Five Ounces of Podcast: Episode 15

It’s the Five Ounces of Podcast with Samer Kadi and Jeremy Lambert and if you like the burial of companies, referees, and fighters, this is the podcast for you. First we start with a review of Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine and why this event, like seemingly every Strikeforce event nowadays, felt secondary. We’ll run down [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2012/01/10/five-ounces-of-podcast-episode-15/

Kendall Grove Clay Guida Jason Guida Melvin Guillard

Brock Lesnar: We Hardly Knew You!

I may be in the minority here, but I am sad to see Brock Lesnar go. In the short period of time he competed in mixed martial arts he added so much excitement and even the negative attention he brought was a benefit to the sport. It?s easy to see by looking at the pay-per-views [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/01/02/brock-lesnar-we-hardly-knew-you

Edgar Garcia Leonard Garcia Andrew Gardner Tiki Ghosn

Dana White?s latest video blog takes fans backstage at UFC 141

Over the past few months the UFC has done an incredible job capturing events from a ?behind the scenes? perspective, filming fighters as they prepare to walk down to the Octagon as well as the fallout from after their respective bouts. UFC President Dana White?s first video blog for UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes has [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2012/01/10/dana-white%e2%80%99s-latest-video-blog-takes-fans-backstage-at-ufc-141/

Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao  Josh Barnett 

Dominick Cruz Talks About Coaching on TUF 15, Fighting Urijah Faber for a Third Time

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Watch below as UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz talks about coaching on the 15th season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Urijah Faber, what this opportunity means for him, fighting Faber for a third time later this year, and his recent hand surgery.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2012/01/09/dominick-cruz-talks-about-coaching-on-tuf-15-fighting-urijah-fa/

Karn Grigorian Karen Grigoryan Kendall Grove Clay Guida

UFC 141?s Three Stars: Overeem, Hendricks and Hettes

The last card of 2011 started slowly, but became must-watch when the pay-per-view fights started. In the last five bouts, three fighters earned first-round knockouts. Here are our three stars from the eve of the Eve. Tell us yours in the comments or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Alistair Overeem: Any question about his lack of competitive opponents was answered with a first-round knockout of former champ Brock Lesnar. Overeem overwhelmed Lesnar from the bell, then used knees to attack where Lesnar was most vulnerable. Next, he'll get to match up with Junior dos Santos in a fight that is nearly guaranteed to end in a knockout.

No. 2 star -- Johny Hendricks: You could practically hear the MMA world groan as the Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks match-up was announced. Fitch's last nine fights went the distance, and Hendricks is a top-notch wrestler. Of course this would be another boring grapplefest. Hendricks proved us all wrong with a 12-second knockout of a man with a tough chin.

No. 3 star -- Jim Hettes: Did you expect Hettes to put on a three-round beatdown of Nam Phan? Me neither. "The Kid" is now 10-0, and ready for a step up in competition. After that display, he has earned it.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-141-three-stars-overeem-hendricks-hettes-140312442.html

Branden Lee Hinkle Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi 

?Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine? Fighter Salaries and Medical Suspensions

The fighter salaries and medical suspensions from Saturday's "Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine" event in Las Vegas have been released, with Robbie Lawler's $150,000 topping the $566,000 payroll and middleweight champion Luke Rockhold among four fighters suspended up to six months.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27135/strikeforce-rockhold-vs-jardine-fighter-salaries-and-medical-suspensions/

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida 

After rough night for Nevada officials, ?King Mo? offers to give Kim Winslow reffing lessons

Landing 15 unanswered shots, Muhammed Lawal nearly beat Lorenz Larkin into oblivion to pick up his ninth career win. "King Mo" was far from jubilant. In fact, he was angry following the victory. Lawal lashed out at the referee Kim Winslow for not protecting his opponent.

In the ring, Lawal screamed out a suggestion that Winslow shouldn't be reffing fights. In the postfight press conference, he brought it even stronger.

"The commission, they need to like to do something with her ... let her take a fight or something and give her a bad ref. Let her fight [Cristiane] "Cyborg" Santos and let's do a late stoppage with her," said Lawal."The tables need to be turned. Put me in there as a ref and I'll do a terrible job like her."

Winslow's decision to allow a limp Larkin to absorb 6-8 extra punches was shaky, but her explanation to Lawal was even worse.

"She said 'well, I wanted to give him every opportunity to bounce back. If it takes for him to be asleep, that's what it is,'" said Lawal. "She's never taken a punch before, so it's easy for her to say that."

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker suggested that it been rough night overall for the Nevada State Athletic Commission appointed referees and judges.

In an earlier fight, Winslow also allowed Gian Villante to finish off Trevor Smith with two illegal shots to the back of the head. Smith spoke to Aaron Tru about the end of the fight and said Winslow "has no business in the sport." Smith said Winslow tried to make up for a poor early stoppage in his fight by allowing Larkin to take an extra beating.

The scoring in two other fights confused cageside observers. Most onlookers thought Tyron Woodley rolled to a 30-27 decision over Jordan Mein, but one judge gave it 29-28 to Mein, who spent most of the fight on his back. The same goes for James Terry's loss to Nah-Shon Burrell got the nod 29-28 on two scorecards and looked completely shocked when he was announced as the winner.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/rough-night-nevada-officials-king-mo-offers-kim-221006705.html

Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade 

'Cyborg' Santos' Positive Steroid Test Not Surprising, But Not All Bad, Either

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Cyborg SantosNews that Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos tested positive for steroids following her last Strikeforce 145-pound title defense provoked a wide range of responses last week, but shock wasn't one of them. Some reacted with bitter disappointment, others with cynical detachment, but no one who's ever so much as seen a picture of the Brazilian fighter can say that they haven't at least considered the possibility that her biceps might have gotten that way via some not-so-natural processes.

For as long as she's been in the spotlight, that's kind of been Santos' thing. She's the woman with the muscles, the female fighter who looks every bit as terrifying as she fights. The positive steroid test just confirmed what most fans already suspected: there's a reason you don't see more women like "Cyborg" running around.

Maybe that's what's so disappointing about this whole story. It just seems so obvious. It reminds us once again that the MMA world isn't some magical, mystical place. Instead, it's just like the rest of the world. When you suspect someone is a cheater, you eventually find out that you were right. Then you wonder why you ever gave them the benefit of the doubt to begin with.

That's the real problem for Santos here. When Tim Sylvia popped positive and explained that he just wanted to look good with his shirt off, you could believe him. You took one look at his soggy, pasty torso and thought, yeah, if I had to go topless on TV I might be tempted to do something about that too.

But because Santos has long been known as the heavily muscled, über-aggressive women's champ, one failed drug test provides an all-too convenient explanation for her exceptionalism and, rightly or wrongly, taints everything she's ever done. It makes it seem as if this is merely the first time she's been caught, but far from the first time she's ever used.

Not that she's admitted to pumping herself up with stanozolol, of course. Instead she blamed it on an unnamed "dietary supplement" and copped to nothing more serious than a failure to fully investigate the banned substances list. If she were Roy Nelson, that explanation might fly. But Cyborg is Cyborg. When you look like she does, even the mere hint of guilt is more than enough to convict you in the court of public opinion.

Naturally, people will wonder what this means for the future of the women's division. They wonder the same thing whenever anything interesting happens to a female fighter, and sometimes even when nothing happens at all. For now, Santos has been stripped of the title and the 145-pound division put on hold. And honestly? That's probably a good thing.

For the past couple years, Santos wasn't just the champ in that division -- she was the division. How can you tell? For starters, it's a division that might as well not exist while she's suspended, as UFC president Dana White more or less admitted. Think about it: how many times have you watched a women's 145-pound bout in Strikeforce that wasn't a title fight? There aren't enough women at that weight to have a real division. It's just Santos beating up one fresh victim after another, many of whom have been cajoled into gaining weight just to get their faces smashed on TV.

The real action in the women's division is at 135 pounds. Between Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Sarah Kaufman, and Marloes Coenen (among others), there's a wealth of existing talent with more coming up all the time. Santos might have had a certain circus appeal -- again, probably for the very same reasons she now finds herself suspended -- but the competition is in the 135-pound class, where the fighters sport credible physiques and the interest isn't limited to one dominant champ.

White loves to brag that he never gave in to the siren's song of freak show fights, even when his company was struggling. And while matching Santos up against one undersized opponent after another isn't exactly a freak show, neither is it indicative of a genuine interest in women's MMA. It's a sideshow. It's the scary lady with the muscles against whichever brave soul would take the fight. Now that that option has been eliminated, at least for the time being, White and his crew would be smart to move the spotlight further down the scale, where there's an actual division taking shape.

Santos' current predicament is still disappointing, even if it's not surprising, but it doesn't have to be a negative for MMA. If the absence of Santos means a bigger share of the pie for the women who are (hopefully) competing clean against opponents their own size, it might just be the best thing that could have happened.

And who knows, maybe Santos can use the forced vacation time to slim down and join her colleagues at a lower weight class. Tossing that "dietary supplement" in the trash might be a good way to start.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2012/01/09/cyborg-santos-unsurprising-drug-test-an-unexpected-boost-for/

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo