Bellator Finals Forecast

Last night, the Bellator Season 2 tourneys continued to unfold as the 170 pound division claimed its two finalists, Dan Hornbuckle and Ben Askren. In a non-title featured bout, featherweight champ Joe Soto (9-0, 4-0 BFC) continued his reign of terror as he destroyed UFC veteran Diego Saraiva in the first round.

Sengoku veteran Dan Hornbuckle (21-2, 2-0 BFC) defeated former Marine Steve Carl via a modified kimura. He will fight 2X NCAA champ Ben Askren (5-0, 2-0 BFC) for the 170 pound title, who defeated UFC veteran Ryan Thomas via unanimous decision. Expect Hornbuckle to try to keep this fight standing to take advantage of Askren's lackluster striking.

(Dan Hornbuckle KO of Gono Pictured)

In other tournament action, featherweight Joe Warren will square off against Patricio "Pitbull" Freire . Warren (4-1, 2-0 BFC) punched his ticket to the finals with two lackluster decision victories over Georgi Karakhanyan and Eric Marriot. Pitbull (14-0, 2-0 BFC), won his first fight via heel hook over William Romero before a unanimous decision over Wilson Reis. Expect Warren to look for the takedown early and often, with Pitbull trying to lock in a choke or score a KO.

(Pitbul Friere Pictured)

The lightweight tournament has featured the biggest upset of the tournament, with Pat Curran (11-3, 2-0 BFC) finding his way to the finals. Pat recently upset tournament favorite Roger Huerta via unanimous decision, and KO'd GSP training partner Mike Ricci in his first fight.

Curran will face last year's runner-up Toby Imada (25-12, 4-1 BFC) in the finals. Toby has utilized his superior grappling in his first two bouts, scoring armbar victories over Carey Vanier and James Krause. Expect Curran to try to utilize his kickboxing while Imada looks to lock in yet another memorable submission.

(Toby Imada Pictured)

Match-ups:

145: Pitbull Freire v. Joe Warren - TBD
155: Pat Curran v. Toby Imada - BFC 21
170: Dan Hornbuckle v. Ben Askren - BFC 22
185: Alexander Shlemenko v. Bryan Baker - TBD

Moosin - Sylvia v. Pudzianowski

Here is former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia fighting World's Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski in a super heavyweight fight from Moosin which occurred on 5/21/10. Sylvia came in at 305, while Mariusz came in at 273.


Here are the results from Moosin -

Tim Sylvia def Mariusz Pudzianowski via sub(punches) R2, 1:43
Travis Wiuff def Josh Barnes via TKO (punches) R1, 0:34
Rafael Natal def Travis Lutter via KO (punches) R1, 4:12
Mike Campbell def Yves Edwards via unanimous dec
Roxanne Modafferi def Tara LaRosa via split dec
Lukasz Jurkowski def Ho Jin Kim via TKO (strikes) R1, 2:22
Forrest Petz def Ralph Johnson via unanimous dec

Video of the Day - Overeem v. Poturak

Here is Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem fighting Dzevad Poturak in the K-1 Grand Prix 2010 which took place on 4/3/2010.

TUF First Round

With Nick Ring narrowly defeating Court McGee in the previous episode, there was only one more bout before the wildcard match-up. The fight featured Chuck Liddell's Joe Henle fighting Team Ortiz' Seth Baczynski. Baczynski replaced Chris Camozzi after the prelims after it was discovered Camozzi had a broken jaw.

Despite the win, Nick Ring lets the audience know of his injury to his left knee. He calls the knee ligaments loose, and Tito is aware that the knee could be in bad shape. Ring has been trying to keep the injury secret and some late episode hints might point to a possible exit.

During the training sequence, Henle seems to drop MBA, college degree and his lack of fight time quite a bit. I think it is a way to have other fighters underestimate him. Baczynski meanwhile is impressing Tito with his work ethic. Seth (11-5) states that he has had a long road to make into TUF.

The fight starts with Henle getting some takedowns and good position. It seems like Henle just might not have the experience to capitalize. Baczynski gets the most of the very brief stand-up, and in the end of the second round almost secures a rear naked choke. The "sudden victory" round belongs to Baczynski who gets a takedown and ground and pound with Henle completely gassed.

The wild card fight is announced pitting Team Ortiz' Kasey Uscola fighting Team Ortiz' Kris McCray. Court McGee of Team Liddell was given the spot of injured fighter Rich Attonito. McGee and McCray each suffered controversial losses and appear to be game fighters. Uscola lost via disqualification from an illegal knee strike.


2nd Round Fighters

Team Liddell- Kyle Noke, Brad Travers, Josh Bryant, Court McGee

Team Ortiz- Jamie Yager, Nick Ring, Seth Baczynski

Wildcard: Team Ortiz- Kris McCray v. Kasey Uscola

Injury List: Clayton McKinney (shoulder), Charley Blanchard (ankle), Chris Camozzi (jaw), Nick Ring (knee), James Hammortree (back)

UFC 113 - Sho-Nuff

The 205 pound championship changed again this weekend in Vancouver, Canada at UFC 113 as Shogun Rua destroyed Lyoto Machida in the very first round. In other action Paul Daley punched his ticket out of the UFC with an ugly sucker punch, and the Kimbo Slice era has probably come to a close.

Koscheck meanwhile has finally earned his title shot against Georges St. Pierre with his 13th official win in the UFC. GSP and Koscheck will coach the 12th season of The Ultimate Fighter to promote the title fight.

Shogun Rua joins the list of revolving champions in the 205 pound division. After shaking off Machida takedowns, Rua unleashed a fury of ground and pound to take the title. Since Chuck Liddell defended four straight times, the title has bounced to Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida then Shogun Rua.

(Shogun Rua Pictured)

MAIN CARD

Shogun Rua def Lyoto Machida via KO (strikes) R1, 3:35
Josh Koscheck def Paul Daley via unanimous dec
Jeremy Stephens def Sam Stout via split dec
Matt Mitrione def Kimbo Slice via TKO (strikes) R2, 4:24
Alan Belcher def Patrick Cote via submission (RNC) R2, 3:25

UNDER CARD

Joe Doerksen def Tom Lawlor via submission (RNC) R2, 2:10
Marcus Davis def Jonathan Goulet via TKO (punches) R2, 1:23
Johny Hendricks def T.J. Grant via majority dec
Joey Beltran def Tim Hague via unanimous dec
Mike Guymon def Yoshiyuki Yoshida via unanimous dec
John Salter def Jason MacDonald via TKO (injury) R1, 2:42

Georges St. Pierre Wrong Coach For TUF

The following essay written by MMA Blaster was published on mmajunkie.com as part of their Sunday Junkie feature:

As a fan of MMA, I want to see titles defended regularly and current stars fighting. With the announcement that welterweight title-holder Georges St. Pierre will coach the 12th season of "The Ultimate Fighter," one of my favorite fighters will be sent to the bench while in his prime. It is unfortunate, especially since he is currently healthy, that GSP will probably have only one fight in 2010.

That is why I loved the Chuck Liddell coaching match-up with Tito Ortiz. Neither fighter is touching a belt anytime soon, and their long careers are loaded with nuggets of wisdom for up-and-coming fighters. While I'm sure GSP will be a great coach, I'd rather see Pat Miletich, Marco Ruas, Don Frye, Dan Severn, Mark Coleman or Renzo Gracie coaching. The coaches don't have to fight at the end of the season.

(Georges St. Pierre Pictured)

UFC 114 Preview

UFC 114 is set for this Saturday, May 29th in Las Vegas, Nevada. TUF 10 coaches Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Rashad Evans will finally fight in one of the longest feuds in recent memory. During the trash talking at TUF 10, Rampage poked fun of Rashad's KO loss at the hands of Lyoto Machida. Meanwhile, Rashad brought up Rampage's KO losses to Wanderlei Silva and Shogun Rua.

At the conclusion of the show, Rashad Evans won the coaching war by putting two of his fighters in the finale. Roy "Big Country" Nelson eventually took the trophy by KO'ing Brendan Schaub in the very first round. Rampage's strategy of picking heavyweights based on size obviously didn't work out.

With the fight being delayed due to Ramapage filmed the movie A-Team, Rashad was in a training camp. Evans (14-1-1) fought Thiago Silva at UFC 108 emerging victorious with a unanimous decision, but nearly tasted defeat in the third round. Evans won the second season of TUF as a heavyweight, defeating Brad Imes to kickstart his career. Since, he has notched victories over Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell and then Forrest Griffin for the 205 pound UFC title.

(Rashad Evans Pictured)

Rampage Jackson (30-7) has had a legendery career first made famous by his epic slams and KO's in Pride. Rampage went high altitue with ferious power while slamming Masaaki Satake, Igor Vovchanchyn, Minowaman to create a stir. But, he really made a name for himself by KO'ing Kevin Randleman and Chuck Liddell. The power bomb on Ricardo Arona will live forever in the history of MMA. His other victories have came over Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine, Matt Lindland and Ninja Rua.

(Rampage slam of Arona)

In the co-main event, TUF 3 champ Michael Bisping (18-3) will look to rebound from his unanimous decision loss to Wanderlei Silva with a win over Dan Miller (11-3). Expect Bisping to look to use his striking early and often, looking for a big knockout blow. Bisping owns career victories over Denis Kang, Eric Schafer, Chris Leben and Jason Day.

(Michael Bisping Pictured)

Miller's greatest chance at victory comes in getting his European foe to the ground and securing a submission. Miller, a former IFL champ, is an accomplished BJJ player with 7 submission victories on his record. Miller's career wins have come over Matt Horwich, Jake Rosholt, Rob Kimmons and Ryan McGivern.

Rising heavyweight star Todd Duffee (6-0) will look to improve on his 7 second KO of Tim Hague against underrated heavyweight Mike Russow (12-1). Look for Duffee to try to keep the fight standing and pepper the slower Hague with power punches. Russow (12-1) will likely do whatever he can to get the fight to the ground, looking for a submission.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3), otherwise known as Minotoro or Little Nog, seeks to build on his 6 fight win streak with a win over late replacement Jason Brilz (18-2). While Brilz is a great wrestler, he will have his hands full dealing with the boxing of Nogueira, who also possesses top notch BJJ. Look for Minotoro to be throwing some heavy leather, looking for a knockout of the night bonus.

Diego Sanchez (21-3) is returning to the 170 pound division after 2-1 stint at 155 pounds, which saw him lose a title fight to BJ Penn. Standing in his way is the undefeated British rising star John Hathaway (12-0). Look for Diego to get the fight to the ground with several takedowns and ruthless elbows and punches from the top position.

(Diego Sanchez Pictured)

SPIKE TV PRE-LIMS

Dong Hyun Kim vs. Amir Sadollah
Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon

PRELIMINARY CARD

Melvin Guillard vs. Waylon Lowe
Luiz Cane vs. Cyrille Diabate
Joe Brammer vs. Aaron Riley
Jesse Forbes vs. Ryan Jensen