September 2007 Archives

Team Serra fighter Matt Arroyo

More funny stuff from the boys ... we start off with Team Hughes fighter Dorian Price stressing out over fighting - he thinks he'll be called next.

Coach Matt Serra has the pick, and he does in fact choose Price to fight his guy, Matt "No Regard" Arroyo.

Hughes thinks Team Serra has fallen into another of his traps, believing they've underestimated Price's striking.

In training, Serra yells, as Arroyo pounds on a heavy bag: "Dorian, we're gonna break your teeth!"

Hughes then gathers his team together and passes out Bibles, asks them to read a passage in the Book of Esther.

"And I want you to tell me who I would be in the Book of Esther. Who I would be. Me, Coach Hughes," Hughes said.

Hughes fighter Jared Rollins to the camera: "It's like, you're God, right?"

Mac Danzig chimes in with, "That's definitely not my thing, man. I'm here to train, I'm not here to find myself spiritually. If he were to cross the line and start beating me with a Bible instead of his gloves, then I'd probably have to say something."

Another fighter, I'm not sure who, said: "Seems like a trap, because I didn't see any farmers pick anybody up and slam them in the Book of Esther, so I don't know who Matt Hughes is."

Two York County fighters, Mike Oberdick and Adam King, will be fighting this weekend at Cage of Vengeance, an amateur MMA event in New Jersey.

To find out more about the event, click here.

Stay tuned here to see how they did.

Got this off Sherdog.com. Someone said it was when Shogun landed an elbow to Forrest's dome (not the one that split him open) and someone in Shogun's corner yelled like they thought the fight was in hand. Forrest then gave the finger to say the elbow didn't do s---.

So what's not to like about Forrest Griffin? The guy's funny, goes toe-2-toe with anyone, and dishes out the finger with impunity.

I happened to catch the IFL finals, where Renzo Gracie's team won, and I think the federation's got a good thing going. As I've said before, it's free MMA (in York, it's on the My Network TV -Philadelphia channel), so I'm all for it.

Although a ring or a cage doesn't matter to me, they do use a ring, for all you PRIDE fanatics (sorry, no stomps or soccer kicks). And, above all that, MMA legend Bas Rutten is their official spokesman. Dude is funny as hell.

And, they've got a lot going on right now. They're having a grand prix (another PRIDE throwback), with semi-finals on Nov. 3 and finals on Dec. 29. Also, they're recruiting new fighters at several locations around the country.

To see all that and more, go to their Web site here

So people have been wondering what former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski has been up to ... well, on Wednesday, he was a guest bouncer on Jerry Springer's show.

I was reading that some fans weren't too thrilled about Arlovski being there, but hey, it's more exposure, and to a demographic that I bet is very similar to what the UFC is going for.

I had read something about UFC's management putting Arlovski on the shelf indefinitely because they were not too happy with his last couple fights. Let's hope The Pitbull gets back to his aggressive, winning ways.

Arlovski asks Tim Sylvia, "How's my overhand right taste?"

A new MMA federation has risen up, harkening back to the old days -- I'm talking Royce Gracie-era UFC, or the Brazil-based IVC, where guys went at it bare knuckle. Now, some people say this isn't true MMA; well, it isn't what MMA has become, but it is what it was.

In short, it's not for the faint of heart.

I gotta say, it does look a little cheesy. The ring is actually three-sided chain-link fence. The fourth side is a wall, used for advertising, of course. There seems to be about 25 people in attendance, and they just stand up and crowd around the cage. The room it's in doesn't seem much bigger, like it's someone's basement. Maybe if it gets more popular they can move it to the auditorium where they used to have all the IVC fights.

So log on here and see what it's all about. If you click the "Live" button at the top, it'll take you to the tournament that's going on right now. Not sure if they'll do any replays.

Ryoto "Lyoto" Machida is MMA's best-kept secret. He is undefeated, has wins over Stephan Bonnar, B.J. Penn and Rich Franklin, and as others have said, makes fighters look stupid with the way he moves around the ring/cage.

I had two knocks on the guy before his UFC fight on Saturday versus Kazuhiro Nakamura: he doesn't fight nearly often enough, and he doesn't seem to be aggressive enough. He was known as a counterstriker, backing up, waiting for opponents to make the first move, then capitalizing on their mistakes. Well, I saw plenty of aggression in the Nakamura fight: strikes, kicks, elbows, and takedowns.

Lyoto won by unanimous decision, but really turned it on at the end, trying to finish Nakamura.

Here's the fight. Rounds 1 and 2 are in the first video, and roudn 3 is in the second video.

Chuck Liddell - The Pants Man

So UFC weigh-ins took place Friday for the pay-per-view event, Knockout, to take place Saturday. I'm not big on what the UFC names its events, like Stacked was anything but. What happens if at this one, no one gets knocked out?

The weigh-ins went quick, and the two Japanese fighters on the card, Kazuhiro Nakamura and Michihiro Omigawa, wore surgical-looking masks. Nakamura pulled his shorts up nerd-style past his belly button and acted like he was more of a surfer than a fighter when faced with opponent Lyoto Machida.

The funniest bit came after Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine and Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell weighed in. The fighters are supposed to face each other, like Rock 'em Sock 'em robots, after they weigh in, but Liddell stepped off the scale and went the other way and started putting on his pants. Yeah ... he knows the drill; I don't think he forgot. I think he was trying a little psychological warfare on Jardine. You know, like, I'm the man here, you're in my house, you have to wait for me. Jardine wasn't impressed - he exaggerated a big yawn.

Welterweight fighter Roman Mitichyan

The shows starts with former welterweight champ Matt Hughes and current champ Matt Serra picking their teams.

Serra takes Joe Scarola, George Sotiropolous, Matt Arroyo, John Kolosci, Ben Saunders, Roman Mitichyan, Troy Mandalowiz and Richie Hightower.

Hughes picks Dan Barrera, Mac Danzig, Tommy Speer, Billy Miles, Jared Rollins, Dorian Price, Blake Bowman and Paul Georgieff.

Right off the bat, we find out that Roman Mitichyan hurt his arm in the evaluation process for the show. He then goes to the doctor to get it X-rayed. Although I really feel for Mitichyan, I have to admit, his visit at the doctor's was hilarious:

The doctor tells him his elbow is broken and he says, "I'm going into depression right now." The doctor then says Mitchyan will not be able to fight.

And that sets Mitichyan off:
"I don't know what's wrong with you. I'm here to fight. You're making me laugh now. You're a comedian ... I'm not trying to be an a------, I swear. Seriously, I'm like really a nice guy, but don't push my buttons. Now you're pushing my buttons now ... What are you gonna do, you gonna put on the paper, 'do not fight'? And then I'm gonna tear that up and then I'm gonna fight."

The doctor tells him again that his elbow is fractured and he yells, "I don't want to hear you! You said the same thing like over 120 times already!"

He kicks a trash can, and then as he's leaving, he looks at some degrees on the wall and says: "I believe in your diplomas, doctor. I know you're a wise guy."

Out in the parking lot, Mitichyan says, "Everybody's trying to calm me down. Calm down! Calm down! No! I'm not calm, man. ... This 5-foot-4 guy is telling me not to fight. Doctor is out of his f------ mind."

Could we be looking at the next UFC lightweight contender? Kenny "I Should Have a Better Nickname Than 'Ken-Flo'" Florian, beat Din Thomas tonight at Fight Night by rear-naked choke.

Although I was able to watch the fight at work - hey, it was work-related - I didn't see Thomas get his knee blown out while going for a take-down, as some said happened. But, I did see him get kicked in the groin by Florian. Thomas recovered, but Florian took his back, rained down punches on his head and then choked him out.

I'm gonna predict that Sean Sherk loses his bid to clear his name in the steroid allegation, his lightweight title goes up for grabs, and Florian and Joe Stevenson go at it for the title, unless maybe B.J. Penn gets thrown in there with one of them. Either way, Florian is definitely in the mix. Now only if he could get a better nickname.

UFC Fight Night is free on Spike tomorrow (Wed) at 9 p.m. The fighters are not what most would consider main event caliber, but you know they'll bring it, because they're young, they're hungry and they want to make it to the top. Besides, but it's MMA and it's free. And that's a good thing.

So here we have the main card fights:
Din Thomas vs. Kenny Florian
Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin
Nate Diaz vs. Junior Assuncao
Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell

I'm going to be totally honest here ... I've seen most of these guys fight, but I don't profess to know enough about them to make predictions ... that, and most of the time, I'm wrong when I do.

Here's some photos I found. Take a look. 'Nuff said.

Here is the second -- and final -- round of the fight between Thiago Silva and Thomasz Drwal at UFC 75. These guys must've laid it all out there in the first round, 'cause they were spent in the second. Makes sense, they're both known for their heavy hands. Even though Drwal lost, I'd say they both have a future in the UFC. They're new blood in the light heavyweight division, which is stacked with talent, but some of the talent are nearing the ends of their careers.

Windsor Township's Biff Walizer sent me an e-mail on his fight last weekend in New Jersey at the Ring of Combat's Beasts of the Northeast 8-man lightweight tournament.
He was fighting Eddie Fyvie, a Renzo Gracie fighter with a 3-1 professional record. Here's what Biff wrote:

I got to a clinch and backed him into a corner. He was a lot taller than me, so I proceeded to land some knees to his upper thighs and a couple of short right hands in the corner.

When I went to adjust my clinch he turned his back to the center of the ring and immediately fell to his back pulling me into his guard and a very tight triangle.

I fought the triangle and in the process of escaping my mouthpiece fell out. So after clearing the triangle, they restarted us on our feet. I was still feeling the effects of the triangle at the restart as I walked into a right hand that put me down with 16 seconds left in the round. "match over"

Biff injured his hand in training just weeks before the fight. Here's what he wrote about that:

I finally went and got my hand x-rayed on Monday. It's broken in 2 places. It's started to heal since it's been 3 weeks ago now. It isn't set perfectly but they said it would be pretty complicated to go in and reset the spiral break in the middle of my hand. So, I just can't hit anything with it for a few weeks. I've already started looking for my next fight. (hopefully at 145)

Biff, good luck in your recovery and in getting a win the next time out.

I've only watched one season of The Ultimate Fighter, I can't remember which one it was, and I don't think I watched it all the way through. But this year, because I'm "Mr. Big-Time Blogger" ... yeah ... I decided I'll watch it and then post my comments.

We'll start with the trailer, where it looks like Matt Hughes will be up to his old tricks. Man, nobody plays psychological warfare like The Country Boy. Looks like he's getting Matt Serra's shorts all up in a bunch. The other thing I saw was a lot of outside-the-cage fighting. I think something like that happened last season ... was it encouraged this time around in the search for the almighty ratings? Am I a conspiracy nut? Maybe.

I just have one question: "Do you wanna be a f---- fighter?"

Go here to see more on The Ultimate Fighter Season 6

In about 10 days, we get another UFC PPV, Knockout.
Here's the card, according to mmaweekly.com:

Main Card Bouts:
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (#1 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Forrest Griffin
-Chuck Liddell (#3 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Keith Jardine
-Diego Sanchez (#6 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Jon Fitch (#7 Welterweight in the World)*
-Kazuhiro Nakamura (#10 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Lyoto Machida
-Tyson Griffin vs. Thiago Tavares

Preliminary Bouts:
-Matt Wiman vs. Michihiro Omigawa
-Diego Saraiva vs. Jeremy Stephens
-Christian Wellisch vs. Scott Junk

In the main card, I'm picking Rua, Liddell, Sanchez, Machida and Griffin. We'll see how I do. I'll have a more detailed analysis closer to the time of the event.

John Andell and Justin Scott

Here's a news release I just received from Mark Jovich. Congrats to all of the CPMA fighters, and to everyone who competed in Fall Brawl.

The Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy has a weekend of strong performances and little mistakes at Empire State Warrior Challenge “Fall Brawl” going 3 for 6 in MMA Fights.

The Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy competed in a MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) event on Saturday, September 8th. The event was the Empire State Warrior Challenge “Fall Brawl” held in East Durham, NY.

The evening started with CPMA fighter John Andell of Red Lion, PA winning his debut bout with a rear naked choke in the second round over Josh Click. Andell then took a second demonstration fight later in the evening with Jeremy Springer. The CPMA fighter submitted Springer in the second round with an arm bar from the mounted position.

The second CPMA fighter to enter the ring was Brent Kroh of Dallastown, PA. Brent lost a split decision to Carlos Morales. Brent controlled the majority of the 1st round taking Morales takedown then mounting him. Brent then applied arm triangle choke. Morales fought off the arm triangle choke to end the round. The second round was a combination of takedowns by Kroh and sweeps by Morales. The 3rd and final round was exciting with both fighters trying to impose their will, Kroh attempting takedowns and Morales avoiding and striking with hands and feet.

Looks like I went 0-4 in my picks in the main card at UFC 75 - Champion vs. Champion. I'm not a bettin' man, but if I was, I would have a lot of 'splainin' to do to the wife.

In the main card, we had:
Cheik Kongo beat CroCop Filipovic by unanimous decision.
Michael Bisping beat Matt Hamill by split decision.
Houston Alexander beat Alessio Sakara by TKO.
Quinton Jackson beat Dan Henderson by unanimous decision.

UFC has posted a video montage of the weigh-ins for UFC 75 - Champion vs. Champion. See it here

Also, hunting around on UFC's Web site, I found this cool graphic about the LHW division. Man, it is loaded: Jackson, Henderson, Liddell, Ortiz, Evans, Sakara, Bisping, Machida, Rua and more. See it here

Here are my predictions:
Henderson over Jackson
CroCop over Kongo
Hamill over Bisping
Sakara over Alexander

Here's something I stumbled on for all of you who wonder if there's life beyond UFC. The answer is hell yeah. Don't get me wrong, the UFC is great, but let's think globally here. There's a boatload of talent in Europe that you just don't hear that much about. To get a taste, head over to http://www.profight.cz They've got several events for free on there, including a bout from World Freefight Challenge between seasoned Brazilian Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons and tough Russian Alexander Shlemenko.

We’ve got a weekend stacked (and not like UFC 73) with mixed martial arts, both locally and globally. Check it out:
-- Friday, Lower Windsor’s Biff Walizer fights in New Jersey the first round of an 8-man lightweight tournament in New Jersey called Ring of Combat - Beasts of the Northeast. Walizer’s got the strength, skills and intelligence to take the title.

-- Saturday, UFC 75, on tape delay from England, on Spike TV, starting at 9 p.m., with Dan Henderson vs. Quinton Jackson, Mirko Filipovic vs. Cheik Kongo, Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hammill and Houston Alexander vs. Alessio Sakara. We could be witness to some historic bouts — and it’s freeeeee. (well, aside from that annoying cable bill ...)

-- Saturday, five York County fighters from Central Pennsylvania Martial Arts Academy in New Cumberland will be in New York to fight at the Empire State Warrior Challenge’s Fall Brawl. Coach Mark Jovich has his guys well-trained, mentally and physically. Could the team go 5-0? They’ve got a good shot.

The latest money-man to see MMA as a cash cow: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. And he’s got his eye on the most sought-after fighter on the planet: Fedor Emelianenko.

“I am in ongoing discussions with some of his people,“ Cuban said on sherdog.com.

No word yet if he thinks Fedor’s negotiating team is a bunch of crazy Russians, as the UFC’s Dana White so eloquently put it.

Cuban also owns HDNet, which broadcasts MMA shows from several smaller federations like World Extreme Cagefighting, IFO and Steele Cage.

“I plan on making a significant investment in MMA with the goal of promoting it as a professional sport with professional athletes,“ said the 49-year-old Cuban, whose net worth was listed by Forbes in 2007 to be $2.3 billion.

In addition, HDNet is set to launch a new show called “Inside MMA” that will debut on Friday Sept. 14 at 9:30 p.m., that plans to cover all aspects of the fight-game, all over the world.