
The scale doesn't lie, so often times how you look on weigh-in day can be a huge indicator of how fight night will go down. Five fighters on the UFC on Versus 4 card are dropping down to a new weight class and they all looked healthy on the scale in Pittsburgh. A sixth was expected to weigh-in, but Nate Marquardt was dumped from the card for failing his medicals and subsequently fired from the promotion.
Two former UFC lightweight contenders were really worth monitoring on the scale (full weigh-in video).
Both Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson, dropping 10 pounds to 145, looked good. Neither looked drawn in the face or sickly from a physique standpoint. Stevenson simply lost some mass on his upper body and Griffin was shredded around the waist. Rich Attonito, coming down from middleweight, looked good as well at welterweight. And featherweight absolutely looked like the correct move for Ricardo Lamas and Matt Grice.

The heavyweight staredowns were intense. Matt Mitrione had words for Christian Morecraft, who actually appeared a little thrown off by the exchange.

Cheick Kongo got right in the grill of Pat Barry. The Kongo-Barry fight is now the main event. Charlie Brenneman stepped up to fight Rick Story, the original opponent of Nate Marquardt. Brenneman and TUF 12 runner-up Michael Johnson both played to the Pittsburgh crowd. Brenneman wore a Steelers' hard hat and Johnson weigh-in with a "Terrible Towel" on his head.
UFC on Versus 4 weigh-in (Courtesy MMAjunkie):
MAIN CARD (Versus)
Pat Barry (243) vs. Cheick Kongo (234.4)
Charlie Brenneman (170.6) vs. Rick Story (170.4)
Matt Brown (170) vs. John Howard (170.2)
Matt Mitrione (261.1) vs. Christian Morecraft (261.4)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)
Manny Gamburyan (145.8) vs. Tyson Griffin (145.8)
Joe Stevenson (146) vs. Javier Vazquez (145.8)
Joe Lauzon (156) vs. Curt Warburton (155.6)
Rich Attonito (170) vs. Daniel Roberts (170.6)
Nik Lentz (155.6) vs. Charles Oliveira (153.8)
Matt Grice (145.2) vs. Ricardo Lamas (145.4)
Edward Faaloloto (155.4) vs. Michael Johnson (155.2)
Masakatsu Funaki Zelg Benkei Galesić Mauro Galvao Arman Gambaryan
M-M-A are still three dirty and misunderstood letters. In many locales, you'll notice that any time a bar fight or scrap goes bad, if it involves someone who's ever stepped in an MMA gym, the blame will be placed on the sport. That's exactly what's happened in one South Dakota town.
A 28-year-old who belong to the Disciples of MMA club in Watertown was involved in a March bar fight. His opponent, Justin Jaton, died and the town has since banned MMA fights. Huh?
Jerrin Stulkin, who trains in Tae Kwon Do, is facing murder charges. (Video from KELO)
Three months later, according to The Republic, the residents of Watertown defeated a measure to allow an MMA fight within the city limits.
KWAT radio reports that Tuesday's vote was 841 people favoring the events and 1,228 people opposing them.
The City Council in May voted 5-3 to allow MMA events, a form of fighting entertainment that some label as barbaric. MMA opponents gathered enough petition signatures to force a citywide vote.
Mixed martial arts fighters use a variety of techniques, borrowing from boxing, wrestling and various forms of martial arts.
Promoter Mike Alama says he'll still hold fights in the Watertown area, but outside the city limits.
Did this really have anything to do with MMA? Of course not. The police description of the incident says it was even a fight.
"The term 'fight' should probably be used very loosely," said Detective Chad Stahl of the Watertown Police Department. "This was an assault."
Randy Leddy, a local bartender and MMA student, called the campaign to smear the sport silly.
"It's very frustrating for me that it has to be linked to MMA," Leddy said. "The cage fighting community had nothing to do with it - it was two individuals and liquid courage."
(NOTE: The Leddy quote appears to have been removed from the original story. It was saved from the story on MMA.tv.)
You still don't believe the fight and MMA are linked? Here's a follow-up story from April talking about how martial arts teaches you that it's proper to walk away from a fight.
With a population of 21,482, Watertown is the fourth-largest city in South Dakota.
Wes Soldier Combs Ray Cooper Kit Cope Wesley Cabbage CorreiraÂ

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is now more than half finished, with just three bouts left to decide a champion. The Final Four of Silva, Kharitonov, Barnett and Overeem isn't exactly what was expected, but every great tournament needs a few wrenches thrown in to make it compelling. Take a look at the first four matches.
Emelianenko gets overpowered by Silva: In his first fight after sustaining his first loss in nearly a decade, Emelianenko had to fight the much larger Antonio "Big Foot" Silva. He couldn't hold off attacks from Silva, and took several hammer fists when Silva was able to gain full mount. The fight was stopped before the third round could start.
Kharitonov makes quick work of Arlovski: A veteran of PRIDE and DREAM, the Russian fighter had no problem with the Belarussian Arlovski. A knee and an uppercut ended the bout in the first round, advancing Kharitonov to the semifinals.
Barnett smothers his way to submission of Rogers: Like Kharitonov, Barnett made his Strikeforce debut in the GP. He had no problem with Rogers, a fighter who has one-punch knockout power, but hasn't shown it in two years. Barnett barely let Rogers move in the first round before submitting him with an arm triangle early in the second round.
Overeem wins weirdly over Werdum: The match-up between Overeem, someone with unbelievable strength and striking, and Werdum, a world-class jiu-jitsu practitioner, should have made an interesting fight. Instead, it featured a frustrated Overeem, who couldn't land the shots he wanted to because Werdum spent much of the bout daring him to fight on the ground.
Now, having watched the four quarterfinal bouts, are your predictions on who will win the GP the same as when it started? Tell us who you think will win.
Allan Goes Takanori The Fireball Kid Gomi Akihiro Gono Gabriel Gonzaga

It was an absolute no-win spot for Rick Story. The fast-rising welterweight was told about a new opponent yesterday when Nate Marquardt was dropped from UFC on Versus 4 and fired by the promotion. Charlie Brenneman, a little-known former college wrestler with just three UFC fights under his belt, was Johnny-on-the-spot, as stepped up to take the fight and stole a unanimous decision victory in Pittsburgh, 29-28 across the board.
This is a devastating loss for Story. A win over Marquardt would've gotten him in the mix for a title shot against Georges St. Pierre. Now Story (14-5, 6-2 UFC) goes back into the muddled picture at 170 pounds.
Brenneman deserves a ton of credit. He was already slated to fight on the card when T.J. Grant bailed from the event with an injury on Monday. It's likely Brenneman was told to stay in shape and be ready just in case something happened with Marquardt. Earlier in the day, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commisson revealed that the Marquardt issue arose as far back as six weeks ago.
Facing a wrestler is always a dangerous spot for a huge favorite. Takedowns and top control can steal minutes away from the more dangerous fighter. That's exactly what happened to Story, who entered the fight as a minus-500 favorite.
The change of style had to be an issue as well. In Marquardt, Story was facing a well-rounded fighter who was likely to bang it out on the feet. Brenneman, who wrestled at Lock Haven (Pa.), is still very much a one-trick pony in MMA. That trick was more than enough to throw Story off his game.
Brenneman got the fight to floor in the first when he landed a thudding right and tripped Story. Also a former college wrestler, Story look really uncomfortable on his back. He did nothing but hold on, to try and force a stand up. It never happened. The fight stayed on the floor for the remaining three minutes.
Seven seconds into the second, Brenneman again scored a takedown. He landed another one with 3:10 left in the round. Story tried some submissions, but never got back to his feet. In the third. it was more of the same but Story threatened with some more dangerous submission. He also turned a scramble into the mount position with 1:18 left, but there wasn't enough to inflict any damage.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/6riFlc-1Tgk/
Forrest Griffin Tyson Griffin Karn Grigorian Karen Grigoryan
Filed under: UFC
All 22 fighters at UFC 132 will step on the scale Friday at the UFC 132 weigh-ins, and we'll carry the video right here at MMAFighting.com. In the main event, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and former featherweight champion Urijah Faber will have to make the bantamweight limit of 135 pounds. The weigh-in begins at 7 PM ET and is preceded by a Fight Club Q&A at 5 PM ET. The video is below.
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/07/01/ufc-132-weigh-in-video/
Tito Ortiz was in passive-aggressive mode today during the official UFC 132 prefight press conference. Tito claims that he begged for his job earlier this year and said repeatedly during the press conference that no one is picking him to win and because of that he has nothing to lose. This talk started last week when Ortiz started to accuse Ryan Bader of disrespecting him by calling him a stepping stone.
"But Bader made a mistake saying I am a stepping stone back to Jon Jones. I understand why he said it. When I was 28 I felt indestructible too and I was saying a lot of things about what I was going to do too. But I'm not a stepping stone to anyone," Ortiz wrote in a blog for ESPN.com. "No one has ever had an easy fight against me and he made a mistake in saying that I am a stepping stone. Maybe it was a figure of speech, but even if it was it was a little disrespectful to a former world champion."
When we spoke to Bader yesterday, the champ from Season 8 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reacted strongly, saying he would never look past someone like Ortiz.
"I never said that one time. All I said was I wanted to get back to the top and that startsd with Tito here, and that's all I said," Bader said on ESPNRadio1100 (4:45 mark). "He got that from, who knows where? I'm treating not this fight like that at all. This is a a fight I'm taking very seriously and I want to get back to my winning ways."
Ortiz is 0-4-1 in his last five fights. He's without a win since 2006. Dana White made it clear today that a good performance alone would NOT allow Ortiz to keep his gig with the UFC. Tito needs to win this or he's gone. Bader is a massive minus-500 favorite on the Las Vegas odds boards.
The 28-year-old former wrestler at Arizona State had his hand on his chin and smirked for much of the press conference as Tito talked about "hoping" to go out and put on a good performance.
You can watch UFC 132 right here on Yahoo! Sports
PITTSBURGH -- Matt Brown is on a three-fight losing streak, something that rarely happens in the UFC. Fighters with just two losses expect an unpleasant phone call from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, so Brown was surprised when Silva told him that he wasn't cut.
After he was submitted by Brian Foster at UFC 123, Brown was convinced that he would be released, and that experience forced him to grow as a fighter.
"It may have helped me because I've been there. I know what it feels like to be released. I was 100 percent under the impression that I've been released. I've gotta figure out something else to do. I feel like I've already seen the worst," Brown said.
Now, in preparing for his fight with John Howard at UFC on Versus 4 in Pittsburg Sunday evening, he knows that he is on borrowed time.
"I think having that in the back of my head helps a little. This is like a second chance. I'm looking at this fight like my first fight in the UFC. My first and last fight in the UFC."
Brown has grown to define himself as more than the guy whose chewing tobacco was messed with on "The Ultimate Fighter."
"One of the things I've learned in my fight career is that, fighters, all we ever do is fight and train. That becomes all you are. Now I'm a father. I own a home. I've grown up a lot, and I've come to realize that my self-worth is not based on if I win fights."
That doesn't mean he isn't craving a win on Sunday night over Howard. With both fighters' hard-hitting styles, Howard said the Fight of the Night bonus is "locked down," but Brown's main concern is a win and getting back on track.
"I think all my fights have potential to be fight of the night. Not to insult my past opponents, but they've all backed down when it comes time to do it. I don't see that in John Howard. I don't care about Fight of the Night. I'm here to do what I'm trained I'm to do. I'm not here to get bonus checks. Winning is what gets you somewhere. Winning is what makes you money. "
Brown said that he respects his opponent and got to know him at the UFC Fighter's Summit, but that won't keep him from "whooping his ass."
"When you're standing next to him, it humanizes him. It should chill our nerves a bit. Then we'll be in there and be ready to bang right off the bat, instead of thinking, are you trying to kill me? Do you have a knife in your pocket?"
Source: http://www.mmaforum.com/ufc/92307-fighter-can-you-not-help-but-root.html