Sunday, May 31, 2009

UFC blog for latest news, videos, results, betting odds, fighter interviews and MMA rumors - UFCmania.com

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WEC 41: Jens Pulver vs Josh Grispi ‘A Day in the Life’ videos

Posted: 30 May 2009 12:54 PM PDT

Check out “The Fluke” after the jump.

Cheick Kongo: Cain Velasquez needs heart to beat me — lots of heart

Posted: 30 May 2009 10:40 AM PDT

Props: The Sun

Quoteworthy:

“Cain is from the new generation, he is young. He has a lot to prove but he looks very good … He needs heart to beat me. Lots of heart. He needs to be very careful … Maybe I am going to get a shot after this fight … I don’t make the rules on these things. I thought I was close before, but all I can do is fight and keep winning and training … I am more confident than ever. I am doing things in my fights that I have done in the gym for a while and I am getting better. I think I will be the UFC heavyweight champion.”

Cheick Kongo talks about a pending heavyweight showdown with Cain Velasquez at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany, at the Lanxess Arena on June 13. In short, he's not scared of the highly-touted two-time All-American wrestler out of Arizona State University. Let's just hope the "French Sensation" has polished his takedown defense since the loss to Carmelo Marrero at UFC 64: "Unstoppable" back in 2006.

UFC Quick Quote: Bad coaching, not sheer awesomeness, the reason Rashad Evans lost to Lyoto Machida

Posted: 30 May 2009 08:06 AM PDT

“I went back and watched the Rashad fight again, and I think it comes down to bad coaching. In the prefight press conference, I heard Rashad say that he didn't bring anybody in who would resemble Machida's style. When I heard that, I knew that there might be some problems. That is probably a big reason why Rashad didn't do very well in the striking area. I also think Rashad should have been coached on using his wrestling talent. He didn't shoot one takedown that I can remember and he just made it a sparring match. If I was to coach Rashad against Machida, I would have told him to make it a fight, use his wrestling and groundwork to really dictate the match. Not just go out and spar with him. I think Rashad could have done a lot better in that fight. I'm not saying he should have won, but he's a lot better than he showed on Saturday.”

– Matt Hughes shares his thoughts via his personal blog about the main event fight between Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida at UFC 98 on May 23. “The Dragon” looked phenomenal, taking out “Sugar” in the second round with a lethal explosion of strikes that separated the champion from consciousness for the first time ever in his previously unbeaten career. Hughes chalks the loss up to bad coaching and a poor strategy going into the fight. And he’s not the only one — Shawn Tompkins, the head trainer at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, told CageWriter.com that Machida is “far from unbeatable” and Rashad “gave Lyoto everything he needed to make himself look invincible” by failing to close the distance and use his strong wrestling skills. So is Machida really as good as he looked last weekend or does Evans’ head trainer, Greg Jackson, deserve some of the credit?

Tim Sylvia vs. Paul Buentello fight confirmed for Affliction 3 on Aug. 1

Posted: 30 May 2009 07:36 AM PDT

Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (24-5) is indeed booked to return to action against Paul Buentello (27-10) at Affliction 3: “Trilogy” at the Honda Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Aug. 1, 2009.

The long-rumored bout was recently confirmed by MMAFanhouse.com with promotion officials.

Sylvia has been on the shelf since getting steamrolled by Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction "Banned" in July 2008. That’s more than a year of inactivity, which could be a factor when "The Maine-iac" finally steps back into the ring on fight night.

He will, however, have a little tune up before his meeting with Buentello … if that’s what you want to call it.

Remember that Sylvia has agreed to box former Olympic gold medalist and world heavyweight boxing champion Ray Mercer — barely one month after "Merciless" turns 48 years of age — at Adrenaline III: “Bragging Rights” in Birmingham, Ala., on June 13.

Sylvia is on a two-fight losing skid and has dropped three of his last four contests. He’ll need all the help he can get to ensure that he breaks out of his slump sooner rather than later.

Buentello was last seen using Kiril Sidelnikov’s face as a human punching bag for almost three full rounds at Affliction 2: "Day of Reckoning” earlier this year. "The Headhunter" went on to eventually score a late third round technical knockout over the Russian Sambo specialist, who later tested positive for having banned substances in his system after the match.

This will be Buentello’s third appearance under the Affliction banner — he outpointed last minute replacement Gary Goodridge on the judges scorecards to earn a unanimous decision victory in the promotion’s inaugural show in 2008. He was originally scheduled to face Aleksander Emelianenko, but the Russian was forced out of action after having trouble getting cleared by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).

Over his past 13 fights Buentello has only dropped two contests — one was for a shot at Andrei Arlovski's UFC heavyweight title back at UFC 55 and the other was at the hands of Alistair Overeem last November on a Strikeforce card.

Affliction 3: “Trilogy” will feature a main event between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and top-ranked division player, Josh Barnett. Former Dream middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi is also expected to make his fighting debut on American shores.

To check out the latest fight card and rumors for Affliction 3: “Trilogy” click here.

Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza: Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller is a ‘two-faced clown’

Posted: 30 May 2009 07:00 AM PDT

Props: Tatame.com

Quoteworthy:

"He offended me. I wanted to fight, he wanted to offend. He said that I hit my head on his and opened his face, but what opened his face was the first punch I gave. He has this habit, at the time of the interview he grows, but at the time of the fight he cried, apologized to his coach, then came toward my corner saying I was an idiot, and also apologized. He is proving that he isn't a person of only one face, he is two-faced. Otherwise everything is alright, I'm not very worried about him. Dude, I already beat him once, was winning this one. For me, if I have to fight, I fight, if I don't, whatever. The problem is his, he's already lost once and at the second made this s**t. I don't know what they'll do. Honestly, I don't know, they (FEG) didn't say anything. I trained three months for this clown to come and do what he did, now I won't fight in July, not for a while. I'll take a rest and wait."

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza provides an update following his middleweight title bout against bitter rival Jason "Mayhem" Miller at DREAM 9 last week. The second outing between the pair was halted early in the first round because of an errant blow from Miller to a downed Souza. The strike carved a deep laceration to Souza's head, which forced ringside officials to call off the match prematurely because of its severity. The fight was ruled a no contest. Another rematch between the two to determine a more decisive ending seems to be the next logical step; however, it doesn’t appear the “Jacare” is thrilled with the idea at this moment after Mayhem’s latest in-ring shenanigans.

Bellator IX results: Hector Lombard and Jared Hess advance to middleweight tournament finals

Posted: 30 May 2009 06:37 AM PDT

Monroe, Louisiana — May 30, 2009 — In front of an electrified and vocal crowd in Monroe, Louisiana, Hector Lombard and Jared Hess put on dominating performances to earn their way to the first ever Bellator Middleweight world championship.

Opening the semi-final action was the Cuban Olympian and knockout artist Hector "Shango" Lombard taking on Army Ranger and combatives expert Damien Stelly. Out of the gates both fighters let punches fly with a go-for-broke start that ended with Lombard mounting Stelly and implementing a ground and pound strategy that eventually resulted in a referee stoppage.

While Stelly fought gallantly, he wasn't able to break free from Lombard's mount and the referee stopped the fight via TKO with the ultra tough Hector Lombard moving onto the finals in under three minutes.

Headlining the night, the Oklahoman all-around tactical machine Jared Hess faced the legend killer and unpredictably versatile Yosmany Cabezas. Nearly going the three round distance, this match demonstrated how tough both competitors are with Hess dominating the fight with ground and pound while Cabezas consistently looked for an edge on Hess.

Although Hess defiantly took the first two rounds with Cabezas physically showing signs of his beating, the Cuban powerhouse Cabezas never gave up even with fists showering upon him. With only 30 seconds left in the match, the referee called it a TKO victory for the relentless Oklahoman tornado Jared Hess. Both Hess and Lombard collected the $50,000 purse and will move onto the Bellator Middleweight world championship bout and compete for the $100,000 grand prize in Hollywood, Florida on June 19th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

All the Bellator Middleweight semi-final action can be seen on Saturday, May 30, 2009 exclusively on ESPN Deportes and on Bellator.com on Wednesday, June 3, 2009.

"The Hector Lombard, Jared Hess final truly pits our two top Middleweights against each other. Lombard standing is an amazingly powerful force and Hess on the ground is non-stop action and strikes. This should be a great final," remarked Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney. "This deafening Monroe, Louisiana crowd was treated to a fantastic night of action that was just a preview of the championship finals that these two powerhouses will demonstrate at Bellator XII in June."

With the stunning undercard battles, Nick Ring returned to the cage after a three year hiatus, not showing an inch of ring rust, to submit Isidro Gonzalez in less than one minute via guillotine submission. Alex Andrade returned to Bellator action for retribution and got just that by dominating Christian Fulgram with a furious throwing of rights and lefts resulting in the referee to call it in just over two minutes.

In a battle of the heavyweights, LSU football star Shawn Jordan impressed his loyal fans by taking out fellow Louisianan Jayme McKinney in 30 seconds into the second.

The full fight card results are below:

Bellator IX Middleweight Semi-Final Tournament bouts:

185 lbs. – Yosmany Cabezas (8-2) vs. Jared Hess (8-0-1) Hess by TKO at 14:26
185 lbs. – Damien Stelly (9-3) vs. Hector Lombard (19-2) Lombard by TKO (strikes) at 2:56

Bellator IX Non-tournament bouts:

185 lbs. – Isidro Gonzalez (16-13) vs. Nick Ring (8-0) Ring by submission (guillotine) at 0:39
145 lbs. – Shad Lierley (5-2) vs. Nate Murdock (6-5) Lierley by unanimous decision
185 lbs. – Christian Fulgram (10-3) vs. Alex Andrade (8-5) Andrade by TKO at 2:01
HWT – Shawn Jordan (1-0) vs. Jayme McKinney (5-4) Jordan by submission at 5:30
175 lbs. – Dan Keenan (0-1) vs. Chan Leonhardt (3-1) Leonhardt by KO at 3:03
155 lbs. – Chas Skelly (3-0) vs. Mike Braswell (4-3) Skelly by split decision

All of the Bellator IX action will air on ESPN Deportes Saturday, May 30.

Bellator Fighting Championships' premiere season consists of 12 two-hour events broadcast weekly in primetime on Saturday nights on ESPN Deportes. The English-language broadcast becomes available on www.Bellator.com each Wednesday. The nationally televised events feature a combination of tournament and non-tournament special feature bouts. There are four simultaneous tournaments taking place in season one over a three month period: one in each of the Featherweight (145 lb.), Lightweight (155 lb.), Welterweight (170 lb.) and Middleweight (185 lb.) divisions.

For more information, visit www.Bellator.com. Bellator's Spanish website is available at www.Espanol.Bellator.com. Please contact your local cable provider to learn more about viewing Bellator Fighting Championships on ESPN Deportes.
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