Monday, January 30, 2012

Video of the Day - Diaz v. Sakurai

Here is Hayato Sakurai fighting Nick Diaz in Dream 14 which took place on 5/29/10 in Saitama, Japan.

Nick Diaz has supposedly retired following his decision loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 143.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Video of the Day - Daley v. Shirai

Here is Paul Daley fighting Yuya Shirai in Bamma 5 which took place on 2/26/2011 in Manchester, UK.

Daley will next fight Kazuo Misaki this Saturday in Strikeforce.

Video of the Day - Nurmagomedov v. Khalilov

Here is Khabib Nurmagomedov fighting Said Khalilov at ProFC 14 which took place on 4/9/11 in Rostov Oblast, Russia.

Nurmagomedov (16-0) is a recent signing of the UFC having won the world sambo championships three times. He makes his promotional debut against Kamal Shalorus at UFC on FX 1.

Video of the Day - Kikuno v. Nagashima

Here is a mixed rules fight between karate fighter Katsunori Kikuno and Yuichiro Nagashima which took place in the Dream organizations "Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka! New Year! 2011," event at the Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan, on 12/31/11.

The first round was fought under K-1 kickboxing rules while the second was under Dream's MMA rules. As you will see, it was a pretty crazy scrap.

Video of the Day - Fernandes v. Banuelos

Here is Bibiano Fernandes fighting Antonio Banuelos for the Dream Bantamweight Grand Prix Finale which took place on 12/31/11 in the Saitama Super Arena.

Fernandes defeated Takafumi Otsuka and Rodolfo Marques Diaz to reach the final. Banuelos defeated Hideo Tokoro and Masakazu Imanari to reach the final.

Video of the Day - Goodridge v. Barry

Here is Pat Barry v. Gary Goodridge in a 2007 K-1 quarterfinal fight. Barry has transitioned well to MMA earning a 2-1 record in the UFC.

Pat will fight Christian Morecraft at UFC on FX 1 tonight.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Bas "El Guapo" Rutten - MMA Legend

Like many, the first time I discovered how great Bas Rutten (28-4) was came after watching his performance in UFC. Bas Rutten has had a long and storied history. He initially decided to get into martial arts after seeing Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. He started in Tae Kwon Do and then Kyokushin Karate. In his twenties, Bas started doing Muay Thai, and started his career with 14 straight KO victories.

Bas' next stop was in the Pancrase organization. His lack of ground game were pretty much the only reason he suffered his four losses, all before 1995. After honing the ground game, Bas was able to win the King of Pancrase three times. He won over Frank Shamrock, Minouru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki.

When he came to the UFC he captured the heavyweight crown over Kevin Randleman in a very controversial decision. His previous UFC bout was a slug it out victory over Tsuyoshi "TK" Kohsaka. Bas' other notable victories are over Yoshiki Takahashi, 3X stoppages of Jason Delucia, Guy Mezger, 2 subs of Maurice Smith, Manabu Yamada and various wins over other Japanese veterens. Watch out for the liver shot!




*The old Pancrase rules allowed for palm strikes to the head while standing and no strikes on the ground.