Sunday, June 30, 2013

6/30/13

With no major MMA events taking place this past week, I had to scrape to get worthy news to put for this weeks review. The reason for the lack of fights most likely has to do with next week being the forth of July. Promoters are smart, and that's exactly why a ton of great fight cards will take place next week(end). 

Spike TV will now feature GLORY Kickboxing events. The events will be aired on select Saturdays starting in the Fall.

TUF will be heading to China next! Tryouts will be in July and August for Featherweights, Lightweights and Welterweights.

Notable fighters Bobby Lashley, Kendall Grove, Andre Winner and LC Davis all earned wins in the debut of a new promotion called Global Warrior Challenge.


Sunday, June 23, 2013

6/23/13

Bellator kicked off their highly anticipated Summer Series with Bellator 96. And oh what a kick off it was! All the main card fights ended with a finish. After nearly two years of being sidelined (by jail time), Welterweight fighter War Machine made his MMA return. He TKO'd Blas Avena at 3:55 of round one. In the opening round of the Heavyweight tournament Vitaly Minakov defeated Ron Sparks via TKO at :35 of round one. Minakov will now face Ryan Martinez who won via KO over Richard Hale at 2:19 of round one. In the opening round of the Light Heavyweight tournament Jacob Noe defeated "Babalu" Sobral via TKO at 3:32 of round three. Noe will now face Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal who defeated Seth Petruzelli via KO at 1:35 of round one.

Resurrection Fighting Alliance held it's eighth event which featured two title fights. Featherweight Lance Palmer won the second title of his undefeated career by getting the split decision victory over Jared Downing. Flyweight Sergio Pettis (Brother of UFC fighter Anthony Pettis) got a quick KO victory over Joe Pegg at just :51 of round one to win the title.

After "The Korean Zombie" was pulled from UFC 162 and bumped up to fight Jose Aldo for the Featherweight title, Ricardo Lamas was left without an opponent. Lamas is now being taken off the fight card completely. A new opponent will be announced for him in the near future.

Bellator Middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko is scheduled for his first title defense against Doug Marshall at Bellator 99.

"Babalu" Sobral and Seth Petruzelli both announced their retirments following their Bellator 96 losses.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

6/16/13

With a busy week of MMA behind us, it's safe to say XFC 24 topped all other cards. Eric Reynolds returned to the win column with a first round arm-triangle win over fellow Lightweight Kevin Forant at 4:13. OH and not to mention Reynolds pulled off a LEGAL pile drive during the fight. If that wasn't enough excitement for the fans, Welterweight Luis Santos followed up with a ten second first round TKO win over David Courchaine. Next up was Middleweight Rickey Rainy delivering a devastating KO to get the win over Reggie Pena at 4:33 of round one. In the nights main event, Scott Holtzman and John Mahlow battled it out for the XFC Lightweight title that was abandoned by Nick Newell. The undefeated Holtzman claimed the title with a TKO win coming at 2:53 of round two.

Nobody expected what took place at WSOF 3. The main event consisted of a rematch between underdog Josh Burkman and former UFC contender Jon Fitch. Burkman proceeded in shocking the world by putting Fitch to sleep with a first round guillotine coming at just :41. Other notable winners were Steve Carl, Jacob Volkmann, Justin Gaethje and Dan Lauzon (brother of UFC fighter Joe Lauzon).

UFC 161 wasn't what most hoped it'd be. In one of the nights only exciting fights, Heavyweight Shawn Jordan defeated Pat Barry via TKO at :59 of round one. In the women's Bantamweight division Alexis Davis earned a unanimous decision victory over Rosi Sexton. Light Heavyweight Ryan Jimmo remained conservative (not taking any chances) in his unanimous decision win over Igor Pokrajac. Heavyweight Stipe Miocic earned an upset win over "Big Country" Roy Nelson. Miocic won via unanimous decision. In the nights main event, Rashad Evans squeaked past Dan Henderson with a split decision victory that could've went either way.

WEC and UFC Featherweight veteran Diego Nunes has signed with Bellator FC.

ONE FC 10 is set for September 13th. On the card the first ever ONE FC Flyweight title will be up for grabs between Yasuhiro Urushitani and Shinichi Kojima. The fight will also be a rubber match since both have a win over each other.

Cage Warriors 57 will be headlined by Welterweight fighter Paul Daley taking on Lukasz Chlewicki.

The Bellator 97 Welterweight tournament final between Douglas Lima and Ben Saunders has been postponed due to an injury suffered by Lima.

UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones will defend his title at UFC 165 in Toronto against Alexander Gustafsson.

Patrick Cote and Kyle Noke will be the coaches for a TUF season that will consist of Austrailia vs Canada.

Chan Sung Jung (The Korean Zombie) will replace Anthony Pettis and fight Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight title at UFC 163.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

6/9/13

Another action packed week of MMA is under our belt. It's safe to say this was a great week for Jiu Jitsu fans! There were submissions as far as the eye can see. From Titan FC to the UFC, no limb was safe in the past seven days of MMA.

In the main event of Titan FC 25, Heavyweight Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Asplund via keylock at 1:23 of round two.

The UFC on Fuel TV 10 set a promotion record with eight total submission victories in a single night. Contributing to that number was Welterweight Erik Silva who submitted Jason High via armbar at just 1:11 of round one. Thiago Silva, the long time UFC Light Heavyweight fighter, returned to the win column by knocking out Rafael Cavalcante at 4:29 of round one. Leonardo Santos won the second season of TUF Brazil by defeating fellow Welterweight fighter William Macario via arm-triangle at 4:43 of round two. In the main event two Heavyweight legends went head to head. Fabricio Werdum avenged a loss early in his career by defeating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by way of armbar (verbal submission) at 2:41 of round two.

Switching it up a bit to submission grappling, Metamoris 2 saw Kron Gracie submit Shinya Aoki via guillotine choke in the main event.

Bellator Lightweight champion Michael Chandler will now meet David Rickels at Bellator 97. Rickels replaces the injured Dave Jansen.

Former UFC Light Heavyweight contender Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has signed with Bellator FC. His contract allows him to compete in TNA as well as Bellator itself.

Submission ace Robert Drysdale is now a member of the UFC Heavyweight division after being signed by the organization earlier in the week. He will make his debut against Ednaldo Oliveira at UFC 163.

UFC Lightweight champion Benson Henderson will defend his belt against TJ Grant at UFC 164. The fight will serve as the main event.

The UFC has also signed Flyweight prospect Ali Bagautinov.

Monday, June 3, 2013

6/2/13

It's amazing how much MMA news you miss when you're gone on vacation for a week. That's the reason why no review was posted last Sunday. Hopefully you kept up on all of the news on your own. Luckily this week I'm back and ready to review!

At ONE FC 9 Bantamweight Bibiano Fernandes won the interim title with a unanimous decision victory over Koetsu Okazaki. In the Featherweight division Koji Oishi pulled off an upset, knocking out Honorio Banario at 1:45 of round number two. Former UFC fighters Yasuhiro Urushitani and Kamal Shalorus also earned victories.

Legacy FC 20 saw Bantamweight Damacio Page return to the win column in dominate fashion. Page picked up a first round KO win over Patrick Ybarra at 1:57. In the main event, Lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira remained undefeated defeating former UFC fighter Carlo Prater via unanimous decision.

At Cage Warriors 55 Neil Seery defeated Mikael Silander via armbar at 3:57 of round three to win the Flyweight title. Welterweight Cathal Pendred defeated former UFC fighter Che Mills (who missed weight) via TKO at 1:47 of round three.

Former XFC Lightweight champion Nick Newell announced that he will be competing in the World Series of Fighting.

Miesha Tate will replace the injured Cat Zingano on the upcoming season of TUF. She will coach opposite of women's Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.

Legacy Fighting Championship signed former pro boxer Holly Holm. Holm is 3-0 and has competed in Bellator FC.

Undefeated Lightweight prospect Bubba Jenkins signed with Bellator FC. Jenkins served as an assistant coach for Jon Jones on TUF 17.


Sunday, May 19, 2013

5/19/13

Vitor Belfort pretty much saved an entire fight card on his own. UFC on FX 8 wasn't the most exciting fight card, that is until Middleweight Vitor Belfort delivered a nasty spinning kick KO in the main event. Belfort won over former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold via KO at 2:32 of the first round. Also, Ronaldo Souza made a successful UFC debut defeating Chris Camozzi via arm triangle at 3:37 of round one.

After losing to Gleison Tibau at UFC on FX 8, Lightweight John Cholish announced that he will be retiring. He has lost his last two fights.

Pat Healy will have $130,00 in post fight bonus money taken away from him after testing positive for marijuana. Healy, a UFC Lightweight fighter, won the bonus money after submitting Jim Miller.

UFC Lightweight and Welterweight fighter Nate Diaz has been suspended for 90 days and fined $20,000 for his derogatory tweet referring to the Pat Healy situation.

The UFC has signed European Heavyweights Daniel Omielanczuk and Nikita Krylov.

Bellator Fighting Championship has announced that Bellator 96 will have a six fight main card. Bellator 96 marks the opening of the Summer Series. Added to the card is the Heavyweight tournament which will feature Vinicius Queiroz vs Rich Hale and Vitaly Minakov vs Ron Sparks.

UFC veteran Paul Kelly has been found guilty of heroin trafficking in the United Kingdom. Kelly was a UFC veteran of nine fights.

Bellator has now acquired former UFC welterweight fighter Matt Riddle. Riddle had initially signed with Legacy FC but Bellator has bought out his contract.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

5/12/13

The Maximum Fighting Championship hosted another great event with MFC 37 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In the main event the newly founded MFC Bantamweight division brought the house down. Anthony Birchak defeated Ryan Benoit by way of a unanimous decision in a fight that could arguably be fight of the year for 2013. Middleweight submission ace Luke Harris defeated Jason Zentgraf via neck crank at 2:21 of round one. Lightweight Kurt Southern defeated Mukai Maromo via north-south choke at 2:54 in round one. And in a highly controversial stoppage, Middleweight Sam Alvey defeated Jay Silva via TKO at 1:05 of round three.

Cage Warriors held their eighth fight night event which saw Welterweight Jack Mason get the unanimous decision win over Collin Reuter in the main event of the evening.

Spike TV announced the 32 member cast of the upcoming Bellator reality series "Fight Masters". The cast includes UFC and Strikeforce veteran Joe Riggs, and Bellator veterans Chris Lozano and Marcus Aurelio.

UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva was fined $50,000 for not showing up to a press conference. He later claimed he had no idea that there was a press conference.

Former UFC Heavyweight interim champion Shane Carwin announced his retirement.

The UFC announced the release of nine fighters including Bart Palaszewski, Leonard Garcia, and Pablo Garza.

After being released, Leonard Garcia has now signed with Legacy Fighting Championship.

Nick Newell, the XFC Lightweight champion and one armed fighter has been stripped of his belt after refusing to defend it at an upcoming XFC event. No word yet on if he is still with the promotion.   

Former UFC Welterweight fighter Paul Daley racked up another win. This one was at Dubai FC 4.