(Photo:Sherdog.com)

Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting.com had a chance to catch up with Chael Sonnen after his tough but convincing victory over Nate “The Great” Marquardt last night and as usual a lot of the comments from Chael were pretty entertaining.

When asked about his future title shot against the winner of  Vitor Belfort vs Anderson Silva, Chael was quick to note that he hopes the winner in Silva.  Not because he necessarily wants to beat the better fighter to earn the title, but because “Vitor is the better fighter.”

Sonnen went on to state that he will have lots to say about Silva if that match up becomes a reality and that leading up to the fight;

“It will be a verbal beatdown.  Anderson Silva will be in tears before it’s all over”. Upping the ante a bit more, Sonnen stated (about Silva) ” Look…this guy is no more real than the Loch Ness Monster and if he needs me to expose him I will.  I tell ya, the guys in the back know who the tough guy is.  If we walk in the back and Anderson says put on Hip Hop and Chael says put on Country, I guarantee it’s gonna be a Hoe Down… So as far as him being the bully of the playground, his 15 minutes of fame are up.”

Classic commentary for sure… (Click the play button to check out the full interview below)

 (Photo: Sherdog.com)

UFC 109 is in the books and considering the card had no title matches, there were still some very entertaining match-ups.  This was not an easy event to be picking winners with any degree of confidence and the results were certainly varied, with a couple of “upsets”.

 Main Event recap: Mark Coleman (205) VS RandySonnen Couture (205)

The main event between Randy “The Natural” Couture and Mark “The Hammer” Coleman ended up being a little one sided. Sure, both men are Hall of Famers and legends in the sport but Randy has simply been more active and relevant as the sport has developed. 

Couture dominated Coleman within his striking and dirty boxing during round one and although he did get caught once by Coleman while moving inside, he really picked Coleman apart and it just looked like a matter of time as round 1 came to an end.  Round 2 began and Couture gets a takedown, working some ground and pound before taking Coleman’s back and choking him out for the rare submission victory.

Co-Main Event:Chael Sonnen (185) VS Nate Marquardt (186)

The fight started with Chael Sonnen coming right at Marquardt and after a few moments of striking it was takedown time for Sonnen followed up with some solid ground and pound.  This recipe was repeated for most of the fight.  Marquardt was able to threaten a few times with some guillotine attempts (one very close in round 2) and cut Sonnen with a Florian like elbow from his back that had blood everywhere.   just wouldn’t give at all though, and put in a grinding and sold performance.  Marquardt reversed Sonnen in the last 30 seconds of the fight and was pounding on him pretty good but the end result was a unanimous 30-27 decision victory for Sonnen. 

Sonnen will get the winner of Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort while Marquardt is back to work on his gameplan to stay at the top of the division.

Paulo Thiago (170) VS Mike Swick (171):

Mike Swick came to this fight as a replacement for team mate Josh Koscheck who was scheduled to re-match after an upset via KO at the hands of Thiago in his (Thiago’s) UFC debut.  Swick was definitely looking to punish Thiago and exact revenge on behalf of his friend.  Both fighters were respecting the power of the other and Swick had a reach advantage that would allow to to work a bit from the outside. While this was Swick’s tactic in the early stages of the fight, Thiago caught him with a few good, low leg kicks that put him off balance and allowed him to move in to striking distance.  A very even round 1 with Swick edging out Thiago.

The second round shows Swick loosening up a bit with his strikes.  The fighters exchange and Swick rocks Thiago a bit, moving in for the finish. Unfortunately he is a bit sloppy on the way in an Thiago catches him, dropping him on the canvass. Swick tries to pull guard but Thiago is able to work his position into a darce choke and Swick takes a nap in front of the crowd early in round 2.

I can’t help but thinking Swick looked physically better as a middleweight. He only dropped about 10 lbs to make 170, but he just looks so drawn out and seems to lack the real speed and power advantage that he displayed against the competition at 185lbs.  

Dan Miller (185) VS Demian Maia (186):

This fight was interesting to watch in terms of the closeness in skills and the development of each fighter’s game during their time in the UFC, but was somewhat less than a barn burner for the fans.  Miller was able to keep Maia from controlling him when on the ground, basically nullifying what was perceived to be a huge submission advantage to Maia heading into the fight.  The other surprise though was that Maia seems to have taken the brutal KO loss to Marquardt to heart and has cleaned up his striking quite a bit.

Maia outpointed Miller on the feet in a 3 round match, resulting in a unanimous decision victory that had the fans booing a bit, but really wasn’t too bad of a fight when you consider the overall situation.

Frank Trigg (171) VS Matt Serra (169):

Frank Trigg was pretty much outgunned in this fight and as with his last outing against Koscheck, never really got going as far as threatening his opponent. Serra was comfortable standing with Trigg and was able to catch him with a big overhand right to the chin that dropped Trigg mid-way through round 1.  Looks like a ticket out o the organization for Frank Trigg.

Justin Buchholz (156) VS Mac Danzig (156):

Dubbed as a loser leaves fight by Joe Rogan, this was a pretty entertaining bout with both fighter clearly fighting with a sense of urgency and desperation.  While Buchholz is a solid fighter with a ton of grit and heart, Danzig is simply the superior fighter. Danzig secured a unanimous decision victory and may have handed Buchholz his walking papers in the process.

Ronys Torres (156) VS Melvin Guillard (155):

In a battle of big 155r’s, Melvin Guillard was bringing his standard toolkit of striking power, speed and explosiveness against a solid chin and great ground game for Torres.  this was a good match with Guillard really showing some improved maturity as a fighter.  he was able to get off first most of the time while standing and stayed composed and effective when taken down to return to his feet and his strength.  This was not a blow out by any means but Guillard looked good in this one and seems to be on his way to addressing the mental holes in his fight game now that he is training with Greg Jackson.

Bonuses were as follows, with each fighter receiving a $60,000 tip from the UFC for their efforts: 

Read the rest of this entry »

(Image UFC.com)

The weigh ins for UFC 109 were held in Las Vegas this afternoon,  at the Mandalay Bay Event centre, which will host the event tomorrow.  The weigh in have become a minor event over the years and typically a few thousand fans are in attendance to get a glimpse of the fighters in a more intimate setting.  The UFC is one of few sports where the athletes really make an effort to interact with their fans and the weigh-ins are a great opportunity to grab a few autographs(usually after the event) and get a feel for the animosity between fighters a day before they meet in the Octagon.

There were no significant outbursts at the event and all 22 fighters made weight without issue.

 Notes:

• First UFC fight between 2 UFC Hall of Famers - Mark “The Hammer” Coleman vs Randy “The Natural” Couture. 
• Great nickname for UFC heavyweight rookie  Joey “The Mexicutioner”Beltran 
• Tim Hague vs Chris Tuchscherer is a big boy match with both men weighing 263lbs (just under the UFC cap of 265)
• Rob Emerson has gone from fairly clean cut looking a few years ago to heavily tattooed (back of his head? wow!) ust have missed this - check the comparison pick from 2 years ago - same weekend.

Official Weigh In Results from the UFC: 

Main Event
Mark Coleman (205) VS Randy Couture (205)

PPV
Chael Sonnen (185) VS Nate Marquardt (186)
Paulo Thiago (170) VS Mike Swick (171)
Dan Miller (185) VS Demian Maia (186)
Frank Trigg (171) VS Matt Serra (169)

Prelims on Spike
Justin Buchholz (156) VS Mac Danzig (156)
Ronys Torres (156) VS Melvin Guillard (155)

Undercard (may not be broadcast)
Rob Emerson (155) VS Phillipe Nover (155)
Phil Davis (205) VS Brian Stann (205)
Chris Tuchscherer (263) VS Tim Hague (263)
Rolles Gracie (247) VS Joey Beltran (238)

Click below link to view the full Weigh-in Video:     (Check out the picture gallery for the event here)

(Photo:Sherdog.com) 

Dan Hardy, who has made a meteoric rise to what most would concede to be the upper middle tier of the UFC Welterweight division, has nonetheless secured a title match against MMA star and current Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre.  While Hardy has certainly shown a wealth of talent in the Octagon, but it has been his ability to promote a fight and be a character within the sport that has helped him to achieve success within the organization where others with a similar fight record in the UFC have simply achieved that… 4 wins in the UFC.

The 27 year old Brit has a flair for entertainment and so far has managed to back up his talk with heavy hands, a solid chin and a good dose of heart. Recent victories over Marcus Davis and Mike Swick helped to serve notice to the rest of the division that HArdy may be a bit of a joker outside of the cage, but all business once the fight starts.

With his Championship bout, scheduled for March 27th at UFC 111 in New Jersey, starting to creep on on him, Hardy must be hard at work in training to take his fight game to the next level right?  Maybe….

Known for his heavy hands, Hardy will be facing GSP who is a dynamic if not powerful (read K.O. power) striker who has developed a super strong ,MMA focused wrestling game that allows him to control opponents from bell to bell. Obviously, Hardy will need to put some intense focus on honing his wrestling skills… or will he just stick to the striking game? 

Check out the attached video blog from Hardy’s site which shows just how serious he is taking this training camp… 

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Check out more tidbits at Dan Hardy’s site (danhardymma.com)

Had to post this great cover shot from Real Fighter Magazine.  The cover is a play on an editorial piece summarized below:

Generation MMA
BY MICHAEL BRICK
Toy Octagons, UFC action figures, MMA onesies—cage fighting has arrived at your local toy store just in time for Christmas. While children in martial arts is nothing new, marketing the bloody action of MMA to kids is creating concern among some parents and psychologists. Real Fighter enlists a New York Times reporter to investigate.

Check out Real Fighter Magazine online here

 (Photo:Sherdog.com)

Those of you witnessed the recent Strikeforce Miami event this past Saturday had the privilege of watching one of the craziest come from behind K.O. victories in MMA since Scott Smith knocked out Pete Sell.  Lawler who had been tagged a few times and absolutely battered by leg kicks, timed a nice looping right as Manhoef stepped in for the kill and dropped him to the canvass.  Lawler then seized the opportunity, following up with a ”Ruthless” left hand to his downed opponent which left Manhoef unconscious for several minutes.

It’s hard to do the fight justice in a write up, but trust me that if you haven’t seen it, you need to find it somewhere and consider it 3 1/2 minutes of time well spent to sit down and watch it.

Lawler’s good friend and training partner Matt Hughes commented on their gameplan going into the fight and the end result during a recent post on his blog:

“A lot of people are asking questions on what Robbie’s game plan was and I will say that the game plan wasn’t to get kicked in the leg about 15 times and then knock him out. We wanted to take the fight to the ground, wear him out a little bit and then maybe the second or third round Robbie could stand with him if he wanted, but Melvin did a good job of keeping distance. When Melvin was within takedown range he was always throwing or kicking, the only time he wasn’t throwing or kicking he was just too far away to get ahold of. Every time Robbie flinched like he was going to come towards him, Melvin just backed off. So Robbie never felt comfortable putting a good attempt in to take Melvin down”

There were a few moments during the fight, where Lawler appeared wobbly after getting clipped by Manhoef and it was difficult to tell if he was trying to draw Manhoef in or not… Hughes had this to say about those weak knee moments and the eventual finish:

“Robbie was able to remember something that was a key to the victory: #1 Robbie needed to get Melvin in close so he could put his hands on him. He tried playing possum twice before to see if Melvin would come in for the finish. #2 after watching Melvin fight on YouTube, he realized that Melvin liked to drop his hands when he was going to finish somebody. So it was a good fight and a good victory for Robbie. Melvin also had a good game plan, throwing a lot of those fast powerful kicks, it’s just that Melvin got caught making the same mistake that he has in the past and Robbie was able to capitalize on it.”

I’m sure that Hughes, like everyone else watching the fight was doubtful that Robbie could pull out the win after all of the leg kicks he took and it must have been an amazing feeling to be in that corner watching a good friend pull off that big comeback K.O. 

Note: Check out the rest of Matt’s blog entry here.

Here’s a few pictures of Lawler vs Manhoef (photos: Sherdog.com) - click thumbnails for larger pictures.

(Image: UFC.com)

A reminder that Spike TV will be airing the standard countdown show leading up to UFC 109 ‘Relentless’.  The show will focus on the main event fighters and UFC Hall of Fame inductees, Mark ” The Hammer” Coleman and Randy “The Natural” Couture, tracking their training and overall preparation heading into their match on February 6th  in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 The show will air @ 11pm ET/PT, following a third installment of the new series, Best of Pride which presents highlight footage from some of the best fights that entertained fans of the former PRIDE Fighting Championship organization.

The Countdown to UFC 109 show wil re-air on Feb 3rd @ 11pm ET/PT

Full Fightcard for UFC 109 is listed below:

Main Card
Light Heavyweight bout:  Randy Couture vs.  Mark Coleman.
Middleweight bout:  Nate Marquardt vs.  Chael Sonnen
Welterweight bout:  Mike Swick vs.  Paulo Thiago
Middleweight bout:  Demian Maia vs.  Dan Miller
Welterweight bout:  Matt Serra vs.  Frank Trigg

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)
Lightweight bout:  Mac Danzig vs.  Justin Buchholz
Lightweight bout:  Melvin Guillard vs.  Ronnys Torres

Preliminary Card
Lightweight bout:  Phillipe Nover vs.  Rob Emerson
Light Heavyweight bout:  Brian Stann vs.  Phil Davis
Heavyweight bout:  Tim Hague vs.  Chris Tuchscherer
Heavyweight bout:  Mostapha Al-turk vs.  Rolles Gracie

(Image: GeorgeSotiropoulis.tv)

The date is nearing for the UFC’s first trek to Australia - which is scheduled for Feb 20th, 2010 at The Acer Arena in Sydney.  With a main event between Heavyweight veteran Minotauro Nogueira and up and comer Cain Velasquez, this road trip is a calculated move by the UFC and part of their focused plan to expand their viewership and overall fanbase into a truly global market.

It generally pays to be a fighter in the expansion country or city, as the UFC likes to bring in some hometown boys to keep the fans, who may have less exposure to the UFC and MMA in general, interested and with a fighter to root for.  This event is no exception, with former Ultimate Fighter contestant and Australian native, George Sotiropoulis stepping up in the biggest fight of his career against former top contender, Joe Stevenson.

Sotiropoulis is currently riding a 4 fight win streak in the UFC, making his way into the organization following a semi final loss to finalist, Tommy Speer.  With two wins at Welterweight (Billy Miles, Roman Mitichyan), Sotiropoulis suffered an injury training for his third fight (against Karo Parisyan) and after almost a year and a half away from the Octagon, returned to compete as a lightweight.  

After rattling off 2 impressive wins at 155lbs, (George Roop, Jason Dent) the UFC is clearly seeing the potential in the 32 year old Australian and have granted him the opportunity to shine against the fan favorite, Joe “Daddy” Stevenson.

Other Australian fighters scheduled for the card include veteran fighter Elvis Sinosic (1-6 UFC)facing off against fellow Aussie Chris Haseman (0-1 UFC).  James Te Huna will also compete in an undercard match against Igor Pokrajac.

While the UFC has kept with the tradition of bringing some hometown heroes to the event, they certainly aren’t leaving the event in their hands and are bringing a number of tried and tested fighters to make the card really solid.  This event should be a great introduction to the UFC for existing fans as well as the countless new ones that the UFC hopes to attract.

Full Fight card is listed below:

 Main Card:
Heavyweight Bout:  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs.  Cain Velasquez
Middleweight Bout:  Wanderlei Silva vs.  Michael Bisping
Lightweight Bout:  Joe Stevenson vs.  George Sotiropoulos
Light Heavyweight Bout:  Keith Jardine vs.  Ryan Bader
Heavyweight Bout:  Mirko Filipovic vs.  Ben Rothwell

Preliminary Card
Light Heavyweight bout:  Elvis Sinosic vs.  Chris Haseman
Light Heavyweight Bout:  Stephan Bonnar vs.  Krzysztof Soszynski
Welterweight Bout:  Chris Lytle vs.  Brian Foster
Middleweight Bout:  C.B. Dollaway vs.  Goran Reljic
Light Heavyweight Bout:  James Te-Huna vs.  Igor Pokrajac

(photo:Sherdog.com)

Strikeforce Miami aired tonight on Showtime and lived up to the hype with some very entertaining performances in the televised matches.

A quick run down of each:

Bobby Lashley vs Wes Sims- As previously noted, Sims took the fight on short notice and it showed.  The class clown of MMA stepped in against a tough opponent and was dominated early, resulting in a TKO by referee stoppage early in round 1.  Sims complained that the stoppage was premature and it was by a few seconds…but really only saved him a bunch more shots to the head.

Robbie Lawler vs Melvin Manhoef- Manhoef takes the fight to Lawler immediately and catches Robbie with some shots that have him staggering a bit.  it’s hard to tell if Lawler is trying to lure him in or if he is really rocked.  The head punches turn to leg kicks and there is no more guessing as Lawler’s lead leg is repeatedly kicked up in the air (waist high) and he is limping badly.  Game over Lawler right?  Wrong…. Manhoef moves in for the kill and in a ‘Scott Smithesque’ moment, Lawler throws a looping right that drops Manhoef.  Lawler follows up with a big left hand on the canvass that stiffens Manhoef up for a few minutes with eyes rolled back in the head.  Just a viscious K.O. and one of the crazier fights I have ever witnessed.   

Herschel Walker vs Greg Nagy- In this pro MMA debut, Walker actually looks pretty impressive with decent leg kicks, basic stand-up skills and some very effective ground and pound.  Nagy is more of a submission fighter, bu is unable to threaten from his back other than a brief heel hook attempt and just short of 3 rounds of GnP, the fight is stopped with Walker being awarded a TKO after punching Nagy’s head and body for about 2 minutes straight with little or no defense.  This was a great effort for Herschel Walker, making his debut with the organization at 47 years of age!!!

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos vs Marloes Coenen- Coenen who is primarily a submission fighter chooses to stand with Cyborg, and while she isn’t doing a lot of damage, she hold her own and actually catches Cyborg with some nice shots and a few big elbows off the break.  Her clinch work looks good in round one as well, delivering some effective knee strikes to the champ.  Cyborg’s strength starts to pay dividends though, and she basically overpowers and outstrikes Coenen in a much less close round 2.  Round 3 proved to be the final frame as Cyborg gets the TKO stoppage late in the round and Coenen’s face is looking a fair bit worse for wear.  This was a good fight…not completely lopsided and a lot of great striking.Cyborg retains her Strikeforce Lightweight Women’s Title.

Nick Diaz vs Marius Zaromskis - These 2 bring the fight in round 1 as Zaromskis come out with a flying kick to set the pace.  The two fighters basically square off, trading shots for the next 2 minutes, with Diaz making the most of his reach, but getting clipped with his hands down, which had him scrambling from his back for a short while.  Three minutes into the round, Diaz starts to really find his range and is clearly outboxing Zaromski.  He gets him against the cage and unloads a patient barrage of shots that rattles the Dream tournament champion and eventually drops him with a short right to finish the fight with lest than 30 secs remaining in round 1. Nick Diaz earns the Strikeforce Welterweight Title.

Following the fight, Diaz makes several references to his brother’s (Nate Diaz) recent decision loss to Grey Maynard, call the decision Bullsh%t.  During his post fight interview, he raises the subject again saying “something funny is going on over there..” (in the UFC)   and saying the fans should speak up about the bad decision.

So all in all a solid night of fights…the official results for the main and undercard bouts is listed below: (courtesy of Sherdog.com)

Check out a gallery of pictures from the event here.

(Photos: Sherdog.com, nytimes.com)

David Loiseau has certainly had his ups and downs with the UFC over the years in terms of his performances in the octagon, but one thing is for certain… The Crow is hard to finish!

Loiseau, a French Canadian fighter born to Haitian parents, was devastated by the recent disaster and beyond that was inspired to make a difference by offering his services as a professional fighter, openly requesting that a major MMA (read UFC) organization would facilitate a charity match with all of his earnings going to help the Earthquake ravaged country.   

Loiseau was once a hot prospect in the UFC and was fed to the lions a bit early in a title match against a peaking Rich Franklin @ UFC 57.  After being out of the organization for close to 2 years, Loiseau was invited back for UFC 97 in Montreal last year, but lost in a truly lopsided match against Ed Herman who (like Dana White likes to say) isn’t known as a “world beater” at 185lbs.  That loss had him immediately dismissed for a second time from the organization.

It appears that the UFC thinks that match isn’t in their best interest, but with what has become an annual Montreal event now looming on the horizon, it seems a bit callous not to take Loiseau up on that offer. The Crow may not developed into a world champion, but he has the heart of a champion… I’m sure Rich Franklin would agree! And after the number of head shots he has taken in an effort to advance his career and to entertain the MMA fans and utlimately earn $$$ for the UFC over the past few years, is it really such a big request? Loiseau has been clear that he isn’t looking for a contract, just a one and done fight to provide support to people that genuinely need it. 

This sounds like a selfless offer to me, and if the UFC can’t step up and make this fight happen then it’s a pretty sad sign of their commitment to their fighters, regardless of whether they currently with the organization.  For a company looking to expand to a truly global entity to distribute their product, it would certainly be a non-global move to ignore this request.

Maybe they would simply be ashamed of the money they would be offering if the fight was staged at Loiseau’s standard UFC salary. Hey, for his title match beating at the hands of Rich Franklin, he earned a reported $9,000 dollars… so maybe it makes sense that the UFC doesn’t need that kind of focus on their typical fighter’s salaries.

The timing is great, the offer is on the table and we will see if the UFC steps up and delivers a fight of the night kind of performance by honoring this request to help those in need.  Either way, David Loiseau has done the right thing by offering his services in the best way he can; as a fighter!

 Check out the following link to the Canadian Red Cross  - where you can quickly and securely provide an online donation to support the Red Cross efforts in Haiti.  (Every little bit counts…)