Hockey Fight of the Day: Ryan Reaves vs. Brian McGrattan

The two players featured in today’s entry may not be familiar faces around these parts but, at least based on the way they went at it over the weekend, the St. Louis Blues’ Ryan Reaves and Nashville Predators’ Brian McGrattan should change that in 2012 after a terrific tilt. The only clear winner emerging from [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/02/06/hockey-fight-of-the-day-ryan-reaves-vs-brian-mcgrattan

Daiki DJ taiki Hata He Peng David Heath Delson Heleno

Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir Confirmed for Likely Top Contender Fight

Although Lorenzo Fertitta rarely makes an appearance on Twitter, his verified page was the place to be early Friday morning. The UFC co-owner not only confirmed the date of the heavyweight title scrap between champ Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, but he also reported who would likely get first dibs at the winner. Former [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/105929/cain-velasquez-vs-frank-mir-confirmed-for-likely-top-contender-fight/

Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo 

Renan Barao proves he?s for real with easy win over Scott Jorgensen at UFC 143

LAS VEGAS -- Still doubting Renan Barao? No need to anymore.

The young Brazilian cruised by a pretty game fighter in Scott Jorgensen taking a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards, on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 143 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Barao entered the fight with a brilliant 27-1 record. That includes winning the last 27 straight. The 25-year-old is now a perfect 3-0 in the UFC with wins over Brad Pickett and now Jorgensen. He was a minus-250 favorite and brought home the victory with ease.

Jorgensen (13-5, 2-1 UFC) is generally regarded as a top seven fighter at 135 pounds. He went the distance in a five-round loss against UFC champion Dominick Cruz. Barao picked him apart on the feet the entire fight. Even more impressive was his takedown defense. In a division, with plenty of former college wrestlers, Barao showed he's not going to have an issue of defending from his back.

Jorgensen, a three-time Pac-10 wrestling champion at Boise State, never came close to threatening Barao for a takedown. He tried three times in the opening round and Barao powered out of the attempt in each case. Twice, he controlled Jorgensen and turned the clinch to his advantage along the cage. For the fight, Jorgensen was 0-for-7 on takedown attempts.

That left Jorgensen with almost no path to a victory. The shorter fighter, with a less developed striking game, Jorgensen couldn't reach Barao with most of his shots. When he did, the power just wasn't there. Barao outlanded Jorgensen 118-58. Barao's jab landed just about every time he threw it over the first two rounds. He pieced together some beautiful three-punch combos.

"Barao's a tough guy, he's a very well-rounded fighter. I had no sense of urgency and I felt too comfortable in there.  It's a tough loss," said Jorgensen.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/barao-striking-just-too-smooth-jorgensen-ufc-143-040344922.html

Kotetsu Boku  Tony Bonello Stephan Bonnar Lorenzo Borgomeo 

Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem Meet Memorial Day Weekend

In a rare appearance on Twitter, Lorenzo Fertitta held an extended Q&A session with 76,000 of his followers on the blue-birded network early Friday morning. According to the UFC co-owner, the much-anticipated heavyweight title tilt between champ Junior dos Santos (Pictured) and Alistair Overeem is scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend. The yet-to-be announced show is [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/105920/junior-dos-santos-vs-alistair-overeem-meet-memorial-day-weekend/

Dai Shuanghai  Mac Danzig  Karen Darabedyan Viacheslav Datsik

Ben Askren puts Bellator belt up against Douglas Lima on April 6 in Canada

Welterweight Ben Askren will attempt to run his unbeaten record to double-digits in early April when he defends his Bellator title against streaking contender Douglas Lima at Bellator 64, an event scheduled to take place on April 6 in Windsor, Ontario. Both men have won nine straight scraps. The bout was confirmed through an official [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2012/02/09/ben-askren-puts-bellator-belt-up-against-douglas-lima-on-april-6-in-canada/

Andre Gusmao Alexander Gustafsson Jaime Gutierrez Dave Gomez

Alistair Overeem Shows Off Dance Moves & One-Handed Bra Removal Technique

Alistair Overeem has plenty to keep him distracted while he waits for his upcoming title fight against Junior dos Santos this summer (hopefully). Check out these videos of Overeem learning some new dance moves and removing various women’s bras on some Dutch TV show. His dancing isn’t bad but surprisingly his one-handed bra removal technique [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/lavhF65g2WA/

Kit Cope  Wesley Cabbage Correira  Patrick The Predator Côté  Randy The Natural Couture 

Dana White holds 2012 lead in skipped press conferences

By Kevin Iole
Yahoo! Sports

LAS VEGAS -- UFC president Dana White has routinely given welterweight contender Nick Diaz a hard time for skipping news conferences to promote fights.

In September, Diaz was briefly booted off of UFC 137 after he no-showed news conferences in Toronto and Las Vegas. Circumstances put him back on the card, but it remains a hot topic five months later.

On Thursday at the final pre-fight news conference for UFC 143 at Mandalay Bay, Diaz and White were asked several times about his stance on news conferences.

"He's made it very clear, he's not here to make any friends," White said of Diaz. "He's not looking to have any barbecues over at his house with anyone from the MMA world. He's here to fight. That's it, and I'm cool with that. You just have to show up to press conferences and do the stuff and now, he's doing all of the stuff that needs to be done."

White, though, skipped a press conference last week and didn't do what he needed to do.

White was unhappy with the UFC on Fox 2 card in Chicago on Jan. 28. Rather than say anything that he might regret, White skipped the pos-fight news conference and flew on his private jet back to Las Vegas, leaving UFC media relations director Ant Evans to run the show.

Pressed on his absence Thursday, White grinned impishly.

"Yeah, I wasn't in the mood," he said. "I can not go if I don't want to."

He later said, "I usually try to skip press conferences where I know I'm going to, you know, [lose my temper]."

The next time that Diaz, or anyone else misses a news conference, he needs only to point to White's absence at the UFC on Fox 2 media event.

Bringing that up should be good for at least one get out of jail free card.

You can watch UFC 143 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-holds-2012-lead-skipped-press-conferences-025101149.html

Paulo Filho Mirko Cro Cop Filipović Luiz Buscapé Firmino Spencer Fisher