UFC 108 Results and highlights ! Can this be the Next fight ? Rashad Evans Vs Rampage Jackson ?

One of the greats of the Ultimate Fighting Championship had yet another superb night Saturday at UFC 108 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
He was on top of his game, though the critics were out in full force beforehand, predicting his decline.

He came up with a superstar performance on a night when many were expecting little more than yawns.

Joe Silva, the UFC’s frequently badgered matchmaker, proved Saturday that he’s one of the company’s most valuable assets by putting together a sensational card of fights that frequently left the crowd of 13,255 delirious with excitement.




UFC 108 was decimated by nearly a dozen fighter injuries and illnesses, forcing Silva to rework the card multiple times. Enough guys dropped off the card to field a football team, there were replacements for the replacements and many critics were howling, predicting a disastrous card and calling for a cut in the pay-per-view price.



The critics would have been correct if the card ended after the first fight, a lightweight match between Rafaello Oliveira and John Gunderson that was a dull, desultory affair that Oliveira won by decision.



After the opener, though, fight after fight was a jaw-dropper, making it clear that Silva is still pretty good at what he does.



The main event, in which Rashad Evans defeated Thiago Silva on a unanimous decision, was a quality fight but seemed like a letdown after the series of other A-quality bouts.



“The show speaks for itself,” said Sam Stout, whose lightweight war with Joe Lauzon will be among the contenders for 2010 Fight of the Year some 363 days after it occurred. “Everyone who fought put on an impressive performance.”



Prior to the card, UFC president Dana White vigorously defended the quality of the show and went on the offensive against those who were critical of the matches.



Much is made on Internet bulletin boards of a perceived lack of respect that White shows fighters, but White got the last laugh Saturday. He wound up turning the critics’ words against them.



“All these guys (on the Internet) are always talking about respecting fighters,” White said. “But more disrespect was thrown at the fighters than ever. Listen, I think they were trying to take shots at the UFC, but what they’re doing is taking shots at the fighters.



“I go out and we put together the best fights we can and we go promote it. Saying that this card sucked, or that it was lackluster, or that it didn’t live up to being a New Year’s Eve card, well, I said it at the (pre-fight) press conference: These guys always deliver.”



Well, not always, but Silva comes through more often than not. On Saturday, there were at least a half-dozen mind-blowing moments.



The submission that Cole Miller slipped on Dan Lauzon in their lightweight fight was so incredible and came from out of nowhere that the UFC ought to consider adding it to the highlight reel they play in arenas before each show.



Stout and Joe Lauzon put on a battle for the ages, highlighted by a sequence in the first round in which they rolled across the cage as Stout attempted to work his way out of a kimura attempt by Lauzon.



Jim Miller also pulled off a brilliant submission, but he did so after playing Duane Ludwig’s game. He knocked down Ludwig, who seemed to have a striking advantage, with a clean shot and then immediately went about pulling off his submission.



Paul Daley bragged for weeks that he would knock out Dustin Hazelett, then he went out and did just that.



Heavyweight Junior dos Santos continued his ascent toward stardom, blowing away Gilbert Yvel.



There were many such moments throughout the night.



One of the reasons that cards that are panned turn out to be good is that the ones that are being ripped are generally the ones without the biggest stars.



When the big names fight, the matchups usually dictate themselves. In that instance, Silva doesn’t have the ability to influence the card.



But on cards like Saturday’s, where there are more mid-tier fighters, Silva can play with the matchups and arrange the bouts so the styles produce the most fireworks.



“He’s the best in the business,” White said of Silva. “… Joe Silva is awesome and he does a fantastic job. He’s the best.”



Jim Miller said he wasn’t surprised the card turned out the way it did. He was irked, as were many of the fighters on the show, by the constant flood of Internet whining about the quality of the show.



He had two other opponents who fell out before Ludwig took the bout. He said he was geared for a prime performance, believing an impressive win could vault him into the top 10.



“Everybody stepped up and it was a great night of fights,” he said. “People don’t understand that injuries happen in this sport. If they don’t believe it, they ought to get on the mat and train. We train harder than any other athletes on the planet. Guys are going to get hurt.”



And yet, there is always something going on. On Saturday, former heavyweight boxing champion James Toney was hanging around the press room, begging White for a fight, which White said he’d consider.



There were smiles all around, as White obviously was pleased by what he’d seen after what he’d heard for months.



“At the end of the day, if you’re a fight fan, you put your money down because you want to see great fights,” he said. “Sometimes, we have a card filled with our big names, like UFC 100, and they put on a show. And sometimes, we have guys who get hurt or have something go on in their lives and they can’t make it. But we are fight promoters and this is what we do. This is why we have so many guys under contract. We’re in the fight business and at the end of the day, if you come to one of our shows, you’re going to get a kick-ass night of fights.”Rashad Evans spent the first two rounds in his UFC 108 main event with Thiago Silva implementing a specific game plan. He’d move forward, throw a few punches to get Silva off balance, and explode with a takedown.




While he was unable to finish Silva, who was coming off a knockout win over one of Evans’ best friends and training partner Keith Jardine, he largely shut Silva’s offense down completely for two rounds and seemed on the verge of an easy decision.



Then, in a split second, things changed. Evans was caught with a punch and put down. Silva had him in trouble, but then held up and Evans had a chance to recover.






It became a battle, both with a clock ticking away and with both men’s conditioning as Evans tried to hold on. But Evans, in his first match back since dropping the UFC light heavyweight title to Lyoto Machida, survived the third round to win the unanimous decision by straight 29-28 scores on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.



“I said to myself, `No, this isn’t going to happen again,’” said Evans (14-1-1). “I was thinking, `Keep your composure,’ and I was talking myself through it. When I get rocked with a good shot, I talk with myself. My legs felt a little loose so I was going to try and tie him up.”



He blamed the knockdown and the period when he was in danger of losing to getting tired after pushing the pace heavily, as well as a mental lapse causing him to do exactly what he had been drilled in training not to do.



“I know he’s a pretty good striker but I didn’t think he had the power, the one-punch power, even though he knocked out Jardine (Evans’ good friend and training partner),” said Evans after the fight. “I wasn’t too afraid of his power.



I would go to implement my game and break him down with pressure. In the third round, I got a little bit tired. I don’t know if I got lazy, and he got me with a shot.”



“My coaches told me, `Don’t fade away after somebody throws a jab,’ and that’s exactly what I did,” Evans continued. “He slipped a right hand in there and it caught me. It landed, and I thought I rolled with the punch. I tried to move my legs. But my legs were gone, so I grabbed him and tried to recover.”



The key moment where Silva (14-2) let Evans off the hook was when, a moment after his big shot, he started playing to the crowd, which fired up the crowd, but gave Evans a chance to recover.



Silva had been taunting Evans, putting his hands down and inviting Evans to throw, and waved to get the crowd to react, but Evans ignored getting shown up.



“He was giving himself a chance to recover,” he said. “I felt him breathing. After we got done with that exchange he was breathing really hard and he was doing everything he can to motivate himself.”



“It didn’t affect me at all. He was trying to excite himself and he was trying to rest a little bit. It’s not my first fight. I’m not going to get goaded into somebody waving his hands and saying ‘come get me.’



“A fight is a strategy,” he continued. “He was trying to get me to lose my head. There’s a saying, if you lose your head, your ass goes with it. You can’t fault him for trying to get me out of my element and to open up so he can catch me.”



The score was obvious, as there was little question Evans won the first two rounds, that Silva won the third, and that Silva didn’t follow up his advantage and do enough damage to earn a 10-8 third which would have made the fight a draw. Still, most of the crowd announced at 13,255 fans, heavily pro-Silva from the start, booed the decision heavily.



The win will lead to a much-anticipated match with Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, which UFC president Dana White said he’s hoping to put together on the scheduled May 1 show in Montreal.



The match has been the source of a lot of controversy. The two were opposite coaches on season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, which ended early last month, which featured a number of confrontations ending with Evans vs. Jackson being one of the most anticipated matches in company history.



But Jackson pulled out of the original Dec. 12 fight date in his hometown of Memphis to take a lead role as the B.A. Baracus character in “The A-Team” movie. At one point, mad at White being critical of him for taking the movie role, he said he was quitting the UFC. Most recently he said that he didn’t want the fight if Evans were to lose to Silva.



“I don’t have any messages for Rampage,” said White. “This fight should have happened a few weeks ago. I’m over it, I’m past it. It’s time to do this fight when he’s done with the movie.”



Evans noted that his coaches wanted him to implement a new fighting strategy and feels he needs another fight to get it down before facing Machida.



“Sticking to a game plan is always hard, especially when your opponent is trying to stop you,” said Evans. “I said it time and time again before the fight, I said that I was going back to wrestling. I wanted to throw hands but my corner warned me against it. They told me not to get into a battle where it’s Russian Roulette and whoever gets the punch wins.”



Still, Evans admitted disappointment, even though he beat one of the top names in the division, and avenged the loss of his teammate. “Overall, yeah, I was happy to get the win, but I really wanted to go out there and be really impressive,” he said. “I worked really hard and I integrated stuff that I really don’t do. I was moving forward and I usually stay on the outside.



Moving forward with Thiago you put yourself in the line of fire. It’s hard to stick to the game plan when you’re used to doing things one way. But I’m disappointed I got tired in the third round.”With UFC post-fight bonuses consistently hitting the high five figures, the promotion’s athletes are constantly gunning for the honors… and the bonus check. Saturday’s UFC 108 roster was no different, and they didn’t make it easy on UFC brass. Seven of the night’s 10 bouts ended via submission or knockout.




After entertaining 13,255 fans at the MGM Grand Arena, pulling in a $2 million gate, according to UFC officials, the award winners at UFC 108 took home bonus checks of $50,000



each.

Rashad Evans Premium White Silver Star Mma Shirt (S)

Paul “Semtex” Daley kept blazing up the UFC welterweight trail on Saturday night, and he did it in stunning fashion. Dustin Hazelett, whose forte is grappling, showed admirable stand-up abilities, but he stood just a split second too long, eating a left hook from Daley that sent him crashing to the mat, lights out. It was another highlight reel finish for Daley that also earned him the Knockout of the Night.



Cole Miller found a way to survive after being dropped by a Dan Lauzon overhand



left, but he didn’t stop there. In a tremendous display of jiu-jitsu, he locked on an inverted triangle then finished Lauzon with a Kimura shoulder lock for the Submission of the Night.




Sam Stout was cut open and nearly submitted in the opening round, but somehow escaped Joe Lauzon’s submission attempts to come back and batter him. They fought on through rounds two and three, Lauzon searching for a way to catch Stout in a submission, but Stout continually staying a step ahead, outstriking the

            











                  
elder Lauzon brother. For their efforts, both Stout and Lauzon went home with an extra $50,000 and Fight of the Night honors. yahoosports.com






 

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2010



DUSTIN HAZELETT vs. PAUL DALEY

JOE LAUZON VS. SAM STOUT

JIM MILLER VS. DUANE LUDWIG

JUNIOR DOS SANTOS VS. GILBERT YVEL

MARTIN KAMPMANN VS. JACOB VOLKMANN

COLE MILLER VS. DAN LAUZON

VLADIMIR MATYUSHENKO VS. STEVE CANTWELL

MARK MUNOZ VS. RYAN JENSEN

MIKE PYLE VS. JAKE ELLENBERGER

RAFAELLO OLIVEIRA VS. JOHN GUNDERSON



Live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena – Tickets on Sale Now



Las Vegas, NV (USA) – With the pivotal light heavyweight war between Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva already slated to headline the card, The Ultimate Fighting Championship®(UFC®) confirms the remaining bouts for UFC 108: EVANS VS. SILVA, which is presented by “Bayonetta” on Saturday, January 2, 2010 and live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Starting off the New Year in style, UFC 108 will feature a card stacked with explosive battles such as Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley, Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout, Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig, Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel, Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann, Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon, Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Steve Cantwell, Mark Munoz vs. Ryan Jensen, Mike Pyle vs. Jake Ellenberger and Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson.



Tickets for UFC 108 are priced at $600, $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges, are on sale and are available at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at UFC.com, www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.



UFC 108 will be available live on pay-per-view on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, BellTV, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.95 ($49.95/Canada) for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).



On an impressive submission streak, Dustin Hazelett (fighting out of Cincinnati, Ohio/14-4 professional record) followed up his brilliant flying armbar victory over Josh Burkman with another win by armbar against Tamdan McCrory at UFC 91. Now the 23-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and Louisa, Kentucky native will look for his sixth UFC win while testing his standup skills against devastating striker Paul Daley (fighting out of Nottingham, England/22-8-2). A World Muay Thai champion with a tremendous international resume, the 26-year-old “Semtex” blasted his way into the UFC with a thunderous first-round TKO against welterweight contender Martin Kampmann at UFC 103 and he plans on a repeat performance against Hazelett.



After arriving on the scene in 2006 with a 48-second dismantling of MMA legend Jens Pulver in his UFC debut, Joe Lauzon (fighting out of Bridgewater, Mass./17-4) has gone on to win four of his next five Octagon bouts. The 25-year-old lightweight has finished Kyle Bradley and Jeremy Stephens in his last two bouts and now faces skilled striker Sam Stout (fighting out of London, Ontario, Canada/15-5-1). The 25-year-old “Hands of Stone” has three UFC wins in his career and is coming off a unanimous decision victory against the durable Matt Wiman at UFC 97.
 Check this out !
UFC: Best Of UFC 2009 [Blu-ray]

Winner of four of his first five fights in the UFC, Jim Miller (fighting out of Whippany, N.J./15-2) is making plenty of noise in the lightweight division. In his last two fights, the 26-year-old Sparta, New Jersey-born fighter earned a unanimous decision victory against veteran Mac Danzig followed by a solid TKO win against Steve Lopez at UFC 103. Now Miller turns his attention to knockout artist Duane “Bang” Ludwig (fighting out of Denver, Colo./27-9). A veteran of two UFC fights, Ludwig turned heads with an 11-second destruction of Jonathan Goulet in 2006 and is aiming to keep his unbeaten Octagon streak going.



A fighter that is impressively tearing his way through the heavyweight division, rising star Junior Dos Santos (fighting out of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil/9-1) knocked out Fabricio Werdum and Stefan Struve before forcing a verbal submission due to strikes against feared mixed martial artist Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 103. Now the 25-year-old faces one of the toughest tests of his career against the experienced Gilbert Yvel (fighting out of Amsterdam, Netherlands/36-13-1, 1 NC). A respected PRIDE® veteran, Yvel has fought some of the best fighters in the world en route to 31 KOs in his 36 career wins.



A successful middleweight fighter that has found even greater success in the stacked welterweight division, Martin Kampmann (fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev./15-3) earned a split-decision victory against former World Extreme Cagefighting® welterweight champion Carlos Condit last April after defeating some of the toughest fighters in the 185-pound weight class. But the 27-year-old might be meeting his match on the ground when he faces three-time NCAA Division I All-American Jacob Volkmann (fighting out of White Bear Lake, Minn./9-1). The 29-year-old former Big Ten collegiate wrestling champion will be seeking his first UFC win on January 2nd.



With four UFC wins already under his belt at age 25, Cole Miller (fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla./15-4) impressed many last year with his submission victory against MMA veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Jorge Gurgel. The Augusta, Georgia native followed that up with another submission victory, this time against Junie Browning last April. Now the well-rounded lightweight will touch gloves with 21-year-old phenom Dan Lauzon (fighting out of Bridgewater, Mass./12-2). The younger brother of UFC veteran Joe Lauzon, Dan was thrown into the fire right away when he drew veteran Spencer Fisher as his first UFC opponent in 2006. Lauzon has learned plenty from the experience and will take that knowledge into the Octagon™ when he faces Miller.



There are few light heavyweights more experienced than Vladimir Matyushenko (fighting out of El Segundo, Calif./23-4). The 38-year-old Belarusian impressed many at UFC 103, returning to the Octagon for the first time in six years and earning a unanimous decision victory against Igor Pokrajac. But “The Janitor” will have his hands full when he squares off against UFC up-and-comer Steve Cantwell (fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev./7-3). A former WEC® light heavyweight champion, the 23-year-old had three consecutive wins in the WEC before defeating Razak Al-Hassan by armbar in his UFC debut in 2008.



After making the drop to middleweight, Mark Munoz (fighting out of Vallejo, Calif./6-1) earned a split decision win against Nick Catone at UFC 102. A 2001 NCAA Division I national champion wrestler at Oklahoma State, “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” has worked hard to develop his entire game and looks to become a force in the 185-pound class. But the 31-year-old will need to get by Ryan Jensen (fighting out of Omaha, Neb./15-4) if he is to truly make some noise in the talent-rich division. Coming off an impressive first-round victory over Steve Steinbeiss, the 32-year-old Jensen is well-rounded and ready for a trip to the next level of the division.



Nicknamed “Quicksand,” Mike Pyle (fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev./18-6-1) took his time against his September opponent, Chris Wilson, submitting the vet in the third round of their bout. Now the 34-year-old welterweight and Dresden, Tennessee-born fighter looks to get by 24-year-old Jake Ellenberger (fighting out of Omaha, Neb./21-5). Ellenberger, a retired Marine and former wrestling coach at the University of Nebraska, has 13 wins by KO/TKO and five by submission in his career.



A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a 9-2 mixed martial arts record, Rafaello Oliveira (fighting out of Whippany, NJ) holds three wins by TKO and three by submission in his professional career. A lightweight making his UFC debut, John Gunderson (fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev./22-6) is known for his sharp boxing skills but will need his complete fight game to be on point when he faces the grappling wiz from Brazil.

by
ufc.com

Frank Mir says Lesnar may never be the same fighter , if he fights again ?

It may sound like wishful thinking on the part of Frank Mir but the former UFC champ says the illness that Brock Lesnar is fighting may change his life forever. Is Mir objective? Who knows? But the man speaks from experience. The 30-year-old was on the fast track to MMA stardom when a nasty motorcycle accident nearly ended his career back in 2004. For nearly three years, Mir battled physical and mental issues after suffering a broken leg. He finally turned the corner in 2008.

Mir says Lesnar, who's battling a serious intestinal issue that could require major surgery, may never be the invincible 290-pound behemoth that he was before he got sick:

"I don't how successful he's going to be coming back," Mir told DC and The Sunshine Man on ESPNRadio1100.

"That's going to be a question over his head for a while. It wasn't like he was a slick, technical fighter to begin with. A lot of his style went upon his brute power and strength."

Mir says Lesnar, who is seen below looking much slimmer may not physically be able to regain all his muscle and bulk.



"If Brock Lesnar is unable to put on the same kind of size as he had before, let's face it your intestinal system is what absorbs all the nutrients into your body. If that is under stress, is he going to be able to be a 300-pound guy again? I don't know. If that's not the case, I don't think he's going to be very successful as a fighter at 245," chuckled Mir."

Mir also said his opponent should and will go right for the affected area with knees and kicks to his stomach.

Mir is slated to fight Shane Carwin in March at UFC 111 for what could be a interim heavyweight title. Although Mir says if Lesnar can't return until late 2010, he should be stripped of the heavyweight crown. Mir said he was given about a year after his motorcycle accident and was stripped. He would've felt selfish if he had held onto the belt any longer. By S. Cofield yahoo.com

ufc 108

UFC 108. Consider:

-- Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin was originally rescheduled for 108 after their bout was pushed from 106 because of Lesnar's illness. When Lesnar's illness still kept him from training, their main-event bout was canceled.

-- Next, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira/Cain Velasquez was pushed to main-event status until the bout was canceled due to Nog's staph infection.

-- Carlos Condit was the next fighter who had to withdraw. He had a severe infection in his hand that required surgery and an extended hospitalization that seemed to get to Condit's head. Dustin Hazelett replaced Condit on the card and will face Paul Daley.

-- Jim Miller has had three different opponents for 108. First, it was Tyson Griffin who withdrew, and then last night, word came out that Sean Sherk had to withdraw because of a cut. Miller will now face Duan Ludwig.

-- Rory Markham was set to face Martin Kampmann, but Markham sustained a knee injury. Kampmann will now face Jacob Volkmann.

Wow. After reading through that, it's hard not to believe that this card is cursed. At the same time, MMA is a tough sport and one that requires close contact to train. Injuries and infections are inevitable. While it's an awful coincidence that they are all happening to the fighters on one card, there is no curse.

But to be sure, I'm throwing salt over my shoulder as I write this.

CUNG LE VS SCOTT SMITH! KO HIGHLIGHTs and Gilbert Melendez fights Josh Thomson highlights & Strikeforce:Evolution Lightweight Championship fights

cung le, cung le next fight, cung le vs scott smith fight video, cung le scott smith, cung le vs scott smith video strikeforce evolution





King Mo Lawal vs Mike Whitehead fight video



CUNG LE VS SCOTT SMITH! KO HIGHLIGHT



If Josh Thomson was going to predict a scenario in which he’d lose his Strikeforce lightweight championship, it probably would have gone pretty close to what happened Saturday night at the HP Pavilion.



Thomson lost what is already being talked about as a match of the year candidate, losing to someone that he long considered a very good friend, Gilbert Melendez.

Melendez (17-2), who became Strikeforce interim champion in April while Thomson was on the sidelines all year after breaking his ankle twice, in April and August, won the five-round fight via unanimous decision on scores of 49-47, 49-46 and 49-46.

More From Dave MeltzerThomson-Melendez rematch worth the wait Dec 18, 2009 Coker reflects on Strikeforce's past, future Dec 15, 2009 ADVERTISEMENT

The win avenged Melendez’s five-round loss of the title to Thomson in the same arena last June. Thomson agreed to give Melendez a title rematch that night, but due to injuries, it took a year and a half for it to happen.

Both Melendez and Thomson thought Saturday’s fight was at a slower pace than the original fight, but to the 9,362 spectators it looked to be the opposite. The first fight figured on paper to be a battle between two evenly-matched well-rounded fighters, but instead it was a one-sided domination by Thomson.

This time, while Melendez clearly won the fight, it was everything expected out of the first fight and then more. There were a number of exchanges where both men just stood there toe-to-toe firing punches. Most of those exchanges saw both men stand there and absorb the damage until the fifth round, when Thomson was tiring and needed a finish and it was Melendez, who got the better of it, putting Thomson down. But Thomson came back late in the round with a takedown and getting Melendez’s back, before the men stood and traded big shots as the fight ended to bring the crowd to its feet.

“The punch in the second round didn’t hurt, but the punch in the fourth round (actually the fifth) was a punch to the head that knocked the wind out of me,” said Thomson. “In the second (the knockdown), I didn’t really feel hurt.”

While his face was all marked up, Thomson was all smiles when it was over, praising Melendez, a former good friend and training partner.

“We talked at weigh-ins and said we planned to have the fight of the night,” said Thomson (16-3, 1 no-contest). “I don’t think either of us saw our stock drop with a fight like this. I’m proud of Gilbert. He came back from a loss like a champion. I want to let him enjoy the night.”

“It was a war,” said Melendez, who became the first two-time champion in the four-year history of Strikeforce as a mixed martial arts promotion. “I’m ready for any champions from the UFC or Dream.”

Melendez noted that the fight was not fun, and at no time was he thinking that he may have been in the middle of the match of the year. He was only thinking he was sore and was glad for it to be over. He also was mad that he felt he and Thomson, by not being in the UFC, weren’t getting their fair respect in the MMA world, noting when he saw ratings where he wasn’t in the top ten, and Thomson was in the lower rungs of the top ten.

While there was immediate talk of a third match, which is likely to happen at some point, Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker talked after the show about going to Japan for the New Year’s Eve show and trying to put together Melendez vs. Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki and Thomson vs. Dream’s Tatsuya Kawajiri for the next show in San Jose. Although with the nature of the top Japanese fighters having to be available for the big events in Japan, and the availability of buildings and Showtime dates, the stars have to be aligned perfectly for such matches to happen.

“Gilbert won because he was the better man tonight,” said Thomson. “I want to make it clear so people don’t make excuses.”

Thomson said that all week, but it had been 15 months since he last fought, and his injuries didn’t allow him to run in training, which could have made the difference in the later rounds. The difference between the two fights? In the original, Thomson was the matador, teasing Melendez at every opportunity. This time, Melendez, who blamed himself for not training hard enough for the first fight, was in better condition.

After the frantic exchanges, and particularly late, Melendez’s conditioning seemed to be the difference. The wrestling of both men largely neutralized the other, but this time Melendez was able to connect on a far greater percentage of his punches.

“I trained for five rounds and expected to go a hard five rounds,” said Thomson.

On most any other night, people would be talking almost exclusively about Scott Smith’s comeback performance in ending the unbeaten record of local favorite Cung Le in what was the show’s main event.

Le (6-1) was the star the Strikeforce promotion, before MMA was legal in California and it was a kickboxing organization, was built around during the 1990s. An unbeaten San Shou fighter (a sport that combined kickboxing with takedowns, but no ground work), dominated the entire fight. He scored three knockdowns, and befuddled Smith with his usual array with side kicks and spinning kicks that are only supposed to work on the movie set, and not in MMA fights.

But it was evident even as he was dominating Smith that he was breathing heavily, particularly when he tried to slow the fight down in the second round, holding Smith against the cage in an attempt to regain his wind.

Le, now 37, hadn’t fought since March 29, 2008, and like so many fighters in the past who ventured into the movie world, came back and was missing the edge that he had when he was younger.

Like his classic fight in April with Benji Radach, Smith came back from almost certain defeat with a Hail Mary like finish, a hard left that suddenly put Le in trouble. After putting Le down a second time, after a few punches on the ground, referee John McCarthy stopped the fight.

“He caught me with a punch,” said Le immediately after the fight. I did my best. I fought my heart out and he fought his heart out. He just caught me with a punch. You win some and you lose some.”

The key blow was a left hook that came out of nowhere.

“My left hook is really my best punch eve though people think it’s my right,” said Smith. “He was waiting for the right and I brought the left hook in and caught him.”

“I think maybe I need someone to beat the hell out of me before I go out there,” said Smith (17-6). “I almost always lose the first round.”

Smith, who has made a career of providing memorable knockouts, one in UFC against Pete Spratt that is considered one of the greatest finishes in the history of that organization, the Radach fight, and this, given how badly he was losing the fight and was nearly stopped, being another one.

After Le’s first knockdown, he pummeled Smith with hard punches on the ground as Smith just tried to cover up. He blocked some punches and others were getting through. Many, if not most referees would have stopped it, and McCarthy told Smith he’d better get out of trouble, and the urgency of the situation got him back to his feet.

In the television opener of the Showtime card, Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal (6-0), a natural middleweight fighting as a 218-pound heavyweight, finished veteran Mike Whitehead (24-7) after knocking him down and finishing him with punches on the ground in 3:08 of the first round.

Mo, who came to the cage with a group of dancing girls, wearing a crown, and walking under an umbrella, was originally scheduled to face Whitehead at light heavyweight. However, Whitehead, who in the past has cut from as heavy as 275 pounds to 205, asked for the fight at heavyweight and came in at 261 pounds.

The U.S. debut of former Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (11-2, 1 no contest) was also successful, stopping former top five middleweight Matt Lindland (21-7) with an arm triangle submission at 4:18 of the first round.yahoo.com

Thoughts on the fights ??

WEC 45 highlights , who is going to win ? Cerrone or Ratcliff ? or Strikeforce: Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez ?

WEC

Donald Cerrone isn’t going to be named mixed martial arts Fighter of the Year, except, perhaps, by his family.
He probably won’t get a vote for it, either. He needs a win over Ed Ratcliff on Saturday at WEC 45 at The Pearl at The Palms simply to end the year with a break-even mark.
But if you’re the type that likes jaw-dropping action just about every time out, then Cerrone is most definitely your man.
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Cerrone entered 2009 with a 9-0 record, 10-0 if you count a 2007 victory that was erased and changed to a no contest when he tested positive for a diuretic. He goes into the Ratcliff fight with a 10-2 record, but there are few fighters on the World Extreme Cagefighting roster other than featherweight champion Jose Aldo who are more routinely exciting than Cerrone.
His loss to Ben Henderson in October is being hailed by some as the 2009 Fight of the Year. His controversial defeat to bitter – perhaps hated – rival Jamie Varner in January was Fight of the Night and was another one that was stunning in its brutality.
And he closed 2008 with a Fight of the Night effort in a win over “Razor” Rob McCullough.
Yet, as much as he’s become a crowd favorite, the crowd has little impact upon him as he’s fighting. He’s a fierce competitor who is constantly looking for a finish and that, more than trying to get a rise out of the audience, is what fuels him.
“I think I more feed off my opponent than anything else,” Cerrone said. “When I feel him getting weaker and tired, I’m more motivated to push harder and keep going forward. I really don’t feed off the crowd. You don’t even know the crowd’s there, to be honest. It’s crazy.
“It’s hard to explain. You see them when you walk out, but once you start fighting, you have no idea (that they’re there). You’re so into the zone and focused on what you’re doing you don’t realize it.”
His fight with Henderson was an MMA classic that featured all aspects of the sport: There were huge punches and kicks landed, numerous submission attempts and fast scrambles.
Henderson won a close decision that was hotly disputed. Cerrone, a blunt speaker who never hesitates to say what’s on his mind, oddly didn’t disagree.
He said he thought Henderson won the fight, despite public sentiment that disagreed. In his view, the bout came down to how the first round was judged. Cerrone had a series of near-submissions, but Henderson managed to fight all of them off to survive.
“With the judging now, if you’re a wrestler and you’ve taken someone down and you control him, they’ll give you the fight,” Cerrone said. “It’s weird, but it’s like they don’t give you any points for submission attempts, points for getting up. It’s like a weird scoring system. It’s something they need to work on. But shoulda, woulda, coulda. There’s nothing I can do about it now.
“I had my 25 minutes to do what I could. I’m not going to complain and say I should have won. I’m going to be a humble guy and say, ‘Ben, good job. I think he won it,’ even if I don’t totally agree with it.”
One thing he’s certain of is the fact he’ll defeat Ratcliff on Saturday. He didn’t mince words in his assessment of how the fight will go.
Ratcliff, he said, isn’t in his league as a fighter and he’ll prove that on Saturday.
“I can pretty much win this fight anywhere,” Cerrone said. “My wrestling is better than his, my jiu-jitsu is way better than his and my standup, I’ve been doing it way longer than him. I don’t feel like he poses a threat to me in any area. I feel like I can end the fight pretty much where I want.”
He’ll get a much stiffer test if and when he gets the chance to meet Aldo, the dynamic featherweight champion. Cerrone isn’t planning a full-time move to 145, but said he can make the weight and would like to challenge several of the top featherweights.
That could set the possibility that he’ll fight for both the lightweight and the featherweight belt in 2010.
“That would be awesome,” Cerrone said. “But the bottom line in all of this is that I think it’s about big fights, more than anything else. I don’t want to fight guys that mean nothing. I want to take risks, to fight guys who are dangerous and who will get people talking. My whole motivation in this is to challenge myself and fight the best guys in the world.”

or

Strikeforce

When Strikeforce announced nearly one year ago its deal with Showtime and CBS, Josh Thomson, the promotion’s lightweight champion, was in the position to make himself a national star.
One year and two broken ankles later, Thomson has to chalk up 2009 as a learning experience.
“I learned that my career could be over at any time, and that you have to save your money,” said Thomson, who gets back into the cage on Saturday night for the final Showtime MMA event of the year. “It was frustrating. I was hoping to fight on CBS this year.”
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Josh Thomson expects to go the distance when he faces Gilbert Melendez.(MMAWeekly)
His opponent at San Jose’s HP Pavilion is also a familiar one: Gilbert Melendez, who Thomson (16-2, 1 no-contest) meets in a rematch to unify Strikeforce’s split 155-pound title.
The two were good friends three years ago, trained together and never expected to fight each other. But they ended up as the top two lightweight fighters in the company and it became a natural match to make.
Melendez said that he’s not the type of person who can fight a friend, so he cut off the friendship.
“I have to dislike my opponent,” Melendez (16-2) said. “I’m not the guy who is going to high-five my opponent during the fight. It’s not me.” Thomson also learned a lesson about patience outside the cage that Melendez likely learned inside during their first match.
The first meeting between the two on June 27, 2008, also in San Jose, ended up as the biggest win of Thomson’s career. A significant underdog against a consensus-top 10 fighter at the time, Thomson was able to pick apart Melendez and negate his wrestling for five rounds in winning a straight 50-45 decision.
While watching the fight, it seemed like Thomson knew every move Melendez was going to make and when. Thomson had the edge in every aspect of the bout, handing Melendez the first and only one-sided defeat of his career.
“I didn’t perform to the best of my abilities that night,” said Melendez. “I had trouble sleeping because of it.”
But if Thomson’s instincts and premonitions were a key to winning the last fight, he said those same instincts tell him this fight is going to be nothing like the first one.
“I think it’s going to be way different,” said Thomson, known around MMA circles as “The Punk,” a nickname he admitted he probably once deserved but, at 31, is one he no longer embraces. “It will be nothing like the first fight.”
The only similarity is that he expects Saturday’s fight to go the distance.
“I think it’s going all five,” he said. “He’s super hard to knock out [Melendez has never been knocked out or submitted in his career]. He’s got a good chin. He’s got conditioning. I think my ground game is better than his. I got his back and was working for a choke in the fourth round (of the first fight).
“There’s a good chance it’ll go five rounds,” said the 27-year-old Melendez. “But I’ll be looking to finish. I’m not looking at sticking and moving and looking to win rounds. I’m going to throw every punch with bad intentions, with the idea of knocking him out.”
“What I learned from the last fight, if I’m going to be in this sport, I have to bring my ‘A’ game every time,” said Melendez, who trains out of his own gym in San Francisco. “Josh took it to me every round last time. Now I’m going to be more prepared. What I learned was I want to be a fighter and if I want to be a true fighter, I have to bring my ‘A’ game every time.”
Just minutes after their first match ended, Melendez asked for a rematch and Thomson said he was willing. With Thomson being a San Jose native and Melendez, who grew up in Southern California, but has lived in San Francisco for years, it was natural to bring the match back to San Jose, and it was set for April 11, when Strikeforce and Showtime did the first show on their contract.
Ten days before the fight, Thomson broke his fibula in training. He underwent surgery and had a plate and eight screws inserted. Thomson thought he had made a quick comeback and had signed for the next San Jose show, on August 15, on the Gina Carano vs. Cris “Cyborg” Santos undercard. But in late training, the fibula broke in a new place, just above the top screw, which he attributes to a rushed comeback in hopes of not missing such a high-profile show.
It has been 15 months since Thomson’s last fight. He admits when asked about potential ring rust that there is nothing you can do in training to replicate a real fight with thousands of people watching. But he’s modified his training. Thomson has eliminated most of his running to avoid unnecessary stress on the bad leg, trying to get his cardio from riding an Airdyne Exercise bicycle and lots of swimming. He also eliminated kicking hard in training until three weeks ago. But, he added, if he loses, none of this will serve as an excuse.
“I don’t want the media to make any excuses if I go out there and he beats me fair and square,” said Thomson. “I don’t want people thinking he beat me because I had all this time off or ring rust or whatever. I’m telling you right now, I’m 100 percent. I’m ready to fight. And if he beats me, it’s because he was the better fighter that night. There is nothing else to it. I want to make that clear to the media now, and to everyone who talks to me, and to all my friends, and even to the guy who comes up to me in an alley way and says something to me. I’m 100 percent. I’m ready to fight, and I’m ready to bring my title home.”
While Thomson was out of action, Melendez overwhelmed Rodrigo Damm to become interim lightweight champion. When the unification match in August fell through, Strikeforce brought in Mitsuhiro Ishida, who had handed Melendez his first career loss, via a close decision, on the 2007 New Year’s Eve show in Japan.
Melendez dominated Ishida in the rematch, winning via stoppage in the third round. But while he retained the interim belt, he never considered it a real championship, and wouldn’t even wear it to the ring in his last fight.
“That was awesome,” Melendez said about avenging his first loss. “I wanted to get them one off my chest for almost two years.”
But he said this is different, as he considered Ishida a fight that was close and he could have won, while admits he was completely dominated by Thomson. He also noted with Ishida, there was a simple game plan of keeping the fight standing, whereas Thomson you doesn’t have an obvious weakness to exploit.
Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker has talked about having the winner face Shinya Aoki, the lightweight champion of Dream, who is generally regarded as Japan’s top lightweight.
“The Japanese fighters don’t seem to do as well when they fight here,” said Thomson, about a match, where if he would win, would vault him up to near the top of most rankings in the division. “I match up well with him. I don’t think he can take me down and he can’t stand up with me.”ufcyahoo.com

What are you watching Tonight ?

BJ Penn wins !

There are a lot of good lightweight fighters in the world. There is, however, only one great one.
And while B.J. Penn proved his greatness yet again with a dominant fifth-round stoppage of Diego Sanchez in their lightweight title bout Saturday at UFC 107 in the FedEx Forum, he created something of a problem for Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva:
Whom do you match with Penn at 155 who can even remotely give him a close fight?
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There doesn’t appear to be anyone on the horizon. Gray Maynard is likely next up, and Frankie Edgar is on a roll. Neither, though, seem to have the all-around game that Penn possesses and that they’ll need to survive 25 minutes in the cage with him, much less win.
Jose Aldo, the featherweight champion in World Extreme Cagefighting, has the frame and the ability, but he’s probably at least a year, if not more, away from being ready to move up and fight at lightweight. By that time, Penn will likely be butting heads with the welterweights with the goal of securing another bout with welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre.
“It’s hard to pick out any weaknesses in B.J.,” said heavyweight Frank Mir, who was exceptionally impressive in his own right Saturday in a first-round stoppage of Cheick Kongo. “First and foremost, he’s a great athlete, which is a phenomenal foundation to start off with. But like Dana said, that’s kind of what he coasted on before. He’s a great technician when it comes to submissions and also striking.”
Sanchez’s face was grotesquely beaten. The fight was stopped after a head kick from Penn, a knee and then a series of uppercuts.
One of those blows – likely the head kick – opened a massive gash on Sanchez’s head. Both of his eyes were swollen and nearly shut. It appeared his nose was broken. His lip was split in two places. He was bleeding from his right ear.
You don’t have to be squeamish to have gotten a bit nauseous looking at the destruction on his face.
“In 10 years of being in this business, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody more busted up than Diego is right now,” White said. “His whole lip is split open in half, in two different places. When I say split open, it’s torn down to this stuff down here [indicating a point on his chin]. His forehead is as open as [Marvin Eastman], the kid that Vitor Belfort kneed [at UFC 43]. They pulled that thing wide open. His face? I think his nose is broken. I don’t even know how Diego kept coming forward. He’s a tough kid, man. I’m almost positive his nose was broken by the third round. That Tony Robbins [expletive] works.”
Nothing Sanchez did in the cage worked, though that’s probably not as much an indictment of him as it is a sign of Penn’s greatness.
Penn knocked him down with a crushing punch early in the fight and nearly finished him on the ground. And though Sanchez tried to make it a fight, he didn’t have the kinds of weapons he needed.
Penn’s hands were much faster and his boxing was much more technically proficient. He repeatedly raked Sanchez with counter right hands and punishing left hooks. Sanchez, a former high school wrestling state champion, couldn’t get Penn off his feet so he was never able to work his ground-and-pound.
He had nothing else to resort to offensively and wound up repeatedly attempting kicks to the head in a futile attempt to gain some momentum.
Penn watched the Nov. 14 boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto while he was in his training camp and decided to try to emulate Pacquiao’s style on Saturday.
“I just like watching Pacquiao and how he throws punches in bunches,” Penn said. “He’s so fast. You might get away from the first two or three, but the two or three that come behind that are going to hit you. I kind of figured that out.”
The problem for Penn’s coaches are going to be keeping him motivated. In his last three lightweight title defenses, he dominated Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Sanchez, taking little abuse from any of them and doling out enormous amounts of punishment.
There isn’t anybody markedly better than Florian – others may be as good – and yet no one has come close to Penn.
“What B.J. really wants is to fight Georges St. Pierre,” Penn’s coach, Rudy Valentino, said.
White said Penn may be two fights away from cleaning out the lightweight division, but said even if Penn does that, he’s not arbitrarily going to get an automatic title shot against St. Pierre.
White said Penn would have to face whoever the No. 1 contender is at welterweight when it’s time to move up before getting a shot at St. Pierre.
In the past three years, he’s lost three times, but all have been at welterweight. He was beaten twice by St. Pierre and once by Matt Hughes. Each is a much bigger man naturally and in the Hughes fight and the second St. Pierre fight, their size and physical strength was an issue. Mir suggested the only way a lightweight might be able to match that feat is to use wrestling, which both Maynard and Edgar have.
“At this point, at 155 it’s hard to see who could really have a definitive shot at taking him out,” Mir said. “Maybe if you can wrestle him to death and keep a great position, but that’s hard to say with a guy who, if you go five rounds with, [it’s hard to make sure he doesn’t] knock you out or submit you.”
Penn has so many weapons and so few weaknesses that unless you can overcome some of those advantages with size and strength, you’re likely going to need to find a good plastic surgeon, because Penn will rearrange your face.
Sanchez entered the fight with a 23-2 record, with his only losses coming at welterweight in back-to-back bouts to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch. He dropped to lightweight this year and got his title shot by defeating Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida.
Despite his many credentials, though, Sanchez looked like a beginner against Penn.
“This is my sixth fight with him and he’s been dominant in pretty much all of them [except the St. Pierre fight],” Penn coach Jason Parillo said. “Some people thought the last fight with Kenny Florian was kind of close. I do not. I thought B.J. was dominating that fight, also.
“He completely dominated tonight and I don’t think Diego belonged in the cage with him. That was my sense. You could see that from the opening bell. The first minute of the fight, B.J. had him on queer street and almost had him out of there. That was different class of fighters there.”
It was. The same thing could be said, though, of the entire lightweight division.
When Penn is in shape, which he’s been since hiring conditioning guru Marv Marinovich, and when he’s highly motivated, which he’s been since getting stopped by St. Pierre at UFC 94, he’s all but unbeatable at lightweight.
The man to beat B.J. Penn at 155 pounds is going to be one special fighter.
Penn, himself, is as good at that weight as any man ever has been. yahoo.com

Kimbo slice wins ? UFC spot tuf 10 ?

I swear hell must have just frozen over.

Kimbo Slice is in the UFC. More shockingly, perhaps, is that he actually won in the UFC.

Seriously.

The one-time street brawler, who was mocked incessantly for more than a year by Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White, won a unanimous decision over Houston Alexander on Saturday at The Palms.

Related Video Watch UFC 107 on Y! Watch UFC 107 on Y!

More UFC Videos Related CoverageBlog: Kimbo is UFC certified More From Kevin IoleKimbo a winner in UFC debut Dec 5, 2009 Mitrione parlays villain role into big shot Dec 4, 2009 ADVERTISEMENT

The elite fighters in the heavyweight division, men like champion Brock Lesnar and contenders Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, among many others, have nothing to worry about.

Truth is, without denigrating Slice, there are more fighters in the UFC’s heavyweight (and light heavyweight) division that he can’t beat than there are that he can.

If he never wins another fight, though, it won’t matter.

Slice has made his point.

He was classy as White mocked him – “What,” White asked at a UFC 90 news conference in 2008, “has Kimbo Slice done other than get 10 million hits on YouTube to be in the UFC?” – and responded only by trying to become a better fighter.

White had snidely said that the only way Slice would ever find his way into the UFC was by going onto, and winning, “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Slice took him up on that offer and agreed to appear on the show, turning down an opportunity to box and another to fight K-1 kickboxing in Japan. And while he lost his first bout on the reality show to eventual champion Roy Nelson, who knocked out Brendan Schaub on Saturday, he hardly was out of place and by far was not the worst fighter in the house.

White wasn’t about to apologize for tweaking Slice so often, but he gave Slice his props.

“I don’t know what Houston Alexander’s corner was doing, but that was the worst game plan they could have ever come up with,” White, who was not at Saturday night’s postfight press conference, said in a phone interview. “I am not sure if Kalib Starnes was training him or what, but that wasn’t the Houston Alexander I had seen fight before.

“I don’t think I have to apologize to Kimbo. I helped him. I said what I did and he did the thing athletes do: He went out there and he worked and he made himself better. He deserves credit. He took me up on the offer I made, did what he had to do and went out and beat a legitimate UFC fighter.”

True to the way he’s been ever since he started in mixed martial arts, Slice went to the American Top Team in Coconut Grove, Fla., after filming ended in July in a bid to improve his game.

Slice (4-1) was clearly better than he had been when he left Elite XC after getting knocked out just 14 seconds into an Oct. 4, 2008, fight with light heavyweight Seth Petruzelli.

He was satisfied with the victory, though he wasn’t gloating. Asked if he felt he proved a point to the legion of skeptics who doubted he could make the transition, Slice nodded his head.

“I hope I did,” Slice said. “The goal was to come in and fight and to get the best training I could possibly get to be prepared for the standup or a ground game. Like I said, whether the fight goes to the ground or stands up, I wanted to come in and fight, but be smart about it.”

The fight on Saturday was ugly and what had seemed to be a slam-dunk slugfest degenerated into a boo-fest as fans in The Pearl became angry at the lack of action.

Alexander (9-5, 1 no-contest) spent the first round circling in the cage, rarely threatening a punch. He landed a few kicks as Slice simply held the center of the cage. Clearly, though, Alexander was wary of Slice’s power and was not eager to engage.

This is a guy who knocked out light heavyweight contender Keith Jardine, after all, but Alexander was exceptionally cautious of Slice. Slice, though, didn’t show his inexperience and didn’t take an unnecessary risk by rushing at Alexander.

“If I would have run in there foolishly, I would have gotten knocked out,” Slice said. “It wasn’t difficult to stay patient, but I was going, ‘Come on, man.’ A few times, I just called him out. I called him by his name and I said some things in the ring, like, ‘Let’s do this.’ I reverted back to the streets a little bit, verbally. He didn’t engage. He stuck to his plan, so I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to be foolish and run up on him.’ I wanted to be a smart fighter as well.”

He was a smart fighter on Saturday, but he was a better draw. Not counting Saturday, the season was by far the highest rated in the history of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The show averaged 3.4 million viewers per episode compared to an average of 2 million over the first nine seasons.

Ratings will come out on Tuesday for Saturday’s finale, and they should be equally large.

Whether Slice can maintain as that type of attraction is debatable because sooner or later it will come down to performance, and Slice has a long way to go before he can compete with the majority of the men in the UFC.

But this night wasn’t about the future. It was about a man who believed in himself despite massive ridicule from all corners, about ignoring the thousands of skeptics and chasing a dream.

Kimbo Slice may never become a superstar but he’s in the UFC, and that’s better than 99.9 percent of the men in the world.

“It’s hard,” Slice said of making the transition to MMA. “It’s not an easy thing. I first was a street fighter. Being a street fighter, there was no training in my style of fighting. I just went in there based on my instincts, watching the guy’s movement and countering him.

“But at this level of the game, as a professional fighter in the UFC, you have to be almost genius-like smart because you have all these dimensions to battle. You have to know when to counter and when to not hit and when to engage and when to try to wait it out.

“There’s a lot you have to go through. (I hope) this shows my maturity as a mixed martial artist.”

He has a lot of maturing left as an MMA fighter, but on this night, Kimbo Slice finally left the streets behind.

He’s in the UFC and the spot wasn’t given to him.

He earned it.

Yahoo.com