Archive for August, 2009

NEW YORK (August 31, 2009) — Budding superstar and two-time All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri, Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley (5-0) of St. Louis, will face his sternest test to date when he meets former Tito Ortiz protégé, Zach “The Lisbon Outlaw” Light (4-8) of Huntington Beach, Calif., in a welterweight (170 pounds) fight at the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday, Sept. 25.

The three-round, five-minute mixed martial arts (MMA) encounter at SpiritBank Event Center will be one of the five fights televised live on SHOWTIME.

It will be the second STRIKEFORCE start for Woodley, the 11th of 13 children raised mostly by a single mother. In an impressive debut, he registered a first round (4:20) submission (Brabo choke) of Sal Woods during the non-televised portion of the “Lawler vs. Shields” event at Scottrade Center in St…

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Props: CombatLifestyle.com (Click the link to view the complete gallery)

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Quoteworthy:

“I like big fights like that. It would be my pleasure, but if they gave me a title shot, it would be awesome. I have more experience than (Lesnar). That’s a big advantage I have. A lot of jiu-jitsu and good standing up, make him tired man, move around, move around. When I get his timing, hit him with a good right hand and box him, box him and get him tired. I’ve been in there a long time. I can see what’s going on. If he goes on the top into my guard, I can play with him. Let’s see, let’s see what is going to happen.”

UFC heavyweight contender Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira breaks down a possible future bout against current champion Brock Lesnar. “Minotauro” reinserted himself into the title picture with a thrilling three round victory over Randy Couture at UFC 102 on August 29 in Portland…

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Countdown to UFC 103 will debut Monday, September 14 at 6 p.m. ET on Spike TV to promote the upcoming pay-per-view (PPV) event scheduled for the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, September 19.

The hour-long special presentation will provide a glimpse into the preparation and training camps of the fighters set to headline the show, including main event participants and former champions Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort.

Also slated for the main card is a heavyweight tilt between former PRIDE superstar Mirko Filipovic and surging heavyweight prospect Junior Dos Santos, as well as a welterweight number one contender bout between Martin Kampmann and Mike Swick.

For those who miss the “Countdown to UFC 103″ premier it will re-air on Thursday, September 17 at 1 a.m. ET and then again on Saturday, September 19 at 8 p.m. ET.

Remember that MMAmania…

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Anything to gain an edge. It’s what Las Vegas and off-shore sports bettors look for on a daily basis. As a group they stumbled onto something regarding the Chris Leben in his fight against Jake Rosholt. MMA fight lines generally don’t move anymore than 30-to-40 cents but the Leben-Rosholt moved as much as a dollar in some places. Leben was as high as minus-200 in some sportsbooks. He dropped to even money by fight time. The story was the same off-shore where bettors pounded Rosholt.

Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole came on the ESPNRadio1100 UFC 102 postfight show (archive here) and revealed some interesting chatter he’d heard about Leben (Part 3 – 23:09 mark):

"A prominent fighter came over to me tonight and told me he’d made a bet on Rosholt. I was a little surprised by that. He said he knew that Leben hadn’t trained at all…

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Addressing media prior to Saturday’s UFC 102 event, UFC President Dana White warned fans that five-round nontitle fights — officially an option for events held in Nevada — won’t be part of his promotion’s curriculum.

“I was saying [last week] I wish this was a five-round fight, Nogueira and Couture, and there’s been other fights, too, that I’ve wished were five rounds,” MMA Junkie quoted White as saying. “But I’m a purist, man. Title fights are five rounds. When you fight for the title, it’s five…

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A story worth your time: Felipe Martinez, 43 and 20 years retired from boxing, spends his time teaching stand-up to all comers in his backyard and garage in Lathrop, Calif.

Amateur or pro, tuition is free. “He won’t accept any money,” MMA fighter Dominique Robinson told the Record’s Bob Highfill. “He never asks for anything. He doesn’t like money.”

In other words, he is unlike anyone who has ever participated in boxing.

Upwards of 30 people show up to Martinez’s property to receive instruction:…

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While at the M-1: Breakthrough fights in Kansas City on Friday, I watched fighters from Poland, France, Holland, Brazil, Russia, Armenia, Japan and the United States. They didn’t share a common language or culture, but they could all meet on a common ground because of fighting. It wasn’t exactly a "Kumbaya" moment because they were punching each other in the face, but after the fights, every fighter was a perfect sportsman. 

That is what makes disturbing the news that Toni Valtonen — who has fought in the M-1 Global Challenge, most recently in July — sports a Nazi tattoo. You can see it on his upper arm in the picture at right. M-1 requires that it is covered during fights, but the patch has fallen off in some. Valtonen issued this statement about the tattoo through M-1:

"I had a crazy and rebellious youth, I made some faults in my past and I am not proud of these marks…

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After Octagon Girl Natasha Wicks said that she missed her curly hair when working for the UFC, the curls returned in full force for 102. Way to be yourself, Natasha. 

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