Results tagged “Brazilian fighters” from MMA Explosion

photo from sherdog.com

I blogged about the upcoming light-heavyweight title fight between champion Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua recently, saying it should be interesting to see if/how they alter their styles in the fight.

from mmajunkie.com:
"I know Lyoto very well," Rua said. "I have studied his game a lot. I know his style. I trained my strategy for the fight for three months in a row, focusing on that.

"I hope to be able to keep up with the strategy for the whole fight because we know what to expect, and we don't plan on getting frustrated and changing the plan. We worked on that, and we'll follow the plan."

The 2005-era Rua was an aggressive, wild foe. But in facing Machida's patient, karate-based counter-striking style, Rua believes his own patience will be key.

It may prove a test of the mind as much as an examination of Rua's physical form.

"We can only know for sure what's going to happen when the fight starts," Rua said. "You never really know what's going to happen in a fight. You can try to predict something, but anything can happen. Anything can change at any given moment during a fight.

"I trained for something. I plan and hope on doing what I trained and the strategy I prepared for, but a fight is a fight. Let's wait and see."

I know Machida has said he adapted his style to please the fans - becoming more aggressive - but with the ultra-aggressive Shogun coming at him, we might see Machida revert back to the elusive, patient counter-striker. Either way, we're in for a good one. These are two of the most exciting and talented LHWs out there and so I don't see this one getting out of maybe the second round.

By mmajunkie.com
A rumored bout between Wanderlei Silva (32-10-1 MMA, 2-5 UFC) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is apparently set for UFC 110, which takes place Feb. 21 at Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Silva discussed the fight openly in a recent video his camp posted on YouTube.

According to Silva, the middleweight bout serves as the headline fight for the event, which takes place on a rare Sunday (with an apparent live Saturday broadcast in the U.S.).

Gotta love the wisdom of Wand: "Only the fighter who persists to the end, gets to the top ...Many guys that I knew gave up, guys who were better than me. My only difference is that I persisted and continued trying."

"Banha" Cane.

from mmajunkie.com:
A light-heavyweight bout between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Luis Cane (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will take place at UFC 106.

Sherdog first reported that verbal agreements are in place. Sources close to the negotiations confirmed the news with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) and said the fight was discussed as a possibility as early as this past weekend, though bout agreements have not been signed.

Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua

Here's an excerpt from John Morgan's story on Anderson Silva on mmajunkie.com:
While Silva has always said defending the middleweight title is of utmost importance to him, the Brazilian suggested he may be willing to continue a run at light heavyweight - despite the difficulties of fighting bigger men.

"It's a big problem, because these guys at 205 (pounds) are a lot bigger than me," Silva said. "But I want to fight against the best. Whoever the best is at the time, that's who I want to fight."

Silva is now an astounding 10-0 in the UFC, and his dominance in two divisions warrants real consideration for the dangerous striker as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter.

Ted: Notice Silva didn't say "I want to fight against the best, but not my close buddy Lyoto." OK, so we know that Silva and Lyoto Machida, UFC's light-heavyweight champ, have said they will not fight each other. They train together, although I did not see Machida in attendence at Silva's training camp for last night's fight.

As to who would win, man, I'm just shaking my head right now.

You have your classic striker vs. grappler in this middleweight fight. The backstory was could Filho, who had suffered mental health issues in the past, and an embarrassing defeat to Chael Sonnen in the WEC, put it all together. The winner here would be who could execute first - either Manhoef knocks out Filho, or Filho submits Manhoef. So, no real surprises, but still fun to watch. And check out the crowd - for those of you who really liked PRIDE, it looks like MMA might be making a bit of a comback in Japan.

Thanks to Robert K. from BigOddsMike for the story, which he gleaned from Croatian site index.hr. Make sure to go there for all your UFC 100 odds.

After making a successful UFC comeback against Al Turk, Mirko Cro Cop's next fight will most likely be on September 19th , at UFC 103, in Dellas, Texas. Although we're still awaiting an official confirmation, Mirko's opponent will likely be 24-year Brazilian Junior Dos Santos.

The rising star exploded into the heavyweight division against former UFC contender Fabricio Werdum. The fight lasted only 81 seconds.

Dos Santos, known as "The Gypsy" in Brazil was set to fight in August, but UFC organizers cancelled the bout planned for UFC 102 in favor of a possible main event with the Croatian.

"I think I'll fight September 19. They took me off the August 29 show," he said, also announcing he will no longer be facing the same opponent. "My opponent's changed. I'll probably face Cro Cop. If I beat him I'll be in really good standing. If that's truly the case, I'm guaranteed on the main card and in the main event of the evening. If I were to fight now it wouldn't be on the main card," he said

The latest video from Wand Fight Team. Wand - fresh from his fight with Franklin (cuts on his nose and ear) trains his team and gives them a heartfelt psych-up, complete with a classic Chute Boxe-like cheer at the end.

Here's the description written on his youtube channel: "The Fight Camp" is a Documentary Feature Film about the legendary, mixed martial arts fighter Wanderlei Silva, preparing for the greatest fight of his career in the UFC. Motivated by his loyal fans from around the world, and with the heavy burden of his last career loss, Wanderlei Silva like a true champion, overcomes all obstacles, to push forward through the toughest fight camp of his life.

I just watched the UFC 98 weigh-ins and although I had the sound down for most of it, it looked like everybody made weight.

There were no confrontations when the fighters squared off, although Hughes and Serra did not shake hands. No surprise there.

For the main event, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida got a warm welcome from the crowd, but LHW champ Rashad Evans got a mix of boos thrown in. As Joe Rogan said, maybe it has to do with the fact that Evans has beaten two of the most popular UFC fighters of all time (or "of all times" according to Dana White) in Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. Or it could be his in-cage antics, which are seen by some to be cocky and arrogant.

Anyway, Machida made a good stab at English in his post-weigh-in comment to Rogan, and that probably endeared him to the crowd as well.

When Evans and Machida squared off, Evans chose not to raise his hands. Machida, on the other hand, struck a Shotokan stance and put his right fist up to Evans' face. He bowed deeply to Rashad before and after he did that though.