been getting the attention it deserves.

According to Twitter and MMAFighting, one of the judges for  last weeks main event, Wade Vierra, has ties to an academy that is franchised by Cesar Gracie, who incase you don't know is Melendez's head coach.

First off, I want to say that I'm not accusing Vierra of making a biased call. A lot of people scored the fight for Melendez (including me) and it's very possible that Vierra honestly thought Melendez did enough to win. Still, though this sort of thing shouldn't be acceptable. Vierra should have known better to accept judging duties for the fight, and the California State Athletic Commission should have known better than to give it to him. Andy Foster the head of CSAC says he knew about Vierra and he actually defended him being there. "It's more important for me to get the score right than to hire some state worker and get the score wrong," Foster said. "We have a problem with incompetence in this sport, and when you hear people say, 'We need to use fighters; we need to use people that train.' Well, if we do that, they're going to trace back in some respect. You can make a connection anywhere."

I don't really buy that Foster and the rest of the CSAC was fully aware of Vierra's background and if they were, well that just makes it worse. There's so much potential for bad stuff to happen in situations like this. If one other judge gave the fight to Melendez, they'd be in deep shit right now. The CSAC's mishap didn't really affect the fight's result this time, but who's to say what would happen next time.

[fightingworld]

TUF 17 Finale Prelims Recap: Hetser, Samman, Miller and Others Impress.

Josh Samman def. Kevin Casey TKO (knees) R2 2:17 Luke Barnatt def. Collin Hart Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) R3 5:00 Dylan Andrews def. Jimmy Quinlan TKO (punches) R1 3:22 Clint Hester def. Bristol Marunde TKO (elbow) R3 3:53 Cole Miller def. Bart Palaszewski Submission (rear naked choke) R1 4:23 Maximo Blanco def. Sam Sicilia Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) R3 5:00 Daniel Pineda def. Justin Lawrence Submission (kimura) R1 1:35

[fightingworld]

Here's a vid of Latifi in action with some wildy inappropriate background music.

[fightingworld]

Gegard Mousasi has a new opponent for UFC on Fuel 9 and his name is Ilir Latifi

Seems like the UFC has found a replacement opponent for Gegard Mousasi on this weekend's UFC on Fuel 9 main event.  Earlier today, UFC President Dana White tweeted the following

Mousasi will face Iliir Latifa this Saturday live on @FUELTV Latifa is from Sweden and training partner of Gustafsson.

  With a background in Greco-Roman wrestling, Latifi  is 7-2 with 1 no contest and is currently riding a 3 fight win streak. He has a decision win over over former King of the Cage champ Tony Lopez and a decision loss to recent Bellator tournament winner Emanuel Newton.

[nikonmak]

It’s not really surprising but it’s still disapointing. Earlier today, the Swedish MMA Federation announced that top UFC Lightheavyweight Alexander Gustafsson will not be medically cleared to fight in the main event of UFC on Fuel 9 because of a cut he recieved this weeking. Here’s the official...

[fightingworld]

UFC Booking Alert: Edgar vs Olivera, Swanson vs Siver announced for 162

UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby was pretty busy this week. A ton of great match ups were announced over the last few days and alot of them are happening at UFC 162:

Frankie Edgar vs Charles Olivera:  This bout is taking place at UFC 162: Silva vs Weidman. It's a pretty important fight for both guys and really for the Featherweight division as a whole. Edgar is making is return to 145 after his decision loss to Jose Aldo and Olivera is coming off a knockout loss to Cub Swanson. A good rebound fight for Frankie and a bit of a step up in competition for Olivera. Remember, this will be Edgar's first non title bout since 2009 so it'll be interesting to see how he adjusts for a 3 round fight.

Cub Swanson vs Dennis Siver: This fight is taking place at UFC 162. This fight has huge implications for  the 145 division. Swanson is riding a 4 win streak and is coming off an impressive win over Dustin Poirier. Siver is 2-0 since dropping to 145. A win can put either of these guys in title contention.

Also in featherweight news, Dennis Bermudez is taking on Max Holloway at UFC 160. Both these guys are coming in off a 3 fight win streak and both these guys know how to throw down. Should be a good one.

[fightingworld]

Michael Schiavello's pronunciation of Danny Mainus' name at RFA 7 is the funniest thing I've seen in a while. 

[fightingworld]

It Gets Worse: Melvin Guillard is facing assault charges

This goes into the category of "Just when you think it can't get any worse". It has recently come to light that UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard is facing 2 counts of assault in New Mexico. MMAJunkie's Steven Marrocco reports:

According to Bernalillo County (N.M.) court records, Guillard currently faces five charges: two misdemeanor counts of aggravated battery, to which he pled not guilty. Three misdemeanor counts of failure to appear in court were settled. A jury trial on the assault charges is set for April 10, where he faces six months in jail for each count, in addition to fines and probation.

So not only has Melvin been publicly rejected by his former teammates, he's also maybe gonna go to jail. Not a good time for him.

[fightingworld]

Melvin Guillard leaves Blackzillians, returns to Jackson's UPDATE: Or Not

Late Sunday night, UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard announced on twitter that he was leaving the Blackzillians, and returning to his former gym Jackson's MMA. Guillard had been working with the Boca Rotan based gym since he left Greg Jackson's team in mid 2011. Melvin went 1-4 in his time with the Blackzillians.

Update: 

According to MMAjunkie, Jackson MMA doesn't want Guillard back. MMAJunkie's source said that the team was angered by comments made by Guillard in interviews regarding his departure from the camp.

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/03/melvin-guillard-not-welcome-at-team-jackson-winkeljohn-facing-assault-charges

[fightingworld]

World Series of Fighting 2: Arlovski vs Johnson- Recap and Review

Last Saturday's, World Series of Fighting's main event gave us an odd yet compelling match up. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, long time 170 pound contender Anthony "Rumble" Johnson made his debut in the Heavyweight division against former UFC Champion Andrei Arlovski. This very well may have been the most significant fight in the WSOF's short history. If this fight went a certain way it could have easily been regarded as a "freakshow" or "squash" match and that's the probably the last thing a neophyte MMA promotion wants to be known for. Thankfully for the WSOF, Johnson (15-4) proved himself to be a legit Heavyweight. Johnson showed off his skills in the standup, rocking Arlovski (19-10) on many occasions, even coming close to finishing him at the end of the first round. Despite having cardio issues in the second round, Rumble managed to hang on and win a 29-28 unanimous decision. After the fight, Rumble said he planned on returning to light heavyweight, but also noted that he would fight at heavyweight again if his bosses asked him to.

The co-main event of the evening was a bantamweight showdown between Marlon Moraes and Tyson Nam. Both men were coming of huge victories. Moraes (10-4) had just beaten bantamweight mainstay Miguel Torres at the last WSOF card and Nam (12-5) was coming off a surprise knockout over Bellator bantamweight champ Eduardo Dantas . At 2:35 at the firts round Moraes dropped Nam with a huge head kick and finished him off with strikes on the ground. The fight established Moraes not only as a force at 135 but as WSOF's first "home grown" fighter meaning he's the first fighter to establish himself inside the promotion. It'll be interesting to see how WSOF will bring him along.

Paulo FIlho certainly did not impress in his bout that evening. Filho (23-5-2) went up against Renzo Gracie product David Branch in a bout at 185 . Every long time MMA fan knows how dangerous Filho was just a few years ago. A former (and last) WEC champion Filho has wins over  Melvin Manhoef, Ryo Chonan, Kazuo Misaki and current 205 contender Chael Sonnen. The Filho that beat those guys didn't show up on Saturday. Filho seemed disinterested during the fight and offered up virtually no offense. Branch dominated him and picked up a unanimous decision improving his record to 12-5 in the process.

Josh Burkman impressed in his showing. He picked up a victory over former UFC fighter Aaron Simpson. Burkman put Simpson's (12-5) lights out with a powerful knee near the 3 minute mark in the first round.  Burkman improved his record to 25-9 and is now on a 4 fight win streak. He asked for a title shot during the post fight interview but it looks like he'll be taking on another former UFC fighter in Jon Fitch sometime this Summer.

Strikeforce and Dream veteran Gesias (JZ) Cavalcante caught some bad luck in his bout against young up and comer Justin Gaethje. Gaethje opened up a cut over JZ's eye in the first round which caused the fight to be stopped by the ring side doctor. Cavalcante disputed the doctor's decision but regardless Gethje improved his record to 7-0.

[fightingworld]

A blog about dudes punching other dudes in the face.

This blog will follow the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. It'll include event recaps, interviews, opinion pieces and some other things, maybe. I want to put some things on grappling and striking techniques up too.