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| Revenge of the Nerds: Tamden McCrory vs Luke Cummo from UFC 87 Posted: 10 Aug 2008 05:26 AM CDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Georges St. Pierre: I almost had to kill Jon Fitch to win Posted: 10 Aug 2008 05:04 AM CDT
-UFC welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre talks about trying to finish challenger Jon Fitch during a UFC 87 post fight interview. GSP successfully defended his title after fighting off a very game Fitch for 25 minutes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UFC 87 Recap and final thoughts Posted: 10 Aug 2008 03:45 AM CDT
Fans (and haters) of my predictions column will be happy to hear I’m changing my name to ‘Nostradumbass’ after a couple of backwards picks. The Florian victory I should have been able to predict. But Rob Emerson? I can say with a bit of confidence that I wasn’t the only viewer who didn’t see that one coming. I wasn’t surprised that Manny Gamburyan was sleeping on the job courtesy of an Emerson right. What did surprise me is that he would initiate such an aggressive attack while keeping his head completely upright like he was peeking out of a manhole. Both fighters will continue to get airtime, though I’m sure this KO loss for Gamburyan, like the one cousin Karo suffered at Fight Night 13, will be a major setback for his title aspirations. In other lightweight action, Kenny Florian proved that he’s not just a skilled fighter, but also an intelligent one. He avoided the kind of reckless brawling that has allowed Roger Huerta to excel so many times in the past. I’m not sure it lived up to its billing as fight of the year, but it was definitely entertaining. In the end, it was the technique of Kenny Florian that garnered him the win while highlighting just how much he’s matured as a fighter. One person who hasn’t matured that much is Brock Lesnar, or so it would seem from his post-fight antics. Defenders will give him a free pass because the heat of the moment can make you do crazy things, but it was the duration - not the content of his tomfoolery that had me irked. Still, it’s hard to deny how scary he can become if he continues to improve. He moves at a blistering pace and has the strength of a Bondo ape. I don’t want to go too crazy over tonight’s performance because I think the first punch really broke Heath Herring right out of the gate, effectively turning him into a punching bag for rounds two and three. And is anyone else perturbed at Dan Miragliotta for not allowing Herring up to five minutes to recover from the “accidental” eye poke? The same eye that ended up swelling shut? You can take the man out of the conspiracy, but you can’t take the conspiracy out of the man. You can’t take the heart out of a man either. Jon Fitch made it clear tonight that he belonged in that fight with Georges St. Pierre. He may have been threshed for 25 minutes, but his ability to survive and continue fighting reinforces what most fans already knew. Fitch wasn’t fighting for the title because there was no one else for Joe Silva to choose, he was fighting for the title because he deserved to be. Just like Georges St. Pierre deserves all the accolades that come his was in the months to follow. His ability to neutralize even the best wrestlers coupled with his deadly striking makes me wonder if BJ is going to regret his two-and-a-half year quest to rematch the Canadian Cattle-prod. Speaking of things that are electric, Demian Maia will be a handful for any fighter at 185lbs. Okay, I will confess to being impressed with Jason MacDonald’s performance in their middleweight bout. I didn’t think he had the chops to hang with Maia and while he eventually succumbed to the submission, J-Mac was holding his own for much longer than I expected. Overall, I was pleased with the quality of the pay-per-view. UFC 87 had just about everything: Upsets, knockouts, submissions and storylines that will have an impact in the very near future. In the meantime, I have some unanswered questions from tonight’s event. -If the UFC wants to cash in on Penn vs. St. Pierre 2, what happens to Kenny Florian in the lightweight division? He’s already faced Sean Sherk and I’m sure they don’t want to squash their build of Nate Diaz. Calling Tyson Griffin…come in Mr. Griffin… -Is Mark Coleman in the sauna trying to make 205 after watching tonight’s pay-per-view? And what happens with his return at this point anyway? Shogun in December? -Why does every new heavyweight that wins in dominating fashion have to be paired with Fedor Emelianenko? Didn’t we just go through this with Cain Velasquez back in July? I had the pleasure of deleting a comment that read: LESNAR vs FEDOR! WHO TAKES IT? -Are we witnessing the next generation of UFC Hall of Famers? Elder folks wax nostalgic about living through the era of great athletes. Will we be telling our kids about the days when we as fans got to watch BJ Penn, Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva? What say you? For complete blow-by-blow coverage of UFC 87 click here. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UFC 87 results, coverage and winners LIVE tonight! Posted: 09 Aug 2008 04:07 PM CDT
Click the banner above or right here for up-to-the-minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of UFC 87: "Seek and Destroy." If you're going to leave comments and discuss the fights with all the other MMAmania.com readers be sure to do it on the main UFC 87 results post and not this one. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MMAmania UFC 87 t-shirt special — our lowest price EVER! Posted: 09 Aug 2008 04:04 PM CDT
The biggest fight night of the summer to date means our biggest price slash EVER on MMAmania.com white tees! Take advantage of this special UFC 87 deal while you can — we probably can’t afford to do it again. And it expires when the show ends. Thanks again to all the guys and gals for supporting the cause! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 09 Aug 2008 04:03 PM CDT
Check out the complete UFC 87 picture gallery after the jump
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| Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’: Pedro Rizzo vs Ben Rothwell Posted: 09 Aug 2008 01:39 PM CDT
Rothwell is coming off a strong effort against Andrei Arlovski at Affliction “Banned” on July 19 that saw him hanging tough - only to eventually succumb to the Belarusian’s superior striking and ability in the third round. It was Rothwell’s first loss in 14 fights and just sixth overall. He was unstoppable in the now defunct IFL and at just 27 years of age, is at or nearing his prime. Rizzo on the other hand, may be feeling a sense of urgency. “The Rock” still garners respect from his ability to hit like a wrecking ball, but he’s not been able to demonstrate the kind of striking that made him famous earlier in his career. His knockout loss to Josh Barnett last month probably hasn’t helped matters, but it looks like he’ll get another chance to turn things around against Rothwell. From a career standpoint, it could be now or never. Affliction "Day of Reckoning" takes place on October 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and features the main event of Josh "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett (23-5) vs. Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski (13-5). The winner is expected to meet WAMMA champion and Russian Tyrannosaur Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) for the heavyweight strap at Affliction’s third event. Also confirmed is the middleweight showdown between Matt "The Law' Lindland (21-5) and Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort (17-8) - pending Belfort's medical clearance for his post-fight medical suspension from Affliction: 'Banned'. More fights are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sengoku 5 to feature middleweight grand prix Posted: 09 Aug 2008 12:57 PM CDT
Confirmed participants include Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-8), Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (16-11), Siyar Bahadurzada (13-3-1) and UFC veteran Jorge Santiago (17-7). Nakamura is making his debut with World Victory Road after a 0-2 run in the UFC. Long criticized for carrying a few extra passengers in the caboose, Nakamura is finally shedding the freshman 15 in order to participate in September’s tournament. Bahadurzada is looking to rebound from his loss at Sengoku: First Battle back in March, while Santiago and Santos were both victorious in their Sengoku debuts. Also expected to appear is jiu-jitsu phenom Alexandre Ribeiro. A four-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, “Xande” rocketed to the top of the grappling food chain after defeating Roger Gracie at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world championships absolute divisions in 2006 and 2008. Stay tuned for more updates as the Sengoku 5 card continues to come together. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UFC 87 odds: Updated betting lines for ‘Seek and Destroy’ Posted: 09 Aug 2008 10:31 AM CDT UFC 87 odds for the "Seek and Destroy" pay-per-view (PPV) event at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., tomorrow night (August 9) are out and updated. Just a reminder that the sportsbook is always available for those fans who like to make fights nights that much more interesting. It's just cold hard numbers … and some possible big profits. If you’re going to lay down some wood NOW is the time to do it — fight night is almost upon us!
Herring, Fitch and Huerta all under dogs? One of those three — or all of them — could be nice plays. See you all then! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jon Fitch video on Georges St. Pierre UFC 87 fight Posted: 09 Aug 2008 10:08 AM CDT |
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