If size matters, then heart, hardwork and determination is what will be measured when Joseph Benavidez enters the Octagon Saturday night to fight for the first ever UFC Flyweight Title.
"When you get in this sport you have to dream big," Benavidez told News10. "You have to think you are going to be the best. And now that it is finally here it is a crazy feeling, man"
Benavidez, who trains with Urijah Faber's Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, will face Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson (15-2-1) as the co-main event at UFC 152 in Toronto.
At 5'4 and 125 lbs. Benavidez (16-2) is who used to fighting much bigger opponents. His only two loses were a unanimous and split decision to UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at 135 lbs. On Saturday, this will be Benavidez's first fight where he enters the cage as the bigger fighter to Johnson's 5'3 frame.
"It is awesome he is smaller than, he is just a little mighty mouse," said Benavidez. "It is nice being the bigger guy where I don't have to compromise my style to fight. At this weight I think my power can be known whether it is holding a guy and dominating him on the ground or staying in the pocket with him."
Read More: Size matters for first ever UFC Flyweight championship | news10-net
In their first year of competing, Elite Mixed Martial Arts has had success.
Five fighters from Elite MMA competed in a mixed martial arts event run by Lights Out Combat on Saturday at the Winchester, Va., Sportsplex with three of them picking up victories.
"Saturday was a good night for us," Owner and head instructor Jesse Kirby said. "We've only been around since the beginning of the year, and we have kept a pretty good fight record." Kyle Shanholtz, the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instructor for Elite MMA, competed in a middleweight fight against Rob Statton winning in the first round by a guillotine choke.
"It went exactly according to the gameplan," Shanholtz said. "I waited for him to swing wide, so I could shoot for the takedown."
Once Shanholtz got the takedown, he got Statton into a mount position but was unable to keep him there.
"He was taller than I anticipated," Shanholtz said. "As I ended up in side control, he attempted a headlock to stall, and then I locked in the guillotine.
"I looked for an armbar while I had him mounted, but I couldn't lay back into it because I was too close to the cage. I then tried for a rear naked choke, and the guillotine was just there."
Burt Lathem kept his composure despite dealing with blows to his his groin in a unanimous-decision victory in a featherweight Muay Thai fight that came on short notice.
"I just wanted to fight," Lathem said. "I came out good in the first round, but got winded in the second round, but I got hit in the groin twice."
Following the second round, Lathem remained composed and gained the victory after the third round.
Read More: Elite MMA competes to win - journal-news-net | News, sports, jobs, community information for Martinsburg - The Journal
While Ultimate Fighting Championship fans are salivating over the prospects of a historic battle between UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and middleweight king Anderson Silva, St-Pierre has his own idea of a fantasy fight.
"I would have liked to fight Jean-Claude Van Damme in 'Bloodsport'," St-Pierre said with a grin, imagining himself a role in the iconic '80s martial arts film.
"That would have been my dream fight, in an MMA cage."
Pure fantasy, to be sure. But as far as St-Pierre is concerned right now, so is a much-discussed catchweight showdown against Silva. After receiving full medical clearance earlier this month to return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the only person St-Pierre is thinking about is Carlos Condit. The two are scheduled to meet in the main event of UFC 154 on Nov. 17 at the Bell Centre, St-Pierre's first match since April 2011.
St-Pierre is used to hearing his name thrown around by fantasy matchmakers. In 2009, he faced BJ Penn in a welterweight champ-versus-lightweight champ bout. For two years, a match versus Silva has been a topic that's never really gone away. Last year, even as he was scheduled to face Condit, fans were clamouring for a title contest against popular bad boy Nick Diaz.
Read more: St-Pierre pictures fighting Van Damme in an MMA cage
UFC 152 will feature the return to the Octagon of the Light Heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones in defense of his title against yet another former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Vitor Belfort.
Sign up at Bovada NOW and deposit for your 50% Free Bet Bonus up to $250.
A second UFC belt will be on the line when Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson meet to crown the first UFC Flyweight champion. The UFC 152 card will also offer a Middleweight contender matchup between Michael Bisping and Brian Stann that promises to be a hard-fought battle and a Fight of the Night contender.
As expected Jones is a heavy favorite to retain his title and is currently coming with a price of -750 at Bovada. It’s tough to imagine how Belfort could pull off the upset and pay the +475 underdog option, but we’ve seen bigger dogs pay out before.
Belfort will need to attempt to bring the fight to the champ and land a heavy shot that could turn the fight in his direction. If he can’t find a way to do that the champion will wear him down from a safe distance until he comes in for the kill and finishes off Belfort via KO or submission.
Benavidez is currently a -285 favorite to become the first UFC Flyweight champion mainly due to his strength and all-around fight game. On speed and footwork alone Johnson has a real chance to upset and pay off on the +225 option currently offered at Bovada.
Benavidez is an aggressive fighter who has had his way with all 17 opponents he’s faced in his MMA career with the exception of current UFC Bantamweight champ and pound-for-pound Top-10 fighter Dominick Cruz. Johnson will be a tough opponent for him, but his submission skills will likely be the difference in this fight.
Bisping currently holds a slight edge over Stann as the -175 favorite, while the former U.S. Marine will pay +145 for the upset. Bisping gets the small edge mainly due to his superior wrestling skills and equal ability to knock his opponent out.
Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with one half of the Peninsula Fighting Championship’s promotional team, Isaac Kolesar, to discuss the future of the PFC and mixed martial arts on the Kenai Peninsula.
While talking over a cup of coffee at the local Small Town Coffee Roasters, I asked Kolesar about his bid to change the community’s mind-set toward mixed martial arts here on the Peninsula.
“We [PFC] haven’t near achieved our goal in any shape or form, however, the positive side of it we did put the buzz out there that it is changing,” Kolesar said.
He continued: “It (PFC) should be a family event, there are only two reasons you don’t come to our events. One reason is you don’t like the sport and don’t have any interest in it. The second reason is because you believe your child is too young to see the violent nature of the sport ... (violence) it’s not what we’re about yet we are fighting … but as athletes. It’s not the intent to hurt but the intent to win a competition.”
Along with an infectious passion for MMA, it’s clear that Kolesar is moving his promotion toward incorporating and educating a new demographic into the sport of mixed martial arts on the Peninsula. This, frankly, is a smart move. With the negative history surrounding fight promotions on the Kenai, Kolesar is fighting hard to change that perception.
“The difference with the events now is we have (ring) girls in clothes, we have announcers that are respectable members in the community and we are able to bring in a whole new demographic. We want fans to come in and bring their kids with them. We want it to be fun, clean and safe for the fans and especially the fighters. ”
He continued: “Fighters are fined $20 every time they swear on the mic. If they get on the mic and cuss, I’m in the back taking twenties out of their purse.”
Within minutes of discussing these issues with Isaac, it’s easy to tell that he’s serious about transforming those lingering perceptions. Yet, as event conscious as Kolesar is, he’s very aware of the economic impact his promotion has on the city and community at large.
“They (city of Soldotna) stand to gain, depending on how many events we do, $30,000 to $50,000 off our events,” he said.
He continued: “Restaurants would notice an influx during fight night and even the day after. It’s a very positive thing for the local economy.”
Kolesar is clear to point out, “I don’t do this for the money I do this to support a sport I love. Whatever money we make I want to give back to this sport.”
As Kolesar begins the undertaking of a communitywide change in perception of MMA , he’s still being met with challenges. When asked about those challenges, more specifically the hardest one, Kolesar answered without hesitation.
“The biggest challenge has been dealing with the (Soldotna) Sports Center. This fight with management at the sports center has been a big setback for us. Recently, though, we sat down with (Soldotna City Manager) Larry Semmens … and hopefully, working with him, we can get back on track.
Even with the current setbacks he’s optimistic that, moving forward, the PFC will eventually promote an event every two months. As always, though, Kolesar is clear on two distinctions: “I want to promote (PFC) as the clean event it is and the fighters as the athletes we really are.”
As the interview was winding down I asked Kolesar a final question: Where do you see the PFC in the next year to year and a half? After a thunderous laugh and ear-to-ear smile he responds.
“I’d have someone else that I trust put the event on so I can start fighting, but if that doesn’t happen I really think it’s going to take a year and a half to get the community on board to realize we are athletes,” he said.
You might say it takes more than one man or one promotion to undue all the negative effects caused by past precedents, but don’t tell that to Kolesar. While it may be an uphill battle, after sitting with the man for an hour, I don’t doubt his ability to change the Peninsula’s perception of MMA.
Kolesar discusses local MMA scene | Peninsula Clarion
All of the questions regarding Jon Jones' chin heading into his 10th, 11th and even tonight's 12th UFC fight were more of a hype-game curiosity.
Surely every man has a vulnerability, and it's easiest to prescribe vulnerabilities toward whatever is left that's unknown.
Against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 in Toronto, in a fight in which Jones stood as an 8-to-1 favorite and was greeted with a chorus of boos, his chin was never in question. But, for the first time in his still-young career, the light heavyweight champion's mettle was.
Belfort snared Jones' arm in the first round and torqued it back for an armbar. For a long few moments, the Air Canada Centre crowd held its collective breath as Belfort strained to finish the job.
Jones, hearing his right arm pop as it hyperextended, pried with his left hand to release it. It was on tight enough that Jones was faced with that decision that makes most men squeamish -- tap and get it over with or struggle on until it breaks.
He was resolved to keep going and let it break. But before it did, he was fortunate enough to free himself of the threat.
Aside from the Matt Hamill disqualification back in 2009, it was the closest we've seen Jones come to an actual defeat. It was a rare moment of vulnerability, in which he was the one on the ropes. But instead of exposing a weakness with Jones, Belfort might have shed light on yet another strength -- Jones' resolve.
Read More: Jones' toughness stands out in Toronto - Mixed Martial Arts Blog - ESPN
2012 has not been a great year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The organization was looking to run wild with the new Fox deal and become an immediate attention-grabber in the professional sports industry. Instead, the organization has been hit with a variety of situations that has caused this to be a slow, if not a stagnant year. UFC 152 proved to be an important event not just to the fighters but for the organization as a whole. Now, the company can look to push forward with this momentum to close out the year and kick start 2013.
It seemed as if once a week, fight fans had to sit through another negative story that was affecting the sport they loved. Event after event has been hampered by injury and dropping television ratings across the board were being reported each and every week. Radio show hosts were forced to do nothing more than complain about what was going on in the sport they were paid to cover. There wasn’t much to look forward to on a daily basis but the UFC 152 card became the shining light at the end of the tunnel. Looking back at the event, it’s clear to see that it delivered with the organization needed at the time.
Read More: The importance of UFC 152 - Washington DC MMA | Examiner-com
Sports have always been made richer by the presence of multiple family members excelling at their games. We gravitate to their stories because blood is thicker than Gatorade.
Football’s Mannings, basketball’s Barrys, baseball’s Ripkens and Alomars, hockey’s Hulls, Howes and Sutters. Today, everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Brothers Arthur, 25, Jon, 24, and Chandler, 22, were born in Rochester and raised in Endicott by their parents Arthur and Camille. The boys starred at Union-Endicott High — Arthur and Chandler in football, Jon in wrestling.
Arthur and Chandler, defensive ends at Syracuse, now play in the NFL, the oldest brother for the Ravens and the youngest for the Patriots. Jon, the most famous of the three, has had a meteoric rise in the world of mixed martial arts, earning a global marketing deal with Nike.
On Saturday night, Jon defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title against Vitor Belfort in Toronto in UFC 152. Next Sunday, the family will get to watch Chandler in Buffalo when the Patriots play the Bills.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has been given an indefinite medical suspension after suffering an injury in his title defense against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 last weekend.
According to Bloody Elbow, the Ontario Athletic Commission has given Jones an indefinite suspension and required the champion to rest for 14 days.
Jones also needs to have an x-ray of his right arm in order to get medical clearance.
Belfort had Jones in trouble very early in the first round when the Brazilian locked an armbar on the champion.
Jones said he felt his arm pop, but refused to tap out. He eventually managed to escape the hold and dominated the rest of the way en route to a fourth-round submission victory.
“We haven’t been able to get my arm x-rayed yet, but they’re saying there might be some nerve damage in the bicep,” Jones said in the post-fight press conference.
Belfort, who tapped out to an Americana submission and sustained a cut over his left eye due to Jones’ elbows, was suspended for 30 days.
Quinn Mulhern woke up Monday morning with his arm raised.
The Harbor High graduate had been dreaming that he won his upcoming fight against Jorge Santiago, and the referee was raising his hand in victory.
That's when reality set in.
"My hand was raised as I woke up," Mulhern said. "And then I looked at my phone the very next second and saw it's not gonna happen."
Mulhern, 28, a welterweight mixed martial arts fighter who trains in Santa Fe, N.M., was scheduled to fight Santiago on Saturday night at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento as part of the undercard for Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy.
It was arguably the biggest fight of Mulhern's career -- or, at least, it was going to be. The Santa Cruz native had won three straight fights to improve to 18-2, and was ready to go opposite Santiago (25-10) -- a former UFC middleweight who would have equaled the biggest name on Mulhern's fight resume.
But before Mulhern and the 18 other fighters could even get to weigh in, Strikeforce canceled the event late Sunday night.
Headliner Gilbert Melendez sustained an injury and was forced to withdraw from his bout. Showtime, which was televising the card, decided it would not air the event as a result.
Mulhern's dream would remain just that. He found out the event had been canceled Monday morning in a slew of text messages, tweets and Facebook posts.
Read More: MMA: Mulhern in wait-and-see mode after fight was canceled - Santa Cruz Sentinel
FIGHT week is finally here! I arrived back in Nottingham late last week and had an easy weekend, visiting family and watching some ice hockey.
It was good to spend some time at the arena, even though the Panthers had a rough night against the Steelers. Taking in some of that high energy atmosphere gave me some idea of how it will be on fight night.
My weight is right on track and with a couple more training sessions to go, I feel better than ever.
I have also had a chance to call in to the Nottingham MS Therapy Centre for a few hyperbaric chamber sessions. It helps oxygenate me ready for a tough 15 minute battle – just in case it goes the distance.
I've been over at 4th Dimension MMA in Long Eaton for my last couple of sessions.
My Thai Boxing coach, Shawn Yarborough, arrived a couple of days ago, and my wrestling coach is on his way as I write this.
I also picked up my new sponsored Fantom Range Rover from ESP cars, so keep an eye out for me driving around the city. Trust me, you can't miss it.
The next couple of days involve a lot of interviews, rehydration and prep. We also have the open work out for the media and the press conference, which is always exciting. Then there are the videos for the UFC which are recorded before each fight.
They are the ones they play before our walk out, where we act all tough and talk about how hard we have trained.
It always reminds me of a Lee Evans joke where he does an impression of a boxer. It's difficult to keep a straight face ever since I watched that show.
The only thing left to do after that is the Warhawk. I'll be calling into Twenty Eight to see my old friend Jay to get it sharpened up.
Read More: UFC star Dan Hardy writes for you | This is Nottingham
What we do know is that the MMA debut of Dave Bautista, the former World Wrestling Entertainment headliner, will be on Oct. 6 at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., in the main event of a pay-per-view show called, "Feel the Pain."
With the show eight days away, who Bautista will be facing is still a mystery.
Bautista's original opponent was Rashid Evans, whose main claim to fame is that his name would be easily confused with one of the biggest stars in the sport. He was given the lottery ticket of being someone who had never had a pro fight, but was going to get to headline a pay-per-view. The downside is that Evans was incarcerated, but according to trainer Phil Dunlap of Advanced Fighting Systems in Mahwah, N.J., they were able to get him released based on the fact he was given this opportunity.
According to Dunlap, Evans violated the terms of his probation, when caught driving without his license, and then panicked when police tried to pull him over. He's back in jail and won't be out until after the fight.
The golden ticket was then passed to Bruno McKee, a super heavyweight at his gym that also would have been making his pro debut after a few amateur fights. But days ago McKee, a part-time fighter compared with Tank Abbott, pulled out, from a combination of nerves and feeling he wasn't going to have enough training time to get ready, according to sources.
Pat Sullivan, who is promoting the show for Classic Entertainment & Sports, Inc., said that there was a new opponent, but when asked his name, said he had to get off the phone and subsequent phone calls have not been returned.
Bautista would be the biggest worldwide pro wrestling star ever to compete in MMA. Under the name "The Animal," Batista, he was one of the signature stars in the WWE over the past decade. On April 3, 2005, he headlined WrestleMania 21 against HHH, at the peak of one of the company's best storylines in years. The show did 1,090,000 worldwide pay-per-view buys, at the time the largest non-boxing number for any pay-per-view event in history.
A number that names like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and even Steve Austin never reached for their biggest matches, and topped numbers of celebrities like Mike Tyson, Lawrence Taylor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. when they were brought into pro wrestling. It is still the fourth biggest pay-per-view event in pro wrestling history. He left WWE when his contract expired in May 2010.
At the time he talked about getting into fighting. Since that time he has opened up an MMA Gym in Tampa, Fla., working with Cesar Gracie. He has also done a number of martial arts movies, working with Cung Le. He was in talks with Scott Coker to fight in Strikeforce, with another pro wrestler, Bobby Lashley, mentioned as a possible first opponent, talks which ended when the promotion was purchased by Zuffa.
Bautista was a bigger star as a pro wrestler than Brock Lesnar, Lashley, Ken Shamrock or Dan Severn. However, his debut has not gotten the attention Lesnar or Lashley's got, because of his age and lack of wrestling background.
Lesnar was an NCAA champion before pro wrestling. Lashley was a three-time NAIA champion and Olympic hopeful, so had credibility at a higher level of competition that Bautista doesn't bring. Bautista is almost 44, never competed at any significant level in wrestling, and was a huge bodybuilder, at 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds, when he got into pro wrestling. He slimmed down as a wrestler, and is significantly lighter as a fighter.
He did work as a bouncer, has had his share of street fight stories among wrestlers including taking care of some kickboxers trying to cause trouble at a hotel in Europe several years back. But that's very different from MMA fighting. He has two decades of studying martial arts. He was regularly training in various MMA disciplines during the last several years of his pro wrestling career.
Next week's show will only be available on pay-per-view in the U.S. to the 20 million homes that have DirecTV. The show, priced at $29.95, features a few fighters with previous UFC experience, including John Howard (16-7) facing Brett Chism (16-11); former middleweight title contender David Loiseau (20-10) faces Chris McNally (5-4), and former TUF fighter and Division I wrestler Marc Stevens (14-7) faces Luis Felix (7-6).
Big question remains before Dave Bautista's MMA debut - MMA Fighting
Lyman Good advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator welterweight tournament with a unanimous decision victory over Jim Wallhead on Sept. 28 at Caesar's Atlantic City in the main event of Bellator 74.
Good, 27, has now won three of his last four fights since losing to Ben Askren in 2010.
"I feel great," Good said in his post-fight interview. "This is the first step towards reclaiming what used to be mine. It's a good way for me to start my adventure to get the belt around my waist again."
Good was deducted a point in the final round for two accidental low blows, but all three judges determined that he did enough to earn a unanimous decision victory with scores of 29-27.
Video: Lyman Good defeats Jim Wallhead at Bellator 74 - Long Island MMA | Examiner-com
The UFC is in the midst of stretch of four events in four straight weekends, with UFC on FX 5 and UFC 153 still to come in the month of October. But that's not the only action coming this month in the world of MMA, as Bellator's seventh season gets into full swing and women's MMA takes the stage with Invicta FC's third event.
There's a lot of MMA action to sift through, but plenty of it well worth watching. From all the events and all the fights to choose from, here are my top five for the month of October.
Read More: PENICK: Top 5 MMA Fights in the Month of October
According to an Oct. 2 report from bloodyelbow-com, Charlie Brenneman has been released from the UFC.
Brenneman, 31, lost three of his last four bouts in the UFC, including lopsided losses to Kyle Noke, Erick Silva and Anthony Johnson.
"Basically, I realized after my last fight that I wasn't in a good situation," Brenneman said. "A week had passed, and yesterday I got a call from my manager/trainer, Mike Constantino. He just said it as succinctly as possible, which is how I prefer it, 'It's not good, you're cut.'"
Brenneman hopes to one day return to the friendly confines of the UFC octagon.
"I'm not closing the book on anything," Brenneman added. "The UFC is where I want to be, and it's where I will be again. I give up a lot to fight. I don't live with my wife. I live in New Jersey so I can devote myself to training, when all my family lives in Pennsylvania. It's not a question of drive and passion. I have plenty of that. When that drive naturally expires, then I'll think about stopping."
Brenneman may explore joining up with the World Series of Fighting, or perhaps Titan FC.
I"t just happened, and I hadn't really thought a lot about it, but The World Series of Fighting or Titan seem like great opportunities because they're new and they're fresh, and they would value someone like me," Brenneman noted. "Those are possibilities. There are also some great shows in New Jersey and all across Pennsylvania. They're not as big, but that is my home state. I'm open to offers, for sure. I'm mature, and I've been around the block long enough to know that things work out, one way or the other. I have my health, my family, and my wife. It could be worse."
Charlie Brenneman cut from the UFC - Long Island MMA | Examiner-com
Former Strikeforce champion "King" Mo Lawal thinks his debut on Thursday night on a pro wrestling television show may pave the way for others to follow, as well as lead to promotional opportunities for each side. King Mo Lawal may become the first person in the U.S. to regularly appear on both MMA and pro wrestling programming at the same time, but he doesn't think he'll be the last.
He joked on Wednesday, one day before he makes his debut as a character on TNA Impact Wrestling, Spike TV's wrestling franchise, that ever since word got out about his deal to be a major player with two companies in altogether different worlds at the same time, he's been getting calls from fighters asking how they can get a similar deal to break into pro wrestling.
"Just about every number (on his phone) from MMA has been, 'Man, you're lucky. How can I do it too?,"' said Lawal, who will debut with Bellator in their light heavyweight tournament starting in January. "They ask, 'What should I do?' I've had some big names, real big names, contact me. Don't be surprised if you don't see some very big names joining me in the future in TNA."
He even talked about the possibility of a Bellator faction in TNA. Because Spike TV is the home of TNA, and parent company Viacom owns Bellator, which starts on Spike in 2013, both companies have been ratcheting up the cross-promotion, feeling there is a significant crossover fan base. The reality was that the original fan base when UFC exploded in 2005 on Spike TV, consisted mostly of pro wrestling fans between the ages of 18-34 who were watching Raw, which was on Spike at that point, and served as the lead-in for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. The entire Japanese MMA economy was built at first on crossing over both pro wrestlers and pro wrestling fans.
For the past year plus, even before Viacom purchased Bellator, it was a fairly regular deal to see the announcers for each company plug the others' television show. Of late, the cross-promotion has gotten stronger. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, announcer Sean Wheelock, and fighters Joe Warren and Eddie Alvarez have all appeared in the past on TNA television. TNA has also used MMA fighters Frank Trigg, Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz (during the period he was out of UFC) over the years. On Friday night's Bellator season opener, they openly pushed Lawal's first appearance on Impact, to the point they aired an interview by Hulk Hogan from the Impact show the night before.
Lawal talked about expanding the co-promotional ideas, such as having TNA wrestlers work his corner or be at ringside during his Bellator fights next year, and more Bellator personalities appearing on Impact.
"I want to do an angle where we do a Bellator takeover, like Brett Rogers, Ben Askren, the Pitbull Brothers, and Michael Chandler come over and help me out when I need help. I may need help from Aces and 8s (a new masked villainous group on the wrestling show)."
The idea of people doing both pro wrestling and MMA at the same time was a regular part of both industries in Japan almost from the inception. But there, lines were blurred greatly. There were legitimate, real matches at times on pro wrestling shows. And while they were never advertised as such, there were, particularly in the 90s, often things billed as real matches on MMA shows that were just pro wrestling matches. There were several organizations in that time period that were almost a missing link between the two, which regularly featured both competitive and entertainment matches and some of the guys, notably Japanese MMA stars like Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba, were so good at making pro wrestling matches look real, that it was at times hard to tell what was what. There are a not a few, but a multitude of pro wrestling matches listed on some big names' MMA records in current databases.
In the U.S., it's completely different. There is no confusion over what is what. What there may be confusion about is what is easier.
"A lot of people in MMA don't realize how hard this is," said Lawal, who has just started training at a camp in Louisville under the auspices of Allan Sarven, a former pro wrestler best known as Al Snow. In a weird trivia note, Sarven was in Dan Severn's corner during the early days of Severn's MMA career. "I definitely feel MMA is easier than pro wrestling."
"It's different, I'm used to knocking people out," said Lawal, a former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion who has an 8-1 record with one no contest in MMA. "Now I have to be a lot smarter how I'm hitting people."
Lawal hasn't had a lot of time to work on his wrestling training. He's been studying a lot of videotapes, mostly of wrestlers from the 80s, looking at their mechanics in the ring. He's been doing a lot of media this week, but he's going to Holland in November to work on his kickboxing skills, and back to the AKA Gym in San Jose in December, to prepare for his January fight. But he noted that even when he has fights upcoming, he'd like to keep his face on the wrestling show, noting that they tape in Orlando, Fla., and he can train with the Blackzillians camp in Boca Raton, Fla. on those days.
Pro wrestling is nothing new to him, as he started watching it at a young age. He talks about how much he loved Mid South Wrestling, a promotion that was big in Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, but actually folded when he was only six years old. At his press call, he talked about the details of a famous match between two of his favorites, Ric Flair and Sting, on television at the first Clash of Champions.
He was only seven when that bout took place in early 1988.
He noted he was more of a fan of the other brands than the World Wrestling Federation in those days, so his favorites were more Sting, The Great Muta, Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and others. While he noted he had recently met Hulk Hogan, the aging star of the TNA promotion, it was meeting Sting t
UFC on FX 5 is set to go down Friday night, which for many fight fans means logging onto a preferred sportsbook and putting that MMA knowledge to the test.
While many events pose intriguing gambling options, there are also individual fighters who consistently draw the eye of bettors, seeming to demand you throw your lot in with theirs.
Sometimes, these fighters vindicate themselves by consistently rewarding supporters with fine payouts. Other times, not so much.
Here, we'll take a look at 10 fighters who just seem to scream, "Bet on me!" and examine why they are so appealing, as well as how valuable they are to gamblers.
10 MMA Fighters Who Gamblers Love to Take Chances on | Bleacher Report
Fate can be so cruel. You can have a perfect training camp and be filled with confidence, only to have one thing go unexpectedly wrong and everything else unravel. That's exactly what happened to Travis Browne at UFC on FX 5. Fighting in his first UFC main event, Browne came out with a new style that highlighted his athleticism. It was supposed to be his coming-out party as a heavyweight contender, but his body betrayed him.
At some point of the fight -- Browne said it might have been the very first kick he threw -- his left hamstring popped. The extent of the injury isn't known, but it soon became clear he wasn't working on a stable foundation. At one point, his leg nearly gave out and he stumbled before catching his balance. He tried to adjust by switching to a southpaw style. But on one wheel, he was fighting at a disadvantage.
Suddenly, his athletic style was gone. He was shuffling his steps. He was a more stationary target. And not much later, his opponent Antonio Silva caught him. Make no mistake about it, the punch -- a crushing overhand right -- would have rocked Browne no matter how many good working legs he had. It was the beginning of the end, as Silva followed up with ground strikes for the stoppage win.
Browne could hardly walk off on his own, needing help from his corners to leave the octagon. But afterward, when he could have used the injury as an excuse, he refused to do it. Perhaps with two good legs, he would have sidestepped the strike. Perhaps he wouldn't have let himself be trapped against the fence. We'll never know. Taking the classy route, Browne wouldn't let the speculation get very far, anyway. After briefly answering a question about how he'd suffered the injury, Browne put the focus back on the victor.
"Putting that aside," he said, "'Bigfoot' came out and won the fight. Not trying to take anything away from the guy. Come back stronger."
You could tell from the way he spoke and the look on his face that he was beyond disappointed. Somewhere inside, he might have been asking "Why me?" but nothing of the sort ever left his lips.
"I don't want to take anything away from Bigfoot," he said, repeating the same sentiment. "He came out, he capitalized on something that he saw, and he won the fight."
He even blamed himself for not following through on his game plan, as though a strategy based upon movement and angles would be easy to continue on one leg. Browne did land one sharp right hook afterward, but it was his last stand.
The defeat will sting for a while. Prior to the fight, UFC president Dana White said that he believed Browne to be a top 10 heavyweight, and he had come in as a significant favorite. It seemed obvious that his performance was going to be measured against those of Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier, both of whom had finished Silva in the first round of their respective bouts. An impressive win would prop him up. A lose would set back his progress. Browne had a lot to gain and a plenty at risk, and he's going to have to go home wondering what would have happened if his hamstring hadn't popped, and Silva was made to chase around his athleticism.
"All this does is motivate the hell out of me," he said, his voice trailing off for a few moments. "I’m just ready to come back and heal up. I’m still the same fighter but I’m going to come back even more pissed off and harder this time. I f------ hate losing."
A defeat is never easily swallowed but at least he suffered his with dignity.
Injury leads to defeat, but Travis Browne makes no excuses - MMA Fighting
Antonio Rodrigo (Minotauro) Nogueira is still disappointed he didn’t get to fight in Canada this summer.
The former PRIDE heavyweight champion and interim UFC titleholder was scheduled to meet Cheick Kongo at UFC 149 in Calgary on July 21, but was forced off the card due to his surgically repaired arm not being fully healed.
Nogueira said he attempted to train as best he could, but realized he wouldn’t be healthy enough to fight Kongo.
“I was very disappointed because I couldn’t take the fight,” Nogueira said on a recent UFC conference call. “I was feeling ready to go when I accepted the fight. I had like two months for training ... (A sparring partner) threw a left kick in the ribs and I blocked it with my broken arm. I felt I was recovering, but after one month’s training and getting all those kicks — my sparring partners are all heavyweights and those guys kick very strong.
“(I wanted to avoid) an injury that would affect my career in the future. So that’s why I came out with my training partners, trainers, doctor and physiotherapist and we decided to just cancel the date.
“I feel sorry I couldn’t take that fight. I have a lot of respect for Cheick and the Canadian fans, but I wasn’t able to fight.”
Of course, the last time Nogueira fought in Canada, he was the victim of one of the most gruesome submissions in MMA history at UFC 140 in Toronto late last year.
The MMA legend appeared to be moments away from securing a knockout victory over fellow Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt Frank Mir when he instead opted to attempt a submission. Mir gained the upper hand and rolled into a kimura. Nogueira refused to tap out, essentially giving Mir permission to snap his arm like a twig.
Nogueira admitted he learned a painful lesson that night.
Read More: Minotauro well-armed for UFC 153 | Mixed Martial Arts | Sports | Toronto Sun
It has taken just three high-profile fight nights in just a little over a year for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to gain a popular foothold here in Singapore.
ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC), the organisation that put up those three fight nights and is hyperactively putting up many more around South-east Asia, has somehow managed to capture the imagination of local sports fans who are curious about the MMA phenomenon.
Last Saturday, 8,000 such fans packed the Singapore Indoor Stadium to watch Rise of Kings, ONE FC's third fight event here.
When it hosted its inaugural event, Martial Combat, in September last year, it drew about 5,000 fans to the same venue.
But more important than the jump in audience numbers is the evident improvement in running the show - the slick use of a giant video screen, raucous ringside announcers, and pounding modern music all add to make a night free of glitches.
Indeed, when the final bout was completed near midnight - after almost four hours of sheer primal spectacle - most of the crowd remained, a sign that they were not bored.
After attending Martial Combat last year, I wrote that compelling MMA fighters are needed to popularise the sport, amid the glitzy, never-sleazy atmosphere that ONE FC seems to infuse into its fight nights with ease.
At last Saturday's event, it smartly introduced title bouts for the first time, raising the stakes for top fighters to aim for.
The second smart thing ONE FC did for the title bouts: It pitted top Asian MMA fighters against well-respected opponents from other parts of the world.
And ONE FC was duly rewarded, as the Asians thrilled the crowd with decisive knockouts to clinch both the bantamweight and lightweight title belts at stake.
South Korea's Kim Soo Chul, who won the bantamweight title with a brutal knockout of Brazil's Leandro Issa, was so overcome that he wept in his manager's arms.
Needless to say, the outpouring of emotion endeared him to the crowd. Ditto Japan's Shinya Aoki, who won the headline fight by choking his flamboyant French opponent Arnaud Lepont into submission within two minutes of the bout.
He roared in triumph, then ran out to grab his baby boy to celebrate the win, much to the fans' approval.
Such moments might have been spontaneous, but they came because the contenders were fighting for the high stakes offered by ONE FC. And those, in turn, sold the event well, as fans could feel the primal emotions that MMA can evoke.
ONE FC chief executive Victor Cui, a charismatic and passionate promoter of MMA across Asia, has always said that he believes the sport will take off in this region, just as it did in America. "So many kinds of martial arts originated in Asia," he said.
"We already have a large base of people who are willing to accept the sport.
"We just need to provide a stylish, comfortable setting for them to sit and enjoy the fights."
It seems easy, but not many organisations are willing to put up the money to book a big venue like the Indoor Stadium, use a plethora of live TV cameras to "blow up" the action onto the video screen, and set up amenities like VIP areas for socialites to mingle amid finger food and booze.
But ONE FC timed its entrance into the Asian arena just as MMA was starting to take off in the region, with Singapore's Evolve MMA and Impact MMA academies seeing thousands take up the sport.
As Mr Cui said, so many martial arts originated in Asia. Many top Asian fighters will emerge.
Will the sport see a local hero that will push it to greater heights? It is foolish to rule it out.
Should that happen, it is safe to say that there will be a sizeable crowd willing to cheer them on to success.
"When you get in this sport you have to dream big," Benavidez told News10. "You have to think you are going to be the best. And now that it is finally here it is a crazy feeling, man"
Benavidez, who trains with Urijah Faber's Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, will face Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson (15-2-1) as the co-main event at UFC 152 in Toronto.
At 5'4 and 125 lbs. Benavidez (16-2) is who used to fighting much bigger opponents. His only two loses were a unanimous and split decision to UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at 135 lbs. On Saturday, this will be Benavidez's first fight where he enters the cage as the bigger fighter to Johnson's 5'3 frame.
"It is awesome he is smaller than, he is just a little mighty mouse," said Benavidez. "It is nice being the bigger guy where I don't have to compromise my style to fight. At this weight I think my power can be known whether it is holding a guy and dominating him on the ground or staying in the pocket with him."
Read More: Size matters for first ever UFC Flyweight championship | news10-net