Gomi v. Diaz

Here is the epic battle between Nick Diaz and Takanori Gomi from Pride 33 which took place on 2/24/07 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Diaz was recently given a 5 year ban by NSAC for his 3rd positive test for marijuana.

Video of the Day - Gomi v. Palling

Here is Takanori Gomi fighting Stephan Palling from Superbrawl 12 which took place on 6/1/99 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Gomi (34-9, 3-4 UFC) next fights Isaac Valli-Flagg (14-4, 1-1 UFC) at UFC 172.

Video of the Day - Penn v. Gomi

Here is BJ Penn fighting Takanori Gomi in Rumble on the Rock 4 which took place on 10/23/04 in Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii.

After the fight, BJ would go on to defeat Matt Hughes taking the UFC welterweight championship. Gomi would go on to become a Japanese MMA legend, winning 15 of his next 16 fights including the Pride lightweight championship.

Penn next will next fight Nick Diaz at UFC 137 which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada.


Here is the full line-up for UFC 137:

PPV CARD

Nick Diaz v. B.J. Penn
Cheick Kongo v. Matt Mitrione
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic v. Roy Nelson
Hatsu Hioki v. George Roop
Jeff Curran v. Scott Jorgensen

SPIKE TV CARD

Donald Cerrone v. Dennis Siver
Tyson Griffin v. Bart Palaszewski

FACEBOOK CARD

Eliot Marshall v. Brandon Vera
Danny Downes v. Ramsey Nijem
Chris Camozzi v. Francis Carmont
Dustin Jacoby v. Clifford Starks

UFC on Versus 2 Preview

Jon "Bones" Jones is poised to let his star shine even brighter this Sunday night on UFC on Versus 2. The electric fighter will look to build on his KO win over Brandon Vera with a statement win over grizzled MMA veteran Vladimir Matyushenko. The fireworks will be broadcast live on Versus and take place in San Diego, California.

Jon Jones 10-1DQ) burst into the UFC was his lightening fast stand-up, superb wrestling skills and improving submission game. The 6'4" Jones debuted at UFC 87 with a decision over Andre Gusmao, then took a decision win over Stephen Bonnar, guillotine of Jake O'Brien, then faced Matt Hamill at the Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale and was DQ'd due to illegal elbows. Look for Jones to use his quickness to pick apart Vladdy standing.

(Jon Jones' suplex over Stephan Bonnar)

Vladimir Matyushenko (24-4) has over 13 years of MMA training and fights under his belts, defeating the likes of Yuki Kondo, Pedro Rizzo and Travis Wiuff in his first run in the UFC,leaving in 2003. The international freestyle wrester went on the win the IFL 205 pound grand prix and title defeating the likes of Jamal Patterson, Tim Boetsch and Alex Schoenauer. Since returning to the UFC, he has defeated Igor Pokrajac and Eliot Marshall. Look for Vladdy to go for takedowns to acquire top position.

(Vladimir on the Tokyo Dragons in the IFL)

Mark Munoz vs. Yushin Okami- This is a battle of two excellent grapplers in the 185 division. Munoz will look to impose his will in this fight and get to the floor quickly. Okami will likely try to work strikes and knees while in the clinch.

After taking the NCAA division 1 crown at Oklahoma State University, Mark Munoz (8-1)has gone from assistant wrestling coach to rising prospect. Mark has an improving stand-up game with excellent wrestling. Munoz won two fights in the WEC before getting KO'd by Matt Hamill at UFC 96. He has since ran off 3 straight wins over Nick Catone, Ryan Jensen and Kendall Grove.

(Mark Munoz pictured)

Yushin Okami (24-5) first came on the scene winning an amateur MMA tournament that took place before Pride 4. He has used his grappling skills to grind out wins with top position. Okami has defeated Mike Swick, Jason MacDonald, Dean Lister and Evan Tanner in the UFC.

(Yushin Okami punching Rory Singer)

Takanori Gomi vs. Tyson Griffin- Former Pride champ Takanori Gomi desparetly needs a win in this fight against the energizer bunny known as Tyson Griffin. Gomi was unsuccessful in his UFC debut against Kenny Florian, getting out-grappled and out-struck, losing in the third round via rear naked choke. Griffin meanwhile also looks to rebound from a close decision loss against uber prospect Evan Dunham.

Look for Gomi (31-6) to keep the fight in mid-range and work inside Griffin's solid leg kicks. Gomi was a dominant force in the lightweight division of Pride during his prime, defeating the likes of Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Hayato Sakurai with solid boxing and wrestling skills.

(Takanori Gomi pictured)

Tyson Griffin (14-3) may work leg kicks from the outside, or try to bully Gomi with his solid wrestling skill. Griffin is a fire-plug, who seems to easily go through 15 minutes of action pushing the pace. He has defeated Marcus Aurelio, Thiago Tavares and Hermes Franca in the UFC.

(Tyson Griffin pictured)

Jake Ellenberger vs. John Howard- John Howard (14-4) is at his best when he can push around his opponent and overwelm him. That may be hard as Jake Ellenberger (22-5) is a top level wrestler who brutalized Mike Pyle in his last UFC fight winning via TKO. Expect each fighter to be looking the fight quick, but Ellenberger holding the advantage in the wrestling department.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Paul Kelly vs. Jacob Volkmann
DaMarques Johnson vs. Matthew Riddle
James Irvin vs. Igor Pokrajac
Mike Massenzio vs. Brian Stann
Darren Elkins vs. Charles Oliveira
Rob Kimmons vs. Steve Steinbeiss

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

Gogoplata Video

The video below posted by submissions101.com shows how to lock in a gogoplata or shin choke. The move was at first a legend, and one had not been pulled in competition. Then came Nick Diaz getting the gogoplata over lightweight legend Takanori Gomi. Shinya Aoki pulled one off over Joachim Hansen. Since then Brad Imes has landed two outside the UFC, and the move has been accomplished by some fighters on local circuits. What's fun to think about is the next unique and rare move is popularized in MMA.

World Victory Road

Here are highlights from Gomi v. Ludwig and Hidehiko Yoshida v. Barnett. These are four guys I'd like to see in the UFC or anywhere on the United States circuit.



RESULTS:
Nick Thompson def. Fabricio Monteiro - Unanimous Decision
Ryo Kawamura def. Antonio Braga Neto - Unanimous Decision
Evangelista Santos def. Makoto Takimoto - Submission (Heel Hook) R1 4:51
Kazuyuki Fujita def. Peter Graham - Submission (North-South Choke) R1 1:23
Kazuo Misaki def. Siyar Bahadurzada - Submission (Guillotine Choke) R2 2:02
Takanori Gomi def. Duane Ludwig - TKO (Cut) R1 2:28
Josh Barnett def. Hidehiko Yoshida - Submission (Heel Hook) R3 3:23

Best Figher of All Time?

CBS Sportsline's mma section has a tournament posted of the best fighters of all-time.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mmaboxing/story/10890924

The way it works is that each fighter fights in his prime. No gi. Modern MMA rules with 4 oz. gloves. A very interesting concept in that you take Ken Shamrock in his prime, 1996, Dan Severn in his prime, 1995, Sakuraba in his prime, 1999. They say it is based on pure ability so weight is not a factor. In my mind weight would be a factor, and would like to see them split into a lightweight tourney and heavyweight tourney.
I've divided the fighters into an under 180 bracket and over 180 bracket. As you could imagine, Rich Franklin would probably be pretty depleted making 180. Liddell, Wanderlei Silva and Jackson could go into the heavyweight tourney at 225.

Light Weight Tourney- Below 180
1. Matt Hughes
16. Miguel Torres
9. Cung Le
8. Takanori Gomi
11. Matt Lindland
6. Frank Shamrock
4. Royce Gracie
13. Masakatsu Funaki
3. BJ Penn
14. Jason Miller
12. Rich Franklin
5. Sakuraba
10. Dan Henderson
7. Anderson Silva
15. Urijah Faber
2. Georges St. Pierre

Heavyweight Tourney- Over 180

1. Fedor Emelianenko
16. Don Frye
8. Dan Severn
9. Rampage Jackson
6. Wanderlei Silva
11. Vitor Belfort
4. Josh Barnett
13. Tito Ortiz
14. Mark Coleman
3. Rickson Gracie
12. Ken Shamrock
5. Chuck Liddell
7. Cro Cop Filipovic
10. Bas Rutten
15. Kevin Randleman
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira