?Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum? Complete Betting Odds

After an extended four-month hiatus, which includes a watershed swap in ownership, Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix finally resumes tomorrow night. “Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum” takes place inside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately for fight fans, Josh Barnett and Alistair Overeem are each overwhelming 5-to-1 favorites to dispose of their respective opponents and [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/78964/strikeforce-overeem-vs-werdum-complete-betting-odds/

Fedor Emelianenko Yasubey Enomoto Mark Epstein Tom Big Cat Erickson

Stanley Cup winners also big MMA fans

The night before UFC 131, Junior dos Santos attended the Stanley Cup Final game five, a thrilling and close game won by the Canucks. Though dos Santos was disappointed that no big fights broke out, he was impressed by the game.

Now, it turns out that the Boston Bruins, the winners of Lord Stanley's Cup, have pretty big MMA fans in their midst. Goaltender and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas told Fight magazine that even on game nights, he'll stay up late to watch the fights so that he won't be left out when his teammates discuss them in the locker room.

He became a fan of MMA in its early days, recognizing the genius in Royce Gracie's jiu-jitsu.

"As a kid, I got into a fight with a wrestler. He was bigger than me, but he couldn't fight. He took me down, and I could not get up," Thomas says. "I gained an appreciation right there for wrestling, and to later see Gracie's BJJ?I got hooked on the ground game right away."

As a goalie, Thomas doesn't get in as many fights as his teammates, but he did admit that the many fights he's watched were in his mind when he got into a fight with Montreal goaltender Carey Price.

There are plenty of other hockey connections to MMA. UFC lightweight Sam Stout told Cagewriter that he is good friends with the Chicago Blackhawks' Dave Bolland. Featherweight contender and Bostonian Kenny Florian celebrated the Bruins win on his Twitter account, and UFC president Dana White encouraged, in his own, vulgar way, the Canucks fans to stop rioting.

In fact, hockey and MMA are a natural match. Both have dedicated fan bases, commonplace bloodshed, and athletes with busted-up faces. How could they not be friends?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Stanley-Cup-winners-also-big-MMA-fans?urn=mma-wp3575

Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle Eric Butterbean Esch Efrain Escudero

Dos Santos’ vicious attack locks up title shot and leaves Carwin’s nose broken

There's no further debate needed about who gets the first shot at UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Junior dos Santos picked apart Shane Carwin, broke his nose and left the behemoth looking like he was hit by a truck. The Brazilian rolled to a unanimous decision victory, 30-26, 30-27, 30-27, in the main event at UFC 131 in Vancouver.

Dos Santos gets a shot at Velasquez., who's been sidelined since last October recovering from shoulder surgery. The champ has talked about returning in the fall with an eye on the UFC event scheduled for Houston in October.

Saturday night belonged to dos Santos though as the Brazilian handled Carwin at nearly every turn.

"My quickness and agility were the differences tonight. I had a longer reach and heavy hands. Shane was a great opponent, but tonight I proved that I'm ready for the title shot," dos Santos said.

One has to wonder if Velasquez can even successfully defend the title one time with how good dos Santos looked. Dos Santos (13-1, 7-0 UFC) gets better with each fight. Carwin tried to use his wrestling to slow him down but had no success. On the feet, JDS used a quick jab to set up overhand rights and left hooks. He also mixed in some great body shots.

This was a long journey for Dos Santos, who hasn't fought since last August. After his win at UFC 117 over Roy Nelson, JDS was expected to get the first shot at Velasquez. Then the champ went down with the shoulder injury and dos Santos was slotted into the UFC's reality show "The Ultimate Fighter" to coach against Brock Lesnar. The coaches were scheduled to square off at UFC 131.

Earlier this year, the heavyweight contenders spent six weeks in Las Vegas taping the reality show. Last month, Dos Santos found out that Lesnar was backing out of the fight due to complications with his diverticulitis. Lesnar had surgery to remove 12 inches of his colon and is hoping to return at the start of 2012. When he comes back, the division is going to be stacked at the top.

In this clash of big men, Carwin (12-2, 4-2 UFC) almost appeared hopeless after the first round. Moving in and out of the pocket, Dos Santos was too fast for the 255-pound monster. JDS outstruck Carwin 88-20.

With 50 seconds left in the first, JDS caught Carwin with a 1-2 that floored him. Carwin fell to his knees and tried to cover up, but the onslaught from dos Santos was relentless. Somewhere in the hailstorm of punches, Carwin had his nose broken. Referee Herb Dean showed patience by allowing Carwin to fight on. He survived, but when he rose to his feet, the nose was flattened, his left eye was bruised and there was blood all over his face.

Dos Santos' confidence grew as the fight went along. The pummeling continued in the second and third rounds. He landed most of his jabs and held his hands low. Carwin tried to throw back, but too often he was left punching at the air.

In the third, Carwin, a former NCAA Div. II wrestling champ, finally scored a takedown, but he couldn't keep JDS on the ground. It had to break his spirit when dos Santos got back to his feet in less than 15 seconds. In the final two minutes, Dos Santos even landed two huge takedowns of his own to put an exclamation point on the victory.

Carwin admitted that after a year off to recover from back surgery and work on his conditioning, his game had slipped.

"I gotta get my timing back when it comes to boxing. It was a really tough fight to come back to. Junior is a (freakin') tough dude and he was strong. I've got some holes to fix in my wrestling in order to get back to where I need to be," Carwin said.

JDS' wrestling in the final round may have been a subtle message to the champ. Velasquez is an outstanding wrestler, but if he can't get dos Santos off his feet, he's in for a helluva battle.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Dos-Santos-vicious-attack-locks-up-title-shot-a?urn=mma-wp3436

Jai Bradney  Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan Marcelo Brito 

Strikeforce ?Overeem vs. Werdum? Weigh-In Results, Pics & Video

The Strikeforce “Overeem vs. Werdum” weigh-ins took place earlier this evening at the AT&T Plaza in Dallas, Texas. All fighters on the main card made weight. The weigh-in results: Alistair Overeem (256) vs. Fabricio Werdum (246) Josh Barnett (256) vs. Brett Rogers (258) Daniel Cormier (239.5) vs. Jeff Monson (234) Chad Griggs (234) vs. Valentijn [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/yZ6acutVEMU/

Manvel Gamburyan Sean Gannon Edgar Garcia Leonard Garcia

UFC 131 picks, Vegas-style: Carwin’s weight cut, will it pay dividends?

UFC 131 betting odds (Courtesy Venetian Las Vegas):

Shane Carwin (+160) vs. Junior dos Santos (-190) - Heavyweight

Diego Nunes (+240) vs. Kenny Florian (-320) - Lightweight

Vagner Rocha (+350) vs. Donald Cerrone (-500) - Lightweight

Jon Olav Einemo +(210) vs. Dave Herman (-270) - Heavyweight

Mark Munoz (-125) vs. Demian Maia (-105) - Middleweight

Yves Edwards (+120) vs. Sam Stout (-150) - Lightweight

Jesse Bongfeldt (+325) vs. Chris Weidman (-450) - Middleweight

Jason Young (+220) vs. Dustin Poirier (-300) - Featherweight

Mike Massenzio (+190) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (-240) - Light heavyweight

James Head (+110) vs. Nick Ring (-140) - Middleweight

Joey Beltran (+110) vs. Aaron Rosa (-140) - Heavyweight

Darren Elkins (+200) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (-250) - Featherweight

You can watch UFC 131 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-131-picks-Vegas-style-Carwin-s-weight-cut-?urn=mma-wp3220

Royce Gracie Royler Gracie Ryan Gracie Peter Graham

MMA on TV

Welcome to ?MMA on TV?, Five Ounces of Pain?s weekly update on the upcoming MMA-broadcast schedule. Miss the latest episode of ?MMA Live? or ?UFC Unleashed?? Wondering when Showtime, Spike TV, or HDNet are airing a replay of their latest offering or interested in finding out where to tune into live shows occurring over the [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/06/13/mma-on-tv-41/

Joe Doerksen  Chris Dolman Edson Drago  Tomasz Drwal

Overeem vs. Werdum Weigh-In Highlight Video

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DALLAS -- MMA Fighting was in attendance for Friday's Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum weigh-ins at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Full results here. Check out the highlights of the proceedings below.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/06/17/overeem-vs-werdum-weigh-in-highlight-video/

Roger Gracie Rolles Gracie Royce Gracie Royler Gracie