Sunday, September 29, 2013

Video of the Day - Anderson v. Machine

Here is Vaughn Anderson fighting War Machine at Bellator 100 which took place on 9/20/13 in Phoenix, Arizona.

War Machine will next fight Ron Keslar at Bellator 104. War Machine currently has a three fight win streak and is dating Christy Mack, a porn star.

Video of the Day - O'Grady v. Kitaoka

Here is Dom O'Grady (15-6) fighting Satoru Kitaoka (32-12) at Pancrase 252 which took place on 9/29/13 in Yokohama, Japan.

Video of the Day - Pearson v. Kanehara

Here is Masanori Kanehara (23-10) fighting Joe Pearson (48-18) at Pancrase 252 which took place on 9/29/13 in Yokohama, Japan.

Kanehara is riding a 6 fight win streak, and has career wins over UFC veterans Chan Sung Jung, Michihiro Omigawa and Kid Yamamoto.

Pearson has 39 career submission victories, 20 via triangle, while competing primarily in the midwest fight circuit. He has submission wins over Yoshiro Maeda (30-13), Jay Estrada (23-9) and John Strawn (38-12).

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Video of the Day - Hassan v. Ngalani

Here is kickboxer Alain Ngalani fighting Mahmoud "Hellboy" Hassan at One FC 10 which took place on 9/13/13 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Ngalani, a Kyokushin Karate black belt, has accumulated many Muay Thai and kickboxing titles over the years. He has defeated Michael McDonald, Carter Williams and Bob Sapp in kickboxing bouts. The fight starts around the 4 minute mark.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

MMA World Grand Prix!

Rather than having the Olympics butcher MMA, why not an MMA World Grand Prix held outside the Olympic banner?

A World Grand Prix could consist of eight countries competing over three events that are spread out over four months. The rule-set would be the unified rules without elbows to the face of a downed opponent in an effort to reduce cuts. You could have weight classes from 135 up to heavyweight and a women's competitor.

The biggest challenge would be getting the best fighters in the world. As such, the competition would probably have to be co-promoted by the UFC, Strikeforce, One FC, M-1, Shooto and Bellator. If each promotion would be able to make money from the event, promoters might be agree to the idea.

We could see teams from Brazil, USA, Canada, Japan/South Korea, Russia, United Kingdom/Netherlands/Sweden, and Australia/New Zealand. Have the 8 team tournament fights play out over 3 events in 4 months like the old IFL. Allow teams to substitute fighters in if injuries occur. What country would win it all?

For the teams I've compiled below, you can qualify for the team if you were born in the country, are a citizen of the country, have a parent born in that country, or have trained or lived in the country for six months or more. I'm trying to compile two fighters per weight classes in case of injury. I'm working on the list right now, if you have suggestions, please post below.

BRAZIL

Captain and Head Coach: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

135- Renan Barao, Bibiano Fernandes (OneFC)
145- Jose Aldo, Pitbull Freire
155- Gleisen Tibau, Thiago Tavares
170- Demien Maia, Thiago Alves
185- Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort
205- Shogun Rua, Lyoto Machida
265- Junior Dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum
Women's 135- Amanda Nunes (Invicta), Vanessa Porto

UNITED STATES

Captain and Head Coach: Randy Couture

135- Urijah Faber, Michael McDonald
145- Pat Curran, Chad Mendes
155- Ben Henderson, Gilbert Melendez
170- Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks
185- Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold
205- Jon Jones, Dan Henderson
265- Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier
Women's 135- Ronda Rousey, Meisha Tate

TEAM FAR EAST: Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines
Captain and Head Coach: Kazushi Sakuraba

135- Takeya Mizugaki, Masanori Kanehara
145- Hatsu Hioki, Chang Sung Jung "Korean Zombie" (S Korea)
155- Shinya Aoki, Takonori Gomi
170- Dong Hyun "Stun Gun" Kim (S Korea), BJ Penn (Korea/USA)
185- Yushin Okami, Riki Fukuda, Cung Le (Vietnam)
205- Brandon Vera (Philippines), Satoshi Ishii
265- Josh Barnett (Japan/USA)
Women's 135- Rin Nakai (11-0, Pancrase/GCM), Hitomi Akano

TEAM CANADA
Canada Pictures, Images and Photos
Captain and Head Coach: Carlos Newton

135- Yves Jaboin (Canada/Haiti), Ivan Menjivar (Canada/El Salvador)
145- Antonio Carvalho, Chris Horodecki
155- TJ Grant, Mark Bocek
170- Georges St. Pierre, Rory Macdonald, Claude Patrick
185- Nick Ring, Francis Carmont (France/Canada), Pat Cote
205- Ryan Jimmo, Krzysztof Soszynski (Poland/Canada)
265- Steve Bosse, Smealinho Rama (6-0)
Women's 135- Sarah Kaufman, Alexis Davis

TEAM RUSSIA: Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Lithuania

Captain and Head Coach: Fedor Emelianenko

135- Azamat Gashimov (Russia)
145- Dennis Siver (Russia/Germany), Deividas Taurosevičius (Lithuania)
155- Khabib Nurmagomedov, Alex Sarnavskiy
170- Marius Zaromskis (Lithuania), Magomed Shikshabekov
185- Alexander Shlemenko, Karlos Vemola (Czech Republic/UK), Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (17-2, Bellator, Russia)
205- Gegard Mousasi (Armenia), Vladimir Matyushenko (Belarus), Igor Pokrajac (Croatia)
265- Alexander Volkov, Stipe Miocic (Croatia/US), Sergei Kharitonov
Women's 135- Milana Dudieva

TEAM WEST EUROPE: United Kingdom, France
United Kingdom Pictures, Images and Photos
Captain and Head Coach: Ian Freeman

135- Brad Pickett, Vaughn Lee
145- Ross Pearson, Andy Ogle
155- Terry Etim, Paul Sass
170- Dan Hardy, John Hathaway
185- Michael Bisping, Tom Watson
205- Jim Manuwa (UK/Nigeria), Cyrille Diabate (France),
265- Cheick Kongo (France), Philip De Fries (UK)
Women's 135- Rosi Sexton (125), Aisling Daly (125)

TEAM SCANDANAVIA: Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Iceland
Fjord Farm Pictures, Images and Photos
Captain and Head Coach: Bas Rutten

135- Sirwan Kakai (Finland), Mikael Silander (Finland)
145- Joachim Hansen (Norway), Bart Palaszewski (Poland)
155- Reza Madadi (Sweden/Iran), Anton Kuivanen (Finland)
170- Martin Kampmann (Denmark), Gunnar Nelson (Iceland), Pascal Krause (Germany)
185- Mamed Khalidov (Poland/Russia), Tor Troeng (Sweden)
205- Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden), Marcus Vanttinen (Finland)
265- Alistair Overeem (Holland), Stefan Struve (Holland)
Women's 135- Marloes Coenen (Holland), Shiela Gaff (Germany 125)

TEAM AUSTRALASIA: Australia, New Zealand

Captain and Head Coach: Ray Sefo

135- Michael Mortimer
145- Daniel Hooker, Richie Vaculick
155- George Sotoropolis, Adrian Pang
170- Kyle Noke, Brian Ebersole (USA/Australia)
185- Hector Lombard (Australia/Cuba), Dylan Andrews (15-4, NZ)
205- James Te Huna, Anthony Perosh
265- Mark Hunt (NZ), Soa Palelei
Women's 135- Kate Aroa, Fiona Muxlow

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Video of the Day - Pitbull v. Borba

Here is Patricio "Pitbull" Freire fighting Vinicius Borba Zani on 9/26/09 in the Eagle Fighting Championships in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Pitbull KO'd Diego Nunes at Bellator 99 in the opening round of Bellator's featherweight tournament.

Video of the Day - Arlovski v. Cole

Here is Andre Arlovski fighting Devin Cole at World Series of Fighting 1 which took place on 11/3/12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Arlovski (19-10) captured a decision victory over Mike Kyle at WSOF 5.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Video of the Day - Fifty Fists

Here is Andrew Jenks of "World of Jenks" documenting the lead-up to Anthony "Showtime" Pettis' fight with Danny Castillo at WEC 47.

Pettis (17-2) defeated Benson Henderson at UFC 164 with an armbar, capturing the lightweight title.