?Rampage? weight flop costs him; Bader puts him on his back to roll to victory at UFC 144

Quinton Jackson didn't come to Japan ready to fight and it cost him in what he hoped would be a triumphant return. The former PRIDE legend and UFC light heavyweight champ didn't make weight on Friday. When it came time to show his stamina and athleticism, "Rampage" just didn't have it.

Behind a solid clinch game and wrestling, Ryan Bader pulled what turned out to be a mild upset, via unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards.

[ Related: Benson Henderson wins title belt in classic vs. Frankie Edgar ]

Jackson was a minus-250 favorite in the lead up to the fight. When he showed up at the weigh-in looking soft and tipping the scales at 211 pounds, bettors pounded the Bader side. They were right. Jackson explained that his weight miss was due to an injury during training camp that "kept him from doing his roadwork." Jackson did have a noticeable limp after the fight.

[Video: Bader rolls to victory over Rampage Jackson]

The 33-year-old wound up forfeiting 20 percent of his salary, which was likely around $250,000. That money goes straight to Bader.

This was a huge win for the former Arizona State All-American wrestler. Bader (14-2, 7-2 UFC) has been on the cusp of big things, but was dominated in early 2011 by the future division champ Jon Jones and upset later in the year by Tito Ortiz.

Jackson had one big moment in the fight. Known during his PRIDE days for his powerful slams, Jackson turned back the clock and spiked Bader. The second-round slam had Bader land in an awkward position. It looked like he may have injured his right arm at that point, but Bader said he was fine after the fight.

His performance showed it. He scored takedowns (four total) in each round. He didn't land anything too vicious on top but dominated position and made it tough for Jackson to get back to his feet. The numbers backed up the judges' decision with Bader landing 107-32 shots, including 67-7 in ground strikes.

Jackson, a native of Memphis, exploded as an MMA star during his time in Japan between 2001-2006.

Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
? LeBron James says 'Decision' criticism affected him
? Jim Irsay seizes control of Colts from Peyton Manning, ready to take Andrew Luck
? Y! TV: Jimmy Fallon sings Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy [Lin]'

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/rampage-weight-flop-costs-him-bader-puts-him-055552931.html

Luiz Azeredo  Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er  Ryan Bader 

Hockey Fight of the Day: Jody Shelley vs. Darcy Hordichuk

Typically it takes a solid chunk of time for a hockey fight to be considered one of the season’s best but in the case of the Philadelphia Flyers’ Jody Shelley and Edmonton Oilers’ Darcy Hordichuk it’s worth making an exception. The two players faced off last night and packed as much action into a 30-45 [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/02/24/hockey-fight-of-the-day-jody-shelley-vs-darcy-hordichuk

He Peng David Heath Delson Heleno Dan Henderson

Video: UFC 144 Pre-Fight Press Conference

Although the UFC was unable to provide a live stream of last night's pre-fight press conference for UFC 144, video of the entire conference has been released. The press conference includes UFC President Dana White along with fighters on UFC 144's main card: Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Ryan Bader, Jake Shields, and Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27684/video-ufc-144-pre-fight-press-conference/

He Peng David Heath Delson Heleno Dan Henderson

Breaking it Down: UFC 144 (MAIN CARD)

The Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan is the place to be this Saturday night (or Sunday morning, if you’re actually in Japan) as UFC 144: Edgar vs Henderson goes down. Featuring a seven-fight main card, the PPV portion of this card is stacked with exciting, important, and downright awesome fights that can make even [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2012/02/24/breaking-it-down-ufc-144-main-card/

Akihiro Gono Gabriel Gonzaga Lyman Good Gary Goodridge

Culinary Union suggests Bill of Rights for MMA fighters

The Culinary Union, the biggest union representing workers in Nevada, stopped by the Nevada Athletic Commission's meeting on Wednesday to discuss ways to improve treatment for fighters. They want to see the NAC lead the combat sports world by pushing for reforms in MMA.

It wants to see:

1. Equal protections for all fighters. Boxers are protected under the Muhammad Ali Act, which enacts certain rules over boxers that keeps them from getting exploited. Mixed martial artists are not.

2. Right to work. This would allow fighters to sign non-exclusive contracts and would prohibit contracts from automatically renewing. Champions' clauses, which keep champs attached to their contract as long as they hold the belt, would be a thing of the past.

3. Inalienable right to your own name, likeness and image. When Jon Fitch objected to handing over his image in perpetuity to the UFC for its video game, he was cut from the UFC and Dana White threatened to not do business with any fighters from Fitch's gym, American Kickboxing Academy. After Fitch played ball, he was brought back into the fold. This right would allow fighters to exercise the right Fitch wanted to.

4. Free market of sponsorships. This would not just allow fighters to get whoever they would like to sponsor them, but would also let them say no to their promotion's sponsor. In other words, Brock Lesnar could chug a Coors and Carlos Condit could have walked away from a Harley-Davidson if he wanted to pursue a sponsorship with Honda.

5. Transparency of contracts and payments. Fighters would get detailed financial statements from any event they participated in. This would be particularly important to fighters whose contracts earn percentages of pay-per-views or gates.

6. Fair share of revenues. In the NBA and NFL, athletes went through a lockout to fight for roughly half the league's revenues. Because Zuffa is a private company, their revenues are not public, so we have no idea how much revenue the fighters earn. This right would ensure fighters get at least a quarter of revenues.

7. Freedom of association. Fighters would be allowed to unionize in any way they see fit.

8. Right to healthcare insurance for training and fighting. Zuffa fighters are given medical coverage for both fight camps and fights, but this right would ensure it continued.

9. Right to fair fights. The UFC's matchmaking system generally provides fair and evenly matched bouts, but things get murky on subjects like who deserves a title fight. Timing often decides title matches as much as an independent ranking system. This right would call for a transparent ranking of fighters.

10. Professionalism. From the union: "You have the right to be treated with common courtesy and professional respect by other fighters and by promoters and managers. For mixed martial arts to become a mainstream sport accepted by the general public, participants in the sport must act in accordance with commonly accepted standards of courtesy, decency and respect in their public interactions with one another and in their interactions with the public."

In other words, promotions couldn't fire one fighter because of a tweet about rape while not firing another for jokes about child molestation. UFC executives would probably have to stop dropping F-bombs at Twitter followers.

Would you be in support of such a bill? Is it missing anything? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/culinary-union-suggests-bill-rights-mma-fighters-225928310.html

Tiki Ghosn Dennis George Kultar Gill Allan Goes

Photo: Jon Jones, Kate Upton and Jane Lynch pal around at Daytona 500

A UFC champ, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model and an Emmy-winning actress met up at the Daytona 500 today. Jon Jones was an honorary race official, while Kate Upton and Jane Lynch were there to spend some time being awesome.

The race was delayed until Monday, so they had plenty of time to discuss throwing elbows, photoshoots, and wearing track suits. Hopefully, Lynch was offering "Bones" a cameo on "Glee." Nothing could prepare him better for his fight with Rashad Evans than a song and dance with New Directions.

Jones also got to meet some of the biggest names in racing: And he even got a car with his name on it.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/photo-jon-jones-kate-upton-jane-lynch-pal-015058867.html

Paulo Filho Mirko Cro Cop Filipović Luiz Buscapé Firmino Spencer Fisher