Baroni ready for ONE FC battle with Yoshida as both fighters make weight

Fans of PRIDE, set your alarm clocks now, as upstart promotion ONE FC has been given a green-light after the group of competitors set to take to the cage have all stepped on the scale and the event is set to go as scheduled. The organization plans to use a combination of Unified and old [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/09/02/baroni-ready-for-one-fc-battle-with-yoshida-as-both-fighters-make-weight/

Patrick The Predator Côté  Randy The Natural Couture  Dan Cramer Alberto Crane

Baroni ready for ONE FC battle with Yoshida as both fighters make weight

Fans of PRIDE, set your alarm clocks now, as upstart promotion ONE FC has been given a green-light after the group of competitors set to take to the cage have all stepped on the scale and the event is set to go as scheduled. The organization plans to use a combination of Unified and old [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/09/02/baroni-ready-for-one-fc-battle-with-yoshida-as-both-fighters-make-weight/

Patrick The Predator Côté  Randy The Natural Couture  Dan Cramer Alberto Crane

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos Headlines UFC on Fox on Nov. 12

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez will defend his title for the first time against top-contender Junior dos Santos in the main event of the first UFC on Fox event on November 12 in Anaheim, California, UFC President Dana White announced Friday. Velasquez vs. Dos Santos was expected to headline UFC 139 on Nov. 19 in San Jose, which will still take place as scheduled but with a new main event that is already in the works.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/24220/cain-velasquez-vs-junior-dos-santos-to-headline-ufc-on-fox-on-nov-12/

Dan Hardy Lee Hasdell Musse Hasselvall Daiki DJ taiki Hata

You tell us: Guida or a title shot for Ben Henderson?

Ben Henderson's dominating win over Jim Miller gave the UFC a conundrum. With a win, Miller was expected to take on the winner of Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar's October title bout. Henderson threw a gigantic wrench in those plans.

Now, what to do with Henderson? Though he was non-committal immediately after his fight, Henderson has since said he is open to either a title shot or a bout with Clay Guida, who has been on an impressive run since losing to Kenny Florian late in 2009.

Clay Guida for the Battle of Crazy Hair and a title shot: Henderson's one recent loss is to Anthony Pettis, a fighter that Guida beat in June. Guida has four wins in a row, with three ending in submissions. With both Guida and Henderson coming off big wins, it would make the most sense to match them up, with the winner getting a shot at the UFC lightweight title.

Give 'Smooth' the title shot now: The beating he gave Miller (who was on a seven-fight win streak), the win over Mark Bocek (in Henderson's UFC debut), and the close (until the Showtime kick) loss to Anthony Pettis mean that Henderson is ready for a title shot. He has been in title fights before and has delivered. Give him a chance to show that readiness in the UFC.

Now, it's your turn to try some UFC matchmaking. What would you do with Henderson?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/You-tell-us-Guida-or-a-title-shot-for-Ben-Hende?urn=mma-wp6031

Marcio Pe de Pano Cruz Luke Cummo  Jeff Big Frog Curran Dai Shuanghai 

Best Performance Of The Night: Anderson Silva At UFC 134 "Silva vs. Okami"

It?s that time once again: another major MMA event has come and gone, and it?s time for my unofficial ?Best Performance of the Night? award. UFC 134 ?Silva vs. Okami? featured some pretty awesome performances, with several of the UFC?s biggest Brazilian stars taking home major stoppage victories. But the most complete, dominant performance had [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/08/30/best-performance-of-the-night-anderson-silva-at-ufc-134-silva-vs-okami

Edwin Dewees  Nick Diaz  Tadhg Steamfist Dixon Joe Doerksen 

MMA Marketplace: Get your own authentic MMA championship belt

To get an authentic MMA championship belt, you can put in years of hard work, sacrifice and training to earn it, or you can drop $1,600 on a WAMMA belt on eBay. Look, it's so shiny!

WAMMA was the organization that wanted to create an undisputed champ at every weight class, regardless of what promotion they fought in. Fedor Emelianenko held the WAMMA heavyweight title. In this picture from November 2009, Fabricio Werdum can be seen jokingly grabbing at Fedor's WAMMA belt, but WAMMA barely made a blip among most MMA fans.

What they did make was a pretty, pretty belt, and it can be yours for a starting bid at $1,595 plus shipping on eBay.

Thanks to Bloody Elbow

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/MMA-Marketplace-Get-your-own-authentic-MMA-cham?urn=mma-wp6135

Bao Ligao  Josh Barnett  David Baron  Phil Baroni

UFC's Choice for First FOX Fight a Bold Move, but Not Without Risks

Filed under:

Cain Velasquez vs. Brock LensarUFC president Dana White said on Friday that he was "literally betting everything" that Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos will deliver a quality fight for the UFC's first event on the FOX network this November.

While this statement makes White just one more pro sports figure to misuse the word 'literally' (just saying, even if the fight's a dud, White won't wake up penniless in a vacant lot the next morning) he does still have a point.

The UFC is taking a major gamble putting this (and only this) fight on its first network show. But then, what did you expect? When you're on the big stage, you might as well give it your best. In the UFC's case, that's a heavyweight title fight, the gravity of which any sports fan can immediately comprehend. Especially for those who only understand combat sports through the lens of boxing, the heavyweight strap is the grandaddy of them all, the biggest title in the world.

Now it's coming to network TV in one dramatic roll of the dice. It's a shrewd choice by the UFC for several reasons, even if it's no sure thing.

Choosing how best to showcase the UFC to new viewers in a free, hour-long event on FOX must have been its own special challenge. On one hand, you want to give them something that feels appropriately important. As Bull Durham's "Nuke" LaLoosh would say, you want to announce your presence with authority.

A title fight fits that bill nicely. Then again, a title fight also has the potential to go five full rounds, leaving very little room for anything else in a 60-minute network TV broadcast, once pre-fight packages, introductions, and commercials are factored in.

But come on, these are heavyweights we're talking about. Not since Tim Sylvia dropped the belt via decision to Randy Couture in 2007 has a UFC heavyweight title fight gone the distance. Between Velasquez and dos Santos, it sure seems like somebody is liable to end the night face down on the mat before the judges have their say.

Of course, the promise of heavyweight power is both an asset and a liability in this case.

Say you spend weeks pumping up this fight on football and baseball broadcasts. Say you successfully suck in millions of casual sports fans who have never really sat down to watch an MMA fight before, let alone a huge UFC title fight. Say you beat those people over the head with how important and monumental this whole deal is, and say they buy into the hype. Then what happens if it's over in 90 seconds?

On Friday's media call FOX executives admitted they hadn't yet decided what to do with any extra time. Maybe they'd show a fight from earlier in the night, they said, or maybe they'd run a highlight package.

There's also the chance that they could run into the opposite scenario. Velasquez, being a wrestler, could always decide to play it safe and grind out JDS on the mat rather than stand up and play Russian roulette with the Brazilian striker. For his part, dos Santos has a bit of a reputation for stunning opponents early and then coasting in the later rounds.

Now matter how much "education" you do on FOX before the fight, network TV viewers might easily be underwhelmed by either scenario in their first exposure to MMA.

But then, such is the risk you take with any fight. There are no guarantees in MMA. How many times have we seen big fights turn out to be snoozers while lackluster pay-per-views become the fight card of the year?

Any fight the UFC could have offered up here would involve some potential downside. With a heavyweight title fight, at least White and company are signaling their willingness to put some of their best material on free TV. At least they aren't saving it for pay-per-view, hoping the network audience will be content with action more suited to a Spike TV Fight Night event.

Instead, the UFC is kicking in America's door with its first fight on network TV. It's putting everything on the table and relying on the fighters to bring it home. And really, what else can you ask for? Promotion and pre-fight build-up is a big part of this business, but eventually it always comes down to what happens when the cage door closes and the hype-men take their seats on the outside. Eventually, it's always about the fighters.

If you're going to put your faith in anyone, you might as well put it in two evenly matched big men fighting for a title every sports fan understands. You might as well put the best you've got into the national spotlight, now that you've finally got it all to yourself for one precious hour.

Whether it lives up to the expectations or not, at least you won't have to sit around years from now, wondering if you should have gone bigger when you had the chance.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/09/02/ufcs-choice-for-first-fox-fight-a-bold-move-but-not-without-ri/

Dennis George Kultar Gill Allan Goes Takanori The Fireball Kid Gomi

At UFC 134 "Silva vs. Okami", A Resurgent Luis Cane Will Try To End The Substantial Hype Of Stanislav Nedkov

Hello and welcome to the final entry in the first day of posts for ?A Closer Look At UFC 134?. The previous two entries both focused on the UFC 134 undercard, covering the multitude of free fights fans will be treated to both on Facebook and on Spike TV. To see part 1, click here. [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/08/24/at-ufc-134-silva-vs-okami-a-resurgent-luis-cane-will-try-to-end-the-substantial-hype-of-stanislav-nedkov

Martinsh Egle Eric Butterbean Esch Efrain Escudero Rashad Evans

Dana White: Brock Lesnar Retirement Rumors are ?Ridiculous?

UFC President Dana White said rumors that Brock Lesnar could soon retire were "ridiculous" and that the former UFC heavyweight champion is "100 percent" and still on track to return early next year. "That's ridiculous. That's so far from the truth, it's not even funny," White said.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/24225/dana-white-brock-lesnar-retirement-rumors-are-ridiculous/

Tony DeSouza  Edwin Dewees  Nick Diaz  Tadhg Steamfist Dixon