Strikeforce Strikes Back

Strikeforce broke into the MMA scene with the highly successful Frank Shamrock vs Cesar Gracie PPV. Now they are back! This time, when Strikeforce returns to California, the main even will feature Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort vs Kevin "The Monster" Randleman. Both of these men are very exciting fighters who throw leather and attack with ferocious speed. They also need big wins to get back into the thick of the MMA scene. Vitor represents the Brazilian Top Team while Randleman will be promoting his Hammer House camp. Both of these former UFC champions will bring a quickness and power rarely seen in the world today. Brace yourselves for perhaps the most exciting MMA bout of the year.

Also coming soon from Strikeforce (though possibly on a later card), the "King of the 3 Rounders," Butterbean, will take on UFC veteran David "Tank" Abbott. Both of these men are regarded as two of the hardest hitting fighters in the business, and neither will have a desire to take the fight to the ground. A stand up war with nothing but power shots will rock the Strikeforce hexagon.

Stay here for more updates as they come from the fast rising MMA promotion, Strikeforce!

IFL's 1st Event This Saturday!

The International Fight League (IFL) makes its debut this Saturday in Atlantic City! The IFL brings a new approach to the MMA scene placing fighters on 4 separate teams representing different cities, and coached by legends of the sport. The Anacondas are coached by Bas Rutten. The Pitbulls are coached by Renzo Gracie. The Tiger Sharks are coached by Maurice Smith. And finally the Silverbacks are coached by Pat Miletich. Each team tries to win at least 3 of their 5 scheduled fights to be declared the winner.

Lightweights
Bart Palaszewski (Silverbacks)vs John Shackleford (Anacondas)
Eric Owens (Pitbulls)vs Justin Jones (Tiger Sharks)

Welterweights
Rory Markham (Silverbacks)vs Mike Pyle (Anacondas)
Gustavo Muchado (Pitbulls)vs Brad Blackburn (Tiger Sharks)

Middleweights
Ryan McGivern (Silverbacks)vs Amir Rahnavardi (Anacondas)
Delson Heleno(Pitbulls)vs Dennis Hallman (Tiger Sharks)

Light Heavyweights
Travis Wuiff (Silverbacks)vs Alex Shoenauer (Anacondas)
Jamal Patterson (Pitbulls)vs TBA (Tiger Sharks)

Heavyweights
Ben Rothwell (Silverbacks)vs Krzysztof Soszynski (Anacondas)
Carlos Kline (Pitbulls)vs Devin Cole (Tiger Sharks)

As you can see, this event features the Silverbacks vs the Anacondas and the Tiger Sharks vs the Pitbulls.

Also in action via a super-fight, Jens Pulver will face off against Cole Escovldo!

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will be on hand as one of the commentators.

It will be interesting to see how this event unfolds and if any team shows dominance over the others. Stay tuned for the results!

Boxing News

Boxing News

• Oscar De La Hoya will be fighting Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC Super Welterweight (154lbs.) on May 6th. Bad blood has already fueled this fight with Mayorga constantly trash talking, as well as slapping "The Golden Boy" in the back of the head when he wasn't looking. This could be a war, and possibly Oscar's last fight.
• Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort, made his Professional Boxing debut recently KOing his opponent in the very first round. It is unknown whether Vitor will continue boxing or return to MMA.
• Wladimir Klitschko KO's Chris Byrd in the 7th round of their fight to become the new IBF Heavyweight Champion.
• Mike Tyson is still a joke.

Do You Know Anderson Silva?

Anderson "The Spider" Silva (15-4-0) has officially signed to compete in the UFC's Middleweight (185lbs.) division. Anderson is known for his exciting Muay Thai style of knees, kicks, and vicious strikes. A consummate showman, Silva will bring excitement to the division in and out of the octagon.

Silva is a former Chute Boxe member who trained for years with Wanderlei Silva, the Ruas brothers, and all the other talented members of the Brazilian academy. Now with the Muay Thai Dream Team, Anderson is stepping up again to fight at the highest level possible. He has notable wins over Jeremy Horn (by decision), Carlos Newton (TKO), Lee Murray (decision), and Jorge Rivera (TKO). Silva has fought all over the world in Rumble On The Rock (Hawaii), Pride FC (Japan), Shooto (Japan), and most recently at Cage Rage (United Kingdom). A former champion himself, Silva will be looking to climb the UFC's ladder to face Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin. First he will have to face the contenders in the 185lbs. division such as Nathan Marquardt, Chris Leben, Evan Tanner, and David Loiseau.

It should be interesting to see who he faces first, but one thing is for sure, the UFC has added another world class fighter to their roster.

MMA News Round Up

Tito Ortiz is crying again. Tito is now claiming that on top of his "injured knee," at UFC 59 Forrest Griffin put baby oil on his legs to keep Tito from taking him down. Hmmmm, interesting, except for the fact the refs check for that very problem. Also, if his knee was so hurt, why was he jumping up and down on it before the match even began? Answer, Tito was surprised at how tough Forrest was and is making excuses for his performance. Tito has informed Dana White (UFC co-owner) that he will not be able to fight Ken Shamrock in July. Forrest has offered to step up in his place to fight. It has yet to be made official, but a Shamrock vs Griffin fight would be exciting!

The UFC is creating a lightweight championship belt! They offered the fight to BJ Penn and Sean Sherk to determine the champion. Penn has turned the fight down claiming he wants to move up in weight and fight at 185lbs! No word on who will fight Sherk as of yet.

Jake Shields won the Rumble On The Rock tournament to become their first ever belt champion. At the event, Frank Trigg, who lost via armbar to Carlos Condit, may now retire from action. He stated, he may go to work full time as a commentator for Pride now that Bas Rutten has cut all ties to the organization.

As just mentioned, Bas Rutten has quit Pride FC to coach in the IFL. Originally he had planned to do both, but Pride changed their mind at the last minute. An agitated Bas, said he would move on to the IFL because he was tired of Pride trying to control his destiny.

Former Olympic gold medalist Rulan Gardner (not Kurt Angle), is slated to return to MMA in Pride's Open Weight Grand Prix against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. A tall order for Gardner who has fought on once in MMA gaining a decision victory.

UFC 59 Results

BAAAAACK in the saddle again. Sorry for the layoff there, but it couldn't be helped.

UFC 59 Results
Tim Sylvia defeats Andrei Arlovski by TKO. AA rocked Tim putting him on his ass, but Tim recovered getting to his feet and landing a short uppercut that dropped AA. Tim pounced as AA used one hand to cover his face and the ref called a stop (maybe a bit early) to the fight. New Champion Tim Sylvia!

Tito Ortiz wins a controversial split decision over a very game Forrest Griffin. Tito controlled and dominated the first round on the ground, but in the second, Forrest controlled the stand up and denied the takedowns. The third was close with Forrest controlling till the end when Tito finally got a takedown. Forrest seemed to do more scoring from his back than Tito did on top and was able to get back to the feet. At the decision, the home town of Tito boo'd him as he was given the decision.

Sean Sherk defeated Nick Diaz in a lackluster fight where not a lot happend. Sherk will now drop to 155lbs. to dominate the lightweight division.

Evan Tanner returned to form submitting Justin Levins in the first.

Jeff Monson gained a unanimous decision over Marcio Cruz in a competitive heavyweight match.

David Terrell got a controversial choke out win over Scott Smith. The ref called a halt to the action and then did not break apart the fighters, as Scott awaited the break, the ref called the action to resume and David took him down for the win. According to the rules, when a ref calls for a break, he must reset the fighters before the action returns. New referee Lopez did not do this and Smith's corner is appealing the fight to the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Karo Parisyan dominated and bloodied Nick Thompson who tapped out like a screaming baby.

Jason Lambert withheld the assault of Terry Martin, allowing the cleary out of shape fighter to tire, and then get the win.

Thiago Alves redeemed a past lost to Derrick Noble winning by choke.

UFC 59 Reality Check PPV

Finally, after the disappointment of UFN4, comes a PPV with a higher class of fighters and excitement! Intriguing fights, last minute replacements, and titles all on the docket for UFC 59 Reality Check.

Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski vs Tim "The Maniac" Sylvia: WINNER-Arlovski While rumors are running wild that Andrei has taken this fight lightly after their first meeting, I do not believe it. Andrei respects and trains for all opponents, especially when holding the heavyweight championship. The Pitbull has much better ground game (obviously), and better stand up which is Sylvia's strength. His cardio is better, and he is much faster. Andrei is also training with Randy Couture and Forrest Griffin. Does Tim have a chance? Yes. He trains with the best team in MMA, Miletich, has definite KO power, and is training for this harder than any other fight he has had. He is hungry and wants his title back. Tim must take his time and not rush into Arlovski like he did in the first fight. Slow and steady, picking his shots, will give him a chance in this fight. He cannot go to the ground and must keep the fight on the feet. In the end, The Pitbull still wins this fight, probably by submission again. Sylvia is hard to take down, but it will be done. It will be a much better fight than the first, but the outcome is the same. Andrei successfully defends the title.

"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin: WINNER-Ortiz People are beginning to claim that Forrest will win this fight because of how hard he has been training with such names as Andrei Arlovski, Frank Trigg, and Randy Couture. Possible, but doubtful. Tito has been gone awhile, but don't forget all his accomplishments. His ground game is vicious, and he'll take Forrest down. The question is, will the rumored ju-jitsu of Forrest be any good. Can he defend or work for submissions while on his back. His stand up will be much better than Tito's, but Tito has learned his lesson from Chuck. He will take him down and g&p. Forrest has a puncher's chance, and can win, but the odds have got to favor the hometown hero, fighting for the 1st time in Cali (for the UFC), and returning from over a year of inactivity. Tito wins but it should be fun.

Nick Diaz vs Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk: WINNER-Sherk It pains me to say it because I love Nick, but Sean wins. Sherk is a Matt Hughes clone, with brutal g&p and crazy power, I see trouble for Nick. Diaz advantage is the stand up which he clearly owns, and on the ground, where he is well skilled at submissions and escapes. The problem is his cardio in recent fights, has shown his inability to finish the fights. Sherk will not have this problem. Also, Nick has the reach advantage over the 4 inches shorter fighter. Sean will not leave this fight standing for that advantage to be asserted. After this fight, Sherk will head down to 155lbs to rule the lightweights. Nick must win to stay in the UFC. Tough and very excited fight expected. Pull for Nick, bet on Sean.

Jeff "Snowman" Monson vs Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz: WINNER-Snowman Jeff has brutal strength and great submissions. Pe De has cutting elbows (i.e. Mir) and submissions. Neither has great stand up skills. In the end, Monson has much more experience, and power which should be the difference. Monson wins and goes on to be the #1 contender for the heavyweight championship.

David "Soul Assassin" Terrell vs Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith: WINNER-Smith Here's an upset pick. David is coming off an injury and embarrassing loss to Tanner. His preparation is always suspect, though he has good striking and ground game. Smith has the WEC championship and amazing hands with KO power. This could be a good fight depending on which Terrell shows up. The fast tough fighter who KO'd Lindland, or the out classed fighter who was schooled by Tanner. I just think Smith is on a roll and ready to head to the next level with his debut in the UFC.

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan vs Nick "The Goat" Thompson: WINNER-Goat Upset pick #2. Karo is coming off and injury that took away his title shot at Matt Hughes. The Goat has reeled off 8 wins in a row. The Goat has better stand up, while Karo has his unorthodox Judo skills. Both have good submissions. Both can go the distance. The difference is inactivity for Karo, and keeping busy for Nick. Most will be picking the former #1 contender, I smell and upset baby.

Jason "The Punisher" Lambert vs Terry Martin: WINNER-Lambert Ummm, has anyone noticed how good Jason is? 20 wins against such opponents as Wiuff, Eastman, and much better opponents. Martin has great KO's and only 1 loss. Lambert has the reach advantage and Martin's conditioning is always a question. Martin usually comes in over confident and cocky. Look for the Punisher to establish himself with his hands, and then take it to the ground for a submission. Watch this guy (Jason) he could really impact the 205lbs division.

Thiago Alves vs Derrick "The Eraser" Noble: WINNER-Alves Rematch! Noble won the 1st meeting in 2003 by a choke. This time, Alves is fighting to keep his spot in the UFC, while Noble is making his debut. Alves has fought better competition and has better cardio. He's looking for redemption and should find it here. Both have good hands and Alves has better submissions. Alves has the edge with better training partners (American Top Team) and better record. Alves by decision.

Evan Tanner vs Justin Levens: WINNER-Tanner Evan is in the best shape of his life and coming off losses to Loiseau and Franklin. He is hungry and angry after losing two fights by the doctors stoppage. Keep in mind, he was doing find against the Crow when a cut ended his night. Tanner is a former champ and veteran of the UFC who has fought much better fighters. Levens is a last minute replacement for Horn, who took the fight on 3 weeks notice. A Ruas student is key, and he has great hands with KO power, something Tanner lacks. The difference is Tanner is far more experienced at all levels of the game. Tanner returns to the win column by g&p!

Should be an exciting night with some really good fights. Stay tuned for any changes and PPV results!

Ultimate Fight Night 4 Results

It wasn't pretty, and some of the time it wasn't exciting, but here are the controversial results.

Stephan Bonner defeats Keith Jardine by unanimous (???) decision. Well, this was one of the good fights. Keith pressed the action winning round 1 (in my opinion) by pressing the action and scoring with damaging leg kicks. In the second, Stephan landed a punch that put Keith down but he recovered. The third was action packed with both doing damage though Keith seemed to do just a little bit better. As the decision was red, Keith had a bloody lip, while Stephan had a badly cut right eye streaming blood, and a lesser damaged left eye. If anything this fight was a draw, but the judges saw something the arena did not. They reigned down boo's at the decision.

Rashaad continues his tradition of going to the judges as he won a split decision over Sam Hoger. Besides takedowns, Rashaad didn't seem to do much. Sam landed a great high kick that closed Evans eye, and locked in a deep kimura. Rashaad only survived because time ran out. How Evans won the decision is a mystery brought by the judges again.

Josh Neer manhandled Joe Stevenson scoring the legitimate upset of the night. He controlled the fight and damaged Joe with vicious elbows. Joe never got in the fight and his last attempt at 170lbs is a loss.

Meanwhile, Luke Cummo (TUF2 runner-up to Joe S.) scored a great decision win over the always game Jason Von Flue. Luke was never in danger and controlled the whole fight. A good one to watch though.

Chris Leben beat Luigi by decision (anyone noticing a pattern??) in a lackluster performance against a lame opponent. Not a good showing for either fighter.

Jon Fitch continues to impress submitting Josh Burkman with a choke in round 2. Josh claimed a broken foot (which may or may not be true) slowed him down, but Fitch's stock continues to rise.

Dan Christison beat Brad Imes by armbar in the 3rd after a great slugfest between the two heavyweights. Dan did well as a last second replacement taking out the crowd favorite.

Josh Koscheck looked impressive coming off a loss to win in the 1st round by choke.

Finally, Team Quest's Chael Sonnen absolutely battered Trevor Prangley on his way to a decision victory.

So, TUF2 winners did not look good with 1 losing (Joe S.) and the other (Rashaad E.) winning a controversial decision. Other TUF's Imes, Burkman, & Von Flue all lost while vets Sonnen, Neer, & Fitch all won. Interesting night, though not always exciting. Lets hear it for a much higher class of fighting at UFC 59!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ultimate Fight Night 4

ULTIMATE FIGHT NIGHT 4

sTEPHEN "aMERICAN pSYCHO" bONNER vs kEITH "dEAN oF mEAN" jARDINE: WINNER-BONNER This will be a very close fight in my opinion. Both guys are very solid well rounded fighters who have trouble closing out opponents. I really have no reason why Jardine cannot beat Bonner. He has only 1 loss on his record to a solid fighter. Bonner has shown the ability to handle bigger opponents (Irvin) so Jardine's size shouldn't be a factor. Bonner we know has a good chin, and better ground game. By the slightest margin, Stephen wins by decision.

rASHAD eVANS vs sAM "aLASKAN aSSASSIN" hOGER:WINNER-HOGER I smell an upset. I picked against Rashad his whole career so why stop now (and was wrong on TUF2). Sam just has a much, much superior ground game and will take this fight to the mat. He will not try to stand with Rashad's fast hands. Sam is hungry and the Miletich camp will have him ready. Sam by submission.

jOE "dADDY" sTEVENSON vs jOSH nEER: WINNER-STEVENSON Daddy is coming back to the UFC. After successfully winning TUF2, this ground and pound vet faces a very well rounded fighter in Josh Neer. The problem, is Joe has way too much power and a brutal ground game which he will impliment. Neer is tough, and smart, but I just don't think he'll have enough against Daddy. Joe by stoppage, ground and pound.

cHRIS "cATSMASHER" lEBEN vs lUIGI fIORAVANTI: WINNER-LEBEN Well what do you know? The UFC put a puncher up against Leben. What a shock. As they continue to try to build Leben's record, he faces an undefeated (6-0) fighter. Both are strikers. Leben has more experience and-aw screw it. Leben wins by KO because the UFC feeds him opponents that fit his style so he can win. Its crap.

lUKE cUMMO vs jASON vON fLUE: WINNER-CUMMO The runner-up for TUF2 returns to face a very game and interesting fighter named Von Flue. Both guys can strike and both can work the ground. Here, I think these two just slug it out with Cummo getting the win. I like both of these underdogs and this fight could steal the show!

jOSH "pEOPLE'S wARRIOR" bURKMAN vs jOHN fITCH: WINNER-BURKMAN It what should be a very exciting fight, we have to very fast, and ultra aggressive fighters. Should be a lot of action. Fitch has won his last 8 fights. Josh has better hands and they are pretty even on the ground. I think Burkman's power and hands take him to the victory by TKO.

jOSH kOSCHECK VS aNSAR cHALANGOV: WINNER-KOSCHECK Both men are coming off losses. Josh was the first TUF fighter to lose and Ansar just lost to Alves. Ansar may have better hands, but Josh will use his wrestling skills to control the fight. Josh has better cardio and will be looking to prove he still belongs with the elite TUF's. Josh by decision.

bRAD iMES vs dAN cHRISTESEn: WINNER-IMES This fight saw an opponent change at the last second adding Dan instead of Gabriel Gonzaga. Dan has far more experience but Brad is training with Horn/Miletich camps. Last moment changes make it very hard to call.

tREVOR pRANGLEY vs cHAEL sONNEN: WINNER-PRANGLEY Both men have lost to Babalu and Horn which is interesting. Anywho, Sonnen is a part of Team Quest so that should tell you his game is grappling. Prangley is coming off a decision loss that many (including myself) believe he won against Horn. Trevor will not let that happen again and will find a way to finish an opponent so the judges cannot decide the fight.

All in All UFN4 is a pretty good card. Though not the top tier of fighters all the way through the card, the match ups are very good. A lot of pretty even fights here. Should be a good show. Also, Prangley, Sonnen, Koscheck, Neer, and Hoger all need good showings (win or lose) to continue with the UFC (same with Gabe if he fights). Otherwise, more new talent coming in will take their spots. Good luck.

Bushido 10 Results

Bushido never seems to disappoint. Great fights and the upset of the year! We went 10-1 on our picks only missing the major upset. Here are the results.
Marcus Aurelio choked Takanori Gomi completely unconscious in round 1 of their bout. Gomi dance and faked but Marcus held strong and took him down. From there, he easily controlled the action, passing Gomi's guard and getting side control. Marcus sunk in a choke until the ref noticed Gomi completely out! This was a non-title bout, but Marcus will surely get a shot at the title some time this year.
Dan Henderson won his bout by unanimous decision.
Phil Baroni quickly KO'd Yuki Kondo in a rather uncompetitive fight.
Jens Pulver had the fight of the night winning an absolute war with Arai. A great stand up battle Pulver won via soccer kick (TKO).
Gono defeated Won Kim by armbar submission in round 1.
Ishida had a successful debut defeating Rodriguez by guillotine in round 1.
Denis Kang defeated Weir by submission from a swollen eye in round 1.
Paulo Filho picked up a huge win upsetting Ninja Rua (as predicted) by unanimous decision. The fight was very one sided with Filho controlling the entire fight.
The Punk Minowa defeated Giant Silva by knees in yet another awkward showing by the Giant. It almost seemed to easy (or fake) for Minowa.
Yves Edwards got back to his winning ways by beating Ikemoto by decision.
61-21 on all our picks to date. Ultimate Fight Night 4 will be the next event!