A Striking Difference: The Magic Mitts of Gil Martinez (2/3)

In order for a fighter to be able to respond to Martinez? mid-fight instructions like that, he has to have put many hours into his training. According to Martinez, his fighters typically put in three to four hours each day during training camp, and that includes everything from working on technique to drills to sparring. [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/06/a-striking-difference-the-magic-mitts-of-gil-martinez-23

Pat Barry  Vitor Belfort  Robert Berry David Bielkheden

UFC 140?s Three Stars: Jon Jones, Chan Sung Jung and Frank Mir

UFC 140?s Three Stars: Jon Jones, Chan Sung Jung and Frank Mir

UFC 140 marked the UFC's second trip to Toronto this year, and like UFC 129, it's another candidate for card of the year. The pay-per-view card alone would have earned that designation, but the preliminary fights had plenty of exciting moments from Igor Pokrajac, John Cholish and Jake Hecht.

Who stood tallest among giants? Here are Cagewriter's picks. Tell us yours in the comments or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Jon Jones: Did that first round make you doubt? Seeing Jones confused on how to handle Machida's movement early in the fight made his win even more exciting. That was the first time Machida has ever been submitted in 20 fights. Jones' tally for the year: three submissions, one TKO, one belt won, two title defenses, and a well-earned vacation.

No. 2 star -- Chan Sung Jung: "The Korean Zombie" was the most unpopular man at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night. He took advantage of Mark Hominick's aggressiveness from the bell, and knocked him right out. That earned him the UFC record* for fastest knockout, but also angered the fans who had gathered to watch hometown hero Hominick. He quickly calmed them by finding the right words to say in English, a language he doesn't speak. "I love Canadians!"

No. 3 star -- Frank Mir: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had Mir in trouble early in the bout, but Mir stayed calm and took advantage of his position. He rolled into a Kimura that MMA fans -- and Big Nog -- won't soon forget.

*Jung is now tied with Todd Duffee for a seven-second KO. Duane Ludwig is trying to get the time of his knockout of Jonathan Goulet amended by the Nevada Athletic Commission to earn him the record.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-140-s-Three-Stars-Jon-Jones-Chan-Sung-Jung?urn=mma-wp10663

Luiz Azeredo  Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er  Ryan Bader 

Gil Martinez Blog: Looking Back at the TUF 14 Finale, Ahead to UFC 140

People are in town this week for The Ultimate Fighter for the tryouts so people are hanging out at Couture?s and checking out the gym and wanting to hit pads and train with the guys there. They know we have some of the best fighters in the world so they want to spar with them [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/09/gil-martinez-blog-looking-back-at-the-tuf-14-finale-ahead-to-ufc-140

Musse Hasselvall Daiki DJ taiki Hata He Peng David Heath

Georges St-Pierre Undergoes Successful Knee Surgery

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UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre underwent successful knee surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles, St-Pierre's coach Firas Zahabi confirmed with MMAFighting.com.

"It went great," Zahabi wrote via text message. "The doctor said it could not have gone better."

The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, a renowned facility for sports medicine among professional athletes. St-Pierre's team expects the champion to return to action in 2012. The recovery time could be anywhere between 6-10 months.

In the meantime, the UFC has booked an interim title fight between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit for UFC 143 in February.

It was announced last week that GSP had completely torn his anterior cruciate ligament and damaged his meniscus.

For more on St-Pierre's injury, click here.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/12/13/georges-st-pierre-undergoes-successful-knee-surgery/

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo 

Fedor returns to Japan to fight Ishii on NYE

Fedor returns to Japan to fight Ishii on NYE

Fedor Emelianenko is heading back to the place that made one of the biggest stars in MMA history. The long rumored fight against Satoshi Ishii is on. DREAM just confirmed its Dec. 31 fight card via email.

Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri are also featured on a card that is loaded with Japanese stars. Bibiano Fernandes, Rodolfo Marques Diniz, Masakazu Imanari and Antonio Banuelos will also finish off the DREAM bantamweight tournament.

Fedor was released from his deal with Zuffa/Strikeforce back in August after a loss to Dan Henderson. Including that loss, he'd dropped three straight. He returned on Nov. 20 to defeat Jeff Monson in Russia.

In Ishii, he faces a fighter with just six pro MMA fights under his belt. Ishii, the heavyweight Judo gold medalist at the 2008 Olympics, was the prize of a bidding war between Japan and the UFC. He chose to turn down the American promotion's offer. Since then he's fought a slew of underwhelming opponents. His most recent fight was down at light heavyweight, where he fought Paulo Filho to a draw in Brazil.

FIGHT FOR JAPAN "Genkidesuka!! Oomisoka!! 2011!

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii

Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi "Lion" Inoue

Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata

*Yuichiro "Jien-Otsu" Nagashima vs. Katsunori Kikuno

Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo Marques Diniz

Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos

Hideo Tokoro vs. Yusup Saadulaev

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan

**Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Aerts

*Mixed rules match (1R - 3min kickboxing rules, 2R - 5min MMA rules)

**IGF rules

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Fedor-returns-to-Japan-to-fight-Ishii-on-NYE?urn=mma-wp10698

Roan Jucao Carneiro Shane The Engineer Carwin  Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan 

UFC severs ties with Miguel Torres in response to online joke about rape

The UFC made their future stance on fighter behavior clear on Thursday evening with the release of popular bantamweight Miguel Torres ? when it comes to making light of tragedy ?no means no?. Already dealing with the PR fallout from a November incident where former UFC light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin joked about the topic [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/09/ufc-severs-ties-with-miguel-torres-in-response-to-online-joke-about-rape

Shane The Engineer Carwin  Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan  Dan The Sandman Christison 

Jon Jones wins the chess match, puts Lyoto Machida to sleep to defend his title at UFC 140

Jon Jones wins the chess match, puts Lyoto Machida to sleep to defend his title at UFC 140

Jon Jones refers to the often brutal sport of mixed martial arts as "a game he loves to play." It's seems like a strange way to refer to MMA, but Jones showed again tonight that he's quickly becoming the master of the game.

The UFC champ was getting outmaneuvered early in the fight, but as always made the necessary moves to first cut Lyoto Machida and then turns the lights out with a standing guillotine in the second round to successfully defend his UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 140.

"He's just smart. He kicked really hard. He knew his range. He has great tactics and definitely he was a very tough puzzle," Jones told UFC analyst Joe Rogan.

Jones, who won the title back in March at UFC 128, has successfully defended in two times. All four of his wins in 2011 have come via stoppage.

Amazingly, he's posting these dominant victories by different means each time out. His physical gifts are off the charts, but it's the way he's mastering the mental game that makes him look more unbeatable each time out.

Machida (17-3, 9-3 UFC) is also a brilliant tactician, who really confused Jones in the opening round. The champ looked sloppy with his fists and landed a few leg kicks, but it was the challenger who landed the heaviest shots with a few well-timed flurries. When drilled Jones with overhand left with 5o seconds left, Machida locked up the first round.

"He didn't have me hurt, but he did punch me pretty good and it wobbled me a bit," Jones said. The champ looked at eating that punch as a positive. "It was good. One of my biggest critic points is that I can't take a punch, so I'm glad to prove it to myself, and to everyone that I can take a legit hit."

Jon Jones wins the chess match, puts Lyoto Machida to sleep to defend his title at UFC 140

Instead of turning up the aggression on Jones, Machida dialed it down a bit in the second. He let Jones get comfortable again.

With three minutes left in the round, Jones landed a right that stopped Machida in his tracks and worked the clinch for a big slam takedown. That's Jones' world and he immediately went to work from half guard. At 6-foot-4, Jones is a huge 2o5er. He imposed his size from the top and scraped a nasty elbow across Machida's forehead. The result was a deep gash that leaked blood into Machida's eyes.

"I know Lyoto's a black belt so I was expecting a lot more motion on the bottom, but he didn't move a lot and i was able to open him up," said Jones.

Machida got to his feet, the stop was stopped to check the cut for a few seconds and then reset. The fighters separated momentarily and both tried to throw the left hand. Machida's was a wide left hook and Jones was a short chopping left. The Jones shot landed and Machida went to his knees. His head was exposed as he stood back up where Jones landed a knee and locked on the standing guillotine along the cage.

The taller athlete cranked up and eventually Machida's right arm went limp. Referee John McCarthy stopped it and when Jones released the choke Machida fell flat on his face. He was out cold.

"It's not really a move that I practice. I think it's something that comes natural from wrestling for years. But yeah, it was a great lock. I realized that I had it, that I just needed to be tough and hold the position and eventually he'd run out."

Jones is showing off new weapons all the time. The fact that he finished off a top five light heavyweight with a move he's never practice is more proof of his greatness.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Jon-Jones-wins-the-chess-match-puts-Lyoto-Machi?urn=mma-wp10631

Roan Jucao Carneiro Shane The Engineer Carwin  Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan