Results tagged “PrideFC” from MMA Explosion

A couple months ago, I blogged about a promotion that was planning an MMA event in Reading called "Crime and Punishment: Cops vs. Cons" and said I would reserve my judgment until after I spoke with its promoters, Ryan Kerwin and Raymond Gokool. Well, I spoke with Kerwin earlier tonight.

My first stop, however, was a call to Greg Sirb, executive director for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission on Wednesday.

I asked Sirb what he thought of the event, was it going to be real cops taking on real cons inside a cage?

"That's just blowing smoke up your ass," he said. Sirb said that "not even one" of the fighters on the card is a real cop or real con. "It's marketing. There's no cops, there's no convicts. I have the freakin' line-up. Do you think I would let that go on?"

My next call, today, was to Kerwin, who said that yes, the title of the event is a bit of marketing to set himself apart from the other MMA events popping up all over the state. But contrary to what Sirb said, the fighters - at least those on the main card - are all cops or cons. "This isn't a joke," he said.

Middleweight bouts
Cop - Lamont Lister
vs
Con - Matt Masterson

Cop - Taylor Sensabaugh
vs
Con - John Bryant

Welterweight bouts
Cop - Chris Kennedy
vs
Con - Marcus Ajian

Lightweight bouts
Cop - Brian Smiley
vs
Con - Shannon Green

Featherweight bouts
Cop - Johnny Torres
vs
Con - Gabriel Greenberg

Just watched the weigh-ins. Here are my quick thoughts:

- Randy weighed in at 220, Big Nog at 231, which is probably the lightest he's been in some time. Both look to be in great shape.

- As you can guess, the crowd totally roared for Randy.

- Anderson Silva had a goofy plaid shirt he wore to support Big Nog.

- Thiago Silva had these black wrap-around sunglasses, a la Bono of U2.

- There are a ton of heavyweight fights on this card, when you think about it: Couture/Nog, Gonzaga/Tuchscherererererer (actually it's just Tuchscherer.), McCully/Russow, and Duffee/Hague.

- By the way, Duffee looked yoked. Weighed in at 250 or so, looks to be about 6'3', 6'4" and was cut. Hope to see a good performance out of him, he could be one to watch in the coming years.

- Oh, and with his Portuguese accent, Big Nog calls Randy, "Handy."

The event is this Saturday. here's more info. from mmajunkie:

Location: Portland, Ore.
Venue: Rose Garden
Broadcast: Pay-per-view

MAIN CARD

Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva
Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt
Demian Maia vs. Nate Marquardt
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brandon Vera

PRELIMINARY CARD
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Justin McCully vs. Mike Russow
Todd Duffee vs. Tim Hague
Nick Catone vs. Mark Munoz
Marcus Aurelio vs. Evan Dunham
Ed Herman vs. Aaron Simpson

Now this is a slick promo right here, giving you a little bit of what to expect for the third installment of the Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge. CPWC II, and the one before it - the first sanctioned MMA event in state history - have shown what great fighters we have in little ol' York County. Guys give their all, most of them for no money at all, to show their love for the sport. As far as I know, no other MMA promotion in Pennsylvania has staged as many events as Mark Jovich has in the few months MMA has been legal here.

I talked to Mark today, and he said he had just come from the new Lancaster Convention Center, where CPWC III will take place on October 23. "It's the best, the place is beautiful," he said. "It's just unbelievable." The venue for the event, a 4,000-capacity hall, will have four 10-foot-by-10-foot screens hung above the cage, in addition to 36 lights suspended above. And how about this - shades of PRIDE - a 50-foot catwalk to the cage. And as for the fighter rooms backstage - nothing short of top-notch, Mark said. Mark's working hard to bring the best match-ups, featuring local fighters and maybe even some nationally-known pros. Click here to get more info. on the event.

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

After UFC 99, Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic drew the ire of the MMA community when he announced he was leaving the UFC, although it had been reported he was supposed to fight several more times there. Most speculated he was jumping back to DREAm, the Japanese promotion he had fought under after leaving the UFC the first time. here's an exclusive from Robert K from Big Odds Mike who translated an article from the Croatian site index.hr.

Exclusive UFC owner visiting Cro Cop in Croatia

Index understands that Lorenzo Fertitta, the head honcho and part owner of the UFC flew to Zagreb with his own private jet earlier this morning. He was driven to Mirko's residents shortly after, where he stayed for two hours talking with the Croatian fighter. He returned to the airport afterwards, smiling, where his private jet flew off in to an unknown destination.

from mirko's Web site:

These days the boys from Cro Cop team are training in full force. After a long break and highly demanding recovery process, Mirko Cro Cop is ready to fight in MMA again.

All problems with injuries are history and Cro Cop is very optimistic to start another chapter in his career:
"I feel great, the recovery process is going well and we train at high intensity now. I never had such a strong desire to prove myself and I'll climb up again, or die trying."

Mirko's next fight is set for June 13th in Germany, which means that he's back in the UFC, a place that he didn't have his best moments:
"I decided to fight in the UFC again, because of the stronger competition in the heavyweight division. My next opponent will be Mustapha Al-Turk. I didn't do well in my first three appearances - I wasn't myself. By returning to the cage I want to prove that I can still fight at highest level, no matter when or where," he said.

UFC 99 will be Cro Cop's first fight this year with the possibility of three fights coming by years end.
"It's hard to talk about concrete plans, but I would really like to fight at least three times this year. I wish to fight against quality opponents and to fight my way up to a title shot but for now, I'll focus only on my next fight and after that we'll see what's going to be on the menu next," says Cro Cop.
Although the UFC 99 card looks stacked, it seems that the UFC officials can see the benefits of hiring a top European fighter for their first ever UFC show in Germany.

"I want to say thank you Mr. Dana White for your interest and for an invitation back to the UFC. I owe you a lot from our first deal, and I'll make it up to you," promises Cro Cop.

All news related to Mirko Cro Cop's career are posted on Mirko's official MMA-ID profile on http://www.mma-id.com/CROCOP and Mirko's official homepage http://www.mirko-crocop.com.

Yours truly,
The CROCOP Team

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with
"The Fight Professor", the veteran broadcaster, actor, and musician
Stephen Quadros (http://stephenquadros.com/).

In a lengthy interview and analysis, we discussed the upcoming May 23
Art of War Fighting Championship (http://mmachina.com) mixed martial
arts card in Beijing, China, and the prospects of the Art of War
Fighting Championship becoming as popular worldwide as were the Pride
Fighting Championships. We discussed the fighters on this card, the
rules, what they need to do to become a major world-class promotion,
and more. We will both be attending this card in Beijing.

Plus, we also discussed the Strikeforce Challengers mixed martial arts
card which will take place this Friday, May 15, at the Save Mart
Center in Fresno, Calif., and which will be telecast live in the U.S.
on Showtime, with the announcing being done by Mauro Ranallo, Stephen
Quadros, and Pat Miletich. This card will feature a lightweight fight
between Billy Evangelista (9-0) and Mike Aina (11-6-1), and a bout
between Meisha Tate (6-1) against Sara Kaufman (8-0, 8 TKOs).

You can play or download No Holds Barred at
http://nhbnews.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-05-12T13_43_40-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?jmlymwhzmmk.