LA Skate Film Fest official selection, Plank, is available for viewing at Tackyworld. Josiah Gatlyn gets some video hype for his beanie company, Usko. Real has a new trailer for their video, Since Day One, featuring Jake Donnelly. Steven Webb cruises downtown LA for Stereo.
In the aftermath of his Strikeforce fight, the rough night continued for Bobby Lashley in the bowels of the Toyota Center. The former WWE star, who suffered his first career loss in MMA, and was taken from the Houston arena on a stretcher (Video here). The loss was part beatdown, part mental breakdown due to exhaustion. The thickly-muscled 249-pound monster was wiped out just minutes into his fight against Chad Griggs. Griggs (9-1) took advantage of a shaky stand-up by the referee and pounded away at Lashley while the formerly unbeaten MMA prospect held on for dear life against the cage. Lashley (5-1) suffered a nasty cut under his left eye in the first round and couldn’t take advantage of scoring the mount position in the second.
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
Dogway has a Blue montage from the streets of Spain.
Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
Who doesn’t have mixed feelings about James Toney and UFC 118? Sure he brought a lot of new media and attention to the event but one has to question whether the sport really benefitted from what Toney did in the Octagon. He received a rumored $750,000 up front for his efforts. No one expected the aging boxer to put up a great fight but could he at least pretend like he was going try? For me, all hope for the fight being even halfway decent, was finished as the scale read 237 pounds on Friday. Toney either had no shame or just said "screw it, I’m making my money. So why train?"He was ridiculed all over the country by folks who rarely buy UFC pay-per-views or attend the numerous viewing parties. Toney was fodder for casual fans like Luke O’Brien, who posted his recap of UFC 118 on Deadspin. If, over the last nine months, the boxer had trained to defend even one more
takedown than the number of cheeseburgers he seemingly stuffed in his gob, he
might have made the night more interesting. As it was, he didn’t get to throw a
single punch before Randy Couture grabbed his ankle and, in slow-motion, dragged
him to the mat. Hitting a "low single" is one of the more insulting occurrences
in grappling, the rough equivalent of winning a chess game in four moves.
He’s right. When was the last time a mixed martial artist even thought about a low single? The result would be getting your head kicked off into the mezzanine. Couture soon had the manatee in an arm triangle. Fat Toney looked so lost on the
ground that he didn’t even know how to tap out properly.Apparently even referee Mario Yamasaki sort of mocked Toney. When Toney was sitting and pinned against the cage, Couture tried to tell the ref that his opponent verbally tapped. Yamasaki responded by telling Toney that he may want to just tap. After the fight, James Toney offered a few smart words
on courage: "Anybody else in boxing … wouldn’t have done what I done because
they ain’t got the heart or the balls that I do. You know what I’m saying? My
balls. … I got big walnuts. Not little nuts." Toney is correct, he does have guts but he should’ve also pointed out that no one else in boxing would’ve gone into the Octagon in horrific shape and dragged along boxing’s reputation to take a beating. There was a lot more at stake here than just a single fight. Toney’s lack of desire to take his training and conditioning seriously now makes him a footnote forever in the MMA versus boxing discussion. Deadspin also reports that Boston backed up its reputation as one of the roughest towns for fans. With the testorone and beer flowing there was plenty of tomfoolery in the stands at the TD Garden. In non-flack-approved action, a terrifying donnybrook among fat men erupted in
the upper deck before the event started. Bodies went flying. The wife of a pro
fighter sitting near me gasped in horror. One fat man almost plummeted from the
loge to great injury or death. At least two other crowd scuffles broke out
later. Each time, the pros behind me gawked like regular fans. Despite having an
armada of cops on hand, the Garden security staff seemed ill-equipped to handle
the raw New England aggression incited by MMA. In fact, one sleeping security
guard allowed an irate fan to storm up to the octagon and berate Marcus Davis
for shaming his Irish brethren This is a good read. Go check it out over at Deadspin.
A title shot is on the line when Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard lock horns at UFC 118. UFC president Dana White confirmed that yesterday. The winner will get the victor from the B.J. Penn-Frank Edgar. This is a heck of an opportunity for Maynard, who enters the cage for just the 10th time in his career. Maynard has added to game over the years but he’s still a wrestler by trade. The last time we saw Kenny Florian face an elite former college wrestler, he basically spent the entire time on his back against Sean Sherk. But that was almost four years ago and Florian is a much more well-rounded fighter now. Who’s helped Florian shore up the holes in his wrestling game recently? UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. "I don’t think you can get a better (training) partner at this point (to work on your wrestling). George really is at the top of his game. His wrestling is second to none," said Florian co-trainer Firas Zahabi, who is also the trainer for GSP (1:45 mark). "He’s never competed as a wrestler, not very much (but) his wrestling, don’t be mistaken, it’s the best. Nobody’s watched GSP train more than I have and I’ve seen him go with top level wrestlers and I’ll tell you, he has taken everyone he’s ever wrestled or sparred with down repeatedly."While on ProMMARadio (1:02:30 mark), Florian raved about how much St. Pierre has helped him with his grappling. "I consider him the best wrestler in mixed martial arts," said Florian (Audio clip). "He’s about 200 pounds right now, very quick, very strong. I’ve been training with him for the last three fights. I know I’ll be ready. Georges has helped me so much with my wrestling and overall game that I feel like this is the best point to meet a guy like Gray Maynard." The transformation from solid jiu-jitsu and striking artist to a complete fighter hasn’t happened overnight for Florian. "Beating a guy like Gray or stopping his wrestling in one training camp is not going to happen. That’s the reality of it. So I’ve been working on it for a long time now," said Florian (14-4, 11-3 UFC). "I’ve also been working a lot with John Cholish, who wrestled over at Cornell, he was an All-American there. I’ve been bringing a lot of guys in." This fight could come down to Maynard’s work with boxing coach Gil Martinez. If Maynard (9-0, 7-0 UFC) can’t score the takedown then he’ll need to outstrike Florian. That won’t be easy. After working heavily over the last few years with boxing coach Peter Welch, Florian is a good volume puncher, who’s broken down several opponents on the feet before getting them down and finishing fights via submission.
Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping
by Michael David SmithAlexey Oleinik, Jose Vega and Lisa Ward all won to advance to the semifinals of their respective Bellator Fighting Championships Season 3 tournaments Thursday night at Bellator 26 in Kansas City.
In a bloody mess of a fight in the heavyweight tournament, Oleinik and Mike Hayes slugged it out for 15 minutes. It wasn’t an easy fight to score, and could have gone either way, but two judges scored it 29-28 Oleinik while one scored it 29-28 Hayes. It’s a good thing for Bellator that Oleinik got the decision, as Hayes had a nasty cut on his right eye that likely would have prevented him from moving on to the semifinals.
As it is, Oleinik will face Neil Grove in one semifinal fight, while Cole Konrad will face Damian Grabowski in the other heavyweight tournament semifinal. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Snowboarding
Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
MMA isn’t for everyone. We know that. Too often when folks from the 50-plus demographic speak about the sport they complain about the violence and the blood. So it cames as no shocker that there was complaining from veteran writers like Bob Ryan and Dan Shaugnessy. But they took a different stance both pointing out that they didn’t see what all the excitement was about."In all honesty, I’m just telling the truth. The biggest revelation I got from
spending that evening at the Garden was how astonishingly BOOOOORRING this thing
is," Ryan said CSN’s New England’s "Sports Tonight". "It is the most overrated … I do not remotely understand the appeal. There
isn’t enough blood, there isn’t enough action."Ryan said the first fight on the pay-per-view between Marcus Davis and Nate Diaz was solid but he didn’t enjoy the ground work in the later fights."The fans don’t like the wrestling," said Ryan, who is now an expert after taking in one live MMA card.Ryan also knows how knowledgeable each of the 15,000-plus in attendance were. "There are a sophisticated few martial arts experts who appreciate
when there is a well-executed martial arts move to create a submission, yes,
that is not the majority, it’s a small minority," said Ryan. Apparently, Ryan spoke with lots of fans to find out what they enjoy. "The people want to see boxing,
slugging, and they want to see when a guy gets down his face punched, that’s
what gets them excited. It is the most boring nonsense," said Ryan. "Most of the fights in the
early, and granted it was described to me as batting practice, the early bouts,
are guys in wrestling matches in which they were bad collegiate wrestling with
nothing happening." Who gave Ryan that description? Someone on press row? We’d love to know what MMA media regular says the early fights are "batting practice". This is why shows like CSN’s "Sports Tonight" and ESPN’s "Around the Horn" are unbearable at times. The panel is made of older media dudes who are speaking for the fans yet most haven’t had anything beyond a 10 second conversation with a fan in 10 years. The crew on the embedded CSN video was mostly pro-MMA. Longtime boxing and NFL scribe Ron Borges has more than given MMA a fair shake. He’s the "expert" on this panel. Sadly, you can’t count on one hand the number of boxing writers who’ve really embraced MMA. Check out the lead host Mike Felger, he describes the Davis-Diaz fight as sort of gruesome and then says he loved it!Quotes via Fight Opinion
by Michael David SmithWhen Frankie Edgar beat B.J. Penn in April to win the UFC lightweight title, many fans thought it was a fluke. But Edgar did it again on Saturday at UFC 118, winning another unanimous decision and showing without a doubt that he’s the best lightweight in mixed martial arts.
This time around it wasn’t even close, with Edgar winning all five rounds on all three judges’ cards.
“I want to thank B.J.,” Edgar said afterward. “He brought the best out of me.”.
More: Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn Live Blog | UFC 118 Results | UFC 118 Pictures
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Peter Ramondetta talks Street League with C1rca, DC has a Street League qualifier video. Buttery Ass Donovan just got a job at Hubba. There’s plenty of sick skating and dodgy filming in Logan Kincade #48. Photographer Joe Brook gives Crailtap a mini top five. Sean Sheffey gets Free Lunch.
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
by Michael David SmithAlexey Oleinik, Jose Vega and Lisa Ward all won to advance to the semifinals of their respective Bellator Fighting Championships Season 3 tournaments Thursday night at Bellator 26 in Kansas City.
In a bloody mess of a fight in the heavyweight tournament, Oleinik and Mike Hayes slugged it out for 15 minutes. It wasn’t an easy fight to score, and could have gone either way, but two judges scored it 29-28 Oleinik while one scored it 29-28 Hayes. It’s a good thing for Bellator that Oleinik got the decision, as Hayes had a nasty cut on his right eye that likely would have prevented him from moving on to the semifinals.
As it is, Oleinik will face Neil Grove in one semifinal fight, while Cole Konrad will face Damian Grabowski in the other heavyweight tournament semifinal. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers
RyanSheckler
I’m pleased to claim this blog officially on Technorati so that more people will read it
This link to my Technorati Profile is all it takes.
by Michael David SmithMuhammed “King Mo” Lawal was upset by Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, as a tough, back-and-forth fight ended with Feijao landing elbow after elbow to Lawal’s head in the clinch until Lawal couldn’t fight any longer.
Feijao said afterward that he prepared for this fight like never before. It showed.
“This is not about me,” Feijao said. “This is about my coaches, my team — Team Nogueira — my partners and trainers. This is about them. I train every day. Somebody asked me before, what will keep you in this fight? Training, training, training. … This is my dream.” The live blog is below.
More Coverage: King Mo vs. Rafael Feijao Live Blog | Strikeforce: Houston Results
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney
MattHoffman
MikeJones
MikeValley
by Michael David SmithDemian Maia returned to the Octagon for the first time since being humiliated by Anderson Silva in April, defeating Mario Miranda by unanimous decision at UFC 118.
It wasn’t a pretty fight, but it was a fight that Maia won handily, winning all three rounds on all three judges’ cards.
Early in the fight Maia took Miranda to the ground and proceeded to methodically advance his position and get Miranda’s back. Maia is one of the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world, and it seemed just a matter of time before Maia would win by submission. But Miranda did a nice job of wriggling free and standing back up after a couple minutes of Maia controlling him. The rest of the round was fought standing up without either fighter doing much damage, but Maia clearly won the round because he controlled the action on the ground.
More: Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda Live Blog | UFC 118 Results | UFC 118 Pictures
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney
Here’s a quickie video of James Toney talking some more trash. Much of it appears to be filmed while Toney was on last week’s UFC 118 conference call. The 41-year-old pro boxer has been doing more than his fair share to hype this weekend’s fight against Randy Couture. That also includes a neat feature in ESPN The Magazine where he answered several message board posts from fans. This one was on Bloody Elbow:Toney has never had a one-hitter quitter in any division, ever. That’s not to going to suddenly change with four-ounce gloves.Toney’s response (from Aug. 23 ESPN The Magazine):"When my trainer first gave me the four-ounce gloves, I said, ‘oh my god, I’m going to prison.’ It’s a much different feeling and it took me a bit to get used to it. But now I’m very fast with them. I know in my heart no one can stand in front of me and take my shots. If his jaw is exposed, it’s gonna be lights out, time to pay the electric bill."Part of the vlog’s also featured in this photo shoot. Toney is far from an Adonis but he looks to be in pretty solid shape.
No skate clip today, but the Mostly Skateboarding twitter feed is always going off and I started a tumblr blog last week with skate and non-skate stuff I think looks cool.
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
Nobyl has a sick new montage.
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers
by Michael David SmithDemian Maia returned to the Octagon for the first time since being humiliated by Anderson Silva in April, defeating Mario Miranda by unanimous decision at UFC 118.
It wasn’t a pretty fight, but it was a fight that Maia won handily, winning all three rounds on all three judges’ cards.
Early in the fight Maia took Miranda to the ground and proceeded to methodically advance his position and get Miranda’s back. Maia is one of the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world, and it seemed just a matter of time before Maia would win by submission. But Miranda did a nice job of wriggling free and standing back up after a couple minutes of Maia controlling him. The rest of the round was fought standing up without either fighter doing much damage, but Maia clearly won the round because he controlled the action on the ground.
More: Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda Live Blog | UFC 118 Results | UFC 118 Pictures
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney
MattHoffman
I’m pleased to claim this blog officially on Technorati so that more people will read it
This link to my Technorati Profile is all it takes.
Kenny Florian lost his first UFC title shot against Sean Sherk. On Saturday night, in his homestate of Massachusetts, he was fighting for another title shot, but his fight vs. Gray Maynard looked a lot like the Sherk fight. Maynard worked his boxing early in each round and then, when he chose to take the fight to the ground, it went to the ground. Florian couldn’t get off his back and when it was standing, he did very little offensively. Maynard impressed the judges and was able to pull the mild upset via unanimous decision, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 on all three cards. The winner of the fight was promised a title shot. Now Maynard can sit back and watch the main event, where UFC lightweight champ Frank Edgar defends the strap against B.J. Penn. "I wanted to try and make him chase me — he doesn’t chase a lot — then throw two shots at a time and eventually try for the takedown," said Maynard (11-0, 8-0 UFC).Maynard played that game for the first four minutes of the fight and then scored his first takedown. It was a sign of things to come. Not only did Florian (14-5, 11-4 UFC) struggle to get back to his feet, but he posed no danger from his back. The former Michigan State wrestler did the same thing in the second round and landed a key left hand followed by a right uppercut with 2:30 left in the round. The uppercut opened up a cut over Florian’s left eye and affected his vision. Seconds later, Maynard scored another takedown and made a bloody mess of Florian. It was more of the same in the third. In the final 90 seconds, Florian threatened with a pair of omaplata attempts, but Maynard stayed patient and powered out of both. "I’m feeling good," said Maynard, as he was being booed by the pro-Florian crowd. "I’m really glad to get to the spot where I get a shot at the title."Florian, a native of Westwood, Mass., and a Boston College grad, has to go back to the drawing board. Maynard moves onto to the title shot, where he could face Edgar. He beat Edgar back in 2008 at Ultimate Fight Night 13 and came away with a win.
The media around UFC 118 is wrapped up in the event and the fights but there is a pretty big story brewing in the background. It was less than two weeks ago that Shane Carwin was named by a federal prosecutor as a customer of a steroid-dealing pharmacist. Carwin has chosen to stay mum on the topic and UFC Dana White doesn’t feel comfortable speaking on the subject without more facts. "I don’t know enough about it to go into it in depth," White told Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani. "But, I know he came up on
like a BALCO-type list. On a list of guys who did it. But, this guy’s [Carwin]
fought in the UFC a long time, under regulation and has never tested positive
for anything. We’ll see how
this whole thing plays out."Yahoo! Sports’ Dave Meltzer says using recent testing results, to give athletes accused of using steroids a pass, doesn’t wash anymore.The current testing system means nothing in most states and in the states
like Nevada where it is legit, you still know well ahead of time the day you are
being tested. They do have the power to test you off season, but it’s rarely
done, and if you aren’t a top guy headlining a show in the next two months,
there is no fear of it happening. California was very real before, but when you
go from people failing tests nearly every weekend to nobody failing tests for
months, either everyone smartened up at once or something has changed. Meltzer wrote in Pro Wrestling Observer that he’s always had suspicions about Carwin (pictured in early 2008 when he initially signed with the UFC). When I met (Shane Carwin) in 2006, he was 289 ripped and when I asked him if
he could cut to 265 (the weight he’d need to be for UFC), he laughed and said
there was no way he could. Two years later, he was in UFC and fighting at 254
without cutting and physically he looked like a completely different person.
Meltzer said fighters believe that many of the top competitors in the sport are using some of sort of performance enhancing drug. My feeling from talking with someone who
directly distributed is that the people who say everyone or 90% of the top
fighters are on them are people covering up for their own insecurities and
justifying usage. That said, the percentage is significant. Dennis Hallman was on Inside MMA (video – 38:00 mark) a
few weeks ago and said it was no less than 50 percent. When going through fighters
at one prominent gym from someone who knew, person by person, we did end up
right at 50 percent and again, some who did and didn’t from that list would surprise
you.
Meltzer thinks anyone who says steroids or PED’s make little difference is being foolish. But the point is, steroids do
change the game (one fighter who is very sophisticated on use noted to me about
certain opponents that he’s trained with both on and off and he mentioned one
guy as almost a world beater on when he trained with him and he was `nothing’
off, and talked about being genuinely scared of another fighter-keep in mind
this was in a non-drug tested environment–who was a very dangerous and actually
legendary striker at any weight and had in a very short period of time had
suddenly packed on 20 extra pounds of muscle and completely changed his
body.We’re never going to get resolution on the Carwin story. He’ll come back, address it quickly and the story will get buried just like it has with James Toney, who is fighting on the card this weekend. Toney tested positive after his win over John Ruiz back in 2005 and served a 90-day suspension. Most MMA fans have no idea of Toney’s history with PED’s.Hopefully down the road, more comprehensive testing for steroids and HGH (that means everyone on the card) will be put in place and the worries, about who’s on and who’s not, will be alleviated. It’s certainly made a difference in baseball. The 50 home run, 145 RBI seasons have been replaced by very 70’s-like 32 HR, 110 RBI seasons. It must be the improvement in pitching, right? Baseball finally instituted real testing and up next is a reliable test for HGH. MMA and boxing need to follow suit. Meltzer tip via Bloody Elbow
by Michael David SmithNo one can doubt Frankie Edgar anymore.
After Edgar beat B.J. Penn by unanimous decision in April, a lot of people believed that the fight was a fluke, that the judges erred, and that Penn was still the best lightweight in mixed martial arts. But now that Edgar has defeated Penn once again at UFC 118, there’s no room for debate: Edgar is the undisputed champion.
Except that Edgar has one loss on his record, and that one loss is to Gray Maynard, who has been anointed the next challenger to Edgar’s title. Maynard could make a case that he deserves to be considered the top fighter in the division, but unless he makes that case again in the cage, I’m sticking with Edgar at No. 1. The rest of the rankings are below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
It takes a special kind of narcissism to wear a shirt with a picture of yourself on it. Luckily for MMA fans, James Toney is exactly that kind of narcissist. Just look at that thing. Not only is Toney wearing a shirt with a picture of himself on it, but check out his likeness on the shirt. His gloves say "MMA" while his body looks slightly more svelte than in recent pictures of the boxer-turned-mixed martial artist. Even with all that, the most ridiculous aspect of the shirt is the price. If you want it, you’ll have to cough up $49.98 for it.
Scott Gall gets rad for his Gorf Life welcome video. Via: WiSkate.
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
What happened to all the hard work? We heard James Toney had gotten himself into shape. You can crow about being in the best condition of your life but the scale doesn’t lie. Toney stepped on stage Friday at the UFC 118 weigh-in and checked in at a ridiculous 237 pounds. That matches his heaviest weight ever as a boxer. It’s 20 pounds heavier than his last boxing match just 11 months ago against Matthew Greer. Keep in mind, Toney spent most of his boxing career between 160-175 pounds. At barely 6-feet tall, 237 pounds is a lot to carry. Toney takes on the UFC legend Randy Couture on Saturday night and needs to be light on his feet, try to avoid Couture’s takedowns and take advantage of the speed in his hands. Toney didn’t help his cause by showing up at a blubbery 237. And with all the smack-talking Toney has done lately, this certainly doesn’t look good for the 42-year-old boxer. Also not looking good was Toney as he removed his pants (pictured to the right). He gave the crowd at the TD Garden a little extra show when part of his rear end was exposed. The MMA fans in attendance let loose a hearty laugh. Many experts already weren’t giving Toney a chance, anyway. Couture has been installed a minus-800 favorite to win the fight. Even
UFC president Dana White admits that he’s out to make an example of
Toney, who’s been talking trash about mixed martial artists and White for years."What people don’t realize is that this started back in 2002," White told the Opie and Anthony Show on XM. "When we first bought the company, when Tito Ortiz was the big name in the UFC at that time. (Toney) came out and started talking all sorts of smack about the UFC and Tito. He wanted to fight one of these guys back then." Toney turned up the heat at the end of 2009 when he stalked White before UFC 107. Less than a month later, he crashed the postfight press conference at UFC 108 in Las Vegas. Toney holds a boxing record of 72-6-3, but will step into the Octagon for the first time. Couture enters the fight with 28 professional MMA fights. He was also an Olympic-level wrestler throughout his 20’s. Toney just began working on his wrestling and other elements of MMA at the start of 2010. All 20 fighters made weight without any issues. UFC 118 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Junkie)Pay-per-view card Frankie Edgar (154) vs. B.J. Penn (154) — for lightweight titleRandy Couture (220) vs. James Toney (237)Kenny Florian (156) vs. Gray Maynard (156)Marcus Davis (170) vs. Nate Diaz (171)Demian Maia (184) vs. Mario Miranda (185) Spike cardJoe Lauzon (156) vs. Gabe Ruediger (155)Nik Lentz (155) vs. Andre Winner (154)Non-televised card Dan Miller (185) vs. John Salter (185)Nick Osipczak (171) vs. Greg Soto (170)Amilcar Alves (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)
Location: Stanage Plantation
Date: Sunday 27 July
Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out.
If you’re reading this wondering [...]
I’m pleased to claim this blog officially on Technorati so that more people will read it
This link to my Technorati Profile is all it takes.
Finally a little sun! Yesterday I went climbing in Burbage (specifically Burbage south boulders) in the Peak District near Sheffield. I’m really glad I’ve got these boulders within 15 minutes of my home.
Although in a climbing wall / gym I’m happy on 6a/6b the techniques on grit boulders are a different world: lots of smearing [...]
I had the opportunity to go hang at Woodward East a few weeks ago and participate as a guest instructor in their digital photography camp. It was a great time working with the all the photo campers. A solid week of shredding, photos, and golf carts. If you have a chance to go next summer, it’s well worth it. Here’s some photos from camp and of Cooper Wilt and Chris Haslam.
Read More
Let the terrorism begin!!!!!!! 5:00 on shows the debates at the city council meeting.
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston
As Joe Lauzon fought Sam Stout at UFC 108, I remember thinking, "Lauzon doesn’t look like himself." He was returning from a knee injury and a 10-month layoff, but it still didn’t explain why Lauzon looked so lifeless in the decision, which he lost. Lauzon says that the knee was partly to blame. He told the Boston Herald: "My last fight camp kind of got me into normal shape and this fight camp is really elevating me to being fight-ready. Right after the fight I really didn’t take any time off. . . . I’m definitely ready. I’ve had more than enough time."This is Lauzon’s first fight since then, meaning he had a nine-month layoff right after he had a 10-month layoff. Instead of being concerned about ring rust, Lauzon thinks that the time off has helped him. He used it to train more, heading to Hawaii to work with his one-time coach on "The Ultimate Fighter," B.J. Penn.Now, Penn is on Lauzon’s turf. A lifelong Boston native, Lauzon will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd, and finally welcomed Penn to his gym. Both fighters are coming off of a loss and claiming to be revitalized. We’ll see if it’s true this Saturday.
UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell has had his mohawk for 18 years, but he shaved it all off Monday morning on "Fox and Friends." Now, he looks like this: Liddell shaved his head for a good cause. BIC, the makers of razors, is sponsoring BIC 4 GOOD and encouraging people to shave their head for charity. You can virtually shave your head or send in a video of you actually getting your head shaved here. Either way, BIC will make a donation to Do Something, a charity that encourages volunteerism among youth. Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports: • Strangest records in sports • NFL’s top tailgating towns • Hoops trick shot with a golf club
FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
JasonMurphy
by Michael David SmithRonaldo “Jacare” Souza fought Tim Kennedy for five tough rounds Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, walking away with a unanimous decision victory that made him the new Strikeforce middleweight champion.
“I’m stoked that I won and I’m the champion,” Jacare said through his translator after the fight.
The Strikeforce middleweight belt was on the line because it was relinquished by former champion Jake Shields, who left the promotion to sign with the UFC. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers
With another win over B.J. Penn, Frank Edgar can solidfy his reputation as one of the best fighters in the world. UFC 118 is a huge card and should do big numbers on pay-per-view, plus beating a guy like Penn twice will leave little doubt that Edgar belongs in the top 10 pound-for-pound. That said, the UFC lightweight champ still won’t be the most famous guy to come out of the Jersey Shore recently. MMA is growing but it’s still a niche sport. Meanwhile you can only hope to contain the Jersey Shore juggernaut that is Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino from the show "Jersey Shore" on MTV. Before, you say ‘who cares’ or ‘the show is stupid’, the latest news on The Sitch are pretty eye opening.Sorrentino, who hails from Staten Island, N.Y., which is really nowhere near Seaside Heights and Edgar’s hometown of Toms River, has turned out to be a marketing genius. What does that mean? While a fighter like Edgar will probably pull down $150,000-$200,000 in 2010, The Situation is going to be in a slightly higher tax bracket. As the second season of MTV’s pop-culture phenomenon "Jersey Shore" gobbles up
the biggest ratings the network has seen in seven years, breakout star
Sorrentino (a.k.a. The Situation) is astutely capitalizing on his fame. By
year’s end, the 29-year-old stands to earn more than $5 million, a source
familiar with his finances told The Hollywood Reporter. E! News reports that Sorrentino is now the highest paid reality star on television. The Situation is also cleaning house on Twitter where he has over 178,000 followers. In comparision, his Garden State compadre Edgar has just over 12,000. In fact, the most popular fighter at UFC 118 on Twitter is Randy Couture with roughly 46,000 followers. Maybe it’s time for Edgar to find "Ronnie" at Karma and take him out. Season 4 could feature Frankie along with The Situation, Pauly D and Vinnie.
Muhammed Lawal is a confident guy but he’s turned to the Lou Holtz approach of talking up his battles. "King Mo" thinks rankings are nonsense and so is the favorite/underdog label. The light heavyweight prospect knows that on any given night, a solid opponent can take him out. Just like Holtz used to talk up Notre Dame’s "dangerous" matchups against the likes of Navy and Stanford, King Mo is wary of Rafael Cavalcante. "I’ve only been fighting for two years," said King Mo. "There’s no pressure on me
whatsoever. If there’s pressure on anybody it’s Feijao. He has the name. He’s
been fighting longer and he’s been training longer. I remember watching Feijao
just mashing people in the IFL. I think people look at me as having the bigger
name but I don’t care. I think he’s the favorite. I’m the underdog even though
I’m the champ."Strikeforce Houston betting odds (Courtesy Venetian/Lagasse Stadium Las Vegas):Muhammed Lawal (-500) v. Rafael Cavalcante (+350) – Strikeforce 205 titleTim Kennedy (+150) v. Ronaldo Souza (-180) – Strikeforce 185 titleK.J. Noons (-200) v. Jorge Gurgel (+170) – LightweightChad Griggs (+450) v. Bobby Lashley (-700) – HeavyweightUpdate: With the fights just an hour away, there’s been some heavy action on Noons. He’s now at minus-300. Bettors favor "Feijao" Cavalcante slightly. Lawal is down to minus-450. "Jacare" Souza has risen 40 cents to minus-220. And there’s a been a little dog action on Griggs, although Lashley is still a favorite at minus-600. Starting at 10 p.m. ET, check Cagewriter for updates on the Showtime televised card.
by Michael David SmithGray Maynard became the UFC’s No. 1 lightweight contender Saturday at UFC 118, but he wasn’t very exciting in the process.
Maynard beat Kenny Florian by unanimous decision, staying undefeated in his professional MMA career and controlling the fight with a wrestling style that is brutally effective but not particularly entertaining to the fans.
“I’d love to come back here and have you guys cheer for me some time,” Maynard said as the fans booed him at the end of a fairly boring fight.
More: Gray Maynard vs. Kenny Florian Live Blog | UFC 118 Results | UFC 118 Pictures
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
ParksBonifay
PeterMel
PeterMendia
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out – I’ve decided to do it later this year…
Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr
I’m [...]
Atlanta Hates Us has a nice black & white montage from the much cooler month of March.
With another win over B.J. Penn, Frank Edgar can solidfy his reputation as one of the best fighters in the world. UFC 118 is a huge card and should do big numbers on pay-per-view, plus beating a guy like Penn twice will leave little doubt that Edgar belongs in the top 10 pound-for-pound. That said, the UFC lightweight champ still won’t be the most famous guy to come out of the Jersey Shore recently. MMA is growing but it’s still a niche sport. Meanwhile you can only hope to contain the Jersey Shore juggernaut that is Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino from the show "Jersey Shore" on MTV. Before, you say ‘who cares’ or ‘the show is stupid’, the latest news on The Sitch are pretty eye opening.Sorrentino, who hails from Staten Island, N.Y., which is really nowhere near Seaside Heights and Edgar’s hometown of Toms River, has turned out to be a marketing genius. What does that mean? While a fighter like Edgar will probably pull down $150,000-$200,000 in 2010, The Situation is going to be in a slightly higher tax bracket. As the second season of MTV’s pop-culture phenomenon "Jersey Shore" gobbles up
the biggest ratings the network has seen in seven years, breakout star
Sorrentino (a.k.a. The Situation) is astutely capitalizing on his fame. By
year’s end, the 29-year-old stands to earn more than $5 million, a source
familiar with his finances told The Hollywood Reporter. E! News reports that Sorrentino is now the highest paid reality star on television. The Situation is also cleaning house on Twitter where he has over 178,000 followers. In comparision, his Garden State compadre Edgar has just over 12,000. In fact, the most popular fighter at UFC 118 on Twitter is Randy Couture with roughly 46,000 followers. Maybe it’s time for Edgar to find "Ronnie" at Karma and take him out. Season 4 could feature Frankie along with The Situation, Pauly D and Vinnie.
by Michael David SmithUFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, former champion B.J. Penn, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and former boxing champion James Toney will all meet the press, joined by UFC President Dana White, at Wednesday’s UFC 118 pre-fight press conference. And if you can’t be there in person in Boston, you can watch it right here at MMAFighting.com.
The star of the show is likely to be Toney, who will draw plenty of mainstream media attention and talk plenty of trash about Couture. It’s going to be easy to forget that Edgar-Penn 2 is actually the main event.
The UFC 118 pre-fight press conference begins Wednesday at 3PM ET and the video is below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Playboard has a solid minute of footage from Bastian Marlin for Horsefeathers.
FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
JasonMurphy
Competitive balance may be a fallacy you can strive for in other sports, but in fighting you need big stars. Strikeforce took a beating tonight as Bobby Lashley fell to start the Showtime telecast, then one of the promotion’s brightest young stars Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal found himself face first on the mat in less than 12 minutes. Rafael "Feijao’ Cavalcante was the bigger, more powerful and more technical fighter. It was just a matter of time before King Mo got caught by some kind of nasty strike. In the third round, he was hit with a huge knee in a clinch situation. His knees buckled and as he was stumbling backwards, Feijao nailed him with another right. Lawal fell to his back and rose back up in shaky fashion. He struggled to hold on to Feijao against the cage as he got pummeled by elbows. After absorbing over a dozen elbows and punches, Lawal’s left arm dropped. That’s when referee John McCarthy stepped in to stop things at 1:14 of the third. Lawal was clearly out, as he fell face first to the mat. Feijao (10-2) took the Strikeforce light heavyweight title from Lawal. It’s not shocking that Lawal (7-1) lost. After making the move over from the world of amateur wrestling, He’s still a very inexperienced fighter. Lawal, who just missed out on the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team, allowed his grappling to carry him to an unbeaten record against a decent slate of fighters. But tonight Feijao proved to be too strong. Lawal scored two takedowns but also worked very hard while missing on three others. Even when Feijao hit the deck, he got himself to his feet relatively quicklyLawal outlanded Feijao 67-50 but most of the Brazilian’s shots were much heavier.
Frankie "The Answer" Edgar left no questions at UFC 118 in Boston on Saturday night. He defended his lightweight championship belt vs. B.J. Penn, winning a unanimous decision 50-45 on all three judges’ cards.Edgar took Penn down immediately in the opening round. Penn would not let Edgar pass his guard and finally rolled out after a minute. Not long after, they were back to the canvas, with Edgar scoring another takedown. When they got back to their feet, Penn had a hard time connecting his strikes, while Edgar finished the round off with a big kick-punch combo.In the second, Edgar again did what few other fighters have been able to do: take Penn down. Edgar didn’t hold Penn down for long, but when they returned to their feet, Edgar was the aggressor. He continued to move well and frustrate Penn. Early in the fight, the crowd at the TD Garden chanted Penn’s name, but by the third round they were yelling, "Frankie! Frankie!" He earned their love as he stayed fresh and fast, winning virtually every exchange with Penn. Penn finally seemed to come alive in the fourth round, taking Edgar down to start the round. He didn’t hold Edgar down for long, though, and Edgar returned the favor with a takedown of his own, sweeping Penn’s leg out from underneath him. Edgar postured up and landed big shots, both with Penn on his back and when they stood back up. In the final round, Penn again started out with a takedown but lost the advantage when Edgar reversed it. Edgar did not let up, landing elbow after elbow on Penn’s face. This fight was a rematch of the duo’s UFC 112 title bout in Abu Dhabi. In that bout, Edgar won a razor-close decision. This time, he left no doubt who was the better fighter. Edgar melded tight striking, frustrating movement and excellent wrestling, giving him the exact formula to beat Penn. "I feel like I can walk on water," Edgar said. "I knew he was going to come in tough. I wanted to make that point." Gray Maynard won his bout with Kenny Florian earlier in the evening, earning him a shot at Edgar’s belt. The interesting wrinkle is that Maynard is the one fighter who has beaten Edgar. Maynard took a unanimous decision from Edgar in May of 2008, and he has a similar style to Penn. After trash-talking before the fight, Penn was gracious in defeat."Frankie fought a great fight," Penn said. "He fought me twice. He walked away with the decision twice."Despite this loss, Penn’s legacy isn’t in trouble. He still is one of the most dominant lightweights ever to fight in the UFC. Edgar just figured out the best way to beat him.
He may get mocked on for being "The Decisionator" but no one can deny the fact that Dominick Cruz is a tough riddle to solve. Joe Benavidez got a second chance, this time with the WEC’s bantamweight title on the line, and just fell short of avenging his loss from their first meeting. He crushed Cruz’s nose and opened a cut over his left eye but the champion was able to take a split decision, 49-46, 48-47 and 47-48, to retain his belt in the main event at WEC 50 in Las Vegas. "Joseph Benavidez is a great competitor," Cruz told the WEC’s Craig Hummer. "He didn’t fall into the trash talk. He was a very honorable fighter."Cruz, who won his seventh straight fight (five by decision), was booed by many of the fans in attendance. When asked where he stands in the world rankings, the 25-year-old was undaunted and said he absolutely belongs near the top."I rank amongst the best in the world," said Cruz (15-1, 6-1 WEC). "There’s not a doubt
in my mind." The kid’s got a chip on his shoulder and it works to motivate him. Scott Jorgensen, who beat Brad Pickett earlier in the night, is likely to get the next bantamweight title shot against Cruz.Adalaide Byrd was the judge who scored the fight four rounds to one for Cruz. Lester Griffin gave the first three rounds to Cruz while Doc Hamilton gave Cruz the final three to Benavidez. Cagewriter had it 3-2 for Benavidez. From the start of the fight, Cruz employed his trademark dancing and darting style. Benavidez seemed to have it solved in the first two rounds by using a southpaw stance. He landed some solid kicks on Cruz’s lead leg and also used a counter right hook when Cruz attempted kicks. That said, the judges all liked what Cruz did early."I
just concentrated on staying hard to hit," said Cruz. "I don’t look too bad, I suppose" In the middle of the fourth, while in the clinch, Cruz actually suffered a broken nose on a big Benavidez knee. It opened up a cut on the bridge of his nose which spurted blood for the next two minutes. Update: Cruz’s trainer Eric Del Fierro said Cruz did NOT suffer a broken nose. Update II: FightMetric backed up the two judges who chose Cruz. The service says Cruz outlanded Benavidez 103-58 and also won the takedown battle 5-0. Update III: A reminder that fight stats are tabulated by humans and can also be subjective, Compustrike numbers back up the fact that this was a very close fight. Total Strikes: Cruz 86-of-233, Benavidez 69-of-235. Interesting to note, Benavidez landed just 4-of-5 strikes in the fourth and was taken down twice, but won the round on 2-of-3 cards. Things slowed down in the fifth round. Both fighters went for broke but missed on most of their strikes. Benavidez (12-2, 4-2 WEC) landed enough shots to take the round.
JasonMurphy
JeremyMcGrath
JoshSanders
JustinHoman
KellyClark
He may get mocked on for being "The Decisionator" but no one can deny the fact that Dominick Cruz is a tough riddle to solve. Joe Benavidez got a second chance, this time with the WEC’s bantamweight title on the line, and just fell short of avenging his loss from their first meeting. He crushed Cruz’s nose and opened a cut over his left eye but the champion was able to take a split decision, 49-46, 48-47 and 47-48, to retain his belt in the main event at WEC 50 in Las Vegas. "Joseph Benavidez is a great competitor," Cruz told the WEC’s Craig Hummer. "He didn’t fall into the trash talk. He was a very honorable fighter."Cruz, who won his seventh straight fight (five by decision), was booed by many of the fans in attendance. When asked where he stands in the world rankings, the 25-year-old was undaunted and said he absolutely belongs near the top."I rank amongst the best in the world," said Cruz (15-1, 6-1 WEC). "There’s not a doubt
in my mind." The kid’s got a chip on his shoulder and it works to motivate him. Scott Jorgensen, who beat Brad Pickett earlier in the night, is likely to get the next bantamweight title shot against Cruz.Adalaide Byrd was the judge who scored the fight four rounds to one for Cruz. Lester Griffin gave the first three rounds to Cruz while Doc Hamilton gave Cruz the final three to Benavidez. Cagewriter had it 3-2 for Benavidez. From the start of the fight, Cruz employed his trademark dancing and darting style. Benavidez seemed to have it solved in the first two rounds by using a southpaw stance. He landed some solid kicks on Cruz’s lead leg and also used a counter right hook when Cruz attempted kicks. That said, the judges all liked what Cruz did early."I
just concentrated on staying hard to hit," said Cruz. "I don’t look too bad, I suppose" In the middle of the fourth, while in the clinch, Cruz actually suffered a broken nose on a big Benavidez knee. It opened up a cut on the bridge of his nose which spurted blood for the next two minutes. Update: Cruz’s trainer Eric Del Fierro said Cruz did NOT suffer a broken nose. Update II: FightMetric backed up the two judges who chose Cruz. The service says Cruz outlanded Benavidez 103-58 and also won the takedown battle 5-0. Update III: A reminder that fight stats are tabulated by humans and can also be subjective, Compustrike numbers back up the fact that this was a very close fight. Total Strikes: Cruz 86-of-233, Benavidez 69-of-235. Interesting to note, Benavidez landed just 4-of-5 strikes in the fourth and was taken down twice, but won the round on 2-of-3 cards. Things slowed down in the fifth round. Both fighters went for broke but missed on most of their strikes. Benavidez (12-2, 4-2 WEC) landed enough shots to take the round.
CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood
Straight off a plane today to the Jobbing.com arena to check out some heavy shredding at the Street League. If the qualifiers gave any indication, shit is gonna get real wacky tomorrow. These guys are good. Heres a few images I saw today.
Read More
In a battle of two jiu-jitsu geniuses, Demian Maia won by unanimous decision, earning a score of 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Maia came close to submitting Miranda early, taking him down and applying a choke, but Miranda shook him off his back. The two finished the round off from their feet, but quickly returned to the canvas in the second round. Maia took Miranda down easily early in the round, and showed off why he is one of the sport’s best grapplers. Controlling Miranda the entire time, Maia applied both an arm triangle and an arm bar on Miranda, but Miranda was able to defend both.Miranda’s coaches — including UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva — begged Miranda to "let it go" in the final round, but it didn’t happen. Miranda was tentative, and Maia took Miranda down and came close to an arm bar near the end of the round. Miranda spinned out of the attempt, but it was too little, too late. With such great BJJ players fighting, a submission was expected. However, their grappling canceled out, and the fighter who had better control won. This was Maia’s first fight back since losing in a title bout to Miranda’s coach, Silva.
Dogway has a Blue montage from the streets of Spain.
by Michael David SmithUFC President Dana White and select fighters will meet the press late Saturday night for the UFC 118 post-fight press conference, and we’ll have the video right here at MMAFighting.com.
The post-fight press conference will be an opportunity to find out who the winners of the Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night Bonuses are, as well as to see how the fighters are looking after their battles inside the Octagon.
The post-fight press conference will begin about half an hour after the main event concludes, and the video is below.
More: UFC 118 Results | UFC 118 Pictures
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
ErinJackson
FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza soaked in the ambience (and smoke) at Strikeforce: Houston before he beat Tim Kennedy for the Strikeforce middleweight belt. Look at the rest of All Elbows’ gallery from the fights, take a shot at a caption in the comments, and try not to inhale. Read on for winners of last week’s Create-a-Caption. First place: It says here that you’re going to marry someone with a mysterious past. — Rob RSecond place: I’m about to show you the most deadliest finger submission in the world, taught to me by my mentor and hero Steven Seagal. — JeremyThird place: "Hmmm… I charge $100 for manicure. You like? no?" — Jutte
Kenny Florian’s been there before. The UFC lightweight lost a title fight very early in his career against Sean Sherk and then ripped off six straight wins. Maybe he was a little hard-headed for his next shot against B.J. Penn. Florian stuck with a flawed gameplan and lost in the fourth round via rear-naked choke. He now knows it’s important to stay grounded and he thinks Gray Maynard had better follow the same advice. "I definitely sense a sort of cockiness. A different attitude than what he’s shown in the past," Florian said of his opponent at UFC 118 (0:22 mark). "I’ve been there too. We fall victim to it. I think he’s overlooking me. I think he’s already looking towards the title. He’s definitely on the cocky side."At just 9-0 in MMA, Florian wonders where Maynard’s cockiness is coming from. He also wants to see how Maynard deals with adversity. "Gray’s never encountered that type of pressure. He’s never never
encountered when someone’s kind of beating down on him," Florian told Larry Pepe from ProMMA Radio (2:57 mark) "He’s always been
the aggressor. He’s always been the bully. It’s easy to have fights
like that when you’re winning the fight the whole time. How is he going
to respond when he’s getting beaten down?" Maynard’s never really been beaten down but he was frustrated to no end in his last fight against Nate Diaz. Diaz’s incessant chatter in the Octagon took Maynard out of his game. If that screwed with Maynard’s head, what happens if he’s actually losing the fight? "How’s he going to respond
when he’s hurt and he’s hurt again and he’s hurt again," said Florian. "And he’s losing
every minute of every round. What’s that gonna feel like for him?" Maynard has been a lot more outspoken in the lead up to this fight. Part of that is the realization that guys like Dan Hardy, Paul Daley and even Diaz moved up the ladder a lot faster by self-promoting more heavily. Florian doesn’t see that it’s just a ploy by Maynard to push the fight and his image. He’s been insulted by Maynard saying that he can beat Florian in every aspect of MMA. "If he doesn’t respect my skills, he’s gonna be in trouble," said Florian. He suggested Maynard will be full of excuses if he loses the fight. "It’s gonna be one of those things where (Maynard says), ‘I don’t understand what happened or Kenny got lucky. Or I made a mistake and I’ll be back and better than ever before.’ I don’t get that. It’s created a lot of motivation for me."Florian doesn’t talk a lot of trash but he decided to fire back at Maynard a little (6:10 mark). "I don’t think he’s the most exciting fighter," Florian said of Maynard. "I don’t jump up and down when there’s a Gray Maynard fight going on, but I do respect his skills."This is a huge fight in the lightweight division. The winner has a good shot at meeting the winner of Frank Edgar-B.J. Penn. From a promotional standpoint, you’d have to think the UFC would love to see Maynard victory.Check out Pepe’s entire interview with Florian here.
With WEC 50 and Strikeforce: Houston in the books, Cagewriter takes a look at the fighters who stood out.No. 1 star — Anthony Pettis: "Showtime" earned his shot at the WEC lightweight title with an amazing win over Shane Roller. Pettis and Roller fought a back and forth bout for more than 14 minutes. Then Pettis locked on a triangle choke, earning him his third win in a row. No. 2 star — Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante: At Strikeforce: Houston, Feijao dethroned "King Mo" with a third-round TKO. Cavalcante won with the same powerful striking that had earned him the title shot. He used knees as an antidote to Lawal’s takedowns, and will now get to defend the belt that Lawal couldn’t. No. 3 star — Dominick Cruz: In his first title defense, Cruz showed excellent movement, avoiding Benavidez’s strikes while darting in to land strikes of his own. The five-round fight didn’t slow him down, either. Next up? Scott Jorgensen, also a big winner at WEC 50.Honorable mention — Daniel Cormier: Four weeks, three fights, two continents, one result. As we wrote last week, Cormier fought in his third fight in a month on Saturday, but you didn’t see any wear and tear on the two-time Olympian. He ran through Jason Riley in 62 seconds, and is now free to sit on his couch and play video games. Honorable mention — Chad Griggs: The full-time firefighter with
mutton chops wasn’t supposed to beat former professional wrestling star
Bobby Lashley, but that’s exactly what he did. He used an uppercut to
first cut Lashley under the eye, then to set up the hammerfists that
TKOed Lashley. Dishonorable mention — Texas State Athletic Commission: The state commission that oversaw Strikeforce:Houston did an abysmal job. Referee Jon Schorle stood up Bobby Lashley and Chad Griggs at a questionable time in the fight. He also hesitated in stopping the KJ Noons/Jorge Gurgel fight, looking as if he was going to step in, but then stopping. He then failed to recognize the illegal knee that Noons threw. To add to the troubles with refereeing, the state commission’s timekeeper had troubles with the clock during the Jacare/Kennedy bout. The UFC and Bellator both have events in early September in the Lone Star state. Hopefully, they’ll get their act together by then.Who were your stars from WEC 50 and Strikeforce: Houston?
PeterMendia
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
It’s been a good week in skateboarding, topped off with the release of Dylan Rieder’s video part. Boosh and I headed over to Gravis’s dylan. premiere to get the inside story. Video Coverage Here.
Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
Straight off a plane today to the Jobbing.com arena to check out some heavy shredding at the Street League. If the qualifiers gave any indication, shit is gonna get real wacky tomorrow. These guys are good. Heres a few images I saw today.
Read More
TajBurrow
TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes
TommyClowers
TommyGuerrero
Mark Frolich helps out with Alex Fiedler’s welcome video for Jart.
ErinJackson
FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
What have you done this month? Strikeforce heavyweight and two-time Olympian Daniel Cormier has fought on two continents, won two championship belts, prepared for his third bout and moved into a new apartment. As he gets ready for the third bout, he laughed at the idea that he was crazy. "Not crazy because of the way the first two went," Cormier told Cagewriter. "If I had gotten all cut up, then maybe. But these first two fights were a combined six and a half minutes. People keep asking if I’ve lost my mind, but we wrestled 2-3 times a week in college, and not easy wrestling matches. I’ve been trained to do this over the course of my wrestling career." Cormier won the XMMA heavyweight championship in Australia on July 31 with a TKO of Lucas Brown. Two weeks later, he earned the King of the Cage belt with a quick TKO of Tony Johnson, Jr. This weekend, he’ll face Jason Riley on the undercard of the Strikeforce: Houston card, a bout that will be aired online. At King of the Cage bout, referee Cecil People made waves after an odd statement before Cormier’s fight. When the two fighters came forward for pre-fight instructions, Peoples called the KOTC belt "the most prestigious in the world," an overreach at best.Cormier says that he didn’t hear what Peoples said at the time, and was surprised when he heard it after the fight. The normally talkative Cormier had trouble putting words to his reaction."I read comments the afterwards, and what do you say about that? I didn’t hear it. What do you say? Maggie, have you ever heard me at a loss for words? Maybe he believes that. It’s his opinion."He has no trouble speaking when answering the question of whether or not he will fight his friend and the Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, Mo Lawal. Though Lawal said he’s willing to fight at heavyweight, Cormier will not fight his friend."It won’t happen. Mo and I wrestled a lot. You can’t talk, you can’t communicate. What people don’t realize is that our relationship spans a decade. It’s more than MMA. When he transferred to OSU, Mo was my guy. He’s family to me, and I’d never take food out of his mouth. That’s what happens when you fight, and I’d never try to hurt him."But before he gets to that discussion, he has a fight to focus on, and then a new home to hang out in. He spent the weekend between fights moving into a San Jose apartment with American Kickboxing Academy teammate Luke Rockhold, though he did cave in and decide to hire movers.Now, Cormier is looking forward to winning his bout and relaxing in that new place."Hopefully, I can get one more win and then I’ll be 5-0 in a year. After this, I’m looking forward to taking a few days to just relax. Most people say they want to go to the beach, or go on vacation. I just want to lay on my couch and play video games."He won’t have to look far for reminders of his success. Cormier said that the two belts are on his entertainment center, next to the X-Box.
In need of some quality time? Dill has an epic interview over at The Chrome Ball Incident. Enjoy.
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
There’s confidence, trash talk and fight hype and then there’s what James Toney does. Toney is pulling out all the big guns for his MMA debut at UFC 118. The heavyweight boxer sounds like he’s got Floyd Mayweather’s career behind him. Toney (72-6, 44 KOs) told Heavy.com that he’s the undisputed heavyweight boxing king, he’s a banger and the knockout king. That’s all great but let’s pitch this fight against Randy Couture based on some facts. Toney is far from the undisputed heavyweight boxing king. Just because you’ve moved over to the MMA world doesn’t mean you can outright fib about your boxing career. It is true that the Klitschkos have avoided Toney. But can you blame them. It’s certainly not out of fear. There’s simply nothing to gain and those fights wouldn’t sell. Toney was at the end of his rope in boxing before he started harassing UFC president Dana White to allow him into the Octagon. Part of that was also because of his conditioning. It’s hard to sell an out-of-shape 235-pound Toney as a legitimate boxer. Toney is also a tough sell because he’s not a power puncher. He can call himself the knockout king but fact is until he knocked out the unknown Matthew Greer in his last boxing match, he hadn’t scored a knockout since late 2003.This isn’t meant to rip Toney because his move to MMA has been a blessing. He’s gotten a chance to introduce himself to a whole new audience. Not enough MMA fighters understand how to hype a fight. And yes, Toney may be a little over the top but he does know the basic concepts of the fight game. The fight itself is important but so is promoting the sport before the brawl goes down. The match does present some intrigue but hopefully people don’t buy into Toney’s hype too much and come away disappointed if he gets dumped on his head and loses in 60 seconds.
Quiksilver Europe puts together a sick montage from their Skate In Visión photo contest.
SkateFilms.tv has a solid euro montage.
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston
Once you get through the painfully long intro, this Leo Heinert part is pretty good.
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
DC has results from yesterday’s qualifiers from the first Street League event. Chris Cole, Shane O?Neill, Paul Rodriguez, Sean Malto, Nyjah Huston, and Chaz Ortiz are in with the final contestant to be determined today at the best trick event. Keep an eye on the DC site for continuing coverage throughout the weekend.
In the aftermath of his Strikeforce fight, the rough night continued for Bobby Lashley in the bowels of the Toyota Center. The former WWE star, who suffered his first career loss in MMA, and was taken from the Houston arena on a stretcher (Video here). The loss was part beatdown, part mental breakdown due to exhaustion. The thickly-muscled 249-pound monster was wiped out just minutes into his fight against Chad Griggs. Griggs (9-1) took advantage of a shaky stand-up by the referee and pounded away at Lashley while the formerly unbeaten MMA prospect held on for dear life against the cage. Lashley (5-1) suffered a nasty cut under his left eye in the first round and couldn’t take advantage of scoring the mount position in the second.
by Michael David SmithWhen the bantamweight title fight between Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez is over, the action at WEC 50 won’t be completely finished: Following the event comes the post-fight press conference, which you can watch here at MMAFighting.com.
Hear the fighters talk about their fights, see whose faces bear the scars of battling inside the cage, and find out who won the Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses by watching the WEC 50 post-fight press conference, which will be available here shortly after midnight Eastern. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Competitive balance may be a fallacy you can strive for in other sports, but in fighting you need big stars. Strikeforce took a beating tonight as Bobby Lashley fell to start the Showtime telecast, then one of the promotion’s brightest young stars Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal found himself face first on the mat in less than 12 minutes. Rafael "Feijao’ Cavalcante was the bigger, more powerful and more technical fighter. It was just a matter of time before King Mo got caught by some kind of nasty strike. In the third round, he was hit with a huge knee in a clinch situation. His knees buckled and as he was stumbling backwards, Feijao nailed him with another right. Lawal fell to his back and rose back up in shaky fashion. He struggled to hold on to Feijao against the cage as he got pummeled by elbows. After absorbing over a dozen elbows and punches, Lawal’s left arm dropped. That’s when referee John McCarthy stepped in to stop things at 1:14 of the third. Lawal was clearly out, as he fell face first to the mat. Feijao (10-2) took the Strikeforce light heavyweight title from Lawal. It’s not shocking that Lawal (7-1) lost. After making the move over from the world of amateur wrestling, He’s still a very inexperienced fighter. Lawal, who just missed out on the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team, allowed his grappling to carry him to an unbeaten record against a decent slate of fighters. But tonight Feijao proved to be too strong. Lawal scored two takedowns but also worked very hard while missing on three others. Even when Feijao hit the deck, he got himself to his feet relatively quicklyLawal outlanded Feijao 67-50 but most of the Brazilian’s shots were much heavier.
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Canyoning
by Michael David SmithAlexey Oleinik, Jose Vega and Lisa Ward all won to advance to the semifinals of their respective Bellator Fighting Championships Season 3 tournaments Thursday night at Bellator 26 in Kansas City.
In a bloody mess of a fight in the heavyweight tournament, Oleinik and Mike Hayes slugged it out for 15 minutes. It wasn’t an easy fight to score, and could have gone either way, but two judges scored it 29-28 Oleinik while one scored it 29-28 Hayes. It’s a good thing for Bellator that Oleinik got the decision, as Hayes had a nasty cut on his right eye that likely would have prevented him from moving on to the semifinals.
As it is, Oleinik will face Neil Grove in one semifinal fight, while Cole Konrad will face Damian Grabowski in the other heavyweight tournament semifinal. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
I stopped by Northside today and it looks like they haven’t done much with the park accept put a fence and guard house up and sweep away the gravel. The bank to bank gap still isn’t finished so I wonder if there is some drama going on with the park. I’ve been told the park will open in September, but that could mean the first or last day of September.
Snowboarding
Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out – I’ve decided to do it later this year…
Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr
I’m [...]
There are a few good parks in between San Diego and Seattle. Maybe some other spots too. This week’s Fresh Crops is brought to you by Oceanside’s Brooks Fritz. Featuring Scotty Keller, Ryan Williams, Ryan Harris, Peter Gunn, Jamie Weller, Davey Rockit, Brad Herrera, Al Qaeda Chris, and Chucky Jones.
Read More
In the aftermath of his Strikeforce fight, the rough night continued for Bobby Lashley in the bowels of the Toyota Center. The former WWE star, who suffered his first career loss in MMA, and was taken from the Houston arena on a stretcher (Video here). The loss was part beatdown, part mental breakdown due to exhaustion. The thickly-muscled 249-pound monster was wiped out just minutes into his fight against Chad Griggs. Griggs (9-1) took advantage of a shaky stand-up by the referee and pounded away at Lashley while the formerly unbeaten MMA prospect held on for dear life against the cage. Lashley (5-1) suffered a nasty cut under his left eye in the first round and couldn’t take advantage of scoring the mount position in the second.
RossPowers
RyanSheckler
ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray
It’s still a very young sport and just like other competitions that are judged, mixed martial arts is going through some growing pains. There is no clear picture of what scores in the judges’ minds. B.J. Penn is still steaming about his unanimous decision loss to Frank Edgar back at UFC 112. He gets his chance at revenge next weekend in Boston and doesn’t plan on leaving it for the judges to decide his fate. "The judges, as we all know, they don’t know what they’re doing," said Penn. "I don’t think anyone should get any points for any of the grappling positions. It’s all about damage and submissions attempts, that’s the only thing that should matter in the fight."So essentially Penn wants takedowns to be a scored minimally. Unless the fighter scoring the takedown does damage down on the ground or is aggressively pursuing a finish, the takedown should mean little. I tend to agree. Maybe the judges scoring one of the heavyweight fights at Bellator 25 Thursday night, got wind of Penn’s critique. Scott Barrett, a former college wrestler, put Damian Grabowski on his back for most of the first and second rounds. But when he was down there Barrett only looked to improve and then maintain the position. Meanwhile, Grabowski was very busy from his back nailing Barrett with dozens of punches. Bellator color voice Jimmy Smith had it 2-0 for Barrett going to the third. He was wrong. After Grabowski dominated the final round, the judges surprised the announcers calling it 30-27 for the Pole. With a shocked look on his face, Barrett turned around almost asking if the ring announcer Mike Williams had read the wrong name. No, it was correct. Grabowski moved on in the Bellator heavyweight tournament and rightly so. The judges did a good job of resisting the temptation to score only based on which fighter had top control when the fight hit the deck.
Sorry for the use of two exclamation points, but we’re really psyched on dropping the Nuge and Duffel Mag Minute this monday. And yes, it’s really good.
Daniel Cormier is taking the right path to becoming an elite heavyweight. He’s working out of a high-level MMA gym and staying as active as possible. He just won the King of the Cage heavyweight title last weekend and made quick of work of Jason Riley tonight in the final fight on the non-televised undercard at Strikeforce: Houston. In the opening seconds, Cormier (5-0) charged Riley looking for a single-leg takedown. He didn’t get it but his aggressiveness put Riley on the defensive. When the fighters stood apart for a few seconds, Cormier leapt into an overhand right and hurt Riley badly. Riley hit the deck and that’s where Cormier turned on the jets. He pounded away with a half-dozen left hands. Riley covered up and took the abuse for a few more seconds before tapping due to strikes at 1:02 of the first. Cormier, an Olympic level wrestler out of Oklahoma State, is a little short for the division at 5-foot-11 and 249 pounds but he manhandled the much bigger Riley. His work with guys like UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose is paying off. His conditioning looks better and his hands are improving with each fight. His next fight is scheduled against Soa Palelei in Australia. Odds are he’ll take a few more fights between now and Nov. 21. Riley has dropped 3-of-4 fights including losses to Tim Sylvia and Devin Cole. Jorge Patino took his fight against Andre Galvao on short notice and did all he could to steal the fight in the first round. Galvao weathered the storm and was able to wear down the fill-in. Galvao scored a takedown early in the third and wailed away with shots to Patino, who couldn’t improve position. After dozens of elbows and punches to Patino, who was just covering up, Galvao got the stoppage at the 2:45 mark of the third round. Patino did a great job in the opening round attempting several punch-kick combos. The 37-year-old would charge Galvao, fire off a left and a right followed by a head kick. He shocked Galvao by landing a huge left with 1:40 left in the round. Galvao scrambled and was hurt badly when he got drilled by another left on his knees. Patino poured it on but just couldn’t get the finish. The effort probably sapped Patino a bit for the rest of the fight. Galvao was able to score takedowns throughout the second to take back control of the fight.The 27-year-old Galvao (5-1) is a highly decorated world champion in jiu-jitsu. His ground control was impressive and so was the toughness he exhibited in withstanding a dangerous situation in the first.
AndyMacDonald
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
Though he has 17 wins, including 12 submissions, Gabe Ruediger has left two lasting impressions on most fight fans. One is when he was dismissed from "The Ultimate Fighter" for failing to make weight and two, when Melvin Guillard knocked him out with a body shot. But now, Ruediger wants to make a different impressions. Instead of being the guy who ate ice cream cake the night before a weigh-in, he wants to be the man who beats his TUF castmate Joe Lauzon.Since he’s been out of the UFC, he has left Team Quest, rehabbed a neck injury, and claims he’s in the best shape of his life.I was looking at pictures of the last UFC I was in and I can’t believe the difference in me. But everything, really. My striking is much improved. You look at a number of my recent wins, which came by submission, but I set them all up with punches. It has been a long, arduous journey. I’ve matured. I don’t think I was ready for TUF. Skills wise, I was. But mentally I let it get to me. I think if I would have gone far there I would have started partying and stuff. Now, I’m all about the fight.Ruediger got his chance at Lauzon because Terry Etim dropped out of the scheduled bout three weeks ago.
I stopped by Northside today and it looks like they haven’t done much with the park accept put a fence and guard house up and sweep away the gravel. The bank to bank gap still isn’t finished so I wonder if there is some drama going on with the park. I’ve been told the park will open in September, but that could mean the first or last day of September.
Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
Dogway has a Blue montage from the streets of Spain.
The Street League’s first event is this Saturday in Arizona. See pictures of the course being constructed for a first look at what the course looks like.
Surfing
Flowboarding
Skysurfing
Skateboarding
Mountainboarding
by Michael David SmithMuhammed “King Mo” Lawal was upset by Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, as a tough, back-and-forth fight ended with Feijao landing elbow after elbow to Lawal’s head in the clinch until Lawal couldn’t fight any longer.
Feijao said afterward that he prepared for this fight like never before. It showed.
“This is not about me,” Feijao said. “This is about my coaches, my team — Team Nogueira — my partners and trainers. This is about them. I train every day. Somebody asked me before, what will keep you in this fight? Training, training, training. … This is my dream.” The live blog is below.
More Coverage: King Mo vs. Rafael Feijao Live Blog | Strikeforce: Houston Results
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
by Michael David SmithAnthony Pettis put on the best performance of his promising MMA career Wednesday night at WEC 50, dominating Roller for more than 14 minutes before finally getting him to tap out with just nine seconds remaining in the third round, earning a submission win and likely a World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight title shot.
Early in the fight the 23-year-old Pettis showed serious improvement in his takedown defense, keeping the fight standing against a good wrestler in Roller. He also showed off some creative striking, employing a variety of kicks that had Roller frustrated. As the fight wore on Pettis also showed a more sophisticated ground game than he had in the past, and the way he finished the fight was a thing of beauty, escaping from a guillotine choke and then catching Roller in the triangle that made Roller tap at the 4:51 mark of the third.
More Coverage: WEC 50 Results | WEC 50 Fighter Salaries | Latest WEC News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
by Michael David SmithCHICAGO — Zoila Frausto advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Fighting Championships women’s tournament Thursday night at Bellator 25, easily controlling Jessica Pene to win a unanimous decision.
It wasn’t a particularly exciting fight — certainly nothing like the fireworks of Frausto’s previous fight, a first-round knockout of Rosi Sexton — but it was a dominating performance by Frausto, who won 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Frausto said afterward that she was disappointed in her own performance and that cutting to 115 pounds had been difficult for her.
More Coverage: Bellator 25 Results | Latest Bellator 25 News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
PeterMel
PeterMendia
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
Today is the world premier of the Wavves “Post Acid” music video directed by Patrick Odell. Filmed by 2Headedhorse (Ted Newsome & company). Kevin “Spanky” Long stars as the alien. We shot this video in and around a 2 block radius of our office.
Jorge Gurgel has had a bad habit of striking with strikers. A brilliant jiu-jitsu practitioner, he hadn’t suffered devastating consequences until tonight. Gurgel played K.J. Noons’ game and almost had his head knocked off. In the first three minutes of the fight, Gurgel was tagged by 20-of-44 shots. It only got worse from there. Noons nearly knocked out Gurgel with a left hook at the end of the first. Then at the start of the second, he finished it quickly when landed a nasty combination with straight right followed by a left hook. Referee Kerry Hatley stopped the fight at 0:19 of the second giving Noons the victory but it wasn’t without controversy. Once Noons dropped Gurgel, he looked to Hatley to save Gurgel. The ref hesitated so Noons unloaded with three more lefts on the helpless Gurgel. Then as the overmatched official listlessly moved in to stop the fight, Noons delivered a right knee. One problem, Gurgel was still on the ground. The blow was clearly illegal. Showtime color voice Mauro Ranallo screeched in protest. Texas officials apparently decided the knee was legal or simply didn’t see it. When Showtime’s Gus Johnson entered the cage he probed Noons with four questions but shied away from asking him about the illegal blow (pictured). "Jorge is great opponent," said Noons (9-1). "He was staying away from my hands trying to get me into his gameplan but I have that killer instinct."There was also a question on the left hook that nearly knocked out Gurgel (13-7) at the end of the first. Showtime never showed a replay with sound. It appeared that the punch landed as the bell sounded. Ranallo and others thought it may have come just after the bell. In all, Noons landed 41-of-80 strikes while Gurgel was just 21-of-67. Clearly, Noons landed the heavier shots. Gurgel was bleeding around both eyes and his nose. He could barely stand at the end of the fight. Noons’ face was unmarked.
The Street League’s first event is this Saturday in Arizona. See pictures of the course being constructed for a first look at what the course looks like.
In the aftermath of his Strikeforce fight, the rough night continued for Bobby Lashley in the bowels of the Toyota Center. The former WWE star, who suffered his first career loss in MMA, and was taken from the Houston arena on a stretcher (Video here). The loss was part beatdown, part mental breakdown due to exhaustion. The thickly-muscled 249-pound monster was wiped out just minutes into his fight against Chad Griggs. Griggs (9-1) took advantage of a shaky stand-up by the referee and pounded away at Lashley while the formerly unbeaten MMA prospect held on for dear life against the cage. Lashley (5-1) suffered a nasty cut under his left eye in the first round and couldn’t take advantage of scoring the mount position in the second.
Tim Sylvia is one the biggest heavyweights in the world and he’s playing to that strength more than ever. The two-time former UFC heavyweight champ walks around in excess of 300 pounds and brought a lot bulk to the ring against Paul Buentello. "The Headhunter" got suckered into playing Sylvia’s game, got roughed up in the corners and was eventually floored by a big uppercut. Buentello was out of it when he hit the deck and referee John McCarthy jumped in to stop things at 4:57 of the second round. Sylvia (27-6) picks up the PWP heavyweight title in the main event of "War on the Mainland" in Irvine, Ca.We knew Paul had faster hands than I did so we wanted to play big man, get a hold of him, wear him down and tire him out over the first two rounds." said Sylvia. "Then take control in the third, fourth and fifth."It didn’t take that long because Buentello played right into Sylvia’s hands. He clearly had a speed advantage with his hands but he kept backing himself onto the ropes where the 6-foot-8 Sylvia eventually clinched and move it into a corner. Buentello’s camp asked Sylvia (pictured on the right with current UFC champ Brock Lesnar) to cut down to 275 pounds. They probably should’ve pushed for the standard heavyweight limit of 265 because by the time Sylvia rehydrated, ate and stepped into the ring, he looked to have at least 40 pounds on the 251-pound Buentello. Once things got to the corners, Sylvia put all his weight on his smaller opponent. He blasted away with knees, big elbows and effective uppercuts. At the end of the first round, Buentello had a cut on his nose and welt under his left eye. When he stayed on the move and in the center of the ring, Buentello (28-13) had his moments in the second. He was able to land some effective jabs and more than held his own when both fighters traded in open space. He just couldn’t keep it up and killed his chances by backing up."Paul’s got fast hands. I had to keep him on the end of my
reach. Kick him, get him on the inside then blast some elbows and
knees. Make it wear on him," said Sylvia. Sylvia had questions about Buentello’s conditioning so he wanted to work the clinch game in close quarters in the corners. "Paul coming at 250? We know his fight
shape is usually 235," said Sylvia. "Even though he had double-underhooks, I had my
chin on his shoulder to wear him down."
Sylvia was also effective with some hard leg kicks. "I saw him wince on the last low kick," said Sylvia. "Once you take the legs out from under them, you start kicking them high." After fast, embarrassing losses to both Ray Mercer and Fedor Emelianenko, this makes it three straight wins for Sylvia. During the postfight discussion in the ring, Sylvia was told that sometime down the road he’ll defend his new belt against fellow UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo. It’s also likely that he improved his chances of getting a fight soon with a bigger organization like DREAM or Strikeforce.
If you are hoping to improve your ability or learn more about training techniques and tools, then this blog will give you some of the answers – because that’s what I’m going to do too!
I’ve been climbing for about three years and have developed enough basic ability to get me up 6a routes. I’ve set [...]
Here’s a quickie video of James Toney talking some more trash. Much of it appears to be filmed while Toney was on last week’s UFC 118 conference call. The 41-year-old pro boxer has been doing more than his fair share to hype this weekend’s fight against Randy Couture. That also includes a neat feature in ESPN The Magazine where he answered several message board posts from fans. This one was on Bloody Elbow:Toney has never had a one-hitter quitter in any division, ever. That’s not to going to suddenly change with four-ounce gloves.Toney’s response (from Aug. 23 ESPN The Magazine):"When my trainer first gave me the four-ounce gloves, I said, ‘oh my god, I’m going to prison.’ It’s a much different feeling and it took me a bit to get used to it. But now I’m very fast with them. I know in my heart no one can stand in front of me and take my shots. If his jaw is exposed, it’s gonna be lights out, time to pay the electric bill."Part of the vlog’s also featured in this photo shoot. Toney is far from an Adonis but he looks to be in pretty solid shape.
Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out – I’ve decided to do it later this year…
Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr
I’m [...]
At the start of 2010, he was one of the hottest prospects in the WEC’s lightweight division. Coming off three straight nasty TKO wins, Anthony Njokuani looked like he was on the quick path to a WEC lightweight title shot. He got schooled by Shane Roller’s wrestling in April, and last night at WEC 50, he got destroyed at his own game by Maciej Jewtuszko.In defense of Njokuani, Herb Dean stopped the fight pretty quickly (1:57 mark — 1:35 into the fight). The 30-year-old had 15 fights under his belt. Didn’t he deserve a few extra seconds to try and recover? Once Dean stopped it, Njokuani stood up immediately. What’s done is done, but now Njokuani needs to go back to the drawing board. Fightlinker was happy to see Njokuani lose, pointing to the nasty Tweet he sent out after his loss to Roller. Njokuani asked for someone stand with him. He got his wish and a loss that moves him dangerously close to the unemployment line.
by Michael David SmithCHICAGO — Zoila Frausto advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Fighting Championships women’s tournament Thursday night at Bellator 25, easily controlling Jessica Pene to win a unanimous decision.
It wasn’t a particularly exciting fight — certainly nothing like the fireworks of Frausto’s previous fight, a first-round knockout of Rosi Sexton — but it was a dominating performance by Frausto, who won 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Frausto said afterward that she was disappointed in her own performance and that cutting to 115 pounds had been difficult for her.
More Coverage: Bellator 25 Results | Latest Bellator 25 News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Check out exclusive pictures from WEC 50 from MMA photographer Tracy Lee. From Dominick Cruz’s smiling, bloody face to Anthony Pettis’ last-minute submission, you won’t want to miss these.
Location: Stanage Plantation
Date: Sunday 27 July
Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out.
If you’re reading this wondering [...]
This whole Dylan thing seems to be catching on so we put him on the cover and let him do some talking before anybody else. All subscriber and shop copies come with a DVD of his Gravis short. Check back tomorrow and you might even win some of his shoes. Oh yeah we got Janoski, Volcom, Foundation, Hatchell, and Skate Rock inside as well. Check out the openers here.
Read More
If you’ve seen the movie or read The Outsiders you know that before it was Hesh Vs. Fresh, it was Socs Vs. The Greasers. For those who don’t know, go ahead and push play on this Lurkervision and decide which one of the Emerica dudes would be Patrick Swayze. For those of you who do know what’s up, stay golden Pony Boys.
The next Stand Up For Skateparks benefit will be held at the Green Acres estate in Beverly Hills on October 17th with Jane’s Addiction headlining. Click through to read the full press release.
Read More
by Michael David SmithAll 20 fighters participating in Wednesday night’s WEC 50 fight card will step on the scales Tuesday for the WEC 50 weigh-ins, and if you can’t be there in person at The Palms in Las Vegas, you can watch live here at MMAFighting.com.
In the main event, WEC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and challenger Joseph Benavidez will have to make 135 pounds.
The weigh-in begins Tuesday at 7 PM ET and the video is below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
He may get mocked on for being "The Decisionator" but no one can deny the fact that Dominick Cruz is a tough riddle to solve. Joe Benavidez got a second chance, this time with the WEC’s bantamweight title on the line, and just fell short of avenging his loss from their first meeting. He crushed Cruz’s nose and opened a cut over his left eye but the champion was able to take a split decision, 49-46, 48-47 and 47-48, to retain his belt in the main event at WEC 50 in Las Vegas. "Joseph Benavidez is a great competitor," Cruz told the WEC’s Craig Hummer. "He didn’t fall into the trash talk. He was a very honorable fighter."Cruz, who won his seventh straight fight (five by decision), was booed by many of the fans in attendance. When asked where he stands in the world rankings, the 25-year-old was undaunted and said he absolutely belongs near the top."I rank amongst the best in the world," said Cruz (15-1, 6-1 WEC). "There’s not a doubt
in my mind." The kid’s got a chip on his shoulder and it works to motivate him. Scott Jorgensen, who beat Brad Pickett earlier in the night, is likely to get the next bantamweight title shot against Cruz.Adalaide Byrd was the judge who scored the fight four rounds to one for Cruz. Lester Griffin gave the first three rounds to Cruz while Doc Hamilton gave Cruz the final three to Benavidez. Cagewriter had it 3-2 for Benavidez. From the start of the fight, Cruz employed his trademark dancing and darting style. Benavidez seemed to have it solved in the first two rounds by using a southpaw stance. He landed some solid kicks on Cruz’s lead leg and also used a counter right hook when Cruz attempted kicks. That said, the judges all liked what Cruz did early."I
just concentrated on staying hard to hit," said Cruz. "I don’t look too bad, I suppose" In the middle of the fourth, while in the clinch, Cruz actually suffered a broken nose on a big Benavidez knee. It opened up a cut on the bridge of his nose which spurted blood for the next two minutes. Update: Cruz’s trainer Eric Del Fierro said Cruz did NOT suffer a broken nose. Update II: FightMetric backed up the two judges who chose Cruz. The service says Cruz outlanded Benavidez 103-58 and also won the takedown battle 5-0. Update III: A reminder that fight stats are tabulated by humans and can also be subjective, Compustrike numbers back up the fact that this was a very close fight. Total Strikes: Cruz 86-of-233, Benavidez 69-of-235. Interesting to note, Benavidez landed just 4-of-5 strikes in the fourth and was taken down twice, but won the round on 2-of-3 cards. Things slowed down in the fifth round. Both fighters went for broke but missed on most of their strikes. Benavidez (12-2, 4-2 WEC) landed enough shots to take the round.
Plenty of gnarly stuff going on in the new Denver Shop trailer.
For everyone who’s worried about licensing Ken Shamrock or Evander Holyfield, maybe we need to consider holding off on approving James Toney. It’s alarming to see the UFC using subtitles for the American-born, English-speaking Toney. He’s 41 years old!Toney has been fighting professionally since 1988 with 83 total fights but he’s considered one of the best defensive fighters of the last 25 years. A lot of his ability to avoid the big punch was defense through offense.
Toney is the only fighter since 1990, who was in four different title
fights where he landed 400-plus punches. How many shots has he taken? Is his speech really that bad or did someone need to simply tell him, "James speak clearly! Enunciate a bit more!" Toney probably doesn’t give damn about the subtitles but they do seem a bit unusual.
One week he’s staging an improbable comeback to defend his middleweight belt, the next week he’s wrapping a fighter’s hands at the Fight for Wrestling in Bakersfield. Such is the life for Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champ who recently lost his spot atop the Yahoo! Sports MMA pound-for-pound rankings. Caption the picture in the comments section and read on for winners from last week’s create-a-caption winner. First place: Little does Joe Silva know Clay is really a sparkly vampire, preparing to make him join the ranks.– Autin TollisonSecond place: It would make me the happiest caveman on the planet if you’ll be my bride — TThird place: Wow! Jon Cryer! I am your biggest fan! Sorry, for being so sweaty. — Mike
Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing?
Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie – and there’s a new addition!
Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras.
This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]
AndyMacDonald
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
I dig the pole cam filming in the intro to Gabreil Zuffery’s welcome video from Safari.
DamienHobgood
DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
DannyHarf
Bellator continued their third season with an event in Chicago that featured three tournament bouts and a featured event. Zoila Frausto kicked things off with a dominating decision over Jessica Pene, 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Frausto used takedown defense and punishing kicks to move on in the Bellator tournament. She seemed eager to take on whatever fighter Bellator put in front of her. "Whoever’s up next. I want that number one spot, and I’m gunning for it," Frausto said after the fight.Frausto joins Jessica Aguilar and Megumi Fujii in the semifinals of Bellator’s women’s tournament, but the tournament may have hit a hitch. In the postfight press conference, Frausto said that she injured her foot. The severity of the injury will decide if she can continue.After Brad Blackburn dominated the first round, Dan Hornbuckle came back with a vengeance. He controlled Blackburn throughout the second, and even knocked him down as the round ended. The third was more of the same, with Hornbuckle showing crisp striking until the bitter end of the bout. With that, he won the non-tournament match in a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards. Hornbuckle had lost fought in Bellator’s season two welterweight final, dropping a decision to Ben Askren. Blackburn, a UFC vet, has now lost three fights in a row. The event also featured two heavyweight tournament fights. Damian Grabowski, a heavyweight out of Poland, won the first fight in a unanimous decision, 30-27 from all three judges. His opponent Scott Barrett kept the fight closer than the score would indicate. He used his wrestling to control Grabowski but inflicted little damage, while Grabowski continually threw strikes from the bottom. By the third round, Barrett looked exhausted, and Grabowski had no trouble throwing punch after punch. Cole Konrad, a two-time NCAA champion at Minnesota, controlled Rogent Lloret on the way to a unanimous decision. Throughout the bout, Konrad took down Lloret time and time again. Lloret’s vaunted jiu-jitsu did not factor in as Konrad — who looked in much better shape than in his last Bellator bout — kept Lloret on the ground with strikes and grappling. Grabowski and Konrad now join Neil Grove in the semifinals of Bellator’s inaugural heavyweight tournament.
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
When I moved into my new home, I spent a little time on reconnaissance for somewhere to train for climbing.
I initially thought a fingerboard would be the way to go. However, all the doorways were flimsy stud walls and not sturdy enough.
An alternative jumped out – Rock Rings by Metolius. If only I could find [...]
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood
DanPastor
I’ve only just got chance to post about last week’s trip to Froggatt Edge. Friends tell me that a crisp spring morning is better for climbing grit but if you ask me sunshine is the way forward. I headed to Froggatt Edge (just south of Sheffield) with a few friends for my first ascents on [...]
JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
by Michael David Smith
Two Strikeforce belts are on the line Saturday night in Houston, with King Mo Lawal making the first defense of his light heavyweight title, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Tim Kennedy squaring off for the middleweight belt that Jake Shields vacated. We’ve got the full preview and predictions below.
What: Strikeforce: Houston
Where: Toyota Center, Houston
When: The Showtime televised card begins Saturday at 10 PM ET. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
WEC lightweight Anthony Pettis is an unassuming guy. He doesn’t walk into his gym, Roufus Training Academy, as the star. Instead, he’s the eager-to-learn fighter who soaks up everything he can from his coaches. Still, MTV has chosen to spotlight Pettis on "The World of Jenks," a new show that will immerse the viewer in different types of people’s lives. It followed Pettis the week that he KOed Danny Castillo at WEC 47. "I was coming off a loss, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. It could have gone either way," Pettis told Cagewriter. "If I lost again, I was cut from the WEC. But I won, and I won twice, and now I’m that close to a title shot. It was crazy to have the cameras in your face everywhere. It was a cool experience. I’m really interested to see how it turns out." He doesn’t consider himself a star, but it’s that eager-to-learn attitude that makes Pettis an interesting fighter to watch and a perfect fit for MTV. Out of his 11 wins, only one fight has gone to decision. Because of the MTV series, he got the chance to see how his mother reacted to his fights. "She walked out of the arena, and had her head down, and all she heard was a big commotion. That’s when I got my headkick. She said, ‘What happened, what happened?’ Someone said, ‘He won!’ And she was happy about it. She can’t take it at all."Family is an extremely important part of Pettis’ life. He trains with his younger brother, Sergio, and Anthony says that his MMA career would make his father proud. "He was the competitive type. With the exposure that I’ve gotten, I’ve gone in Milwaukee from no one knowing me to the whole city knows me. Everywhere I go, I have people supporting me. He had a lot of friends, so he’d like that. He was the one who had us in tae kwon do tournaments, so he’d support us." Pettis’ father was murdered in 2003, when Anthony was just 15 years old. Martial arts served as a refuge for him, and kept him focused when he could have easily gone down the path to drugs and gangs, as some of his family did."I had the worst of the worst happen to me, and I could have chosen to go anywhere. I could have chosen to give up on anything, be bad, live the street life, go to jail. All my cousins are in gangs. My dad’s brother has three boys, and their dad also died in a house robbery, seven years before my dad, and they all joined gangs. They’re 34 years old now, and they’re lost. Martial arts gave me focus and gave me something to do. If I couldn’t come here every day and do this, I’d be lost."For WEC 50, Pettis has his focus trained on Shane Roller, an All-American wrestler. To get ready for him, Pettis has worked with a slew of top wrestlers. Two-time national champion Ben Askren stopped by Roufus Sport to work with Pettis.Pettis knows that Roller will want to take the fight to the ground, so he has been working on takedown defense. Though Pettis is more comfortable on his feet, he believes in all the parts of his game."I’m confident that my skills are better than his, standing up, on the ground, and I’m going to stuff his takedowns."
Location: Stanage Plantation
Date: Sunday 27 July
Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out.
If you’re reading this wondering [...]
Bellator’s third season kicked off in Hollywood, Fla., on Thursday night with action in the women’s and heavyweight tournaments, as well as a non-title bout for the middleweight champ.Arguably the world’s best female fighter, Megumi Fujii won with a second-round submission. Carla Esparza took the fight on short notice and hung with Fujji for most of the first round, matching Fujii punch-for-punch. Fujii grabbed a toe hold late in the first round, but could not finish. She did not take as long in the second round, using her smooth grappling to grab an armbar out of nowhere. Esparza was forced to tap at 0:57, giving Fujii the bout.That not only moves "Mega-Megu" onto the semifinal round of Bellator’s 115-pound female tournament, but it also gives her an unprecedented 21st straight victory.Jessica Aguilar, who still has not told her mother that she’s a fighter, came away with a win and a spot in the semifinals. Aguilar used outstanding grappling to control Lynn Alvarez, finishing her off with an arm-triangle at 4:01 in the first round.In the first fight of the Bellator heavyweight tournament, Neil Grove TKOed Eddie Sanchez in just 1:32. Grove knocked Sanchez down early and beat on his head. Twice, Sanchez fruitlessly tried for armbars, but Grove easily maneuvered out and returned to his feet to beat on Sanchez more. With his left eye swollen nearly shut, Sanchez had trouble returning to his feet. The referee asked if Sanchez could continue. When Sanchez asked for a minute, the referee stopped the fight.Middleweight champion Hector Lombard took on Whisper Goodman, a former NFL running back, in a non-title fight. It would not have mattered if the bout was scheduled to go five rounds, as Lombard knocked out Goodman in 38 seconds. Lombard came out swinging and overwhelmed his opponent, throwing a final right that took Goodman out.After the bout, Lombard inexplicably called out heavyweight Josh Barnett, who was at the fights to corner Fujii. "I don’t care how much weight you are," said Lombard, an Olympic judo player for Cuba. "Josh Barnett, come over." In other Bellator news, the promotion announced that the next bout for champion Eddie Alvarez would not be taking on Pat Curran, the lightweight tourney champ, as planned. Curran sustained an injury, so Roger Huerta will be stepping in for a non-title bout in October.
by Michael David SmithCHICAGO — Zoila Frausto advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Fighting Championships women’s tournament Thursday night at Bellator 25, easily controlling Jessica Pene to win a unanimous decision.
It wasn’t a particularly exciting fight — certainly nothing like the fireworks of Frausto’s previous fight, a first-round knockout of Rosi Sexton — but it was a dominating performance by Frausto, who won 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Frausto said afterward that she was disappointed in her own performance and that cutting to 115 pounds had been difficult for her.
More Coverage: Bellator 25 Results | Latest Bellator 25 News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Though much of UFC 117 was a tribute to wrestling, the main event was finished off with old fashioned jiu-jitsu. Celebrate it with fantastic shirts from creatively named Jiu-Jitsu Tees. The mad sweeps shirt is my favorite, but there are many to choose from. The best part is that they cost $19.99, less expensive than most of the shirts we’ve profiled at MMA Marketplace. Buy one (or three) here.
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston
ErikRuck
ErinJackson
FabioladaSilva
The Roger Huerta street fight story gets more interesting by the day. Now SportsbyBrooks is reporting that the lightweight mixed martial artist allegedly brawled with a former University of Texas linebacker Rashad Bobino. The 24-year-old also worked with the Atlanta Falcons before getting dumped right before the 2009 season. From SBB: While the identity of the man who struck the woman has not officially been released by the Austin Police Department, I’ve learned from multiple sources who threw the punch.Former starting Univ. of Texas Linebacker Rashad Bobino, who last played for the Longhorns in 2008, was the individual who punched the unidentified woman from behind as seen in the TMZ.com video.Austin police are still invetigating the brawl that allegedly began when a man slugged a women outside an Austin, Texas, bar. Bobino was listed at 5-foot-10, 238 pounds when he played at Texas. The 5-8 Huerta fights in the 155-pound division but likely walks around closer to 175 pounds.
ParksBonifay
PeterMel
PeterMendia
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
James Toney has been fighting the battle of the bulge for most of his time at heavyweight in boxing. He’s simply a bad body guy. So how much do you read into the latest photos featuring Toney going through his MMA conditioning? He faced 47-year-old Randy Couture next weekend at UFC 118. When he weighed between 234 and 237 pounds for some of his 2006 and 2007 fights, his cardio was shaky at best. Toney, 41, fought down at 217 1/2 in his last boxing match. He looks to be around that number with less than two weeks before he makes his MMA debut.
Zero and Mystery have their fall 2010 catalogs online.
In conjunction with the benefit going on tonight in Honolulu, Hawaii, Solitary Arts put together a benefit for the Kenny Brimer Celebration Of Life Memorial. Artists Tommy Guerrero, Mark Gonzales, Neil Blender, Geoff McFetridge, Rob Hechtman, Todd Francis, and Kyle Field, donated pieces while ARKITIP donated/curated pieces by Evan Hecox, Ed Templeton, Ryan Mcginness , and Tony Arcabascio. The auction goes for ten days starting at Midnight, August 21. For now check out the goods going up for auction.
I’ve only just got chance to post about last week’s trip to Froggatt Edge. Friends tell me that a crisp spring morning is better for climbing grit but if you ask me sunshine is the way forward. I headed to Froggatt Edge (just south of Sheffield) with a few friends for my first ascents on [...]
by Michael David SmithBart Palaszewski earned his fourth consecutive victory Wednesday night at WEC 50, using a great stand-up display to knock out the overmatched and far less experienced Zach Micklewright.
“I’m an entertainer first and a fighter second,” Palaszewski said afterward. “I’m always here to put on a show. … I just said, ‘Screw it, let’s just slug it out.’”
More Coverage: WEC 50 Results | WEC 50 Fighter Salaries | Latest WEC News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
No one’s going to question Jessica Aguilar’s toughness. Well, except when it comes to facing her mother and telling her what she does for a living. That’s right Aguilar (on the right), who’ll be featured Thursday night on nationwide television during Bellator Fighting Championships 24, still hasn’t told her mother that she brawls in a cage. From the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "My mom is very old-fashioned, so I don’t think she’d like it too much," Aguilar said. "I’m just living my dream right now and enjoying it and nobody’s going to take that from me. There will be a time when she needs to find out, but right now it’s the way it is and I’m just living my dream."Aguilar says her mom’s reluctance to support her sports’ aspirations goes all the back to her childhood when she wasn’t happy about her daughter playing softball or soccer either.From the Miami Herald, on June 2: "My mother is very old fashioned," Aguilar said. "She believes women should be home and cook, clean, get an office job. She wouldn’t be happy if she found out that I get hit, and punch other girls in the face."Update: It was a successful night for Aguilar. She took out Alvarez is just over four minutes. Aguilar got her opponent to the mat early and patiently worked through a series of dominant positions on the ground before she finally latched on an arm-triangle choke forcing Alvarez to tap. Aguilar’s been able to keep her mixed martial arts career a secret because her mother lives in Houston and all but two of her pro fights have taken place in Florida. Mom isn’t the only one in the dark. "My [two older] brothers think I fight in the gym, small fights,” Aguilar said. "But they don’t know the magnitude of what I do."Aguilar knows the day will come when she has to spill the beans. "That’s what I’m waiting for,” Aguilar said. "They’ll find out when they need to find out. This is something I love; a big part of my life. When I make it big they’ll find out, and if I don’t, then it’s my own adventure."Aguilar’s mother must be a strong-willed woman because it sounds like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The 28-year-old MMA fighter was on the outside looking in when Bellator was first putting together an eight-woman tournament at 115 pounds. Aguilar wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to fight some of the world’s best and potentially appear multiple times on FOX Sports Net. "I guess you could say I did call them out," said Aguilar. She fights out of American Top Team in South Florida so she made sure her presence was noticed during Bellator 21 at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. She went to the weigh-in hoping to speak with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney and then sought him out again on fight night. "It’s not going to come get you, you have to go get it," Aguilar said. "If you want it, go for it. I wanted to be in the tournament and I had to do what I had to do to go get it."Aguilar (8-3) faces Lynn Alvarez (5-1). The biggest female draw on the card is no doubt Megumi Fujii. She’s a familiar name with hardcores who some will argue that she’s the best female fighter on the planet, not Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. Don’t blink because the Fujii fight could be over quickly. She is facing a last-second fill-in with just three pro fights under her belt. Rebney is excited knowing he may have a future star in the underpromoted Fujii (20-0). From the Sun Sentinel: "I’m not much for a lot of hyperbole," said Rebney, "but I think there’s a good argument that can be made that the woman who wins this tournament, whether it’s Jessica Aguilar or Fujii or whoever it is, can call herself the best pound-for-pound woman on earth." There are several male fights on the televised card as well. Hector Lombard (26-2-1), ranked No. 21 at middleweight in the USA Today/Bloody Elbow poll battles Herbert Goodman (15-8-1). Goodman, a former Green Bay Packer running back, fell short of gaining a spot on Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Bellator also begins its heavyweight tourney with UFC and Cage Rage veteran Neil Grove (8-2, 0-1 UFC) taking on a fellow UFC-vet in Eddie Sanchez (12-3, 3-3 UFC). Bellator 24 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Mania):Televised (FOX Sports Net 8 p.m. ET) Hector Lombard (185.5 pounds) vs. Herbert Goodman (183.5 pounds)Eddie Sanchez (244.5 pounds) vs. Neil Grove (265 pounds)Megumi Fujii (115.5 pounds) vs. Carla Esparza (115.25 pounds)Jessica Aguilar (113.5 pounds) vs. Lynn Alvarez (114.5 pounds)Non-televised Yves Edwards (154.5 pounds) vs. Luis Palomino (154.5 pounds)Eric Luke (154.5 pounds) vs. Farkhard Sharipov (144 pounds)Brian Eckstein (182 135 pounds) vs. Tulio Quintanilla (135.5 pounds)
For everyone who’s worried about licensing Ken Shamrock or Evander Holyfield, maybe we need to consider holding off on approving James Toney. It’s alarming to see the UFC using subtitles for the American-born, English-speaking Toney. He’s 41 years old!Toney has been fighting professionally since 1988 with 83 total fights but he’s considered one of the best defensive fighters of the last 25 years. A lot of his ability to avoid the big punch was defense through offense.
Toney is the only fighter since 1990, who was in four different title
fights where he landed 400-plus punches. How many shots has he taken? Is his speech really that bad or did someone need to simply tell him, "James speak clearly! Enunciate a bit more!" Toney probably doesn’t give damn about the subtitles but they do seem a bit unusual.
by Michael David SmithCHICAGO — Zoila Frausto advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Fighting Championships women’s tournament Thursday night at Bellator 25, easily controlling Jessica Pene to win a unanimous decision.
It wasn’t a particularly exciting fight — certainly nothing like the fireworks of Frausto’s previous fight, a first-round knockout of Rosi Sexton — but it was a dominating performance by Frausto, who won 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Frausto said afterward that she was disappointed in her own performance and that cutting to 115 pounds had been difficult for her.
More Coverage: Bellator 25 Results | Latest Bellator 25 News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
James Toney is jumping from boxing into MMA for a UFC 118 bout with Randy Couture. If you’re going to the fights, wear a shirt that’s guaranteed to tick Toney off. "If MMA was easy, they would call it boxing." Yes, Toney would love that. Buy the shirt for $18 at Etsy.
Surfing
Flowboarding
Skysurfing
Skateboarding
Mountainboarding
As Cofield wrote about on Friday, Thiago Alves blew weight for his bout with Jon Fitch. This isn’t the first time Alves has had weight troubles, as he didn’t make weight for his bout with Matt Hughes and was also once suspended for using a banned diuretic.Clearly, the UFC is not pleased with Alves. That is written all the face of UFC chair Lorenzo Fertitta. There is never a situation where you want the man who signs your paychecks to look at you like that. See how Alves comes back (or doesn’t) from missing weight tonight for UFC 117.
Texas Monthly has a lengthy article and video about the life and impact of Johnny Romano.
ChristianHosoi
CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
The guy’s won five straight fights and 21 of 22. He’s an amazing 13-1 in the UFC. Yet Dana White won’t commit to giving Jon Fitch his second welterweight title shot against the winner of Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck. What’s the hold up? Is White worried about selling Fitch in another title fight? Maybe. Since his loss to GSP at UFC 87, he’s won all five fights via decision. That makes it seven of his last eight that have gone the distance. One MMA observer was so livid about seeing yet another decision at UFC 117 that they defaced Fitch’s Wikipedia page. Is Fitch’s style simply too boring? Fellow fighter Jason High says you’re a fool if you call Fitch boring. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole says Fitch could really help himself by finishing more fights.Without a commitment before or after UFC 117 from White, Fitch has clearly opened the door for the winner of Jake Shields-Martin Kampmann to grab the next title shot.
Flowboarding
Skysurfing
Skateboarding
Mountainboarding
Snowskate
She certainly had the marketability and wins to earn a rematch against the champ Sarah Kaufmann but Miesha Tate wasn’t just handed a shot at the Strikeforce 135-pound women’s title. Strikeforce chose a different route for the northern California-based fighter. They made her the centerpiece of a one-night, four-women tournament. It was all or nothing, and she came up big. Tate got two wins, including a hard-fought grapplefest against the very dangerous Hitomi Akano to earn her shot at Kaufman at Strikeforce Challengers 10 in Phoenix. Marloes Coenen get the first shot against Kaufman sometime in the fall. "My submission defense is one of my strong points. (Akano) was the one I wanted to fight the most
in the tournament," said the proud Tate. "Sarah you’re amazing. I can’t wait to fight you again."Kaufman can defend her title successfully against Coenen, it’ll be Tate’s second chance at the Canadian. The 23-year-old Tate lost a decision to Kaufman last October.
"It’s a dream come true. I came here on a
mission and I accomplished my goal," said Tate.She could’ve very easily missed out on her shot. The tournament required Tate (11-2) to fight twice in one night. That’s a format that has a long history in Japan but most U.S. commissions are hesitant to allow fighters to fight twice in one night. Arizona was game but one change was made. The rounds were shortened from five minutes to three minutes and the first round of the tournament, the fights were only two rounds. It was done to minimize damage but it also made it risky in the opening round for the favorites Tate and Akano. Tate met the inexperienced Maiju Kujala. A native of Finland, Kujala (4-2) was tough to take down and at times landed the better shots on the feet. Tate escaped with a decision win and didn’t take much damage. Akano (16-8) had to work much harder in her match against Carina Damm. The fight hit the deck early and often, and Damm was the physically stronger fighter. The "Girl Fight Monster" scored the takedowns but had trouble controlling the bigger Brazilian. But Akano’s technique was brilliant as she often used Damm’s strength against her. In the middle of the second round, Damm had top control but got reversed by Akano, who locked on a modified triangle and got the win via armbar at the 1:48 mark."I just used Carina’s strength into my reversal technique," said Akano, through her interpreter Shu Hirata. "I went with her flow and got her into the
armbar. When I fight Miesha, I will submit her."Akano, 36, was very dangerous in the final but was a little too small for Tate. Tate scored takedowns in all three rounds and quickly took control of her back. She worked for chokes in the second and third rounds but Akano’s submission defense was very solid.
Once you get through the painfully long intro, this Leo Heinert part is pretty good.
Mark Frolich helps out with Alex Fiedler’s welcome video for Jart.
RossPowers
RyanSheckler
ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray
If you are hoping to improve your ability or learn more about training techniques and tools, then this blog will give you some of the answers – because that’s what I’m going to do too!
I’ve been climbing for about three years and have developed enough basic ability to get me up 6a routes. I’ve set [...]
ErinJackson
FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
Once you get through the painfully long intro, this Leo Heinert part is pretty good.
by Michael David SmithThe bantamweight championship of the world is on the line Wednesday night at WEC 50, with champion Dominick Cruz taking on Joseph Benavidez in one of the biggest mixed martial arts fights of the year. We’ve got the full preview and predictions below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Legendary skate photographer and artist C.R. Stecyk III has his art gracing an iphone case and laptop case as part of the Curated by Arkitip series. See the goods and get all the details here.
Location: Stanage Plantation
Date: Sunday 27 July
Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out.
If you’re reading this wondering [...]
Antiz just released a Scott Bourne board featuring art by Todd Bratrud inspired by a trip to a Jeff Koons art exhibit Bourne wrote about. Antiz, Scott Bourne, Todd Bratrud, and Jeff Koons all meet on a beautiful piece of wood made for skating. The board is a limited edition of just 100.
Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out – I’ve decided to do it later this year…
Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr
I’m [...]
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston
Ending out the week of Plus leftovers is Timmy Thompson.
RossPowers
RyanSheckler
ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray
Yahoo! Sports columnist Kevin Iole is reporting from cageside at UFC 117. Follow him on Twitter. The undercard at UFC 117 started off with a killer comeback and two decisions in Oakland on Saturday night. Stefan Struve scored a comeback early on at UFC 117. After losing the first round to Christian Morecraft and getting his lip mangled, Struve started the second round with two massive right hands. One punch knocked Morecraft to the ground while the next one knocked him out, 22 seconds into the second round. Struve managed this win despite being ill and vomiting before the bout.Dennis Hallman won in a unanimous decision over Ben Saunders in the first fight of the night. Hallman used takedowns to score an early advantage over Saunders, and then followed up with elbows that caused Saunders to bleed. Though Saunders had a better final round, Hallman finished the bout with another takedown to seal the win, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27.After the bout, Hallman said his conditioning made the difference. "The difference for me today was my cardio. My cardio was so much better tonight than it has been. Yeah he hit me with some good shots but I was just waiting for him to get close so I can take him down."Tim Boetsch (pictured) won his first fight back in the UFC since UFC 96, a unanimous decision over Todd Brown. Boetsch pushed the pace and was able to take Brown down, winning all three judges’ cards 29-28.
Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
Location: Stanage Plantation
Date: Sunday 27 July
Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out.
If you’re reading this wondering [...]
Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
by Michael David SmithWhen Kyle Maynard decided to try high school wrestling, plenty of people thought he couldn’t do it because he was born with congenital amputation of both forearms and both lower legs. But Maynard, who didn’t just compete but won most of his high school wrestling matches, showed that he could do it.
Once he was done with wrestling, Maynard decided to turn his attention to mixed martial arts, and then the attitude toward him changed: Not only did many people think he couldn’t do it, but a lot of people thought he shouldn’t do it, and that, if necessary, the authorities should step in to stop him from doing it.
Eventually Maynard did get his amateur MMA match (he lost by decision), and the route he traveled to get to that match is the subject of a new documentary, A Fighting Chance, which can be viewed in full here after the interview.
In an interview with MMAFighting.com below, Maynard explained why he wanted to fight and what’s next in his life. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
Savannah Skates has a full Garret Olinger check out.
Legendary skate photographer and artist C.R. Stecyk III has his art gracing an iphone case and laptop case as part of the Curated by Arkitip series. See the goods and get all the details here.
I’ve only just got chance to post about last week’s trip to Froggatt Edge. Friends tell me that a crisp spring morning is better for climbing grit but if you ask me sunshine is the way forward. I headed to Froggatt Edge (just south of Sheffield) with a few friends for my first ascents on [...]
ChrisSenn
ChrisWard
ChristianHosoi
CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
Nobyl has a sick new montage.
Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing?
Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie – and there’s a new addition!
Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras.
This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood
DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
I dig the pole cam filming in the intro to Gabreil Zuffery’s welcome video from Safari.
Scott Gall gets rad for his Gorf Life welcome video. Via: WiSkate.
Mike Tyson has done some classic interviews but last week he topped himself on ESPNRadio1100 in Las Vegas. Tyson, fresh off a visit to the dentist, was all over the place. He even touched on his love of MMA. He said his favorite fighter is Fedor Emelianenko. He also has his eye on UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. "Brock Lesnar is a very exciting fighter," said Tyson. "Now you have to count that he has a great deal of intestinal fortitude from what happened from the last fight. So you can never count him out now. Cause now you know his pain threshhold is off the roof now. He’s big. He’s powerful. He’s fast and he can handle pain as well as he can dish it."Tyson also said James Toney’s first MMA fight could be "detrimental to him."The best part of the interview comes when Tyson expresses his admiration for Mel Gibson. It’s complete with Gibson phone call audio. Tyson loses it. He’s also quizzed at the end of the interview and drops a great line about being smarter than a fifth grader.
TrevorHanson
WesBrisco
ZaneSchwenk Snowboarding
Sandboarding
Chael Sonnen’s act is hilarious, but we’re starting to think he doesn’t know what he’s saying half the time or he’s schizophrenic. Over the last three months, his prefight rants are some of the best we’ve ever heard in mixed martial arts. But every once in a while, he crosses the line. When pressed on it, he’s often failed to explains things very well.Today took the cake. Speaking with Ariel Helwani (VIDEO – 4:20 mark) of Fanhouse, Sonnen denied ever talking about Lance Armstrong or doing an interview with Larry Pepe (pictured during 1-of-5 interviews he’s done with the fighter). Sonnen was in hot water all over the web for throwing a controversial theory on the legendary cyclist and cancer victim."When you screw up, you have to own it. That stuff really gets under my skin.
Take Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong did a number of things and he gave himself
cancer. He cheated, he did drugs, and he gave himself cancer," someone who sounded like Sonnen told Pepe of Pro MMA Radio (1:32:37 mark). "Well, instead of
saying ‘Hey listen, I cheated and gave myself cancer, don’t be like me.’ He
actually made himself the victim and then went out and profited something like
$15 million dollars from this ‘Hey, poor me, let’s find a cure for cancer’
campaign instead of just coming clean and saying, ‘Look, here’s what I did, I
screwed myself up, and I hope people learn from my mistakes.’ You just watch
these guys and can’t help but think, God, what a fraud."Below, you can hear part of the 46 minute interview that Sonnen did with Pepe last Thursday at Noon PT (aired on Monday). The Armstrong remarks come at the 3:25 mark.We caught up with Pepe tonight, who was perplexed by the fact the fact that Sonnen said he never did the interview.
Nobyl has a sick new montage.
She certainly had the marketability and wins to earn a rematch against the champ Sarah Kaufmann but Miesha Tate wasn’t just handed a shot at the Strikeforce 135-pound women’s title. Strikeforce chose a different route for the northern California-based fighter. They made her the centerpiece of a one-night, four-women tournament. It was all or nothing, and she came up big. Tate got two wins, including a hard-fought grapplefest against the very dangerous Hitomi Akano to earn her shot at Kaufman at Strikeforce Challengers 10 in Phoenix. Marloes Coenen get the first shot against Kaufman sometime in the fall. "My submission defense is one of my strong points. (Akano) was the one I wanted to fight the most
in the tournament," said the proud Tate. "Sarah you’re amazing. I can’t wait to fight you again."Kaufman can defend her title successfully against Coenen, it’ll be Tate’s second chance at the Canadian. The 23-year-old Tate lost a decision to Kaufman last October.
"It’s a dream come true. I came here on a
mission and I accomplished my goal," said Tate.She could’ve very easily missed out on her shot. The tournament required Tate (11-2) to fight twice in one night. That’s a format that has a long history in Japan but most U.S. commissions are hesitant to allow fighters to fight twice in one night. Arizona was game but one change was made. The rounds were shortened from five minutes to three minutes and the first round of the tournament, the fights were only two rounds. It was done to minimize damage but it also made it risky in the opening round for the favorites Tate and Akano. Tate met the inexperienced Maiju Kujala. A native of Finland, Kujala (4-2) was tough to take down and at times landed the better shots on the feet. Tate escaped with a decision win and didn’t take much damage. Akano (16-8) had to work much harder in her match against Carina Damm. The fight hit the deck early and often, and Damm was the physically stronger fighter. The "Girl Fight Monster" scored the takedowns but had trouble controlling the bigger Brazilian. But Akano’s technique was brilliant as she often used Damm’s strength against her. In the middle of the second round, Damm had top control but got reversed by Akano, who locked on a modified triangle and got the win via armbar at the 1:48 mark."I just used Carina’s strength into my reversal technique," said Akano, through her interpreter Shu Hirata. "I went with her flow and got her into the
armbar. When I fight Miesha, I will submit her."Akano, 36, was very dangerous in the final but was a little too small for Tate. Tate scored takedowns in all three rounds and quickly took control of her back. She worked for chokes in the second and third rounds but Akano’s submission defense was very solid.
There is no more polite dude in MMA than Urijah Faber. The former WEC champ has certainly done enough during his illustrious career to be a pompous jerk if he wanted. He could talk lots of trash, but it’s hard to recall Faber really smashing someone. Then there’s Dominick Cruz. The current bantamweight champ rubs Faber the wrong way, and he has no problem expressing his feelings about Cruz (2:33 mark). "There aren’t many people I don’t like out there," Faber told Larry Pepe of Pro MMA Radio. "For lack of a better way to describe him, he just seems like kind of a dope."Faber pointed to a UFC magazine piece on Cruz, where he talked about his reckless ways as a teen. Cruz told the mag that he got booted from his home for throwing parties at his mother’s apartment. "What kind of sob story is that dude? He’s throwing parties when he’s 19 when his mom leaves town so then she kicked him out and he had to be off on his own," said Faber. "I don’t know man, he just rubs me the wrong way. The way he was disrespectul when we first fought and just the way he carries himself."Faber’s teammate and friend Joe Benavidez takes a run at Cruz’s title belt next week at WEC 50. Mark it down, if Benavidez falls short, Faber will probably get a shot at Cruz down the road.
Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
by Michael David SmithAfter Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen meet in the UFC 117 main event on Saturday, the action isn’t over. Head back here following the fights to watch the UFC 117 post-fight press conference.
UFC President Dana White and select UFC 117 fighters will meet the press and answer questions about what happened inside the Octagon and the winners of the Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night awards will be revealed.
The press conference will start about half an hour after the main event ends, around 1:30AM ET, and the video is below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
by Michael David SmithWith his relentless, months-long trash talk, Chael Sonnen did more to promote his UFC 117 fight with Anderson Silva than any fighter has ever done to promote any pay-per-view bout.
But Sonnen didn’t get a nickel for it.
In an interview on HDNet’s Fighting Words with Mike Straka, Sonnen said that his UFC contract doesn’t include pay-per-view bonuses, and he’s fine with that: He wasn’t promoting his fight to make money for himself, he was doing it to make money for the UFC. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
TajBurrow
TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes
TommyClowers
TommyGuerrero
Eastbound and Down isn’t for everybody but if you’re not a hypersensitive politically correct troll, it’s damn funny. Kenny Powers is classic in this super NSFW pitch to K-Swiss. One of his schemes is to wear his kicks as an MMA fighter against the former WEC champ Urijah Faber. We’re not so sure this video will air on ESPN, Comedy Central and MTV outlets, but the campaign is real. K-Swiss has brought the character on board to push it’s "Tubes" line. The mulleted phys-ed teacher will be featured along with Faber, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis and New Orleans Saints’ TE Jeremy Shockey.Glenn Cole, from the ad agency 72andSunny says: "When you have four of the most intense pro athletes in the world–and that’s including Kenny Powers–you can tell a story about performance technology in a way that young guys care about." David Nichols, executive VP of K-Swiss explains the Powers’ approach: "We wanted to deliver unfiltered straight talk about how awesome TUBES are. Who better to do that than Kenny Powers? This approach is attention grabbing – progressive, creative and playful, which is our marketing mantra." There’s even a Kenny Powers/K-Swiss Facebook app! Tip via Cage Potato
For some reason in mixed martial arts, immediate rematches are usually frowned upon. The younger demographic likes new blood in the cage, especially when it comes to title fights. So when will we see Chael Sonnen get another shot at Anderson Silva? Sonnen was leading 4-0 (40-35, 40-34, 40-36) and on his way to winning the fifth round when he got caught in a triangle choke. The prefight hype was amongst the best in UFC history and the fight was dynamite. Sonnen’s willingness to put himself on the line with what seemed like outrageous guarantees, will likely pay dividends in the form of pay-per-view buys that could be in excess of 750,000. The second fight will be even bigger. So can the UFC afford to slip in another contender before Sonnen and Silva meet? And isn’t it incredibly risky to make Sonnen fight someone else in the interim? Yahoo! Sports’ MMA expert Kevin Iole thinks there’s only one choice for the UFC and we could be waiting a while before we see the rematch.Update: Silva’s manager Ed Soares sounds like he’s already lining up against giving Sonnen an immediate shot. Soares told FightHype: "I mean, I don’t necessarily think an immediate rematch is legitimate. It’s not like he won by decision. You got submitted man. You were on top of him for 23 minutes of the fight and couldn’t finish him. Anderson got a few bumps and bruises, but let’s be realistic, you’re on a guy 23 minutes and you couldn’t finish him? Why should he get a rematch?" As expected, initial reaction to this post was all over the map on Twitter @stevecofield.
Junior Dos Santos did it again but this time it didn’t go as smoothly as his first five UFC wins. He beat up another heavyweight opponent but learned some lessons along the way. Dos Santos blasted away at Roy Nelson for 15 minutes but couldn’t put him away. He also ate some pretty good shots and suffered a nasty cut under his right eye. But it was more enough to grab a unanimous decision, 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27, in the first pay-per-view fight at UFC 117 in Oakland. The win earns him a title shot against the winner of the October fight between champion Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. "I knew
that because of his last fight, the knockout, that would be in his mind. I
wanted to jump on him," said Dos Santos. "I could see at one point in the fight, he was just
covering up and maybe he didn’t want to fight much longer. He’s a really good
fighter. This is definitely the biggest win in my career. From this point on, I
want to continue to fight big-name fighters to build my name."Nelson (15-5, 2-1 UFC) doesn’t look the part of the elite heavyweight. He’s a portly 6-foot and 263 pounds. His local paper once referred to him as a "bloated truck driver", but Nelson is dangerous and showed he’s got a granite chin. Dos Santos (12-1, 6-1 UFC) dominated the first round. Nelson’s gameplan was to cover up and absorb shots on the arms and body in order to secure the takedown. In the first, his game never got going because his head got scrambled by two bigger upppercuts. Nelson survived the round and was more than competitive the rest of the way. He clipped Dos Santos with a few big overhand rights but Dos Santos showed a good chin as well.The Brazilian is now 6-0 in the UFC and learned a valuable lesson. He needs to sharpen his game bit and use more of his weapons. Kicks are missing from his game. He’s way too athletic to not take advantage of his speed in all areas.
Much of the boxing world is still pretty down on the skills of mixed martial artists. Not Bernard Hopkins. The light heavyweight great was one of the first guys to admit he’d get whupped in the Octagon fighting under MMA rules. The 45-year-old legend is fearful that James Toney has bitten off more than he can chew in his fight against Randy Couture."I think James Toney is going to get his ass kicked. James Toney is out of his league," Hopkins recently told Mauro Ranallo on Sirius’ Hardcore Sports Radio (Audio). "I believe and I’ll go on record with this, the best MMA guy or UFC guy goes up against the boxer in the world, in their arena … gets their ass kicked. I don’t care if it’s Floyd [Mayweather], [Manny] Pacquiao or Bernard Hopkins. It’s not what we do."In just over two weeks, Toney is making his MMA debut at UFC 118. Couture is a former UFC champ in two weight divisions with 28 professional MMA fights under his belt. After 83 pro boxing fights, Toney, 41, is trying MMA. Boxing heavyweight champ David Haye expanded on what he also believes is a mismatch. He told Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole: "Six months of training isn’t going to be enough." Haye said. "As a UFC fan, I know two or three years wouldn’t be enough. How many times has Toney sprawled in his life? 500? How many leg kicks has he taken in his life? 300? How many Kimura attempts has he defended? 140? Even if he’s done double that amount, he wouldn’t have nearly the experience needed to win a UFC fight."Hopkins also added that if UFC champ Anderson Silva tried to straight up box against an elite boxer, he’d struggle as well. "This is a different arena. I’m not saying he won’t have his moments," said Hopkins. "Listen, when that instinct comes in. When one guy is used to taking a guy down, using his forearm or chin or whatever and you take that away, it’s like taking his teeth out of his mouth. He’s no longer a lion."You can hear "The Fight Show" with Ranallo weekdays from 4-5 p.m. ET on Sirius Channel 98.
Scubadiving
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Ending out the week of Plus leftovers is Timmy Thompson.
Finally a little sun! Yesterday I went climbing in Burbage (specifically Burbage south boulders) in the Peak District near Sheffield. I’m really glad I’ve got these boulders within 15 minutes of my home.
Although in a climbing wall / gym I’m happy on 6a/6b the techniques on grit boulders are a different world: lots of smearing [...]
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood
DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
WEC lightweight Anthony Pettis is an unassuming guy. He doesn’t walk into his gym, Roufus Training Academy, as the star. Instead, he’s the eager-to-learn fighter who soaks up everything he can from his coaches. Still, MTV has chosen to spotlight Pettis on "The World of Jenks," a new show that will immerse the viewer in different types of people’s lives. It followed Pettis the week that he KOed Danny Castillo at WEC 47. "I was coming off a loss, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. It could have gone either way," Pettis told Cagewriter. "If I lost again, I was cut from the WEC. But I won, and I won twice, and now I’m that close to a title shot. It was crazy to have the cameras in your face everywhere. It was a cool experience. I’m really interested to see how it turns out." He doesn’t consider himself a star, but it’s that eager-to-learn attitude that makes Pettis an interesting fighter to watch and a perfect fit for MTV. Out of his 11 wins, only one fight has gone to decision. Because of the MTV series, he got the chance to see how his mother reacted to his fights. "She walked out of the arena, and had her head down, and all she heard was a big commotion. That’s when I got my headkick. She said, ‘What happened, what happened?’ Someone said, ‘He won!’ And she was happy about it. She can’t take it at all."Family is an extremely important part of Pettis’ life. He trains with his younger brother, Sergio, and Anthony says that his MMA career would make his father proud. "He was the competitive type. With the exposure that I’ve gotten, I’ve gone in Milwaukee from no one knowing me to the whole city knows me. Everywhere I go, I have people supporting me. He had a lot of friends, so he’d like that. He was the one who had us in tae kwon do tournaments, so he’d support us." Pettis’ father was murdered in 2003, when Anthony was just 15 years old. Martial arts served as a refuge for him, and kept him focused when he could have easily gone down the path to drugs and gangs, as some of his family did."I had the worst of the worst happen to me, and I could have chosen to go anywhere. I could have chosen to give up on anything, be bad, live the street life, go to jail. All my cousins are in gangs. My dad’s brother has three boys, and their dad also died in a house robbery, seven years before my dad, and they all joined gangs. They’re 34 years old now, and they’re lost. Martial arts gave me focus and gave me something to do. If I couldn’t come here every day and do this, I’d be lost."For WEC 50, Pettis has his focus trained on Shane Roller, an All-American wrestler. To get ready for him, Pettis has worked with a slew of top wrestlers. Two-time national champion Ben Askren stopped by Roufus Sport to work with Pettis.Pettis knows that Roller will want to take the fight to the ground, so he has been working on takedown defense. Though Pettis is more comfortable on his feet, he believes in all the parts of his game."I’m confident that my skills are better than his, standing up, on the ground, and I’m going to stuff his takedowns."
Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing?
Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie – and there’s a new addition!
Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras.
This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]
Clicka uploaded Shingo Ogura’s ender part from the Japanese video, Lenz.
The rap on Japanese fighters is that they do well in hometown promotions like DREAM and Sengoku, but when forced to fight in a cage in the U.S., they buckle. A Japanese fighter has never held a title belt from the UFC or WEC. Before his Strikeforce title bout with Gilbert Melendez, lightweight Shinya Aoki said that if he lost, MMA in Japan would be over. Well, he lost.Someone didn’t tell that to Yushin Okami and Takanori Gomi. Both fighters won handily at UFC on Versus 2. Though Gomi said that he "learned to fight American," he won by returning to his bread and butter striking. Okami did it with textbook takedown defense. His sprawl — laces down with flexible hips — was good enough to stop an elite collegiate wrestler in Mark Munoz. Now, Okami may get the shot to be the first Japanese fighter to win a UFC championship. UFC president Dana White said last week that a win might put Okami in line for a shot at the middleweight belt. From MMAjunkie.com: "Winning this fight would be big," White said. "I say it all the time, you know, Yushin Okami is one of the best 185-pounders in the world and has been for a while. This guy’s due for a title shot."Apparently, Japanese MMA is far from over. It looks as if it’s just getting warmed up.
Freediving
Scubadiving
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
by Michael David SmithMiesha Tate put on a great show on Friday night, solidifying her position as one of the toughest women in mixed martial arts by defeating Hitomi Akano and Maiju Kujala, and wasting no time in starting to build her next fight by calling out the Strikeforce 135-pound champion, Sarah Kaufman.
The bad news is that Strikeforce has already announced that Kaufman’s next fight will come against Marloes Coenen, not Tate.
The good news is that there’s a simple solution to that problem: Strikeforce needs to reverse course and book Tate vs. Kaufman right away. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
The rap on Japanese fighters is that they do well in hometown promotions like DREAM and Sengoku, but when forced to fight in a cage in the U.S., they buckle. A Japanese fighter has never held a title belt from the UFC or WEC. Before his Strikeforce title bout with Gilbert Melendez, lightweight Shinya Aoki said that if he lost, MMA in Japan would be over. Well, he lost.Someone didn’t tell that to Yushin Okami and Takanori Gomi. Both fighters won handily at UFC on Versus 2. Though Gomi said that he "learned to fight American," he won by returning to his bread and butter striking. Okami did it with textbook takedown defense. His sprawl — laces down with flexible hips — was good enough to stop an elite collegiate wrestler in Mark Munoz. Now, Okami may get the shot to be the first Japanese fighter to win a UFC championship. UFC president Dana White said last week that a win might put Okami in line for a shot at the middleweight belt. From MMAjunkie.com: "Winning this fight would be big," White said. "I say it all the time, you know, Yushin Okami is one of the best 185-pounders in the world and has been for a while. This guy’s due for a title shot."Apparently, Japanese MMA is far from over. It looks as if it’s just getting warmed up.
Eastbound and Down isn’t for everybody but if you’re not a hypersensitive politically correct troll, it’s damn funny. Kenny Powers is classic in this super NSFW pitch to K-Swiss. One of his schemes is to wear his kicks as an MMA fighter against the former WEC champ Urijah Faber. We’re not so sure this video will air on ESPN, Comedy Central and MTV outlets, but the campaign is real. K-Swiss has brought the character on board to push it’s "Tubes" line. The mulleted phys-ed teacher will be featured along with Faber, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis and New Orleans Saints’ TE Jeremy Shockey.Glenn Cole, from the ad agency 72andSunny says: "When you have four of the most intense pro athletes in the world–and that’s including Kenny Powers–you can tell a story about performance technology in a way that young guys care about." David Nichols, executive VP of K-Swiss explains the Powers’ approach: "We wanted to deliver unfiltered straight talk about how awesome TUBES are. Who better to do that than Kenny Powers? This approach is attention grabbing – progressive, creative and playful, which is our marketing mantra." There’s even a Kenny Powers/K-Swiss Facebook app! Tip via Cage Potato
TUF 12 Cast RevealedUltimateFighter.comSee More: TUF 12 • Josh Koscheck • Georges St PierreThe next generation of potential UFC fighters has arrived. Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" has an interesting collection of lightweights. You’ve got experienced fighters like Steve Sharp, Dennis Davis and Nam Phan, who have a combined 81 pro fights. Phan (15-7) is a veteran of Sengoku, King of the Cage and Strikeforce. And then a crew of 18 fighters between 21-24 years old. For the most part, it appears Spike and the UFC stayed away from combatants just entering the sport. TUF 12 debuts Sept. 15.
DaveMirra
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
Junior Dos Santos did it again but this time it didn’t go as smoothly as his first five UFC wins. He beat up another heavyweight opponent but learned some lessons along the way. Dos Santos blasted away at Roy Nelson for 15 minutes but couldn’t put him away. He also ate some pretty good shots and suffered a nasty cut under his right eye. But it was more enough to grab a unanimous decision, 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27, in the first pay-per-view fight at UFC 117 in Oakland. The win earns him a title shot against the winner of the October fight between champion Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. "I knew
that because of his last fight, the knockout, that would be in his mind. I
wanted to jump on him," said Dos Santos. "I could see at one point in the fight, he was just
covering up and maybe he didn’t want to fight much longer. He’s a really good
fighter. This is definitely the biggest win in my career. From this point on, I
want to continue to fight big-name fighters to build my name."Nelson (15-5, 2-1 UFC) doesn’t look the part of the elite heavyweight. He’s a portly 6-foot and 263 pounds. His local paper once referred to him as a "bloated truck driver", but Nelson is dangerous and showed he’s got a granite chin. Dos Santos (12-1, 6-1 UFC) dominated the first round. Nelson’s gameplan was to cover up and absorb shots on the arms and body in order to secure the takedown. In the first, his game never got going because his head got scrambled by two bigger upppercuts. Nelson survived the round and was more than competitive the rest of the way. He clipped Dos Santos with a few big overhand rights but Dos Santos showed a good chin as well.The Brazilian is now 6-0 in the UFC and learned a valuable lesson. He needs to sharpen his game bit and use more of his weapons. Kicks are missing from his game. He’s way too athletic to not take advantage of his speed in all areas.
Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
No skate clip today, but the Mostly Skateboarding twitter feed is always going off and I started a tumblr blog last week with skate and non-skate stuff I think looks cool.
For some reason in mixed martial arts, immediate rematches are usually frowned upon. The younger demographic likes new blood in the cage, especially when it comes to title fights. So when will we see Chael Sonnen get another shot at Anderson Silva? Sonnen was leading 4-0 (40-35, 40-34, 40-36) and on his way to winning the fifth round when he got caught in a triangle choke. The prefight hype was amongst the best in UFC history and the fight was dynamite. Sonnen’s willingness to put himself on the line with what seemed like outrageous guarantees, will likely pay dividends in the form of pay-per-view buys that could be in excess of 750,000. The second fight will be even bigger. So can the UFC afford to slip in another contender before Sonnen and Silva meet? And isn’t it incredibly risky to make Sonnen fight someone else in the interim? Yahoo! Sports’ MMA expert Kevin Iole thinks there’s only one choice for the UFC and we could be waiting a while before we see the rematch.Update: Silva’s manager Ed Soares sounds like he’s already lining up against giving Sonnen an immediate shot. Soares told FightHype: "I mean, I don’t necessarily think an immediate rematch is legitimate. It’s not like he won by decision. You got submitted man. You were on top of him for 23 minutes of the fight and couldn’t finish him. Anderson got a few bumps and bruises, but let’s be realistic, you’re on a guy 23 minutes and you couldn’t finish him? Why should he get a rematch?" As expected, initial reaction to this post was all over the map on Twitter @stevecofield.
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston
I’m pleased to claim this blog officially on Technorati so that more people will read it
This link to my Technorati Profile is all it takes.
RossPowers
RyanSheckler
ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray
