Archive for December, 2010

One thing every MMA fan learns pretty early on is this sport is unpredictable.  You might think you know, but you don’t.  You don’t know a fighter’s mindset, you don’t know how they’ve trained, you don’t know if they’re hurt, and for the most part you don’t know how their style will match up with their opponent’s.  Clay Guida beat Rafael Dos Anjos, so does that mean wrestling beats jiu-jitsu?  Don’t tell that to the Chael Sonnen Demian Maia fight.  There are literally hundreds of contradictory examples like this to choose from.  We may think we know, but we have [...]

2010 saw it’s fair share of awful decisions. With all the focus now on judges and officials, the Las Vegas Sun released the names of the referee and judges for the UFC 125: Resolution main event. The headlining bout is a lightweight championship bout between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Referee Yves Lavigne was selected Monday by the Nevada Athletic Commission to referee Saturday’s lightweight championship match between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar in UFC 125 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The commission also selected judges Patricia Morse-Jarman, Marcos Rosales and Glenn Trowbridge to score the fight.

Clay Guida talks about his family, his blue collar work ethic, and living in an RV down by the river. Video courtesy of FIGHT! Magazine.

For some people, the judgement call as to the personhood of UFC President and MMA celebrity Dana White is still up in the air. But beneath all his salty language and harsh attitude, it seems that there exists a soft, kind-hearted benevolent side. And I’m really thankful to have seen it. I’m a Dana fan myself.   Sure, there have been many times when I wished he would ‘PG’ his language and be a little, well maybe a lot, more tame in his personality. And I wish my son could watch some UFC broadcasts with me… without hearing words I [...]

Todd Duffee recently turned down a chance to fight under the Strikeforce banner and face Antonio Silva. He politely declined the fight and is now scheduled to fight TUF alum Abe Wagner in the headline bout at Titan Fighting Championship on January 29th. However, in the past day there has been an interesting turn. Duffee posted on Facebook, “Todd Duffee Have no plans on NYE?! Dream Dynamite 2010 : Duffee VS Overeem on HDnet!!!” The comment seems to have been deleted since then, but it was there and is cause for discussion. Is Duffee really that interested in ending his [...]

In an anticlimactic announcement by Strikeforce, Nick Diaz is set to face off against Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in San Jose, California for the organization’s January 29th show. The bout will be for Diaz’s welterweight title and is likely to serve and the event’s main event of the evening. After the build up to a potential showdown against Mayhem Miller finally haulted, Diaz had to take a fight. Unfortunately for the fans, there would be more intrigue if Diaz was facing off against women’s champion and Evangelista Cyborg’s wife, Cris. Cyborg is only 3-2 in his last five fights and 5-5 [...]

USA TODAY talks to UFC president Dana White. He also discusses “johnny come lately’s” trying to enter MMA, the need to “dive in and see which guys are judging fights the right way”. He believes that the Nam Phan-Leonard Garcia “woke some people up” in Nevada about the need to improve judging. And the talk of the UFC “peaking” is “pretty stupid”.

At WEC 53, Anthony Pettis challenged champion Ben Henderson and became the final WEC lightweight champion via unanimous decision. Pettis also becomes the number one contender for the UFC 155-pound belt. The most significant thing to come from the bout, however, was an unbelievable head kick that Pettis landed which looked like something out of a movie. Words cannot describe one of the most stunning acts of athleticism I have seen in sports. Quite possibly a defining moment for MMA in the mainstream media. This will HAVE to be on ESPN and their Top Ten plays on SportsCenter. Have a [...]

World Extreme Cagefighting is coming to an end. Tonight marks the final event in the promotion’s history before they fold in to the UFC. As can be expected from a final card in promotional history, WEC 53 is stacked from top to bottom and finishes off with a championship double-header. In the main event, lightweight champion Ben Henderson puts his strap on the line against exciting striker Anthony Pettis. The winner of this bout earns a chance to face off against the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard in what will be a title unification bout. Co-main event honors [...]

Koepfer is now urging all members of the New York MMA community to start writing their representative. To this end, he is now hosting several template letters for MMA fans, related business owners, coaches, and promoters to concisely express support for mixed martial arts to their government. Each template letter is written with blank spaces for interested parties to include their individual information and send to their State Senator or Assemblyman. Links to the different templates, below (USCombatSports.com): Gym owner’s letter: http://ussambo.com/mmany/gymletter.doc Business owner’s letter: http://ussambo.com/mmany/businessletter.doc Promoter’s letter: http://ussambo.com/mmany/promoterletter.doc Fan’s Letter: http://ussambo.com/mmany/fanletter.doc To find out who your local Senator and Assembly person is and [...]