Video of the Day - Edwards v. Masvidal

Here is Jorge Masvidal v. Yves Edwards from Bodog Fight which took place on 7/14/07. At 8:57 in the video or 2:05 remaining in the second round is the big finish.

Jorge will fight at UFC Fight Night 98 in Mexico City against a yet to be named opponent.

Video of the Day - Imada v. Masvidal

Here is the MMA Blaster award winner for Submission of the Year 2009, Toby Imada v. Jorge Masvidal which took place at Bellator Fighting Championships 4 on 5/1/09.

Video of the Day - Bellator 5

Bellator Fighting Championships has been flying pretty low under the radar during its first season. This past weekend, Eddie Alvarez won his second straight match, this time over Eric Reynolds to make the finals of the 8 man 155 pound tournament.

Another favorite in the 155 pound division, Jorge Masvidal, clashed with submission fighter Tony Imada. Unfortuantely, Bellator won't get the Masvidal v. Alvarez finale they probably wanted, but they got this awesome submission clip.

Bellator Fighting Championships

Bellator Fighting Championships is slated to debut on ESPN Deportes on April 4, 2009. The format of the show will consist of 12 episodes with a run time of 2 hours shown on tape delay. The shows will feature 8 man tournaments in the 145, 155, 170 and 185 pound divisions played out over 3 months. There will also be non-tournament bouts featured.

Here are five quality fighters that are rumored tourney participants:

Wilson Reis (6-0) is an intriguing prospect in the featherweight, 145 pound, division. Wilson is a BJJ blackbelt who grew up in Brazil and moved to the states a few years ago. The submission specialist has 3 submission and 3 decision victories on his resume with a 4-0 mark in Pro Elite's Elite XC and Sho XC organizations. His last two victories were over Abel Cullum (13-2) and Brian Caraway (10-3).
*Wilson is slated to face Henry Martinez on April 10th.

(Wilson Reis pictured)

Eddie Alvarez (15-2) made a name for himself last year by having an excellent run in the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix. His entertaining street brawling mixed with wrestling style thrilled the fight fans of Japan as he beat Andre Amade, Joachim Hansen and Kawajiri in the tournament. Eddie is a former BoDog 170 pound champ, knocking out veteran fighter Derrick Noble (23-11) in 1:01 of the first round for the title, he defended the title over UFC vet Aaron Riley. In his last fight, Alvarez was baited to the ground by submission wizard Shinya Aoki and submitted via heel hook in the first round.
*Eddie is slated to face Greg Loughran (18-11) on April 3rd.

(Eddie Alvarez pictured)

Jorge Masvidal (16-3) is a 155 pound American Top Team member fighting out of Miami, Florida. He has lighting quick hands and feet which have produced some outstanding knockouts. Jorge has fought in the Sengoku/World Victory Road, Strikeforce and Bodog promotions. His big victories have come over UFC vets Yves Edwards, Joe Lauzon and IFL champ Ryan Schultz.
*Jorge is slated to face Nick Agallar (21-5) on April 3rd.

(Jorge Masvidal pictured)

Hector Lombard (18-2) is a famous 185 pound Cuban fighter with an excellent Judo background. Hector brings a 10 fight win streak into Bellator. He won the Australian based Cage Fighting Championships MW belt in November of 2007 and has defended three straight times. In his last fight, Hector beat Brian Ebersole (37-15) in the fourth round via a submission due to punches.
*Hector is slated to face Virgil Lozano (6-1) April 17th.

(Hector Lombard pictured)

Dave Menne (42-15) was the first Middleweight Champion of the UFC when he defeated Gil Castillo at UFC 33. Menne has been competing since 96' and has many victories not listed among his official 42 victories. His other big career moments were winning tournaments in Hook and Shoot, Extreme Challenge, Gladiators and Shidokan. Menne has big victories were over Carlos Newton, Jose Landi-Jons, Chris Lytle, Roberto Traven and Dennis Hallman. He'll be competing in the 170 pound tournament.
*Menne is slated to face Norman Paraisy (5-0) on April 17th.

(Dave Menne pictured)

Sengoku 6 Results

I'm still trying to locate all the fights from World Victory Road's Sengoku 6. In a shocking upset, Takanori Gomi lost a somewhat controversial split decision to Sergey Golyaev. Jorge Santiago added a second tournment title as he becomes one of the hottest 185 pound fighters outside the UFC. Satoru Kitaoka won the lightweight tournament title.

Jorge Santiago def Kazuhiro Nakamura via TKO- R3, 0:49
Satoru Kitaoka def Kazunori Yokota via unanimous decision
Sergey Golyaev def Takanori Gomi via split decision
Muhammed Lawal def Fabio Silva via TKO- R3, 0:41
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def Moise Rimbon via unanimous decision
Jorge Masvidal def Seung Hwan Bang via unanimous decision
Joe Doerksen def Izuru Takeuchi via TKO- R3, 4:13
Satoru Kitaoka def Eiji Mitsuoka via sub (heel hook)- R1, 1:16
Kazunori Yokota def Mizuto Hirota via unanimous decision
Kazuhiro Nakamura def Yuki Sasaki via unanimous decision
Jorge Santiago def Siyar Bahadurzada via sub (heel hook)- R1, 1:10

*Pic of MW Champ Jorge Santiago

Kitaoka vs. Mitsuoka

Santiago v. Bahadurzada

Sengoku! Number 6

The Japanese promotion Sengoku is having their 6th event this Saturday. I believe the fights will be shown on HDNet at some point. There are two grand prix's wrapping up for the MW and LW divisions. Josh Barnett still doesn't have an opponent named. One big time up and comer who is fighting is Mo Lawal. He is a D2 wrestling champ, I included his last fight with Travis Wiuff below the card. Mo's entrance for the last Sengoku was pretty awesome, below the fight.

Josh Barnett vs. TBA
Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal vs. Fabio Silva
Sergey Golyaev vs. Takanori Gomi
Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Jorge Santiago- MW GP bout
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Yuki Sasaki- MW GP bout
Joe Doerksen vs. Izuru Takeuchi- MW reserve bout
Mizuto Hirota vs. Kazunori Yokota- LW GP bout
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Eiji Mitsuoka- LW GP bout
Bang Seung Hwan vs. Jorge Masvidal- LW reserve bout
Lightweight GP final
Middleweight GP final

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