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| Posted: 15 Jun 2008 05:53 AM CDT
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| Elite XC results and LIVE fight coverage for ‘Return of the King’ Posted: 14 Jun 2008 05:17 PM CDT
Elite XC: ‘Return of the King’ is coming up soon. The event will take place at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, and will air LIVE on the premium cable channel Showtime starting at 10 p.m ET. MMAmania.com will provide blow-by-blow, minute-by-minute, round-by-round coverage of the main card action below. Remeber that the under card will follow the main card action and will be streamed on ProElite.com following LIVE Showtime telecast. Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the telecast to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment or 10 before you leave and chat with many of our readers during the show — it always turns out to be a great discussion. Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after "Return of the King.” Without further delay, see below for the latest Elite XC: “Return of the King" results. (Note: This will go from the bottom up; therefore, scroll toward the bottom for the latest detailed round-by-round action!)
ELITE XC: “RETURN OF THE KING” QUICK RESULTS: Elite XC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons defeats Yves Edwards via TKO (strikes) Round 1 ELITE XC: “RETURN OF THE KING LIVE BLOW-BY-BLOW COMMENTARY: KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards Round 1: Here we go for the Elite XC lightweight belt. Bell rings and gloves touch. KJ with a nice hard body kick. Yves eats it and lands a combo with his hands. KJ is working the jab now and Yves lands a solid right hand on KJ’s chin. Kj comes right back with a right hand of his own that drops Yves. KJ jumps right on him looking for the kill. He’s landing some bombs and Yves is in deep deep trouble. He’s not defending and the ref stops the fight at 4:14 of round one. WOW! All I can say is WOW! Huge huge win for the champ. Wow! Final result: KJ Noons defeats Yves Edwards via TKO (strikes) Round 1 -end- Nick Diaz defeats vs. Muhsin Corrbrey Round 1: No gloves touching in this one. They’re feeling each other out but Diaz is stalking Corrbrey. Diaz shoots and Corrbrey kicks and circles. More circling mixed with sporadic punches from both fighters. They clinch and Corrbrey lands a knee and pushes out. Diaz lands a couple jabs. They clinch again and Diaz hits with a nice elbow. Diaz stays on the offensive with his boxing and Corrbrey does his best to dodge the punches. Diaz is looking to land combos and then clinch and push out. Its working for him, but Corrbrey not getting hurt and landing some shots himself. Now Diaz pushes Corrbrey against the fence and works some knees. A few nice punches for Diaz and Corrbrey spins out. He then lands a nice combo ended with a hard body kick. More exchanges won by each fighter and the round ends. Very active round. Hard to judge. I’ll score it 10-9 for Diaz for being a little more agressive. Round 2: More of the same boxinf from Diaz and a kick from Corrbrey to start round 2. Diaz now pushes Corrbrey against the fence and Diaz grabs a leg and is looking for a takedwon. Corrbrey is defending nicely agains the fence and Diaz lets go and they’re seperated. More boxing from both. Each guy is landing punches, but Diaz is the one that keeps coming forward. Corrbrey is winning some exchanges now, but Diaz stays stalking him with those jabs. Now Diaz is taunting him and he’s got some confidence now. Corrbrey plays possum a little bit, but Diaz doesn’t get bothered and he keeps coming. Now against the fence and Diaz looking for the takedown again. Corrbrey is showing some great takedown defense and Diaz lets go again. Diaz lands a nice left hook. Against the fence again and Diaz is looking for some knees. Diaz finally gets a spinning takedwon and gets side control. Only 10 seconds left in the round and Diaz can’t capitalize, but that definitely secured him the round, if he didn’t have it won already. I score it 10-9 Diaz. Round 3: Now they touch gloves. Some earned respect perhaps. Diaz shoots and Corrbrey stuffs. More Nick Diaz-esque jabs and into another clinch against the fence. Diaz quickly win a takedown. Nicely done. He’s in half guard and moves to side control methodically. Diaz looking for a Kimura from here. Corrbrey tries to get half guard again but can’t get it. Diaz now spins and looks for the armbar. Corrbrey twists and tries to defend. It works and Diaz is now on top landing punches. Corrbrey is having a hard time defending the shots and eventually pulls Diaz down to side control. Diaz looks for the arm again and stands up and throws some more punches. He baits Corrbrey with another Kimura attempt and steals a full mount. Corrbrey has no where to go now and the fight gets stopped at 1:01 of round three. Very nice execution from Diaz and a good showing for Corrbrey as well. Best fight of the night so far. Final result: Nick Diaz defeats Muhsin Corrbrey via TKO (strikes) round 3 -end- Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Tony “The Gun” Bonello Round 1: Bonello has some words for Ninja as he circles the cage when entering. Ninja laughs it off and heads to his corner. Bonello continues the jawing during the staredown. This could be good. Bell rings and Bonello comes right at Ninja with a high kick and some punches. Then he pulls guard. He has Ninja in his guard and Ninja works and passes to side control. He traps Bonello’s arm and works some elbows. Bonello looks frustrated and Ninja stays with the elbows. Bonello has no answer, they’ve been in this position for over a minute now and Ninja finally moves to mount. He lands a few shots and decides to go back to side control. He’s doing whatever he wants in this fight. He continues to land elbow after elbow. Now he has a knee on Bonello’s stomach and he’s raining down huge punches. Bonello is done at 1:44 of the first round. Ninja Rua in DOMINATING fashion. That was awesome to watch. -end- Dave “Pee Wee” Herman vs. Ron “H2O” Waterman Round 1: Gloves touch. Immediate exchanges, nothing too serious though. Then Waterman shoots and gets the takedown. He pushes Pee Wee against the cage and looks for a can opener. Herman defended nicely and gets back to his feet. Waterman picks him right back up and gets another takedown, but Pee Wee rolls out and gets to his feet with some seperation. He lands a gorgeous kick right on Waterman’s chops. Waterman looks dazed from it and grabs Pee Wee’s leg as he moves in. Pee Wee goes to one knee and lands about a dozen or so elbos right to Waterman’s dome. Waterman is in deep trouble and he gets mounted by Herman and the fight gets stopped at 2:41 of the first round. Herman has some serious skills. He’s now 11-0 with 11 stoppages. Final result: Dave “Pee Wee” Herman defeats Ron “H2O” Waterman via TKO (strikes) round 1 -end- Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole Round 1: Fighters touch gloves and Feijao lands a nice body kick. Cole charges him with punches and they clinch. Feijao gets a nice takedown and after a few seconds they’re back up. Feijao has Cole against the cage now on their feet. He’s working sporadic knees mixed with some dirty boxing. Referee Yamasaki calls for a break. He gives Cole 5 minutes for a low blow. He takes his time and they come back out. Feijao goes for an immediate high kick than a Thai clinch with a knee. Cole muscles out and Feijao pushes him against the fence again. Fejao pushes out and lands a very nice combination. He stays on Cole and Cole looks for a single leg takedown, and Feijao lands a nice flying knee from there. Feijao gets out and goes right to the Thai clinch again where he lands some more knees that eventually put Cole on the mat. Feijao moves in for the kill, grabs his back and pounds him out at 2:12. Very impressive fight for Feijao. Final result: Rafael Feijao defeats Wayne Cole via TKO (strikes) round 1 -end- |
| New UFC video game trailer behind the scenes (Video) Posted: 14 Jun 2008 01:41 PM CDT Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Cheick Kongo, Jon Koppenhaver and Ben Saunders come in around the two minute mark: The release date is set for sometime in 2009. (Thanks to MMAmania.com reader “Teemu” for the assist.) |
| Saturday Afternoon Throwdown: Three UFC light heavyweight fights that need to happen Posted: 14 Jun 2008 11:39 AM CDT
It's obvious that the UFCs light heavyweight class is the deepest division in mixed martial arts today. With guys like Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, Wanderlei Silva, Thiago Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, among others, there are plenty of contenders who consider themselves the next man in line for a shot at the strap. Accordingly, there are three fights that needs to take place to give the UFC a much more clear picture of who will face the winner of the Jackson-Griffin showdown later this year. At UFC 84: “Ill Will” last month, Wanderlei Silva and Machida helped eliminate the pretenders who many thought would be contenders in Tito Ortiz and Keith Jardine. Even with the impressive wins, however, Silva and Machida still have some work to do to be next in line. Silva returned to the “Axe Murderer” of old in smashing fashion against Jardine, but he still needs one more big win. As for Machida, his style still fustrates both fighters and fans alike. On the other hand, inactivity has hurt the title prospects of top guys such as Rashad Evans, Rua and Liddell. It’s hard to penalize a fighter or fault him for getting hurt, especially when all three of these fighters were scheduled to headline this past weekend's UFC 85: “Bedlam” at one time or another. Because of the lack of fights one can argue that it’s the reason there is no clear cut number one contender. Do you give Machida a shot before Liddell because he's won five fights in the UFC and his biggest win is against an over the hill Tito Ortiz? Or do you give Liddell the next shot in line because he won one of the biggest grudge matches of all time against Silva and a possible Liddell-Rampage III could mean big bucks for the UFC? On top of all that, let's not forget one guy who can also shake things up in this division in Thiago Silva! And with that let's look at three fights that have to take place before the 2008 fight campaign comes to a close. Now there are some no brainers for you MMAMania readers have discussed for some time but mine are a little bit different.
Chuck Liddell vs. Lyoto Machida: As reported earlier this week, Liddell is going to headline UFC 88 in Atlanta on September 6. Even though talk now centers around Evans as his possible opponent, why not plug-in the very dangerous Machida instead? If there is one man who can knockout the elusive Machida — or outpoint him on counter strikes alone — it is Liddell. “Iceman” is as patient as Machida is, but Liddell clearly has the advantage in terms of powerful striking. He throws punches from odd angles and it's something that perhaps Machida has never seen before. In addition, Liddell would not allow Machida to dictate the pace of the fight. A win for Liddell could cement his place in the division as the clear front runner, which would set up a big New Year’s Eve weekend showdown with either Rampage Jackson or Forrest Griffin. A win for the Brazilian, however, could make Dana hang himself because Machida is considered “boring” … and that’s just not going to cut it in the UFCs money-making division. Shogun Rua vs. Rashad Evans: These men are two of the younger contenders in the division and have big questions to answer. Evans is undefeated, yet he is still looking for that big win that can propel him to super stardom. He was losing his fight against Ortiz at UFC 73: “Stacked” until “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was deducted a point for grabbing the cage in the second round. And he barely escaped with a split-decision win over Michael Bisping at UFC 78: “Validation” last November. Is Evans for real and can be a future champion? His next few fights should tell that tale once and for all. The future looked bright for Rua — he was widely considered the number one fighter in the weight class for some time until he hit rock bottom in his Octagon debut. He entered the bout against Griffin with a bum knee and bad cardio … and it was his ultimate undoing. Rua looked nowhere near the man who ripped through the likes of Ricardo Arona, Alistair Overeem and Rampage Jackson while competing under the Pride FC banner. Simply put, it was quite a shock to see a tired Shogun tapout to a rear naked choke by Forrest Griffin last September. He was scheduled to meet Liddell in the UFC 85 main event until he suffered another knee injury that required knee surgery. It's hard to come back from two ACL injuries and it makes many wonder if we'll see the same Shogun that was supposedly destined to rule the UFC light heavyweight division. This could be a fight that could put Shogun right back in the thick of things at 205. Wanderlei Silva vs. Thiago Silva: The backstory of this potential war could be quite compelling because of the fact that both men at one point in their careers fought for the legendary Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil, which churned out an army of great Brazilian warriors. The list is incredible when you consider that guys like Shogun, Ninja Rua and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva were all at one point Chute Boxe fighters. And Wanderlei was arguably the face of Academy during its heyday just a few years ago. Wanderlei was the past, but at one point, Thiago was the present and future for the Academy. Thiago was clearly the new breed of the Chute Boxe and it showed in all of his fights in the UFC thus far. In the past what made Chute Boxe one of premier fight camps was its emphasis on one thing when fighting: aggression. The aggressive style overwhelmed essentially all of the guys put in front of Silva and Rua. But with Thiago, he utilizes his striking that leads to his jiu-jitsu game which is a double-edged sword for all of his opponents. The thing you have to remember with Shogun and Wanderlei is that both men are black belts in jiu-jitsu, but because they're such powerful strikers, it’s never really was needed. Thiago uses his striking to frustrate opponents standing and then takes them down (See Houston Alexander). Once he took Alexander down, he exposed Alexander's ground game and used it to mount Alexander and pound him out. But the one thing we have to see in Thiago is if he can handle the aggressive style that a fighter like Wanderlei brings the minute the bell rings. It's would be a big test for Thiago, but a fight he can win. It's a fight that Wanderlei can win as well because Wanderlei is such a powerful striker. We all know Wanderlei has a chin but does Thiago? Thiago's chin hasn't truly been tested and a guy like Wanderlei will answer that question with one solid right hand. The three fights proposed here are fights that just have to take place by the end of the year. What do you think? Do you think Liddell should fight Machida in September? Or do you think Evans is a better fight that the fans (not Dana White) want to see? What about the Silvas? Oh let the debates begin! Quick picks for DREAM 4 and Elite XC this weekend:
I'm going to end this week's edition of the Friday Night (Saturday Afternoon) Throwdown on a sad note. It's going to be quite a depressing site this Sunday at DREAM 4, when Japanese MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba goes against a menacing Melvin Manhoef in the second round of the middleweight tournament. Unless he can pull out a miracle submission (and he can) this could be the fight that puts Kaz out of MMA for good because Manhoef is straight up mean. This fight will take place under PRIDE-type rules, which allow knees to grounded opponents. It's been almost three years since Sakuraba has fought under these rules against a fighter like Manhoef — he is a monster in terms of striking and if he gets Kaz in side control, those knees will be coming with bad intentions. Now Sakuraba has defied the odds many times, but this is one fight that I just can't see him winning. I could be wrong and I hope I am for the sake of Sakuraba. Until next time people, I'll see you right back here in the Throwdown next Friday night! |
| Several prelim fights for UFC 87: ‘Seek and Destroy’ made official Posted: 14 Jun 2008 10:36 AM CDT
Lightweights Frankie Edgar and Hermes Franca will go toe-to-toe as expected, as well as heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Dan Evensen. In addition, Chris Wilson will tangle with Steve Bruno in a solid welterweight scrap. The battle between The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 6 170-pound contestants – Ben Saunders and Jared Rollins — has also been scratched from UFC 86 and will now take place at UFC 87. Of course, “Seek and Destroy” features the 170-pound world title fight between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and number one contender, Jon Fitch. Lightweight Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta will also meet up in a 155-pound eliminator match to see who challenges BJ Penn next for his lightweight title. And a Minnesota event wouldn’t be complete without its native MMA son, Brock Lesnar, who will look to get his first win inside the Octagon against the very dangerous and very experienced, Heath Herring. To check out the most recent UFC 87 card and rumors click here. For UFC 87 ticket information click here … this is shaping up to be a great card. |
| Next Elite XC show on CBS possible in July Posted: 14 Jun 2008 10:03 AM CDT
The ratings for the initial “Saturday Night Fights” show on May 31, which peaked at more than 6 million viewers, exceeded the network’s expectations. In fact, it was the most watched MMA show ever on television in North America. And apparently CBS is eager to see if it has something that can pull consistent ratings or if the program is a one hit wonder. Make no mistake: The second helping is perhaps more important than the debut (See XFL). This is perhaps troublesome for Elite XC because July 26 is about six weeks away, which doesn’t give Live Events President Gary Shaw and his team much time for match making. And the depth of the roster is nowhere near as impressive than say the UFC. However, that doesn’t mean Elite XC can’t slap this thing together on short notice and still have some great fights. Of course, the top draw Kimbo Slice will not be ready in time. He’s dealing with some minor injuries from the James Thompson fight during the main event of the inaugural show. Nick Diaz is fighting in Hawaii tonight and Hayato “Mach” Sakurai for the welterweight championship at DREAM 5 on July 21. That rules him out. And Gina Carano — who defeated Kaitlin Young in sensation fashion last month — has said that she doesn’t want to fight again until fall. Even though those are the company’s three biggest draws, there is more to Elite XC. There’s been talk of adding a heavyweight title recently, which would likely include Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, and the fight for the vacant welterweight crown between Jake Shields and Drew Fickett has been a long time coming. Let Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith run it back for the middleweight strap, and CBS would have three title fights with which to work. Not too shabby. The fact is, having this card on short notice like this might actually give Elite XC a chance to please the hardcore fans with better MMA fights as opposed to just fights that are designed to be stand-up wars. When all is said and done the second show might not get the ratings that the May 31 show received. That might be a foregone conclusion. But fixing some of the minor things that went wrong the first time and showing improvement in the quality of the second show will help win back some of the hardcore fans and certainly help the ratings in the future. |
| ‘MMA Live’ on ESPN.com episode 5 video Posted: 14 Jun 2008 09:35 AM CDT |
| Elite XC Cage Cam will stream KJ Noons vs Yves Edwards fight online Posted: 14 Jun 2008 09:20 AM CDT
The Cage Cam is a high-tech camera suspended above the cage that gives viewers an overhead look at the fight. It moves around on a cable that covers the entire cage so the audience can follow the action throughout the match. It’s a pretty cool way to see a fight for the second time. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the replay of a main event fight through the Cage Cam. Sho.com also streamed the Frank Shamrock and Cung Le Strikeforce middleweight title fight on March 29 immediately after the Showtime telecast. It’s always interesting to see any kind of action from different vantage points. This could be worth a look, especially if Noons and Yves give us a fight like Frank and Cung did back in March. As always, ProElite.com will also stream five of the untelevised undercard bouts live starting around 7 p.m ET. Those five fights are as follows:
Remember that ProElite.com will also stream the non title bout between Icon Sport Middleweight Champion Kala Kolohe Hose and Robert McDaniel after the event as well. The fact that Hose isn’t on the main card is a testament to how good some of these other fighters are. This is going to be a very entertaining event tonight from the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. To catch the main card action tune-in to Showtime at 10 p.m. ET tonight (June 14). |
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