Thursday, January 24, 2013

Video of the Day - Hioki v. Pearson

Here is Hatsu Hioki fighting Joe Pearson in Shooto: Gig Central 7 which took place on 3/27/05.

Hioki next fights at UFC on Fox 6 against Clay Guida.

Video of the Day - Horodecki v. Njokuani

Here is Chris Horodecki fighting Anthony Njokuani at WEC 45 which took place on 12/19/09 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Horodecki (18-4) who was touted as an MMA prodigy in the International Fight League, would go 2-2 in the WEC and 1-1-1 in Bellator, and currently does not have any fights scheduled.

Njokuani (15-7) made the move from the WEC to the UFC going 2-3 with wins over Andre Winner and John Makdessi. After losing to Rafeal dos Anjos in July of 2012, he has yet to fight again.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

TUF 17 - Round 1 Complete

The first round of TUF 17 wittled the cast from 28 to 14. I was happy about most of the fights, however the way it was edited was really annoying. Instead of letting fights that ended in the first round play out, they jump cut to Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen or Dana White jabbering about the fighters.

Sonnen decided to take the first fighter, and Jones picked Gilbert Smith to fight Luke Barnatt. Luke has a big reach advantage over Gilbert, and will need to keep him on the outside. Josh Samman really wanted to fight first.

TEAM SONNEN

Luke Barnatt (5-0)- The 6'6" English fighter has fought in BAMMA and UWC defeating Lee Johnson (5-2) via submission and won a decision over Ben Callum (5-1). Luke used his reach effectively to win a unanimous decision over Nicholas Hohring (3-0).

Uriah Hall (7-2)- The Jamaican born, New York trained kickboxer's only two losses are to UFC title contenders Constantinos Philippou and Chris Weidman. He has a TKO over Edwin Aguilar in Bellator and is currently on a 3 fight win streak. Hall also competed in Chuck Norris' WCL kickboxing league on the New Jersey Tigers. Hall won a tough decision over Andy Enz (6-1) in the first round of the tournament.

Zak Cummings (15-3)- The Bellator and Strikeforce fighter has fought around the midwest, defeating Terry Martin and Rudy Bears. He has 8 submission wins and 4 TKO wins on his resume. Cummings landed one of the fastest KO's in TUF history, with one punch to Nik Fekete's face.

Tor Troeng (15-4-1)- The Swedish veteran fighter is 11-1 in his last 12 fights only losing to Thales Leites. He has submission wins over Rafeal Silva (38-13) and Mark Weir. Troeng submitted Scott Rosa with a rear naked choke in the opening round.

Jimmy Quinlan (3-0)- The Massachusetts fighter was a successful collegiate wrestler and brown belt in BJJ. 2 of his wins are via first round submission. Shown in highlight form, Quinlan scored takedowns and finished Mike Persons via TKO in the first round.

Kevin Casey (5-2)- From California, Casey is a Rickson Gracie disciple who earned a rear naked choke over Eldon Sproat (3-1) in his TUF fight.

Kelvin Gastelum (4-0)- The 5'9" spark plug has 2 KO's and 2 submissions while fighting less than stellar competition. Kelvin won a razor thin decision over Kito Andrews in the first round.

TEAM JONES

Clint Hester (7-3)- Fighting pro for 4 and half years, the former boxer has several quality wins fighting in the southeast. Hester was 3-3 as a cruiser weight boxing. Hester won a dominant decision over Fraser Opie (10-5) in the opening round.

Josh Samman (9-2)- The Florida fighter and WWFC champ last defeated Bellator vet Mikey Gomez via submission due to punches, and has beat Chris Cope via KO. Samman defeated Leo Bercier via TKO in the first round.

Bubba McDaniel (20-6)- The Elite XC and Bellator veteran has won 6 straight with 15 total submission wins on his resume. He has defeated several legit veterans including Eric Schambari (15-3), Johnny Rees and Kala Hose. Bubba TKO'd Ryan Bigler in the 2nd round of the fight.

Gilbert Smith (5-1)- The muscular Colorado fighter has 4 submission wins. He submitted Eric Wahlin in the first round via arm triangle choke.

Collin Hart (4-1-1)- Colin won the fight via submission in the first round via rear naked choke.

Adam Cella (4-0)- A member of Finney's Hit Squad in Missouri, Cella has a kickboxing background. He has 2 KO's and 2 submissions in the first round. Cella may have gotten slammed pretty hard, but he tapped Jake Heun with an armbar in the first round of his match-up.

Dylan Andrews (16-4-1)- The New Zealander has 10 KO's on his resume fighting at 205 and 185 mainly on the Australian fight circuit. He has a win over Shonie Carter. Andrews won a decision over Tim Williams (7-1) in the opening round.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

UFC Ultimate Ultimate 2013

I recently got an email regarding who the best 10 fighters are in the UFC if there were no weight classes. That got me in the mood of the mid 90's and I began to construct a tournament of my own.

Since there are athletic commissions now, I have instituted one tournament for above 206 pound fighters and another for 185 and under. I'm playing UFC's match-maker Joe Silva's job, so only Zuffa fighters under contract are eligible, sorry Josh Barnett.

The emailer thought that Jon Jones could beat almost every heavyweight UFC, but some might be able to "get their fat" on them. Jones would come in as the fastest 235 or so and would likely have a reach advantage on most. I would think a big grappler who could get on the inside and force the clinch could have success on Jones.

I have seeded with current actual UFC match-ups in mind. Since we are in 2013, the tournament would run over 4 events over the course of a year.

UU 13 - Open Weight 206+

1. Cain Velasquez- 11-1, Current UFC HW Champ
16. Rashad Evans- 17-2-1, UFC LHW Champ

8. Stefan Struve- 25-5, 9-3 UFC
9. Mark Hunt- 8-7, K-1 GP Champ

5. Daniel Cormier- 10-0, SF HW Champ
12. Frank Mir- 16-6, former UFC HW champ

4. Alistair Overeem- 36-11, SF/Dream/K-1 WH Champ
13. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva- 17-4, Elite XC Champ

3. Junior Dos Santos- 15-2, UFC HW Champ
14. Phil Davis- 10-1, NCAA Champ

6. Fabricio Werdum- 16-5, ADCC 99KG+ Champ
11. Antonio Noguiera- 34-7-1, Pride HW Champ

7. Dan Henderson-29-8, Pride Champ
10. Lyoto Machida- 18-3, UFC LHW Champ

15. Chael Sonnen- 27-12-1, rightful WEC MW Champ
2. Jon Jones- 17-1, Current UFC LHW Champ

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Ultimate Ultimate 13 - 185 and Under

Continuing on with the Ultimate Ultimate Open Weight tournament idea, I have crafted a bracket for 185 pound and under fighters.

UU 13 - 185

1. Anderson Silva- 33-4, Current UFC MW Champ
16. Winner- Josh Koscheck v. Robbie Lawler

8. Carlos Condit- 28-6, WEC WW Champ
9. Rory MacDonald- 14-1, 5-1 UFC

5. Luke Rockhold- 10-1, SF MW Champ
12. Jake Shields- 27-6, SF/Elite XC Champ

4. Chris Weidman- 9-0, 5-0 UFC
13. Vitor Belfort- 22-10, UFC LHW Champ

3. Yushin Okami- 28-7, 12-4 UFC
14. Hector Lombard- 32-3, Bellaotr MW Champ

6. Johnny Hendricks- 14-1, NCAA Champ
11. Jake Ellenberger- 28-6, 7-2 UFC

7. Demian Maia- 17-4, ADCC Champ
10. Jon Fitch- 24-4, 14-2-1 UFC

15. Nick Diaz- 26-8, SF/Elite XC Champ
2. Georges St. Pierre- 23-2, UFC WW Champ

Video of the Day - Cormier v. Fekete

Here is Daniel Cormier wrestling against Nik Fekete at the US Nationals in 2008. Cormier next fights Frank Mir at UFC on Fox 7. Fekete will next be seen on TUF 17 fighting at 185.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Video of the Day - Elliott v. Rave

Here is Tim Elliot fighting Josh Rave at RFA 2 which took place on 3/30/12 in Kearney, Nebraska. The fight features one of the nastiest submissions of the year.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

20+ Fighters Who Went 3-0 or Better in 2012

In this day and age, it seems that fewer and fewer fighters are getting 3 solid fights per year. As you can see, Bellator has given several fighters the opportunity to get more than three fights.

Unfortunately I do keep finding more, so feel free to mention in the comments any pro fighters with three legit MMA wins without a loss that are documented on MMA fighter databases 12 2012. Here is a look at some notable fighters who went undefeated in 2012:

Mark Striegl (6-0 in 2012): The undefeated 12-0 Filipino fighter worked his way around the Pacific Rim submitting Harris Sarmiento, Robert Wusstig, Alcer Lozada, Marko Huusansaari, Mohd Al Hafiz and Ev Ting.

Andrey Koreshkov (5-0 in 2012): The Russian welterweight won the Bellator tournament and two other bouts in Bellator with KO's over TUF vet Kyacey Uscola, Taiwan Howard, Derrick Krantz, Jordan Smith, Marius Žaromskis and Lyman Good for the BW tourney title.

Alexander Volkov (5-0 in 2012): The lanky 6-7 heavyweight won the Bellator HW championship and tournament, defeating Ricco Rodriguez, Stefan Stankovic, Brett Rogers, Vinicius Kappke de Queiroz and Richard Hale. The Richard Hale championship fight was extremely slow, don't re-watch that.

Smealinho Rama (5-0 in 2012): The Canadian heavyweight got his career off to a perfect 5-0 in 2012. Rama registered submissions over Ryan Fortin, Jordan Tracey and Craig Hudson, while TKO'ing Lee Mein and Demetrius Seguin. Expect to see him in the MFC promotion this in 2013.

Jeff Monson (5-0-1 in 2012): The former HW ADCC champ bounced back from a crushing loss to Fedor in 2011 with 5 wins and a draw in 2012. Monson notched wins over Alexey Oleinik, Jim York, Denis Komkin, Alexander Emelianenko and Dong Gook Kang.

Matt Brown (4-0 in 2012): After going 1-4 in 2010 and 2011, Brown stormed through the competition in 2012, earning 3 TKO/KO's and pulling off a couple big upsets. Brown started the year TKO'ing Chris Cope, winning a unanimous decision over Stephen Thompson and TKO'ing Luis Ramos before upsetting Mike Swick via KO.
Photobucket
(Matt Brown Pictured)

Daniel Straus (4-0 in 2012): The wrestler won 4 times in Bellator beating Jeremy Spoon and Mike Corey before defeating Marlon Sandro for the featherweight tourney title. Straus tacked on an additional win at Bellator 78 by submitting BJJ black belt Alvin Robinson.

Jessica Eye (4-0 in 2012): Eye had an outstanding 2012, capped off with dominating Bellator champ Zoila Gurgel via submission. Her other wins were over Kelly Warren, Anita Rodriguez and Angela Magana.

Lyle Beerbohm (4-0 in 2012): Fancy Pants bounced back from 2 straight losses in 2011 with 3 submission wins and 1 decision win in 2012. Beerbohm defeated Cleburn Walker, Chris Ensley, Marcus Aurelio and Kenny Ento.

Trevor Prangley (4-0 in 2012): The grappler had a resurgence in King of the Cage in 2012, capturing their 205 pound title with a majority decision win over Tony Lopez. He notched 3 additional wins over Baga Agaev, Mike Cook and George Stork.

Joe Riggs (4-0 in 2012): The UFC veteran had a comeback year in 2012 with four finishes. He armbarred Aaron Brink before KO's over Shane Johnson, Josh Cavan and Chris Leyva.

Sergio Pettis (4-0 in 2012): Anthony Pettis' younger brother kept his undefeated career intact with victories over Mike Lindquist, Chris Haney, Tom McKenna and Jimmy Jones.

Benson Henderson (3-0 in 2012): Henderson will win most fighter of the year awards going 3-0 in 2012, winning the UFC lightweight title against Frank Edgar, and defending against Edgar and Nate Diaz.


Shah Bobonis (3-0 in 2012): The high energy fighter followed up his 2011 Bellator victory over Marcos da Matta with victories over Mexico's Rodolfo Rubio, Aaron Williams and the previously undefeated Cornelius Godfrey.

Stefan Struve (3-0 in 2012): The massive heavyweight showed off improved technical striking in 2012 with KO's over Dave Herman and Stipe Miocic while using his lanky frame to lock in an armbar over Lavar Johnson. He'll fight Mark Hunt at UFC on Fuel 8 next.

Mike Pyle (3-0 in 2012): The 37 year old had his best year as a professional with TKO's over James Head and Ricardo Funch and a nasty KO over Josh Neer.

Cub Swanson (3-0 in 2012): Seemingly injury free, Swanson was lights out in 2012, accurate and technical with his striking knocking out George Roop, Ross Pearson and Charles Oliveira.

Constantinos Philippou (3-0 in 2012): The surging 185 pound fighter thrust himself into title contention by notching 3 UFC wins with decisions over Court McGee and Riki Fukuda before TKO'ing Tim Boetsch.

Francis Carmont (3-0 in 2012): The lanky and powerful Carmont now has won 9 fights in a row, taking two dominating submission wins over Magnus Cedenblad and Karlos Vemola in the UFC before a lackluster decision over Tom Lawlor.

Chris Camozzi (3-0 in 2012): Camozzi bounced back from a 2011 decision loss to Francis Carmont to submit Dustin Jacoby, TKO Nick Catone and defeat Luiz Cane via decision in 2012.

Karl Amoussou (3-0 in 2012): The Strikeforce veteran traveled to Bellator to defeat Chris Lozano via rear naked choke, David Rickels via decision and then Bryan Baker via inverted heel hook to take the tourney title. The heel hook submission over Baker was one of the year's best.

Erik Perez (3-0 in 2012): The Mexican bantamweight excelled in 2012 getting three UFC wins including TKO's over Bryan Bloodworth and Ken Stone with a verbal armbar submission over John Albert.

Rick Hawn (3-0 in 2012): The Olympic judoka bounced back from a loss to Jay Hieron to take the 155 pound Bellator tourney title with KO's over Ricardo Tirloni and Lloyd Woodard before a decision win over Brent Weedman for the tourney title.

Rustam Khabilov (3-0 in 2012): The Sambo specialist made a statement in his first UFC bout, suplexing Vinc Pichel into oblivion. He had two other victories in 2012 came over Rodrigo Ribeiro and Jason Dent.

Maiquel Falcao (3-0 in 2012): The Bellator Season 6 middleweight tournament champ defeated Norman Paraisy, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky and Andreas Spang via unanimous decision in 2012.

Marcin Held (3-0 in 2012): The Polish submission grappler cruised to the final of the Bellator season 7 lightweight tournament. He submitted Derrick Kennington via heel hook before winning a decision over Murad Machaev and submitting UFC veteran Rich Clementi via toe hold. He next fights Dave Jansen for the Bellator LW tourney championship.

Dave Jansen (3-0 in 2012): The American WEC veteran picked up his 5th straight win in Bellator 2012 winning via decision over Jacob Kirwan and Ricardo Tirloni while submitting Magomed Saadulaev.

Tim Means (3-0 in 2012): The striker pushed his win streak to 10 with 2 UFC wins in 2012. He began the year TKO'ing Tye Brown before UFC wins over Bernardo Magalhaes and Justin Salas.

Marcos Galvao (3-0 in 2012): The BJJ blackbelt bounced back in 2012 taking the 135 pound Bellator tournament by defeating Ed West and Travis Marx by decision before TKO'ing Luis Nogueira.

Conor McGregor (3-0 in 2012): Pushing his win streak to 8 overall, McGregor picked up 3 wins in the Cage Warriors Fighting Championships in 2012. The CWFC featherweight champ submitted Dave Hill while earning KO's against Steve O'Keefe and Ivan Buchinger.

Josh Burkman (3-0 in 2012): Burkman bounced back from a 2011 loss to Jordan Mein with decisions over Koffi Adzitso and Gerald Harris with a guillotine choke win over Jamie Yager.

Daisuke Nakamura (3-0 in 2012): The grappling ace competed exclusively in Deep in 2012, TKO'ing Takafumi Ito before decision wins over Akihiro Gono and Yasuaki Kishimoto.

Melvin Manhoef (3-0 in 2012): The kickboxing powerhouse scored a devastating KO over Denis Kang at the Dream NYE show, KO'd Ryo Kawamura and a split decision over Jae Young Kim.

Will Brooks (3-0 in 2012): Brooks (8-0 overall) picked up his biggest win of his career on NYE as he won against Satoru Kitaoka via TKO in Dream, his other wins were against Drew Dober via decision and Taurean Bogguess.

Ryan Ford (3-0 in 2012): Ford won twice in Bellator, once in AMMA, KO'ing Ricky Goodell and Luis Santos before winning a decision over Kyle Baker.

Nick Newell (3-0 in 2012): The one-armed fighter improved his record to 9-0 with 3 wins in 2012, including victories over Chris Coggins, David Mays and Erik Reynolds to capture the XFC championship.

Eric Kelly (3-0 in 2012): The Filipino fighter won twice in One FC in 2012 against Jens Pulver and Bae Young Kwon before submitting Brad Terrey via armbar.

Georgi Karakhanyan (3-0 in 2012): Georgi picked up a win in Dream NYE to get his 3rd of 2012, earning a split decision over Hiroyuki Takaya. He also won a decision over Micah Miller and KO over Aaron Mobley.

Felice Herrig (3-0 in 2012): The Lil Bulldog had her best year in 2012, winning two decisions over Patricia Vidonic and one over Simona Soukupova in XFC.

Amy Coleman (3-0 in 2012): Coleman will look to get on some bigger shows in 2013, after picking up wins over Cara Dickey, Catie Dorman and Brandy Davis in 2012.

Michael Mucitelli (3-0 in 2012): Pushing his record to 4-0 in 2012, Mucitelli picked up two wins in Bellator over Matt VanBuren and Matthew Uhde and one over Eddie Hardison in Matrix Fights. All wins were via submission.

Ante Delijja (3-0 in 2012): The Croatian heavyweight pushed his record to 6-0 picking up his biggest win to date over former UFC champ Ricco Rodriguez via decision and also submitted Kristof Nataska and Zeli Zalani in 2012.

Stav Economou (3-0 in 2012): The Crazy Bear had a solid 2012 submitting Deividas Banaitis and Tomasz Czerwinski while winning a decision over Ricco Rodriguez.

Piotr Hallman (3-0 in 2012): The Polish lightweight WFC champ pushed his win streak to 7 by earning 2 TKO's over Vaso Bakocevic and Jarkko Latomaki while submitting Kevin Donnelly.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

TUF 17 Cast

It appears the "wildcard" is back for the 17th installment of The Ultimate Fighter as the UFC released the 28 preliminary 185 pound TUF fighters.

The debut episode will be a two hour affair for the middleweightfighters to get into the house. Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen are the coaches, and you can be sure Sonnen will be talking major trash throughout the season.

My initial thoughts on the cast is that there are several decent veterans along with some unknown undefeated fighters. There are some interesting prospects who have big time knockout power. One fighter is rumored to have the whole house scared to fight him.

Uriah Hall (7-2)- The Jamaican born, New York trained kickboxers only two losses are to UFC title contenders Constantinos Philippou and Chris Weidman. He has a TKO over Edwin Aguilar in Bellator and is currently on a 3 fight win streak. Hall also competed in Chuck Norris' WCL kickboxing league on the New Jersey Tigers.

Tor Troeng (15-4-1)- The Swedish veteran fighter is 11-1 in his last 12 fights only losing to Thales Leites. He has submission wins over Rafeal Silva (38-13) and Mark Weir.

Zak Cummings (15-3)- The Bellator and Strikeforce fighter has fought around the midwest, defeating Terry Martin and Rudy Bears. He has 8 submission wins and 4 TKO wins on his resume.

Nik Fekete (5-1)- An All-American wrestler out of Michigan State, Fekete suffered his lone defeat via submission in Bellator. He has fought primarily at 205, picking up wins over Ovince St. Preux and Mark Griffin in Bellator.

Bubba McDaniel (20-6)- The Elite XC and Bellator veteran has won 6 straight with 15 total submission wins on his resume. He has defeated several legit veterans including Eric Schambari (15-3), Johnny Rees and Kala Hose.

Dylan Andrews (16-4-1)- The New Zealander has 10 KO's on his resume fighting at 205 and 185 mainly on the Australian fight circuit. He has a win over Shonie Carter.

Luke Barnatt (5-0)- The 6'6" English fighter has fought in BAMMA and UWC defeating Lee Johnson (5-2) via submission and won a decision over Ben Callum (5-1).

Josh Samman (9-2)- The Florida fighter and WWFC champ last defeated Bellator vet Mikey Gomez via submission due to punches, and has beat Chris Cope via KO.

Mike Jasper (6-0)- The Elite MMA fighter has won twice in BAMMA USA, last defeating Manny Murillo (previously undefeated at 4-0) via split decision.

Adam Cella (4-0)- A member of Finney's Hit Squad in Missouri, Cella has a kickboxing background. He has 2 KO's and 2 submissions in the first round.

Jake Heun (3-2)- The former fullback and linebacker at the University of Hawaii has fought exclusively at heavyweight during his career, only losing to NCAA champ Mark Ellis and undefeated Richard Odoms. He has tons of power, but is very raw with 2 KO wins and 1 submission on his resume.

Timothy Williams (7-1)- The "Southside Strangler" has 5 wins via choke submission and 2 TKO's. Williams has defeated UFC veteran Andrea Gusmao, Bellator veteran Tiawan Howard and Joey Kirwin. His only loss is to UFC vet Dustin Jacoby.

Scott Rosa (4-1)- The 6'6" normally fights at 205 and has KO'd UFC vet James Irvin.

Kito Andrews (9-2)- Fighting primarily on the west coast, the oldest fighter in the cast at 34 years of age, has won 7 straight.

Leo Bercier (7-2)- The Montana trained fighter and Native American swings for the fences and has 6 KO wins.

Jimmy Quinlan (3-0)- The Massachusetts fighter was a successful collegiate wrestler and brown belt in BJJ. 2 of his wins are via first round submission.

Nicholas Hohring (3-0)- The Cesar Gracie fight team member in undefeated but hasn't fought since 2010.

Kelvin Gastelum (4-0)- The 5'9" spark plug has 2 KO's and 2 submissions while fighting less than stellar competition.

Eldon Sproat (3-1)- Not one of the Hawaiin brawler's fights have gone past 2:14 in the first round.

Clint Hester (7-3)- Fighting pro for 4 and half years, the former boxer has several quality wins fighting in the southeast.

Gilbert Smith (5-1)- The Colorado fighter has 4 submission wins.

Andy Enz, (6-1), 21, Anchorage, Ala.
Collin Hart (4-1-1), 23, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Eric Wahlin (5-1), 29, Taylorsville, Utah
Ryan Lee Q. Bigler (9-3), 28, Guam
Fraser Opie (10-5), 25, Milton Keynes, England
Kevin Casey (5-2), 31, Hawthorne, Calif.

Video of the Day - Manhoef v. Kang

Here is Melvin Manhoef fighting Denis Kang at Dream NYE 2012 which took place on 12/31/12 at the Saitama Super Arena.