Video of the Day - Riggs v. Grove

Here is Joe Riggs fighting Kendall Grove at Pro Elite - Arlovski v. Lopez which took place on 8/27/11 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Longtime MMA vet Joe Riggs (40-14) was the tournament champion of Bellator's Fight Master reality show. He defeated Rob Mills, Eric Scallan, Evan Cutts, Cole Williams then Mike Bronzoulis in the final. Since winning the show, Riggs had an injury setback and does not currently have a fight scheduled. Riggs has career wins over Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle, Phil Baroni and famous MMA ref Herb Dean.

TUF 3 champion Kendall Grove will next fight Brett Cooper in the Bellator Season 10 middleweight tournament on March 28th. Grove went 7-6 in the UFC, notching submissions over Alan Belcher and NCAA champ Jake Rosholt, while capturing decisions over Evan Tanner, Ed Herman and Goran Reljic.

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.

(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.

Video of the Day - Grove v. Riggs II

Here is Kendall Grove fighting Joe Riggs in Pro Elite on 8/27/11 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Strikeforce - Shields and Rogers

Despite the announcing crew declaring Jake Shields and Brett Rogers major underdogs who would be knocked out quite easy, the opposite proved true at Saturday's Strikeforce event.

Five fights made the broadcast, starting off with decision victories for Mike Whitehead and Joe Riggs. Riggs broke both hands in his fight with Phil Baroni. Whitehead outpointed Kevin Randleman and ate a big shot in the third, but worked through it.

Nick Diaz def Scott Smith via Sub (Rear-Naked Choke) R3, 1:41- Diaz played with Smith throughout the bout, landing strikes from all angles. In the third, Diaz was able to utilize his ground game and get the choke.

Brett Rogers def Andrei Arlovski via TKO (Punches) R1, 0:22- Brett Rogers came out to answer the step up in competition, fighting to get his family a new house. The big bruiser, pushing 262 pounds, struck Arlovski square in the face, and didn't stop, punishing Arlovski as his eyes rolled back and Big John McCarthy stepped in.

Jake Shields def Robbie Lawler via Sub (Guillotine) R1, 2:02- Jake Shields made a resounding splash at 182 pounds. He landed some kicks while taking punches from Robbie Lawler. Shields attempted a takedown, but was denied. At that point Gus Johnson and Mauro Ranallo(announcers) gave the fight to Lawler. However, as Lawler fought off another takedown with an underhook, Shields sunk in a tight guillotine choke and ended the fight.


(Jake Shields pictured, non-title fight against Lawler)

Mike Whitehead def Kevin Randleman via Dec (Unanimous)
Joe Riggs def Phil Baroni via Dec (Unanimous)
Jesse Finney def Josh Bumgarner via sub (keylock) R1, 1:55
Mike Kyle def Rafael Cavalcante via TKO (strikes) R2, 4:05
Booker DeRousse def James Wade via TKO (strikes) R1, 4:06
Lucas Lopes def Scott Ventimiglia via DQ (illegal knee) R1, 3:26
Pat Benson def Dave Cochran via sub (triangle choke) R1, 2:18
Tyron Woodley def Salvoder Woods via sub (north-south choke) R1, 4:20

Strikeforce - At the Dome February 23rd

Bodog Presents: Strikeforce at the Dome - Preview by the MMA Blaster

+I'll put out the results once I see most of the fights. So far they have been hard to find.+

The most recent installment comes at us this Saturday, February 23rd from Tacoma, Washington. While this card doesn't have the star power of the March 29th Shamrock v. Le card, there will be some exciting fights. There is a decent article on the Strikeforce website, but the records they use are a bit decieving. I think they integrate kickboxing and boxing records with MMA record, so I'm not using that. The event will be broadcast live on HDNet at 10:30 Eastern time.

Main Card:
Jan Nortje (1-5) v. Bob Sapp (9-2-1)- There will be some serious weight pushed around for this one. Bob Sapp overpowered his last opponent, Bobby Ologun (2-2) in a K-1 event in Japan. That was Sapp's first fight since 2005. While Sapp is a massive 6'5" weighing 300 pounds, Nortje is 6'10" and weighs upwards of 300 pounds as well. Strikeforce has Nortje's record as (25-17, I'm guessing that is K-1 kickboxing) and claims he is an undefeated boxer. I'm guessing that Sapp will try to take down Nortje and ground and pound. Hopefully these two don't destroy the cage.

Maurice Smith (11-10) v. Rick "The Jet" Roufus (0-0)- Ex UFC heavyweight champ Mo Smith is also a former K1 North American kickboxing champ. Strikefore lists his record at (73-20-4, I'm guessing K-1 record). Roufus is a six-time world kickboxing champion and former World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas champion, the Strikeforce listed record of (57-7) is probably a kickboxing record. Look for the two fighters to stand and trade. Someone will probably end up KO'd.



Joe Riggs (27-9) v. Cory Devela (7-1)- UFC vet Riggs is coming off an impressive win at the Strikeforce Playboy event over Eugene Jackson (15-8). Riggs dominated Jackson knocking him out in the first round. Devela's last outing saw him win a decision over UFC vet Lodune Sincaid (12-6). Devela's only loss was to UFC vet Ed Herman.

Jorge Masvidal (12-2) v. Ryan Healy (9-2-1)- Since Healy's loss to Razor Rob in the WEC he has bounced back with two TKO wins over Robbie Shamrock (0-1) and Ryan Bixler (13-4). Masvidal has been on a tear since his loss to Paul Rodriguez, winning 6 straight (3 in Bodog, 1 in Strikeforce) including wins over Yves Edwards (33-13), Matt Lee (9-7), Steve Berger (18-17) and Keith Wisniewski (22-12).

Brad Blackburn (10-9-1) v. Ray Perales (9-13)- IFL vet Blackburn actually KO'd IFL welterweight champ Jay Hieron (14-4) prior to his last fight which ended in a no contest. Ray Perales scored a decision win over Blackburn in their previous fight in 2005. Since that win, Perales has gone (2-6).

Undercard:
Steve Berger (18-17) v. Eddy Ellis (13-14)
Andrew Peterson (1-0) v. Mychal Clark (4-3)
Nathan Coy (2-0) v. Chris Davis (?)
Zach Skinner (2-2) v. Scott Shaffer (?)

Bob Sapp highlight

Frank Shamrock v. Cung Le Set For March 29th

It appears that the MMA Legend Frank Shamrock (23-8) will face the exciting Cung Le (5-0) for the Strikeforce World Middleweight Title. The mixed martial arts bout is set for March 29th in San Jose, California. This card looks to be very good, check out the other bouts.

Jake Shields (20-4)(#7 WW) v. Drew Fickett (31-5)- WW Title- Fickett (4-2 UFC) will be a tough test for Shields. If Shields wins, I wouldn't be surprised if he moved up to 185 to take on the winner of Shamrock v. Le.

**Joe Riggs (27-9) v. Joey Villasenor (24-6)- Riggs was on the receiving end of a massive hip toss applied by Cory Devela at last weekends Strikeforce event and there is no way he will be competing. Riggs ended up in the hospital and I hope he is doing ok. It will be interesting to see who they get as a replacement. Why not Jorge Santiago?

Also rumored to be fighting on the card are Jorge Santiago (16-7) (Strikeforce MW tourney champ), Gina Carano (5-0) and Paul Buentello (23-10).

Gilbert Melendez (13-1) was initially rumored to be on the card, then removed. There have been some rumblings that Buentello will take on Kimbo Slice (2-0). If so, it would be Kimbo's biggest test to date and he would have just over a month to prepare. We would learn how Kimbo defends kicks if that match were a go.



*Jake Shields throwing a kick against Yushin Okami in the Rumble on the Rock Tournament that took place 4/21/06. After beating Okami, Shields won a decision against WEC WW champ Carlos Condit. Shields is currently on a 9 fight win streak.

WCO Card Down the Drain

The World Cagefighting Organization was supposed to have a star studded lineup of ex-UFC talent for its Saturday show. They included UFC 14 and 15 champ Mark Kerr, ex-UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez, UFC vets Renato Sobral, Joe Riggs, David Loiseau, Tiki Ghosn and Carmelo Marrero. According to Sherdog.com, the weigh-in on Friday lasted five hours and Ghosn and Marrero's opponents failed to appear. On Saturday the card disintegrated, the fights didn't happen, and hopefully the fighters got a 20% cut.

I was looking forward to surfing the net to find the WCO fights today. Since there are none to share with you, here is a clip of David Loiseau's buddy Georges St. Pierre showing us how to do the Superman punch.