5 Oz. MMA Link Club

Welcome back to another ediition of ?MMA Link Club?, Five Ounces of Pain?s weekly smorgasbord of offerings from our brothers and sisters in the MMA community. Enjoy? Smack Talk Heats Up Between Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson (5thRound.com) Is Zuffa Sending the Wrong Message in their Handling of Alistair Overeem? (FightOpinion.com) Demain Maia Sarcastically Offers [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/07/21/5-oz-mma-link-club-52/

Pat Barry  Vitor Belfort  Robert Berry David Bielkheden

Strikeforce Challengers Predictions

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Friday night gives us the first look at the new, revamped, Zuffa-owned Strikeforce Challengers Series, which will take place at its new permanent home of the Palms in Las Vegas for the first time, and which has what looks like a very good five-fight card thanks to some good Zuffa matchmaking. Here's everything you need to know.

What: Strikeforce Challengers: Bowling vs. Voelker III

When: Friday, the Showtime televised card begins at 11 PM ET.

Where: Palms Resort Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

Predictions on the five televised fights below.

Roger Bowling vs. Bobby Voelker
In May of 2010, Bowling put on a great show in beating Voelker by technical decision, but the first fight between the two ended in controversy when Voelker accidentally poked Bowling in the eye. In October, their rematch gave Voelker an opportunity for revenge, and he made the most of it, beating Bowling by second-round TKO.

Now the two of them will settle the score once and for all in Friday night's main event, and it should be an entertaining fight that puts one of them in a good position for big fights in the Strikeforce welterweight division going forward. I think it's going to be Bowling, who's an athletic and exciting young fighter who's continuing to improve and should be able to correct the mistakes he made against Voelker the last time around.
Pick: Bowling

Devin Cole vs. Shawn Jordan
Jordan is a former LSU fullback who's built like a bowling ball and hits hard but hasn't developed into a well-rounded fighter. Cole is on a two-fight losing streak, but he's much more experienced than Jordan and a more complete fighter and should be able to pull out a victory.
Pick: Cole

Joe Cason vs. Ovince St. Preux
St. Preux is a former University of Tennessee linebacker who has really improved in the last couple of years and is riding a seven-fight winning streak. But he still relies a little too much on his strength and athleticism to overpower his opponents, and I think his wild style makes him susceptible to getting finished by a well-rounded opponent like Cason. I look for Cason to hurt St. Preux with punches and win a TKO.
Pick: Cason

Liz Carmouche vs. Sarah Kaufman
Carmouche is 5-1 and Kaufman is 13-1, and both have lost only to Strikeforce's 135-pound champion, Marloes Coenen. The winner will have good case for another shot at the 135-pound belt, and although Carmouche showed off some great takedowns against Coenen, I think Kaufman is the one more likely to get top position on the ground and control this fight.
Pick: Kaufman

Ron Stallings vs. Adlan Amagov
The Russian Amagov is an exciting striker who has knockout power in his hands and his feet, but I don't think he has the ground game to compete with Stallings, who should be able to take Amagov down and submit him.
Pick: Stallings

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/07/22/strikeforce-challengers-predictions/

Mikhail Avetisyan Luiz Azeredo  Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er 

Lombard calls Marquardt a cheater and claims a Bellator showdown won?t happen

Hector Lombard is badly in need of some top-notch competition. The Cuban middleweight dynamo, who's been dominant in Bellator, said he'd love to fight UFC castoff Nate Marquardt. The thickly-muscled Lombard doesn't even care if Marquardt is taking steps via testosterone replacement therapy to possibly gain an advantage.

"I think he is a cheater, but [against] me, he can take all the drugs he wants. I'm going to whoop his ass anyway," Lombard told Sherdog's Savage Dog Show.

The 29-2-1 Lombard has a grasp of reality, knowing he's way off the radar for many viewers of mixed martial arts.

"Nobody respects me at the moment. That's why I want to fight Nate Marquardt and show the people what I can do? He's a big name up there. I'm ready for the challenge. I want to show everybody what I'm capable of doing," said Lombard.

Lombard added that he heard Marquardt was offered a deal by Bellator and turned it down. Bellator's middleweight champ is riding an 18-fight win streak and hasn't lost since 2007.


Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Lombard-calls-Marquardt-a-cheater-and-claims-a-B?urn=mma-wp4606

Vagam Bodjukyan Kotetsu Boku  Tony Bonello Stephan Bonnar

Pat Curran vs. Ronnie Mann Fight Video Bellator FC 47 Part 1 Of 2

Bellator FC 47 Fight Videos of the MMA main event bout between Pat Curran vs. Ronnie Mann. The bout took place on 07/23/2011. This text will be replaced var so = new SWFObject('http://www.mmatko.com/player.swf','mpl','495','360','9'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('wmode','opaque'); so.addVariable('file','http://cache08.stormap.sapo.pt/dld/vidstore10/videos/8a/6e/a9/2838250_thONl.mp4'); so.write('mediaspace');

Source: http://www.mmatko.com/pat-curran-vs-ronnie-mann-fight-video-bellator-fc-47-part-1-of-2/

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger 

Strikeforce fighter St. Preux once snubbed Bobby Bowden

Ovince St. Preux hits the big stage in Las Vegas tomorrow night at Strikeforce Challengers 17. With 14 pro fights under his belt, he won't be nervous. It doesn't hurt either that he played football in front 100,000-plus during his days in the SEC at Tennessee.

OSP would love to get recruited to the UFC at some point in the future. If offered, it won't be a tough decision. It wasn't as easy when he was a star athlete in high school. All the big guns came after the 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker/defensive end prospect.

St. Preux joined ESPNRadio1100's DC and the Sunshine Man on Wednesday to talk about his fighting and football background. He said he chose Tennessee over schools like Miami, Florida State, Notre Dame and Clemson. The decision to turn down Bobby Bowden and FSU was made easier when OSP had a little incident go down at his job.

While St. Preux was working at a Burger King in the Immokalee, Fl. area, his boss got a call asking for the star athlete. The manager asked who was calling and thought it was a prank when the voice on the other end said, "it's Bobby Bowden." The BK boss hung up the phone. That wasn't really the make or break moment in St. Preux's recruitment, but it made for a memorable story. OSP went to have a productive career along sides the likes of Kevin Burnett, Erik Ainge, Robert Peace, Cedric Houston and Gerald Riggs Jr.

Now he wants to be mentioned with names like Jon Jones, Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Mauricio "Rua" Shogun and Lyoto Machida. OSP looks for his seventh straight win tomorrow night against Joe Cason in Las Vegas.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Strikeforce-fighter-St-Preux-once-snubbed-Bobby?urn=mma-wp4911

Luke Cummo  Jeff Big Frog Curran Dai Shuanghai  Mac Danzig 

Alistair Overeem and Antonio Silva breakdown their upcoming fight - Strikeforce

At the Strikeforce Heavyweight GP in Dallas, TC Inside MMA correspondent Ron Kruck caught up with Alistair Overeem and Antonio Silva. The Reem spoke about his victory over Fabricio Werdum and the challange that lies ahead in Silva. Bigfoot spoke about how to do the impossible and beat Overeem

Source: http://mmalice.com/strikeforce/alistair-overeem-and-antonio-silva-breakdown-their-upcoming-fight-video_54151b1ca.html

Noboru Asahi Marcus Aurelio  Mikhail Avetisyan Luiz Azeredo 

The UFC Releases Both John Howard And Andre Winner

When you?re a ufc fighter, there?s only one way to stay a UFC fighter: by winning fights. The UFC will give entertaining fighters some leeway if they lose in exciting, show-stealing bouts? but eventually, their clock will run out. And in the UFC, the dreaded three-fight losing-streak has become the unofficial standard for the UFC [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/11/the-ufc-releases-both-john-howard-and-andre-winner

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana 

"UFC On Versus 6" Announced For October 1

ufc fans will be in for quite a few treats and no tricks in October. It?s a month so jam-packed with good fights that it even warrants that bad of a pun. The UFC is currently scheduled to run three events in October: two Pay-Per-Views and a ?UFC on Versus? card. With the super-stuffed UFC [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/18/ufc-on-versus-6-announced-for-october

Tyson Griffin Karn Grigorian Karen Grigoryan Kendall Grove