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| UFC Fight Night 18 bonuses and awards for ‘Condit vs Kampmann’ Posted: 01 Apr 2009 09:20 PM PDT
UFC Fight Night 18: "Condit vs. Kampmann" from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee, has officially wrapped, which means that it's time for those select fighters who went above and beyond in their respective fights to get a little extra grease for their efforts. To the tune of $30,000 each. The promotion dished out its standard post-fight monetary bonuses to four out of the 22 fighters on the card. And it shouldn't come as a shock whose wallets are leaving “Music City” a little heavier. In addition to their base salaries, the UFC awarded lightweight scrappers Tyson Griffin and Rafael Dos Anjos for their gritty back-and-forth 155-pound war. It was a gutsy performance by Griffin, who staved off a gruesome looking leg compression in the first round to nab a record fifth FOTN bonus. Grappling wizard Rob Kimmons made quick work of Joe Vedepo when he sunk in a slick guillotine choke to nab his first submission bonus. “The Rosedale Reaper” now has 14 of his 22 wins come by way of tapout. Also on the undercard, Aaron Simpson locked up a knockout bonus when he pummeled fellow WEC castaway Tim McKenzie in their light heavyweight brawl. “A-Train” didn’t have much competition, as his TKO stoppage was the only one of the night. Here are the special fight bonuses for "Condit vs. Kampmann:"
Again, each fighter received $30,000 extra for their performances in addition to their respective base salaries, which we will pass along as soon as they’re made available. The live SpikeTV event drew 10,267 attendees (a UFC Fight Night record) for a total gate of $626,077. For complete UFC Fight Night 17 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here . |
| The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9: Episode 1 recap and discussion Posted: 01 Apr 2009 07:22 PM PDT
Episode one of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Season 9 is finally underway. The "US vs. UK" format features Coach Dan Henderson leading a stateside team against Coach Michael Bisping and his British squad. We kick things off in the United Kingdom with UFC President Dana White riding in a creepy van like Buffalo Bill for a little rendezvous with Coach Bisping at the Wolfslair gym. Dana greets the UK boys and tells them only half of the group of 16 gets to board a plane to the United States. Anyone looking for a trip to Vegas will have to fight their way onto the show. Dana said it best: Welcome to The Ultimate Fighter motherfucker. The first episode was taped prior to UFC 93 so both Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin are on the scene for the evaluations. It was no secret that “Ace” was disinterested in the coaching job, but I haven’t seen such a catatonic expression since they took the batteries out of Vicki on “Small Wonder.” After a few mild pleasantries, the staff takes their place at the cageside desk and the elimination fights get underway. Elimination bout #1: Gary Kelly (2-1) vs. Andre Winner (9-2-1) Round 1: They trade blows and clinch. Winner pushes him to the cage and they exchange knees. Bisping talking it up for Kelly who trains out of Wolfslair. A stalemate against the cage. Winner creates a gap and drives his knee right into the exposed head of Kelly. Lights out. Andre Winner defeats Gary Kelly via KO Elimination bout #2: Jeff Lawson (12-2) vs. James Bryan (3-1) Round 1: Both come out swinging and Lawson secures a takedown into top position. Lawson spins and sits on his face. More rotating and some early panting. Lawson swings into an armbar and after some scuffling locks it in for the tap. Jeff Lawson defeats James Bryan via submission (armbar) Elimination bout #3: Che Mills (7-2) vs. James Wilks (5-2) Round 1: Che opens up swinging and they go to the fence. Wilks tumbles to the ground and eats a few punches but grabs a leg and rolls Mills right into a heel hook. From there it’s academic. James Wilks defeats Che Mills via submission (heel hook) Elimination bout #4: Martin Stapleton (5-1) vs. Dan James (3-0) Round 1: Brief exchange and Stapleton takes him down. James traps him for a bit and Stapleton sneaks in a headbutt. He spins and gets mount and lets the hands fly. James rolls into a rear naked choke, gets flattened out and eventually taps. Martin Stapleton defeats Dan James via submission (rear naked choke) Elimination bout #5: AJ Wenn (7-2) vs. Ross Pearson (9-3) Round 1: Requisite feeling out process and they go to the cage. An exchange of knees and Pearson briefly sweeps him. Wenn back up and more cage hugging. Wenn drops a level buts finds nothing. Tries it again and Pearson reverses and shows him how its done with a big slam. They’re back up and against the cage once again. Huge knees for Pearson who again picks up Wenn and slams him. And whaddaya know, they’re back up and leaning against the cage. I catch Dana in the background not paying attention. He mutters something to Bisping in disapproval. They finally push off and Pearson unloads with a jumping knee. A stunned Wenn backpedals and eats a few shots at the bell. Referee Dan Miragliotta (on location) gives Pearson a shove across the ring to save Wenn and prove how tough he is. Round 2: Pearson pauses for a moment, then rushes in and unloads on a helpless Wenn who collapses and eats a few extra punches for good measure. Ross Pearson defeats AJ Wenn via TKO Elimination bout #6: Tommy Maguire (5-2) vs. Nick Osipczak (3-0) Round 1: Huge height difference, Osipczak is a giant — especially against Maguire who looks like that kid from “The Sandlot.” They immediately find their way to the cage and Maguire gets him down. He sort of plops down on him and shoves his crank in his face. Osipczak stands up into a guillotine. Maguire jumps up and uses his considerable weight to drag him back down. He loses the choke and his position but Osipczak kind of lazily stands up and backs away. Some sloppy striking ensues until Osipczak finds his target and repeatedly blasts Maguire into a heap. Nick Osipczak defeats Tommy Maguire via TKO Elimination bout #7: Alex Reid (10-9-1) vs. Dean Amasinger (4-1) Round 1-3: “The Reidinator” goes all Marshall Applewhite for the camera while Amasinger does a hackneyed impression of B.A. Baracus. Both are unconvincing. We get the ol’ TUF fast-forward job which is the Zuffa equivalent of an English Bobby standing on the street in front of a car wreck saying “Nothing to see here folks.” Reid starts hootin’ and hollerin’ and I star to wonder if these guys have been tested for LSD. A third and final round sees the Reidinator come up short despite sounding off like Bobo the mechanical owl. Dean Amasinger defeats Alex Reid via decision Elimination bout #8: James Bateman (2-1) vs. David Faulkner (2-1) Round 1: Faulkner is out of Wolfslair and Bisping predicts a win via heel hook or loss via mental breakdown. Faulkner for the takedown but they roll and go right back to their feet. The fence sees some more action. Bateman with a flying knee and misses. Both swing wildly. Faulkner charges and gets his arm caught but sneaks in a takedown. Bateman stymies him and rolls on top but Faulkner is playing possum and slaps on a fight ending heel hook. David Faulkner defeats James Bateman via submission (heel hook) Afterward Dana compliments the fighters for a display of good fights. I try to be forgiving since this isn’t exactly the upper echelon of fighters but I wasn’t particularly blown away by any of the Brits — though I did see a lot of promise in a handful of them. Dana gives the winners a pep talk and the losers a Viking funeral. Coach Bisping looks forward to molding his team into “Little Bispings” and blowing away the US Team. Stay tuned next week as Team USA gets their crack at TUFdom — but it doesn’t look like a promising start as Yanks are seen passing out and donning the rubber suit for a date with the treadmill. Somewhere out there Bruce Springsteen is hanging his head in shame. See you in seven! |
| UFC Fight Night 18 recap and final thoughts Posted: 01 Apr 2009 07:21 PM PDT
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tonight strummed the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn., for the first-time ever, playing some entertaining mixed martial arts action for the fans in attendance in “Music City.” UFC Fight Night 18: "Condit vs Kampmann" featured the Octagon debut of the last man to hold the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) welterweight title, Carlos Condit, before the promotion dissolved the weight class in a 170-pound contest opposite UFC veteran Martin Kampmann. For those who thought that Condit didn’t belong in the UFC, fighting scrubs and beefing up his reputation as one of the best welterweights in the world, think again. “The Natural Born Killer” survived several early — and very tight — submission attempts from the Danish kickboxer before he was able to open him up with a huge flesh-splitting knee while the pair was clinched up against the fence. It was a thrilling back-and-forth battle from that point on with both fighters transitioning from submission attempts and mixing it up between with nice strikes. Both fighters were giving so much that it was evident they were both extremely exhausted. Nonetheless, it was more of the same as the third round opened up in a very, very close fight. Kampmann appeared to have more left in the gas tank, however, keeping Condit on his back and defending his submissions from the bottom. Condit was incredibly active. In fact, he nearly pulled out a submission win as the seconds ticked down to zero to end the fight. It’s unfortunate that there was a loser in this type of fight, which saw both fighters give everything they had. But in the end, “The Hitman” was able to eek out a razor thin split decision in a fight that could have gone either way, snapping Condit’s impressive eight-fight win streak. Big win for Kampmann and a tough loss for Condit, which should not hurt him at all moving forward. It may even motivate him to get better the next time out — sometimes losing isn’t a bad thing. Neither is winning. And Kampmann just tucked a very nice feather in his cap.
In the co-featured fight of the night, TUF 8 light heavyweight winner Ryan Bader kept his perfect record intact with a dominant unanimous decision win over Carmelo Marrero. The decorated Arizona State University (ASU) collegiate wrestler controlled the entire fight from bell to bell, keeping the pedal to the medal for the full 15 minutes. Marrero had no answers for his smothering attack. He spent most of the fight on his back defending submissions and eating knuckle sandwiches. Bader displayed some very nice submission attempts and nearly finished the fight in the opening frame with a slick armbar that Marrero was able to eventually escape. Bader admitted that he was not thrilled with his performance; however, it’s clear that he is indeed improving and could very well be a force in the 205-pound division in the near future as the rest of his skills catch up with his phenomenal wrestling pedigree. Whether or not fans will enjoy watching him develop during that time remains to be seen. In other action, Tyson Griffin made his seventh straight UFC appearance since 2007 and once again was involved in his seventh decision. He won, which he does more often than not, but the Xtreme Couture-trained fighter has to be wondering when he will taste absolute victory. His opponent, Rafael Dos Anjos, put up a nice fight, twisting Griffin’s right tree trunk intro a painful-looking pretzel early in the first round that appeared to have him hurt (Griffin later stated he was fine). The Brazilian followed it up with more holds, including a standing kimura that could not have felt good. But it wasn’t enough — Griffin scored a clear-cut unanimous decision from the judges sitting ringside. Griffin is now in a very odd spot. He has been in against the best, and now he couldn’t finish a foe — who isn’t near the level of a Sean Sherk, Marcus Aurelio, Clay Guida or Gleison Tibau — once again. Talk about a dilemma for UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. Last but not least, lightweights Cole Miller and Junie Browning kicked-off the televised portion of main card action, which promised to be a heated contest after The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) alums from different seasons of the show entered into heated exchanges prior to the bout. And it was the far more experienced Miller who had the last word with a fight-ending submission (guillotine choke) early in the first round. It actually wasn’t much of a fight — Miller outclassed “The Lunatik” from the opening bell, taking down Browning and immediately working for a submission. Browning was able to defend, but it wasn’t so easy the second time around. So much for being overrated. Miller called out the winner of the UFC 99 match between Spencer Fisher and Caol Uno in his post-fight remarks, which would appear to be a decent match up whoever prevails. It may not be so clear for Browning — his inexperienced showed tonight. The bad news for Browning is that there are no real easy fights in the talent-rich 155-pound division. He’ll need to hit the gym hard and demonstrate his next time out that he belongs inside the Octagon … hopefully on the under card portion of the event. To check out complete UFC Fight Night 18 main card blow-by-blow coverage click here. Solid night of fights! |
| ‘Live Like a Champion’ video promo with BJ Penn Posted: 01 Apr 2009 05:49 PM PDT |
| Exclusive: Josh Thomson breaks leg; Gilbert Melendez rematch on April 11 off (Updated) Posted: 01 Apr 2009 05:32 PM PDT
MMAmania.com has some bad news: Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson today broke his left leg while training for his first title defense against the man who he defeated to capture it, Gilbert Melendez. Therefore, the highly anticipated rematch on April 11 has been scrapped. A search for a replacement to challenge “El Nino” is already underway for the Showtime card — the first for the promotion since acquiring select assets, including fighter contracts, from Pro Elite earlier this year. After capturing the title from Melendez, Thompson defeated Ashe Bowman (first round technical knockout win) at "Strikeforce at the Mansion II" in 2008. It was a tune-up fight for “The Punk,” who was recovering from a shoulder injury that was actually not even 100 percent in the Melendez match. This is no doubt a major setback for the American Kickboxing Academy standout. He had this to say in a recent press release:
According to the release, Thomson is scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday to repair the damaged limb, which is expected to keep the 30-year-old fighter out of action for two to three months. The Strikeforce April 11 card will feature Nick Diaz and Frank Shamrock facing off in the evening's main event at a catchweight of 179 pounds. Also sceduled to do battle is Scott Smith as he faces Benji Radach and Joe Riggs taking on former EliteXC Welterweight Champion Jake Shields. To check out the latest Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Diaz” fight card click here. |
| UFC Fight Night 18 results, coverage and winners LIVE tonight! Posted: 01 Apr 2009 01:17 PM PDT
Click the banner above or right here for up-to-the-minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of UFC Fight Night 18: “Condit vs. Kampmann.” If you're going to leave comments and discuss the fights with all the other MMAmania.com readers be sure to do it in the main UFC Fight Night 18 results post and not this one. Be sure to also stick around after the event concludes for our coverage of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 debut! |
| Dana White video blog for UFC Fight Night 18 Posted: 01 Apr 2009 01:16 PM PDT And he’s got some very strong words (understatement) for Loretta Hunt at Sherdog.com: (Thanks to MMAmania.com reader “JSLIM” for the assist.) |
| Cheap BSN supplements! Reminder that BLOWOUT sale ends soon! Posted: 01 Apr 2009 01:15 PM PDT
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| Joe Riggs vs Phil Baroni Strikeforce bout on tap for June 6 Posted: 01 Apr 2009 01:12 PM PDT
Former UFC welterweight contender Joe Riggs (29-10) will get his chance to compete in front of a Showtime audience against fellow Zuffa castaway Phil Baroni (13-10) on the upcoming Strikeforce card scheduled for June 6 in St. Louis, Missouri. “Diesel” was originally penciled in to face Jake Shields during the promotion’s debut on the premium cable network on April 11 in San Jose, but the Strikeforce match makers decided to scrap the bout in order to free Shields up for a superfight with Robbie Lawler in the main event of their June 6 card. Riggs wasn’t too pleased with the decision either, because he felt like he had a decent shot at handing the former EliteXC champion his first loss in nearly four and a half years. Who knows, perhaps a win in St. Louis will move the veteran fighter closer to a match with his desired opponent, but for now he’ll have to settle with taking out his frustration on Baroni instead. And that will certainly be a lot easier said than done. The “New York Bad Ass” hit a bit of a dry spell, losing five of seven bouts from September of 2005 through May of 2008, but he bounced back to close out 2008 with three straight wins over Scott Jansen (KO), Ron Verdadero (TKO), and Olaf Alfonso (decision) after dropping down to compete as a welterweight in the 170 pound division. He’s kicked up his training a few notches as well and has been working with guys like Jake Shields, Josh Thomson and others in preparation for Riggs or anyone else in the Strikeforce welterweight division. He knows this is a big opportunity to prove to the Showtime fans that he can still fight at a high level and win on the big stage.
Strikeforce has never crowned a 170-pound champion, and both of these guys are certainly right there in the mix as far as possible future contenders for that vacancy. Actually, it might not be unrealistic to think that the winner could find himself in the Strikeforce cage competing for the gold before the end of 2009. The June 6 event is expected to be headlined by former EliteXC middleweight champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler taking on former EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields in a middleweight contest in the featured main event from St. Louis. Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral and ex-Elite XC 205-pound kingpin Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante have also been rumored for this card in separate matches. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on the developing fight card. For more on Strikeforce click here. |
| UFC Quick Quote: Carlos Condit looking to break Martin Kampmann Posted: 01 Apr 2009 11:40 AM PDT
– The last man to hold the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) welterweight title, Carlos Condit, talks to host Larry Pepe on MMAmania.com's exclusive presentation of Pro MMA Radio about his Octagon debut against Martin “Hitman” Kampmann in the main event match at UFC Fight Night 18: "Condit vs. Kampmann" after the WEC recently dissolved its welterweight class. Be sure to see if "The Natural Born Killer" can hang with the big dogs during the Spike TV telecast that is scheduled for tonight at 9 p.m. ET from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee. For a replay of Condit's in-depth interview click here. |
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