Sunday, September 22, 2013

9/22/13

Bellator has reached a milestone that most organizations dream of... 100 events! The main event of the night did not disappoint either. After picking apart Ben Saunders for a round and a half, Welterweight Douglas Lima landed a miraculous head kick KO at 4:33 of round 2 to claim the season 8 tournament title. Also advancing in tournament bouts were Welterweights War Machine, Rick Hawn, Ron Keslar, Brent Weedman and Bantamweight Travis Marx.

UFC 165 may have been a boring fight card early on, but the two title fights definitely made up for it. In the co-main event Bantamweight Renan Barao landed a rarely seen spinning head kick to defeat Eddie Wineland via TKO at :35 of round 2. Barao retained his interim title. The main event featured a fight which many are saying could be fight of the year. Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones defended his title successfully in a slug fest with Alexander Gustafsson. Jones won via unanimous decision.

TJ Grant suffered a concussion in training so now Josh Thomson will step in to challenge new Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.

Joseph Benavidez  will face champion Demetrious Johnson in a rematch for the Flyweight belt at the TUF 18 finale.

It has been announced that if Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (who has been injured for quite some time) can't come back to defend his belt against Barao, then he will be stripped of it and Barao will be made out right champion.

UFC Lightweight veteran Paul Taylor has announced his retirement following an injury.

Leonard Garcia will fight for the vacant Featherweight belt at Legacy FC 26 against undefeated fighter Kevin Aguilar.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

9/15/13

This past weekend was paradise for any big fan of MMA! A total of six events went on in just two days. From Indonesia, to the USA, to England nowhere was safe from one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Who said you need a UFC fight to have a good weekend?

ONE FC 10 started it all off. Light Heavyweight Jake Butler remained undefeated by defeating James Kouame via arm triangle at 2:11 of round 1. Lightweight Vincent Latoel defeated Willy Ni via guillotine at 1:25 of round 1. In the main event Lightweight Vuyisile Colossa defeated veteran Kotetsu Boku via unanimous decision.

The next event in this packed lineup was Legacy FC 23. Featherweight and fan favorite Leonard Garcia defeated Nick Gonzalez in a slug fest. The bout ended at 4:43 of round 3 with Garcia winning by RNC. In the main event Welterweight Tim Means, fresh off a stint in the UFC, earned a win at 2:24 of round 1 by knocking out Pete Spratt. Spratt who is now 42 announced after the fight that he is now retiring.

Any night that involves Bellator is welcomed by me. Bellator 99 saw the opening round of the Featherweight tournament. There was also a featured fight between Light Heavyweights Vladimir Matyushenko and Houston Alexander. Matyushenko won a unanimous decision victory. In the main event Featherweight Patricio "Pitbull" Freire delivered a devastating knockout, earning the win over Diego Nunes at 1:19 of round 1.

Cage Warriors 59 saw Jim Alers earn the Featherweight title by defeating Martin Svensson via unanimous decision. In the main event Brett Johns earned the Bantamweight tournament championship by getting a split decision win over Jordan Desborough.

At BAMMA 13 Lightweight Colin Fletcher returned to the win column by defeating Tim Newman via unanimous decision. In the main event Jason Jones defeated Max Nunes via arm triangle at 3:50 of round 2 to earn the Light Heavyweight title. Other notable winners were Eddy Ellis, Mansour Barnaoui and Scott Askham.

The final event of this jam packed weekend was the World Series of Fighting 5. Heavyweight Derrick Mehmen earned a huge win by defeating Rolles Gracie via KO at 2:40 of round 2. Middleweight David Branch defeated Danillo Villefort via unanimous decision. In the main event Light Heavyweight veteran Andrei Arlovski defeated Mike Kyle via unanimous decision.

Strawweight Megumi Fujii will take on Jessica Aguilar in Fujii's retirement bout. The fight will be held at Vale Tudo Japan 3rd on October 5th.

Former UFC fighter Matthew Riddle who recently signed with Bellator has announced his retirement after suffering an injury.

Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn will be the coaches of TUF 19. They will fight at Featherweight after the show concludes.


Sunday, September 8, 2013

9/8/13

Wednesday fights are always good with me! UFC fight night 28 in Brazil was a great mid week fight card. Flyweight contender Joseph Benavidez defeated Jussier Formiga via TKO at 3:07 of round 1. In the co-main event Middleweight Ronaldo Souza took out Yushin Okami via TKO at 2:47 of round 1. In the main event Light Heavyweight Glover Teixeira earned the right to fight the winner of Jones and Gustafsson by getting a win over Ryan Bader via TKO at 2:55 of round 1.

The ever growing XFC hosted XFC 25 this past weekend. In the co-main event Welterweight Dhiego Lima earned a controversial split decision win over Ricky Rainey. This was a fight that left fans yelling "rematch" at their TV's. In the main event Stephanie Eggink claimed the Strawweight title by defeating Angela Magana via triangle choke at 3:10 of round 2.

It sure feels good to have Bellator back. Bellator 98 opened up the Fall series with the Middleweight championship as the main event. The Middleweight tournament opening round was also featured on the fight card and though there were four winners, the biggest was Mikkel Parlo who earned a one sided decision win over Brian Rogers. In the main event Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko retained his belt by defeating Brett Cooper in a memorable decision victory.

Former UFC Lightweight champion Sean Sherk announced his retirement this past week.

Bantamweight Cornelius Godfrey, a veteran of the XFC, passed away earlier in the week after his motorcycle crashed. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Women's Bantamweight Holly Holm will face Erica Paes at Legacy FC 24.

Middleweight Giva Santana retired after his loss at Bellator 98.



Sunday, September 1, 2013

9/1/13

UFC Fight Night 27 saw the latest Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum defeat Brian Melancon via rear naked choke at 2:26 of round 1 in a Welterweight contest. Lightweight Rafael Dos Anjos won against Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision. In the main event Welterweight Carlos Condit returned to the win column with a TKO at :54 of round 4 over Martin Kampman.

Titan Fighting Championship 26 didn't exactly end their event on the best of notes. The Welterweight main event saw two veterans go at it for three rounds. UFC vet Dennis Hallman came out with a weird victory over Dan Hornbuckle via unanimous decision.

UFC 164 saw the crowning of a new Lightweight champion. Before I get to that though Featherweight Chad "Money" Mendes earned a TKO victory over Clay Guida at :30 of round 3. In the co-main event, infamous Heavyweight Josh Barnett got a controversial win over Frank Mir via TKO at 1:56 of round 1. In the main event of the evening Lightweight challenger Anthony Pettis defeated (former) champion Benson Henderson for a second time, this time by armbar at 4:31 of round 1. Pettis won the belt in front of his home crowd.

Pat Curran vs Daniel Straus Featherweight title fight has been added to Bellator 106.

Former UFC Heavyweight fighter Cheick Kongo has signed with Bellator.

Ex-WEC champion Miguel Torres was arrested for marijuana possession.

Bellator Welterweight champion Ben Askren will take part in the AGON wrestling championships debut show. The promotion features nothing but wrestling matches.