Cheick Kongo Dominates

 With a shocking rally that sprang literally from the mouth of defeat, Kongo scored perhaps the most violent win of his career in stopping Barry. Now 9-4-1, Kongo once more is in the exact middle of the heavyweight pile. Thus far, he’s proven himself too talented for the lower tier, while falling short against the better heavies. With just 2:39 of action against Barry, who was lighting him up prior to getting drilled and stopped, it’s too early to tell if Kongo has made vast technical improvements to his standup. But the win showed serious resilience and will also buy him valuable moments the next time someone has him on the brink of a KO -- call it the Scott Smith factor. 

Changler - Trial By FLAME

Michael Chandler dove headfirst into the world of mixed martial arts from the wrestling mats of the University of Missouri. In two short years, he was able to earn his way into Bellator Fighting Championships’ fourth-season lightweight tournament. Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J., Chandler firmly engraved his name into the minds of MMA fans as he laid a beat down on favorite Patricky “Pitbull” Freire to claim the tourney title and a shot at reigning Bellator 155-pound champ Eddie Alvarez. 

Chandler’s drive toward MMA was satrong: the High Ridge, Mo., native began his fighting career before even completing his undergraduate studies at Missouri. 

“I started getting into MMA in my junior year,” Chandler told Sherdog.com on Saturday. “I was blessed to have good guys in my life like Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.” 

Woodley was especially instrumental in Chandler’s growth as a mixed martial artist. In late 2009, the Strikeforce welterweight was able to secure Chandler two fights in his home promotion; Chandler won both decisively, earning a TKO in the first and a rear-naked choke submission in the second. 

After signing with Bellator, Chandler made the decision to train full-time with Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. True to form, once his choice was made, Chandler invested himself completely. 

“It was the best decision I’ve made thus far,” Chandler said. “I realized I wanted to fight full time, so I threw everything in my car for Las Vegas. I needed that structure like I had gotten in the past five years in college wrestling. I can get a workout 24 hours a day, whenever I want, at the best gym in the world for a lightweight.” 

His training with striking coach Gil Martinez was particularly evident in Saturday’s fight with Freire, as Chandler displayed improved hands and was able to outstrike the dangerous Brazilian. Friere had turned his last opponent, Toby Imada, into a walking zombie with a brutal flying knee and Chandler was aware of the dangers posed by the “Pitbull.” 

“He definitely hit me a couple of times. He does have some power. I think he punched me in my eye,” Chandler smiled, wincing through his swollen-shut left eye. 

Martinez developed a sharp boxing gameplan with Chandler, emphasizing footwork and speed to keep Friere away from the former Mizzou Tiger. 

“We worked a lot of movement and in-and-out. We worked on keeping that jab long and keeping that hook long. I wanted to keep the distance between him and I,” Chandler said. 

Alvarez Victorious

Excerpt from sherdog


Eddie Alvarez cruised into the Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight tournament final. Jorge Masvidal was not as fortunate. 


The world-ranked Alvarez (17-2) submitted Eric Reynolds with a third-round rear-naked choke at BFC 4 on Friday at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The electrifying 24-year-old coaxed the tapout 90 seconds into round three. 


Alvarez -- who has rattled of back-to-back submission wins since his defeat to Shinya Aoki on New Year’s Eve -- mounted Reynolds (10-2) multiple times in the first two rounds and built a substantial lead on the scorecards. He latched himself onto his opponent’s back in the third round, flattened him out and cinched the choke. Alvarez has now delivered 15 of his 17 career wins by knockout, technical knockout or submission. 


Toby Imada awaits Alvarez in the final. 


Seemingly behind in his semi-final matchup, Imada stunned the favored Masvidal (17-4) with a third-round triangle choke that rendered the American Top Team ace unconscious 3:22 into round three. An 11-year veteran of the sport, Imada (22-12) has won his last eight fights, all of them finishes. 


Dave Herman, Dan Evensen and Matt Jaggers were all victorious in non-tournament action. An EliteXC veteran, the eccentric Herman (14-1) bounced back nicely from his TKO loss to Mu Bae Choi at Sengoku “No Ran 2009” in January, as he stopped Josh Barnes on first-round strikes. 


Bellator returns on May 8 at the Central Pavilion Arena in Robstown, Texas. That show will feature the featherweight tournament semi-finals, pairing Wilson Reis with Joe Sotoand Yahir Reyes with Estevan Payan. 

Cordeiro Truncates Comparisons to Jackson

Excerpt from sherdog


Kings MMA founder and former Chute Boxe coach Rafael Cordeiro(Pictured) during a recent interview with Sherdog.com on constant comparisons to trainer Greg Jackson:

“I think our philosophy is very different from the American guys. We put a lot of emotion into the things we do, and, sometimes, it speaks louder. This is the Brazilian way of acting, and I think it’s the right way. I don’t know the degree of the relationships Greg Jackson has with his students or if they come to him already prepared. These things are hard to learn because there’s been a huge amount of marketing with him. I don’t know of any champion that was made there. Unlike here, where we have fighters who are offspring of this camp, I don’t know how it happens there. It may exist, but the ones I know are fighters from other states who came to train with him. These guys get together in order to train all in the same place. Everything comes down to results. If you put his roosters against ours, ours will beat them.” 

I'd love to see a bout between these two, they have very similar striking styles and ground game.

UFC purchases Strikeforce!

"LAS VEGAS -- In a transaction that will forever change the mixed martial arts world, Zuffa, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has purchased its top competitor, Strikeforce.

UFC president Dana White spoke to MMA Fighting exclusively about why the historic purchase happened, the terms of the deal, what this means for the Strikeforce brand and fighters and much more."

This is gigantic news. Here's what I got from this video.

Dana White confirms acquisition, "This will be business as usual."

-Scott Coker is staying in charge

-Productions will still be on Showtime

-There will be NO Super fights (Cross promotion fights) (Hopefully they do this soon)

-All employees are keeping their jobs (Including production staff)

-All Fighters will still negotiate contracts with SF and not UFC

-SF will still manage it's own deals with M1

So it looks like this will just be treated like the WEC for a while. This is exciting stuff for the MMA world, let's see where it takes us.

GSP vs Silva

                                           The two best fighters in the world


I don't think there will be any point in viewing the UFC after this fight. The caliber of these two is unrivaled, and when one beats the other, what more will there be to watch? They are both in their prime, so it will be a battle for the ages. Let's hope we get to see it. GSP has to win his next fight (Which he will) to face the Spider, Anderson Silva.


I just think GSP is too complete right now. I think he can take down Silva and beat him up on the ground and can probably with stand the strikes of Silva long enough to do it. I say probably because hey its an MMA fight and who knows what will actually happen. This is just my 2 cents. Seeing Silva get taken down my Sonnen makes me think GSP would tear him down even easier. But again, who knows.


After this fight Id like to see Anderson vs Shogun. They are very close to the same size and itd be Muay Thai and BJJ vs Muay Thai and BJJ so itd probably end up in a stand up battle. I can not see Anderson vs Shogun being anything other then a super exciting fight. I like GSP and think that he could even win but he's much smaller than Anderson and it'd be a less exciting fight. Who am I kidding, it's going to be great.

Lidell Leaves the UFC

                                               "Farewell, sweet prince"

A few weeks after losing hi third fight out of five via KO, Lidell announced that he was going to retire from the UFC to President Dana White. This was news to both White, and his trainer (John Hackleman). Hackleman stated that Lidell hasn't made any decision of the sort about his MMA future, while Dana White was stating that he has "...absolutely, positively seen the last of Lidell."

"He has nothing left to prove," Said White. "He went out with a bang." (Yeah, a bang as in he got beat to a pulp three times before retiring XD)

But don't place any bets on this prediction. You know WHite will cave if Liddell wants to do a "Post retirement fight" (See: Randy Corture). And there's no way Lidell will join another organization, due to legal reasons, and his loyalty to the UFC. However if the boss claims the show is over, it just may be.

UFC: 128 Predictions Shogun Vs Jones

                                                       "Bring it, Jones"




I honestly can't don't know who will win this fight, it should be really close. Shogun utterly destroyed Machida, and Jones is undefeated (Other than that one DQ.) Jones has constantly surprised me with his willingness to go outside of the box and try new techniques that some people would never think to attempt in the octagon. Honestly, how do you emulate Jones in a sparring session? The reach, the unpredictability, the reaction ability, he's so talented and he's still getting better.

That said, Shogun is a BEAST. Lyoto got pretty damn lucky the first time they met in the octagon and that's coming from a Machida fan. Shogun has shown that he can go to the ground or stand up and triumph in both of those positions. He has more experience than Jones and that's gonna be a huge advantage for him in terms of being mentally prepared.

This fight is going to be terrific, I can say that without a doubt in my mind. Both fighters are aggressive, dynamic and oriented towards getting that belt around their own waist. Son, I am very excite.

All in all this fight is drawing a LOT of hype, Jones with his massive reach (the longest in the UFC), and Shogun, the seasoned veteran. I predict a knock out by Jones, who will win? Only time will tell.

Mixed Martial Arts: Why it's better than boxing.

                                        
Since its conception, MMA (Namely the UFC) has been compared and contrasted with boxing. If you read the title of this blog you will know where I stand on the debate. So here are some arguments against MMA in favor of boxing that I will debunk.

1. People say that boxing is better than MMA because the "rivalries" are better (when in fact it is just manufactured).

2. People will say "The most effective MMA weapon is the boxing punch" Really? The "Boxing punch"? Right, because the "Boxing punch" is a martial art that has been around for thousands of years right? Wrong. Boxing has been around only for a few centuries, while say Tae Kwon Do and Muay Thai are thousand + year old arts that have efficiently sculpted punching techniques. Besides, the "boxing punch" is not even comparable in terms of lethal force against the deadly roundhouse kick.

                                        (You can do this in MMA, not in boxing)

3. Boxing advocates claim that boxing requires more skill. For those of you who don't track boxing or MMA I will put it in easier terms for you. Do you think it'd be more difficult to master just baseball? Or to master baseball, basketball, and football at the same time? Now you understand the underlying difference between MMA and Boxing. Boxing focuses completely on striking skill, nothing else. If you're a bad striker you can't succeed in boxing. Simple as that. In MMA however, you can be the shittiest striker ever. Wanna know why? Because there are more options. You can be bad at striking but amazing at take downs and submissions, and visa versa. This is one of the main reasons why MMA is simply more entertaining, and a better sport than boxing.

4. Boxing is more entertaining than MMA. This really isn't even an argument. Boxing is easily one of the most predictable sports out there. It is INTENSELY momentum based. In the sense that the guy who is landing strikes will 99% of the time simply win the fight. While in UFC, crazy turn-arounds are commonplace. In UFC 117: Silva Vs. Sonnen, Sonnen was moping the floor with Silva (Silva being the acclaimed best fighter in the world). Sonnen was landing strike after strike on Silva and pretty much dominating him the entire fight. Then Sonnen takes Silva to the ground, and, as stated above, this is is where the variety aspect of MMA kicks in. Silva SUBMITS Sonnen via triangle armbar on the ground, and pulls out a win. If true champions overcome adversity, Silva takes the cake on that one.

                     "Good job son, you mindlessly bludgeoned that man's head so well."

So what do you think requires more skill? I'll let you decide. But I believe that boxing (in the next decade) will be withered down quite a bit in comparison to the MMA movement, it's getting way too popular for boxing to compete.