Posts Tagged ‘ufc’

Following the sell out success of SFL 1, India’s first MMA Organization Super Fight League (SFL) is proud to announce the following fights have been confirmed for SFL 2 taking place on Saturday 7th April:

Todd Duffee vs. Neil Grove, Paul Kelly vs. Gabe Ruediger and Alexander Schlemenko vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (Minowaman).

Once again, fans from all over the world can tune in and watch the event
live and free on the official SFL YouTube channel: YouTube.com/SFL.

A fearsome striker and talented wrestler, Duffee brings his explosive style to India for the first time and will need all of his skills when he faces UK based South African Neil “Goliath” Grove at Super Fight League 2. A Bellator Season 5 Heavyweight tournament semi finalist and former UCMMA Heavyweight champion, Grove also holds a victory over James “Colossus” Thompson, who beat Bob “The Beast” Sapp at SFL 1. His impressive record features 11 victories, all of which have come via KO or TKO. While nothing is ever certain in MMA, you can bet
on fireworks when these two heavy handed fighters meet inside the O-Zone.

Former WEC Lightweight champion Gabe Ruediger had it all, lost it then through grit and determination got himself back to where he wanted to be. Winning 9 straight fights to take the WEC title, Ruediger missed weight on the Ultimate Fighter reality show and left the UFC under a cloud. He went on to put together 6 fight win streak to force his way back into the UFC
and proved his doubters wrong. A BJJ black belt and renowned submission specialist, Ruediger also has a number of TKO victories on his record making him a very dangerous man no matter where the fight goes. Two time “Fight of the Night” winner while with the UFC, Paul Kelly doesn’t know how to have a boring fight. The native of Liverpool in England always brings a fearsome edge with him to his fights and likes nothing more than a tough, brutal war with his opponents and revels in pleasing the fans almost as much as he enjoys winning. Previously due to meet at UFC 123, an injury to Ruediger forced the bout to be cancelled. Now they will finally meet under the Super Fight League banner, where Ruediger Vs Kelly promises to be a
high class technical battle packed full of excitement and explosiveness.
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Jeremiah Riggs and Trey Houston had the fight of the night last night at Bellator 61. Both men came out with all guns blazing. Riggs had Houston in trouble early but the young Tulsa native weathered the storm and eventually caught the WWE Tough Enough star in an armbar late in the first round for the victory.

With the win Houston improves to 10-0 and could likely become an alternate in the Bellator middleweight tournament. Riggs, who hasn’t competed in over a year falls to 7-6 and will likely compete again for the promotion later in the Spring.

Bellator Fighting Championships returns to the Bayou State on Friday, March 16 for Bellator 61 live from Bossier City at the Horseshoe Riverdome. The night will feature the long-awaited rematch between “The American Solider” Eric Prindle (@EricPrindleMMA) and “The Big Monster” Thiago Santos (@BigMonsterMMA) to determine a winner from last season’s heavyweight tournament. The quarterfinals of the Season 6 Middleweight Tournament will kick off as well, along with a host of local talent from the Louisiana area.

Tickets for the event are now on sale and can be purchased online at Riverdome.com, by phone at 888-512-SHOW (7469) or by visiting The Gift Horse at Horseshoe Bossier City Casino. Tickets are priced from $25-$75. The event will also be broadcast LIVE starting at 7 p.m. CST on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. CST, with the first fight scheduled for 6 p.m. CST. The preliminary card, featuring the area’s top local talent will be streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CST.

Lake Charles native and local-favorite Josh Quayhagen takes on Quaint Kempf in lightweight action. Quayhagen made quite the impression on Bellator fans after collecting a convincing unanimous decision victory over highly-touted kickboxing champion Cosmo Alexander at Bellator 52.

The undefeated Trey Houston looks to keep his spotless record intact as he battles Bellator veteran Jeremiah Riggs in a middleweight affair. No stranger to being in front of the camera, Riggs has appeared on Spike’s TNA’s Impact Wrestling as well as WWE’s Tough Enough.

Baton Rouge native and dangerous welterweight Eric Scallan looks to impress in his Bellator debut when he takes on Derrick Krantz, who calls Texas home. Scallan enters the fight riding a three-fight win streak, and will look to keep the momentum going from The Riverdome.

Patrick Cenoble is set to take on Dallas native Derek Campos in a lightweight battle, while fan-favorite Jason Sampson clashes with the always tough Jeremy Myers in a bantamweight affair.

“Louisiana’s been like a second home to Bellator,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Our last two Louisiana events we’re spectacular sell outs, so when we had the chance to bring Bellator to The Riverdome, it was a very easy decision. The Prindle-Santos fight is going to be a war, and the rest of the card is just loaded top to bottom. March 16th will be a great night in Bossier City.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator

I’ve taken the time to write Anderson Silva a letter. ‘UFC Tonight’ has afforded me a few moments to share it with him. I wrote this myself…

Anderson, over the last several months, I’ve disparaged your name in an attempt to garner respect and attention for my own. That was wrong and I apologize. My actions were unsportsmanlike, they were uncalled for. Though they weren’t mean-spirited, I do regret them. As you know, I’ve recently become the number one contender, which is a position that respectfully and immediately I am resigning from. I wish no further confrontation with you in the Octagon or through the media. In short, I surrender.

Signed,

Chael P. Sonnen

P.S. I changed my mind. Anderson, you can kiss my ass.

Include the obnoxious laugh”

The UFC is under attack by ESPN after a recent E:60 piece that portrayed the promotion as a sham that pays their fighters very little and takes care of the fatcats who are at the top like Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta. The UFC wisely recorded the interview with Fertitta and put it on youtube for everyone to see after ESPN chopped it up into a two minute interview for their story.

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After their fight at UFC 137 a defeated and humble BJ Penn announced his retirement from MMA. Now Penn is on Twitter talking trash to the current #1 contender.

@nickdiaz209 Look how much bigger you are in this pic..I thought you were gonna scrap from the beginning homie? What was that coward fence holding strategy to tire out the smaller man? Street fighter my ass! I made you fight like glass jaw @jonfitchdotnet poser!

Diaz pummeled Penn in their fight and it’s weird to see Penn talking trash since Diaz won convincingly and the two made up after the fight in the locker room after a few weeks of trash talk.

For the fifth year, The Gracie US Nationals along with The Gracie Kids Worlds will continue to set the standard for Jiu-Jitsu and grappling tournaments as they are presented in conjunction with California’s largest fitness event, The Los Angeles Fitness Expo, Saturday and Sunday, January 28-29, 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, South Halls G & H.

“We’re honored to once again be working with Rose Gracie from the legendary Gracie family on hosting The Gracie US Nationals and The Gracie Kids Worlds,” said The Los Angeles Fitness Expo Executive Director, Erin Ferries. “They have grown tremendously each year along with the Expo, and we love the synergy they create for attendees and competitors alike.”

“The Los Angeles Fitness Expo audience is our audience, and we’re delighted to return in 2012 with both competitions, said Rose Gracie. “Last year, 735 athletes competed and we’re looking forward to an even larger field this year. Our goal is to always put on first-class competitions that promote the pure art and philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu that has been passed down through the Gracie family for generations.”

Rose Gracie has made significant changes to the rules of both events in an attempt to bring back the original Jiu-Jitsu that her grandfather, Grandmaster Helio Gracie, had envisioned from the beginning.

For 2012, The Gracie US Nationals will switch the current point system to a submission-only event. This will prevent several issues previously faced in the competition, and will also give the competitor 100% power over the outcome of the match. In an effort to keep the sport pure, The Gracie US Nationals will be doing random testing of competitors for performance enhancing drugs.

The new focus for The Gracie Kids Worlds is that all kids will get a chance to compete and learn from the experience in a supportive and encouraging environment so they can go back home happy to work on the things that they need to improve on. No child will leave the tournament with a sense of defeat.

The Gracie US Nationals and The Gracie Kids Worlds will be paying homage to Grandmaster Francisco Mansur, and this will be the first time that a person with the last name Gracie is not headlining the event. Mansur is considered to be part of the Gracie family, like an uncle. He is a 9th degree red belt (the highest ranking allowed in Jiu-Jitsu since the passing of Helio Gracie) and one of the pioneers in writing several rules such as the belt systems that are in place in Jiu-Jitsu today.

Gracie will once again work with the The Los Angeles Fitness Expo to create the ideal environment and venue for a top-notch competition. The Los Angeles Fitness Expo is bringing industry leaders together for a weekend of Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, fitness challenges and much more.
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Tito Ortiz is looking for one more fight with Chuck Liddell or Forrest Griffin in July. After the fight Ortiz vows to retire and hang up the gloves for good.

Ortiz desperately wants one more fight with Liddell but now that ‘The Iceman’ has retired it’s not very likely. Griffin however, is not booked for anything and both men hold wins over the other. A third fight does make sense and it’s something that Dana White might want to put together.

Perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch went off on a rant to Ariel Helwani yesterday about how MMA is turning into pro wrestling. MMA and pro wrestling have their similarities and draw a lot of the same fans but according to Fitch he doesn’t want anything to do with it.

“For me, I want to make sure we stay true to the sport and I don’t want to see this become pro wrestling because I hate pro wrestling. I was betrayed by pro wrestling when I was a child and I don’t want to be doing that to some other kid now who’s watching fights and UFC fights and watching me and other guys and thinking that it’s real. I want to make sure that it’s real. When I went to my first wrestling practice in the fourth grade, I found out that pro wrestling was fake. And that was the worst, ultimate betrayal I could have ever encountered in my life at that time. Since then, shut ‘em off, threw all my wrestling stuff away that day. I was just over it. I want to make sure (MMA) stays a sport.”

Fitch will face Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 this weekend and needs a win to stay in the title picture after a draw to BJ Penn back in February.