mmatoronto

MMA Fighter search engine for Firefox/IE

2009-05-08T15:40:00.002-04:00

being a bit of a geek, I created a search engine for Firefox/IE dropdown to search for fighters stats on mixedmartialarts.com.

I didn't see any available.

Enjoy it here.

Ontario to table legislation to legalize MMA

2009-04-24T11:51:00.001-04:00

Yes, you read that right! We're way past April 1st, so this is not a joke!

First the background, it is a known fact that the UFC is salivating at the prospects of running a show in Toronto. Last week in Montreal, Dana White was so sure of it, that he pretty much promised GSP vs Anderson Silva in December in Toronto. Back, in December 2008, UFC President Dana White said "Toronto is next", with the Rogers Centre a possible venue. It is estimated that over 40% of the tickets holder to the UFC 83 and UFC 97 are from Ontario with the majority coming from the GTA. There has been discussion of using the Rogers Centre, I think it is a lofty goal but possible. I'd love to beat the attendance record set by the WWE in 1990 (67678 fans).

The Ontario economy could also benefit from a boost to its tourism trade, it is estimated that the windfalls from a UFC event are in the range of $6 to $8 million for a 5 hour show (3 hour PPV). Many have argued that angle to bring the UFC to Ontario. This is only for one event, you can bet that if it’s that successful, the UFC could be in Toronto maybe twice per year! Legalizing MMA would also allow other MMA promotions to develop in Ontario, not just with Iroquois MMA (Iroquois MMA could not be reached for comments). I applaud the efforts accomplished by Iroquois MMA, but it has been done in a grey area, and we do want full regulation and medical supervision in Ontario.

It’s always been thought that the reason we could not get MMA in Ontario was because of Ken Hayashi and his organization's interpretation of the Canadian Criminal Code Section 83.1 which if anyone reads, can be interpreted in many ways, depending on which lawyer you talk to. Ken Hayashi has also been cited as being weary of facing a lawsuit from the Canadian government if he sanctioned MMA. This is obviously a weak argument as many provinces have been running MMA for years without any Federal interventions. Sarbjit Kaur, senior communication adviser to the minister of Small Business and Consumer Services, says "Section 83 and all of that is not really the crux of it, for us.". There is also the problem of a $100 million dollar lawsuit that was filed last summer hanging above Ken’s head.

All these probably are contributing factors, but as it turns, Ontario is more concerned about liabilities, what if something occurred in a non-sanctioned event? There have been underground events or backyard events. Iroquois MMA is in a grey area, but what if something happened at one of those events? Who would foot the medical bill and perhaps even lawsuits? Ken Hayashi has said before, and he is entirely correct, “Those guys are taking a big chance with putting on these shows. If someone gets seriously hurt there will be serious liability issues for those connected with the event and it will set the sport back several years in Ontario. Especially if it’s found that they’ve not done the due diligence that other professional athletic commissions are doing”. Thus the need for the Ontario Athletic Commission to sanction MMA events, from having Ontario judges ready (certified perhaps), to standardized medical testing (CAT scans, EEGs, and full blood work for Hep B, Hep C and HIV) for events.

So, before the end of May, I am told that legislation will be tabled at Queen’s Park paving the way for MMA to be legalized in Ontario. Now, don’t get overly excited, as the UFC will not be coming here next week. We all know how fast the Ontario government works. I still remember promises of beer coming in corner stores, but I digress. From what I have heard, it may take up to two years before the OAC is ready for sanctioning MMA events. But we will have them!!! And the other side, is I’m sure the UFC will be happy to lend a hand moving things along once the legislation is tabled.

In the end, I don’t want to forget to thank the many people that have worked on this case for over ten years! We know who you are and your work is appreciated.

In the meantime, rejoice, go train, legal MMA is coming to Ontario!

Nintendo releases classic UFC game

2009-04-09T13:47:00.001-04:00

This is way too funny! Enjoy!

Royler Gracie talks about the passing of his father...

2009-04-08T10:52:00.002-04:00

Royler Gracie after a seminar in Pennsylvania. Royler talks about the life and the passing of his father, Grandmaster Helio Gracie, and his impact on martial arts, as well as the growth of the Royler Gracie Competition Team, his future, and the first of a series of his instructional DVD's.

Canadian gold and silver winners at PanAms

2009-03-30T11:27:00.005-04:00

Brian Beauchamp is now a three time gold winner at the PanAms, an event held yearly by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. This is the first time that a canadian has won 3 gold medals. He actually won 2 gold medals this year, one for his division Meio-Pesado (Medium-Heavy) and one in the Absolute division. Brian also won gold last year. I started following Brian a year ago, I'm always inspired by older guys that do BJJ and even more when they do well. Brian truly is a great inspiration and role model to anyone who want fight aging by staying very active!

Another Canadian that did very well is Amir Yafawi. This is Amir's first tournament at purple belt. He won silver in a very crowded 32 fighters division. That is an amazing accomplishment!!!

We're proud of you guys! Congratulations!

PS: Stay tuned, as I will have more details when they come back.

RIP Charles "Mask" Lewis

2009-03-11T14:51:00.004-04:00

RIP Charles, you did much for the sport.
Accident news detail

Kevin James training with Randy Couture

2009-03-09T11:37:00.003-04:00

Kevin has always been a big (no pun intended) fan of MMA for a long time. However, I'm actually surprise at him how well he looked training. Good job Kevin!

Too bad about the injury, kinda goes with the territory!

Helio Gracie's last interview

2009-03-02T11:48:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Gracie Magazine for posting what turned out to be Helio's last interview on YouTube. The Gracie Magazine, put English subtitles on the 30 minutes interview and posted it in four parts on YouTube. Thanks!

Here's is part one:

Enjoy!

Fight Training Videos: STRIKENOMICS

2009-02-26T13:09:00.002-05:00

These guys, hotbutterfilms, have been putting out great training videos ;-) , check them out.

Here's the latest installment, ground defense:

The "Never Surrender" movie

2009-02-19T09:51:00.004-05:00

A new movie coming out in April (on DVD only), featuring the best of UFC: GSP, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Rampage, Heath Herring (ok not one of the best, but a great fighter!).

Of course, I'm a huge MMA fan, but I'm not that interested in promoting street fighting, specially by these professional. Hopefully the story line helps alleviate my fears, but I somehow doubt it. Being an MMA fan does not mean that I believe as many people do that "Fighting Solves Everything". Its funny and cool on a t-shirt, but not real.

Anyways, I will probably buy it anyways!

Also check out the trailer here:

UFC 97 in Montreal will likely get moved

2009-02-13T09:06:00.004-05:00

Read that poster on the Bell Center last year, "Bienvenue"!! Well I guess into anymore!

The Quebec government is making crazy demands on the UFC. The UFC will not change its rules to meet their demands, so if the government does not back down, this event will likely have to move. What happens to the tickets holder? Where could it go?

It's embarrassing to be a Canadian with these athletic commissions stances on Mixed Martial Arts.(Ontario, BC, possibly Manitoba and now Quebec).

UFC, I say sue the Quebec government!

Source:

Sportsnet

Corrus Sports

UPDATE:
Okay guys, let's complain here about this stupid decision, in a recession, no less!

EMAIL:
Conars a la regie

sracj.plainte@racj.gouv.qc.ca

Wagney Fabiano possibly fighting Urijah Faber

2009-02-09T13:03:00.002-05:00

Wagnney Fabiano, born in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) but has spent a lot of his career in Canada, is said to have been offered a fight against Urijah Faber in the WEC (according to DemandMMA).

Wagnney is the last IFL featherweight champion, this is a great opportunity for Fabiano to raise his profile. "California Kid" Faber is pretty much the poster child for WEC.

Helio Gracie's funeral

2009-01-30T14:45:00.003-05:00

Great picture and more at Sherdog.com

Less than 10 hours after his death, with 4 of his sons missing (Royler, Rorion, Rickson and Robin), the funeral has already passed, and that's the way Helio wanted it, not a large affair. It's unfortunate this probably would have been probably the largest funeral ever in Brazil. However, Helio's wishes are more important. Honour Helio by continuing to practice JiuJitsu and supporting the sport.

Grand Master Helio has passed away

2009-01-29T11:34:00.001-05:00

I've never had the chance to meet him, I was hoping to one day.

Master Helio Gracie has passed away
The Master at his ranch, in Itaipava / Photo: Gustavo Aragao
Jiu-Jitsu loses its icon

It is with great sadness that GRACIEMAG.com announces the passing of Grandmaster Helio Gracie. At 95 years of age, the great icon and one of those most responsible for Jiu-Jitsu’s success in Brazil and the world died this morning, at home, in the district of Itaipava, in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro.

“I created a flag from the sport’s dignity. I oversee the name of my family with affection and nerves of blood,” said the Professor, as his last worlds.

No greater details have been released on his burial.

Helio Gracie’s last public appearance occurred in December of last year, during a belt-promotion ceremony held by Gracie Humaita at the Guanabara Yacht Club.

In October, Helio Gracie celebrated his 95th birthday at the Gracie Humaita academy, in Rio de Janeiro. Click here to see how the party went.

In one of his most famous interviews, published in the special 100th issue of GRACIEMAG, the professor had declared: “I’ve already told my sons that when I die I want there to be a party. No drinking, no debauchery.”

All workers at Gracie Publishing, the company responsible for GRACIEMAG, NOCAUTE and GRACIEMAG.com are in mourning and express their condolences and sadness to the bereaved family, his wife Vera, sons Rorion, Relson, Rickson, Rolker, Royler, Royce, Rherica, Robin and Ricci.

TKOXtreme.com

2007-12-18T13:49:00.000-05:00

Well, as much as I have enjoyed writing my mmatoronto blog, I just didn't have the time anymore, but still wanted to write occasionally. So, what I have decided to do, is to team up with Scott White of (mmaontap.com) and are now building tkoxtreme.com. This suits me great, as I really want to work on Canadian MMA content, there isn't much out there.

My first article just appeared, check it out. It's an interview from this last weekend with Eddie Bravo! Thanks for all the support, hope to see you all now at tkoextreme.com.

New MMA Promotion in Halifax: Phoenix Fight Promotions

2007-12-11T09:28:00.000-05:00

We are very pleased to announce the debut of Atlantic Canada's newest MMA promotion. Phoenix Fight Promotions will launch its first show, New Years Restitution, Jan 12 at the Halifax Forum. Expect excitement as we showcase some of the best talent the Maritimes has to offer as well as other top names from around North America.

Our main event will feature Edwin Dewees against Cory MacDonald. 3 time UFC veteran Edwin Dewees is looking for a path back to the top of the MW food chain and has set his sights on Ontario native Cory MacDonald. Cory has faced the role of underdog before. After a freak eye injury lead to an early night against UFC veteran Jonathon Goulet, in a fight many fans believed Cory was winning, he is ready to prove that he is among the best in the MW division.

Entire Line-up:

MW Edwin Dewees vs Cory MacDonald (Gladiator MMA)

SLW Dan Swift (Team DNA) vs Yves Jabouin (Team Ness)

HW Andrew Varney (Team Jorge Gurgel) vs Ryan Jimmo (Titans MMA)

MW Jon Golacki vs Chad Cox

MW Rob Wynne(Gladiator MMA) vs Craig Skinner (Wolf Pak)

SLW Jon Stutzman (Team Jorge Gurgel) vs Randy Bowers

TBA vs Mike Scudder (Fit Plus MMA/Team Gurgel)

WW Iraj Hadin(Suffer Systems) vs Steve Rogers (Team Bueno)

LHW Shayne Daley vs Chris Currie (Team Bueno)

SLW(150) Peter McGrath (Titans MMA) vs Vartan Pour Nick (Fit Plus MMA/Team Gurgel)

WW Jason Rorison(Pictou County Titans) vs Jon Macgrath (Team Saigo)

SLW Remi Morvan (OAMA) vs Larry Sockobasin (Team Saigo)

Dont know much about it, but impressive lineup! Looks good...This is the kind of stuff we could get in Ontario if Ken Hayashicomes to the 20th century. Btw, there will be another MMA event coming up in February, I will let you know when I have more details. I hope to attend this time.

Get ready, April 19 for UFC in Montreal

2007-12-10T09:36:00.000-05:00

Not fully confirmed yet, but according to MMAWeekly, this is getting closer and closer to actually be happening:

“The UFC is looking at April 19 right now to come to Montreal, Canada. It’s still tentative as we’re in final negotiations with the Bell Centre, but we’re very confident that it’s going to happen.”
...
f the UFC is able to secure a date in April for Montreal, other Canadians that are likely to be included on the roster include Jason MacDonald, Patrick Cote, and Jeff Joslin, though none of them have been confirmed by the promotion.

This could be a great card, this could also be the GSP vs Serra rematch!

Ca va etre l'fun!

UFC in Montreal in April?

2007-12-03T10:07:00.000-05:00

Well, its not like we have not heard this before, but more proof that a Montreal date may actually be happening.

Read some details posted by Jason The Athlete MacDonald on his blog on Sportsnet.

I was told last week that my next fight will be in April. Joe Silva (the UFC matchmaker) told me they want to save me for the April card in Montreal.

I don’t know the date or an opponent or even if it will for sure be in Montreal. But he said he needed me on the Canadian card.

I was slightly disappointed to have to wait until April to fight again, but in hindsight it might be good because I’m pretty busy these days. I don’t even know if I can squeeze in a couple hours of training a day.

Keep you fingers crossed. This would be perfect as it would also probably mean a rematch of GSP vs Serra (thats if GSP can beat Hughes again - which we dont think is a problem). This would be an awesome card, add Patrick Cote to it, Goulet maybe? Wow!

BREAKING NEWS: GSP vs Matt Hughes on Dec 29

2007-11-24T20:53:00.001-05:00

This was just posted at 8:06pm by Matt:

I’m going to fight Georges St. Pierre on December 29th. I’ve got a couple reasons why I’ve made this decision and I will share those at a later time. I’ve asked for this to be for an interim title and if Matt Serra can’t fight in a year, then this would just be the title fight; but I don’t know if that is going to happen right now. I will keep you all posted.
-Matt

EDIT: This WILL BE for the interim title, so it will be a 5-round fight. -Matt

But dont worry Matt, GSP wont need 5 rounds! Vas-y George!

Art Of War 9 First impressions

2007-11-24T20:28:00.000-05:00

So, I partly watched AOW 9 today. I think I'm picking up Chineese! Well really, I'm not sure if its Mandarin or Cantonese, most likely Madarin as its the official language, but I digress.

The results are available here

The matchups are mostly Chineese, but they are trying to have more international fighters. Each match had a least one Chineese and they mostly won. International competitors were from Thailand, Uzbekistan (gotta look that one on the map eh?), Croatia, Spain and Sweden. I didnt know anybody.

The weight classes are pretty light: 60, 66, 72 and 78 (all in Kilograms), which in pounds are roughly equivalent to 132, 145, 158 and 172 lbs. Me being small here would be in the 72kg class!!

About the quality of the fights, well, the fights I saw, I was impressed about the quality of their Jiu-Jitsu. I'm really curious as to whos teaching them Jiu Jitsu. I saw a super nice sweep from half-guard, WOW! I even backed up to see it again, as you never (or rarely ever) see them in MMA.

The entrances are total Pride copies, and they look great, with great big screens and pyro blasting everywhere! The crowd is also fairly quiet, very similar to early Pride years, I never really heard them really scream at all. The ring girls also have the same feel. They also hand the winner large cardboard cheques. The Rocky victory song plays after each win, I guess thats universal!

Will it succeed? In China, probably, MMA in China is so new, none of my Chineese friends had ever heard of it, but they helped me navigate the sites. Can it fill the void left by Pride in Asia? It would be nice, but I somehow doubt it. Japanese and Chineese dont get much along, a promotion coming from China would probably not be accepted in Japan. There were no Japanese of Koreans on the fight card, maybe the purses are too small to attract them, who knows.

I'll keep an eye on it, it would be nice to see this grow! If an English commentator was provided, I'd probably watch more.

Good luck AOW!

Flavio Almeida seminar

2007-11-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the late notice, I meant to put this up sooner. You still have a couple days to register, I have not figured out whether I will be able to attend yet!

NOV 27TH 6-9 PM

GRACIE BARRA SIMCOE,(BARRIE & INNISFIL) ONTARIO

Flavio Almeida is a 2ND Degree Black Belt from Carlos Gracie Jr.'s Gracie Barra Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He is a very successful competitor

2 Time World Champion
multiple time Brazilian National Champion
multiple Rio de Janeiro State Championships
Current Pan-American (No-Gi) Champion
2007 ADCC Submission Grappling Championship runner up.

In addition to his competition success, he is also a well-respected instructor at Gracie Barra America in Lake Forest, CA. Only 30 spots available so pre-register today! Flavio will share with us his knowledge, techniques, and experience which have made him a champion. For additional info or to reserve your spot please e-mail me at GBSIMCOE@GMAIL.COM, or call 705-321-0795 Seminar Info Date: Nov 27 , 2007 Time: 6 - 9 p.m Location:92 Commerce dr BARRIE ONTARIO Cost: Pre-registered $70 At the door: $99

BERNARD ANTLE GRACIE BARRA SIMCOE 705-321-0795 GBSIMCOE@GMAIL.COM

Flavios jiu-jitsu is pretty out of this world!

Check out the following youtubes:

FLAVIO "CACHORRINHO" ALMEIDA SEMINAR

FLAVIO ALMEIDA "cachorrinho"-PAN AMS 2007

New UFC ring girl: Edith Larente

2007-11-21T10:10:00.000-05:00

Ariani and new ring girl Judith

So, Saturday nite everyone noticed a new ring girl (how could you NOT). My first reaction was, she must be from King Of The Cage (they are know for their girls, altho a lot on the silicone side).

There's not a lot of information about Judith, she's 25 years and from Montreal (maybe I can chat with her in French next time I'm an event!).

Ali Sonoma (who was engaged to Diego Sanchez) says about her departure on her blog:

“I am no longer a ring girl for UFC…I am proud to say I am moving up to bigger and better things. There is always a time when you get comfortable at a job…you seem to lose focus on what your main goal is…I guess I got a little comfortable myself, of course, I loved the fights, loved the experience, but my real dream is to actually speak on camera, to act, not just shake my booty for the crowd. ;-) (even though it was a lot of fun while it lasted and I met some amazing people)”

So, here's to wishing the best to Ali (who actually is smart) and to Judith (no idea how long she will last, she is hot, but UFC always had natural girls).

Greg Jackson seminar in Toronto

2007-11-20T09:40:00.000-05:00

Highly regarded trainer Greg Jackson who runs a great camp in Albuquerque, NM will be giving a seminar in Toronto.

Jackson’s MMA gym was founded in 1992 by Greg Jackson.

Professional fighters, such as former UFC WelterWeight Champion George St. Pierre, Nate Marquardt 7 time King of Pancrase, Keith Jardine and Dan Christison from The Ultimate Fighter Season 2, Joey Villasenor King of the Cage Middle Weight champion and Pride competitor and many other fighters. Loiseau also trained there as well.

St.Pierre calls Greg, "The Best MMA Coach in the world".

Some info about Greg lifted from his site:

Greg Jackson was born in Washington, D.C. At the age
of 3 the Jackson family moved to Albuquerque, New
Mexico.

Greg grew up in a family of wrestlers. Greg's
grandfather, uncle and brother were all wrestlers.
Greg's father, uncle and brother were all champion
wrestlers. Growing up in a rough neighborhood, at a
young age Greg began studying martial arts. After many
years of experience Greg was looking for something
more. Combining basic Judo locks with his wrestling
Greg started to formulate his own style and style and
system of martial arts and self defense.

In 1992 Greg opened his first school. In 1993 Greg saw
the first Ultimate Fighting Championship and realized
that the Gracie family (which are well known for their
very effective style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) was much
more advanced than his current ideas. Shortly after
viewing the first UFC Greg started to diligently
develop more techniques. Also, in 1993 Greg started
training in kickboxing under his mentor Michael
Winkeljohn. Mr. Winkeljohn is a 5 time world champion
and is still to this day a mentor to Greg Jackson.

Greg is constantly looking for new ways to make his
brand of mixed martial arts more efficient. The
Jackson fighting system has been proven in both self
defense and in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. To
this day Greg Jackson has developed 10 world
champions. His team has won such prestigious awards
such as Grapplers Quest, the Pan American games and
others. Jackson's fight team is also ranked number 1
in the highest winning percentage by Sherdog.com. Greg
has competitors in Pride, UFC, Abu Dhabi, and many
other prestigious events. Some of his top fighters
include: Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans,
Georges St. Pierre, Nate Marquardt, Joey Villasenor,
David Loiseau, Damacio Page, Tait Fletcher, Duane
Ludwig, Leonard Garcia, Julie Kedzie, and a whole host
of up and coming future fight champions. Amongst some
of these fighters, Greg has had competitors on Spike
TV's The Ultimate Fighter, seasons 1, 2, and 3 on
Spike TV.

With the Jackson camp multiplying everyday, Greg
continues to live and train these warriors in
Albuquerque, New Mexico with his family. In addition
to being one of the most respected MMA trainers in the
world, Greg will continue to build one of the largest
and most prestigeous MMA schools around.

And is the seminar info:

Sat. Nov 24 11am-4pm @ the Ultimate Martial Arts in Scarborough Ontario Canada. 1 - 680 Progress.

11am - 1pm Striking $60.00

1-2pm Lunch Break

2-4p Ground work $60.00

both session all day $100.00

$25.00 Spectators all day

Art of War MMA videos

2007-11-13T10:17:00.001-05:00

A couple of post ago, I mentioned about this MMA Promotion operating in China. There are some videos on YouTube, but thanks to my Chineese friends we found the gist of them on the Chineese side of the site.

Here are the links, enjoy (we have not figured out how to download them yet to watch offline.

AOW 8 all fights

AOW 7 all fights

AOW 6 all fights

AOW 5 all fights

AOW 4 fights part 1
AOW 4 fights part 2
AOW 4 fights part 3
AOW 4 fights part 4
AOW 4 fights part 5
AOW 4 fights part 6

AOW 3 fights part 1
AOW 3 fights part 2
AOW 3 fights part 3
AOW 3 fights part 4
AOW 3 fights part 5
AOW 3 fights part 6

And from Baidu (the Chineese equivalent to Google with YouTube)

AOW8

AOW 7

AOW 6

AOW 5

Enjoy

Happy BDay UFC, now 14 years old!

2007-11-12T09:22:00.001-05:00

Today is the 14th anniversary of the UFC. That first UFC saw us discover the Gracies!

Remember "There are no rules"!

Here is the entry from wikipedia:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (later renamed UFC 1: The Beginning) was the first mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), occurring at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado on November 12, 1993. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view, and later released on home video. UFC 1 used an eight-man tournament format, with the winner receiving $50,000. The tournament had no weight classes or weight limits. The matches had no time limit; therefore no judges were necessary. Competitors only won by submission, knockout, or throwing in the towel. Despite being billed as having "no rules" there were limitations on what the fighters could do, including no biting or eye gouging. Royce Gracie won the tournament by defeating Gerard Gordeau via submission due to a rear naked choke. The referees for UFC 1 were Joao Alberto Barreto and Helio Vigio, two veteran vale tudo referees from Brazil.

The commentary team for the pay-per-view was Bill Wallace, Kathy Long, and Jim Brown, with additional analysis from Rod Machado and post-fight interviews by Brian Kilmeade.

Jason DeLucia was an alternate for the event, having defeated Trent Jenkins in the alternate bout. However, as no fighter pulled out during the tournament, he was not called upon.

Do you remember watching it? Where were you? What did you think?

Mark Bocek to fight second match at UFC 79

2007-11-09T09:08:00.000-05:00

From MMA Weekly:

The undercard for Ultimate Fighting Championship 79 – featuring a main event of Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes for the welterweight title – is starting to fill out as MMAWeekly has confirmed that Alaskan fighter Doug Evans will return to the Octagon to face grappler Mark Bocek in a lightweight bout.

In his UFC debut, Evans impressed many people with his performance against Roger Huerta. Although he lost the bout, he controlled Huerta for virtually the entire first round before the Texan rebounded in the second session.

Now Evans, who was originally asked to fight Jorge Gurgel at UFC 77 but had to bow out due to an injury, returns to face another fighter currently sporting a 0-1 record in the UFC in Mark Bocek.

Bocek made his debut at UFC 73 and faced top lightweight contender Frankie Edgar. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter succumbed to Edgar in the first round, but looks for redemption against Evans.

UFC 79 takes place on Dec. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

This should be agreat fight, Mark although knocked out in his first attempt, was solid and took many hits. I suspect that was jitters, this time should be different.

Thats excellent for Mark! Good luck Mark!

PS: See you guys at the Joslins this Sunday!

MMA in China: "Art of War" FC

2007-11-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

Came across this on the underground, suspiciously looks like Pride:

The Art of War Fighting Championship is Mainland China's premier MMA fighting organization and action sports brand. Established in 2004, Art of War FC is the first and only professional MMA organization sanctioned by China's central government.

Art of War FC has featured some of China's most talented fighters, including former China national judo champion and 1996 Olympian, Ao Te Gen; former China national greco-roman champion and 2004 Olympian, Sai Yin Ji Ya; and China King of Sanda and IKF World Champion, Bao Li Gao. If you are looking for China's top mixed martial arts athletes, you can find them in the Art of War Fighting Championship!

Art of War FC is the only MMA organization in the world to broadcast on CCTV-5, China's largest sports platform with over 1 billion viewers nationwide. For more information regarding the Art of War, please log onto

http://www.mmachina.com.

Kinda brings a tear to the eye with that Rocky music, doesn't it? ;-)

A new MMA Gym in Stouffville

2007-11-02T10:35:00.001-04:00

Not exactly MMAToronto, but close enough!

I dont have much info except the following:

MMA gym in Stouffville Ontario!! Muay Thai, MMA and grappling Sean "pimp" Pierson

7262 Stouffville Main Street 416-625-1973

Someone check it out out and let us know how it is.

Good weekend everyone!

MMA in Ontario this weekend!

2007-10-31T11:20:00.000-04:00

Well, it's at an Indian reserve, but better than nothing. If you have time, go check it out.

On another note, there are rumours that Ken Hayashi is finally retiring...maybe a new era in MMA can now start!

Regardless, here is the info on the show:

Nov 3 at the ILA sports arena just out side of Hamilton Ontario tickes are $50 for stadium seating and $75 for ring side. to purchase go to www.ticketmaster.ca or www.grac.ca

Marcelo Garcia fall in his MMA debut

2007-10-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

Hi guys, I have not posted in ages...started a business, and that has kept me very busy, somehow the traffic still has kept up though! I'll try to startproviding MMA content again!

So, I was really looking forward to Marcel Garcia's MMA debut. The guy is a genius in BJJ sport, but one never knows how he would translate that to MMA. Well, he did lose from a rather unfortunate cut. I say unfortunate, as he totally dominated the first round. He should have been able to sink a choke tho, suprised he didn't.

Anyways, here is his debut:

MMA on the Financial Post!

2007-05-03T08:55:00.000-04:00

Wow, did you guys see this on the Financial Post (two days ago)? Wow!

And a good article too!

Starnes vs Leben at UFC 71

2007-04-26T14:00:00.000-04:00

According to TheFightNetwork, Kalib Starnes is set to face Chris Leben at UFC 71 (Liddell vs Jackson).

This is a great matchup for Kalib, we know Chris is susceptible on the ground. Chris will start hating on Canadians if he loses again to another one (remember him passing out to Jason MacDonald).

Kalib is doing it smartly, he got injured in his loss to Okami, last October, so he took his time to come back. He is training at a great camp in Florida.

"The guys here at American Top team are great," said Starnes. "This is the best camp I’ve ever had preparing for a fight. I’m working with [BJJ coach] Ricardo Liborio, [boxing coach] Howard Davis and sparring with guys like Marcus Aurelio, Wilson Gouveia, Thiago Alves, Denis Kang and Minotauro [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira]. I get up and come here and spar with Minotauro. It doesn’t get much better than that."

Go Kalib go!

Ken Hayashi the bureaucrat

2007-04-25T09:13:00.001-04:00

Ken really needs to retire, time for someone competent to lead the OAC (Ontario Athletics Commission) into the new century/millennium!

More proof on thefightnetwork.

Apparently Ken can not handle more than 4 cards a year! Quebec has had events back to back (Friday/Saturday).

Despite the seemingly workable eight day gap between the two cards, Hayashi is leaning towards cancelling the Hennessy card.

“We’ve never had two major dates scheduled so close together before,” Hayashi told The Fight Network.

“We generally have maybe four or five shows a year, so the commission simply can’t handle all the demands that these two shows will entail.”

Victor Valimaki lone Canadian at UFC 70

2007-04-21T09:23:00.000-04:00

A good article on TheFightNetwork about our only Canadian on today at UFC 70. I also dont know much about Victor, except that he's facing the Legionarius (Sakara) today. Sakara which is supposed to have good stand up, if you remember kinda crumpled by himself last time!

Sakara also doesnt have much (if anything) on the ground, so Valimaki should be able to exploit that!

GSP may not have taken Serra seriously

2007-04-20T11:06:00.000-04:00

Well according to this interview with Stephane Patry (GSP's manager), GSP may not have trained hard enough. If that is the case, then GSP totally lacked maturity by doing this. He may have been classy in that he actually said that Matt Serra beat him fair and square. But, if that is the casse, he did deserve to lose as he needs to learn to always respect an opponent, no matter what the bookmaker's odds are.

For this fight, he only trained 4 weeks and he went 1 week in Europe then got ill for a few days when he went back to Canada.

His 4 weeks training was more a 3 weeks training sprint, maybe less.

Ouch...that hurts, if thats true. Well, I will see GSP Sunday (at the sold-out seminar at KombatArts), so I will ask him then!

Goldie and Rogan no longer commentators for UFC HBO

2007-04-18T09:18:00.000-04:00

Wow, this week is all about the commentators. So it turns out that UFC & HBO have signed a deal and the news is that Goldie and Rogan will not be working the HBO shows.

I will miss Joe! Howevere here is what Joe said about this very fact:

Seriously, I would like to be able to watch some UFC's without having to work.

I think this would be a good thing.

More and more, I think Mauro would be great along with a good colour commentator, just cant figure out who that would be.

And what about the announcer? Bruce Buffer? Is he off? His half brother Michael is a very famous boxing/wrestling announcer.

Trigg no longer a Pride commentator

2007-04-17T17:04:00.001-04:00

According to mmanews, Trigg is no longer a commentator.

-Frank Trigg is gone. He won't be an announcer for PRIDE anymore. They are still looking for a new broadcast team.

Poor Frank really wanted to be commentator, but it was universal that his commentating was not up to par.

I'd love too see Mauro & Bas back. I know Bas has signed with the IFL, and Mauro is with EliteXC. Or Quadros and Bas? The Fight Professor is also with the IFL.

Any other suggestions? I liked Josh Barnett, but he should continue his MMA career, he ahd a great year last year! Maybe Mark Coleman could do it too, hes kinda retired, so that might work. Rampage would be funny as heck as a commentator!

Dragons finally win!

2007-04-14T23:01:00.000-04:00

The IFL's Toronto Dragons got their first win yesterday, I will add more details when I get the chance.

Congrats Dragons!

Fedor vs Lindland

2007-04-12T09:09:00.000-04:00

Well first of all, Matt Lindland will not win. Many people think he could pull an upset here, afterall Lindland has improved tremendously since losing to Bustamente 5 years ago. He did lose to Rampage last summer to a very close decision. Many people believe that it could have gone either way. He did have two embarrassing losses to to Falaniko Vitale and David Terrell. His most recent wins in UFC against Travis Lutter and Joe Doerksen were considered so boring that the UFC never renewed Lindland's contract (yet they still have Koscheck on contract?!). However, not getting his contract renewed with the UFC has put a fire under Matt, he seems to have really come of his own lately.

However, only wrestlers will think Lindland has a chance. Fedor is God himself in MMA! He controlled and clearly won against Crocop (Crocop actually looked like he had lost his soul at that fight for not being able to do anything to Fedor) and battered Nog into near extinction. There's that famous suplex he took from Randleman, but that didnt even faze Fedor, he just submitted Randleman right away. Mark Hunt (a much bigger opponent) managed to put Fedor on his back...well when that happened, Fedor looked not mad, but annoyed and proceeded to kimura Hunt.

In the end, Lindland can not stand with Fedor, he will not be able to sub him. How can he win? Well he cannot.

There have been major upsets lately, but this will not be one. I am surprised that the odd are not bigger than they currently show, right now the betting odds are:

Fedor Emelianenko -600
Matt Lindland +400

Ya, I love Fedor, he looks like your uncle running the pizzeria shop. But this guy is the toughest in the world, and he trains hard, the old soviet way, with boulders and chains (I have seen a video). He has criticized his brother for not training hard enough. So Fedor is ready, he trains hard.

Matt Hughes and Diego Sanchez to be in Pride tournament

2007-04-09T15:48:00.000-04:00

If you look at the poster above for the lightweight tournament, you will recognize that Matt Hughes and Diego Sanchez are slated to participate in the PRIDE lightwieght tournament in May. Usually the Lightweight Tournament is for 160lbs and under, but it is possible that with UFC owning Pride now, the limit may be set to 170lbs.

Others on this poster are:
- Takanori Gomi
- Luiz Buscape
- Marcus Aurelio
- Luiz Azevedo
- Gilbert Melendez-
- Joachim Hansen
- Tatsuya Kawajiri
- Mitsuhiro Ishida
- Shin’ya Aoki (I love that guy!)
- Hayato "Mach" Sakurai

Notably absent is Nick Diaz, I was sure he'd participate after defeating Gomi in Pride 33.

"A puncher's chance"

2007-04-08T10:08:00.000-04:00

Well congrats to Matt, he did what everyone thought was the impossible. Maybe GSP gave Matt too much respect. Anyhow, when you look up the definition for the term "a puncher's chance", Matt Serra's picture should be right next to it. Nobody gave him a chance, except a puncher's chance of winning.

I am in total shock. This is even a bigger upset than Couture performed last month. Couture totally dominated Sylvia last month, while Matt seemed to catch GSP behind the back of the head and that seemed to brake GSP's sense of equilibrium. Thats unfortunate for GSP, he worked so hard to clinb to the top. He will have to climb again. If I was him, I'd would ask for a rematch ASAP. Serra will not be able to keep this title very long, suddenly, Matt Hughes is salivating at the mouth.

Two nice guys fighting each other!

2007-04-07T17:52:00.000-04:00

I did not write anything about GSP vs Matt Serra, just because, well...The outcome is terribly obvious.

I have heard GSP say that he thinks this will go to 5 rounds. I think George is being too nice, and maybe too respectful. It is true that Matt's only knockout came from Shonie's famous backfist, but GSP is in a different league than Shonie. I also really like Matt, but I dont give him more than two rounds with George.

Regardless, it sounds like both guys also get along fine, almost like they're looking forwards to be friends after the fight. From Sherdog we read:

One thing I can clear up for you however is that GSP has still been going to New York City to train, just not with Matt Serra's BJJ coach Renzo Gracie (Pictures). George has continued to train his Muay Thai with Kru Phil Nurse at WAT.

On Matt Serra: "Once the fight's finished, no matter the result, we're gonna shake hands and be friends, and I will get back there (Renzo's) for training."

I asked Georges about a rumor that he and Serra went out together and had a few drinks.

A huge grin broke across the champ's face and he started to laugh.

"Yeah, me and Matt Serra, after the filming of Inside the UFC, the TV show with Joe Rogan, we went out together and we had a great time.

"We were saying to each other, ‘Let's smoke the peace pipe one more time before the war.' After that night we shook hands and we said ‘good Luck' to each other.

"He's a great guy and I really like him, but it's just business. You know, unfortunately I have to fight a guy that I like.

"He's not my friend, because I would never fight a friend, but he's a very good acquaintance and I look forward to becoming friends with him after the fight."

Go George go!

Will the IFL survive?

2007-04-04T09:27:00.000-04:00

So, the IFL is a public company, which means that information about their finances are fairly readily available.

So, according to their most recent 10k filing published 2 days ago, we read the following:

- During the year ended December 31, 2006, we recognized approximately $672,000 of revenue from box office receipts for live events.

- We have experienced losses and expect to incur substantial net losses in the future. If we do not achieve profitability, our financial condition and stock price could suffer (it has dropped over 50% in the last week or so, it was way overvalued at $300 millions or so).

- Since the inception of our business in 2005, we have incurred significant losses and only began generating revenue during the second quarter of 2006. As of December 31, 2006, we had incurred net losses of $9.6 million for the twelve-month period then ended (they probably have lost of $2 million so far for 2007).

- We expect operating losses and negative cash flow to continue for the foreseeable future. We anticipate that our losses will increase significantly from current levels because we expect to incur significant additional costs and expenses related to being a public company, production of live events, brand development, advertising, marketing and promotional activities, as well as the employment of additional personnel as our business expands.

- Our ability to become profitable depends on our ability to generate and sustain substantially higher revenue while maintaining reasonable expense levels. In particular, although we intend to increase significantly our spending on marketing and promotional activities, these efforts may not be effective in growing our brand or increasing our fan base. If we do not achieve profitability, we may not be able to continue our operations.

- Our limited operating history makes forecasting our revenues and expenses difficult, and we may be unable to adjust our spending in a timely manner to compensate for unexpected revenue shortfalls.

So it sounds like those losses were anticipated as a business investment so to speak. The question is how long can they go on like that? Can they improve their profile so that more mainstream interest gathers for it? I say drop the silly current team names and instead use the real fighter stables as teams. Interest would be greater if we had Miletich System vs Team Punishment, Brazillian Top Team vs Team Quest. You get the idea, there are real teams out there, there is no reason to manufacture silly teams.

The real question...how to increase revenue? PPV? I'm not sure, the american market is already focused so much on the UFC, IFL will have a hard time vying for interest when the silly team names are the attraction as opposed to the fighters.

Marcelo Garcia MMA debut

2007-04-03T09:55:00.000-04:00

This was posted last week on Sherdog.

Marcelo Garcia is making his MMA debut. Marcelo has been the king of Jiu-Jitsu both in Gi and No-Gi. We will have to see how this translates to MMA. How good is his stand up defense? How about his takedowns? I am assuming his standup striking is probably weak.

If he can adjust to striking, and learn to strike properly, he could be devastating to many opponents in the 155 division. Looking forward to see him in action. And in Columbus Ohio as well. I dont know anything about his opponent, Marcus Avellan.

The rest of the card is not too shabby either, Jacare (Renaldo Souza) is another jiu-jitsu king I'd love to see in action, he has been quite successful in his MMA effort so far. Chris Brennan, although thought as boring by the UFC management, is an excellent fighter. And Jeff Monson vs Wes Sims should be fantastic to watch. (I am talking myself into going there? arent I?)

GFC Evolution Fight Card:
Jeff Monson vs Wes Sims
Marcelo Garcia vs Marcus Avellan
Chris Brennan vs. Adam Disabato
Dorian Price vs Phil Cardella
Vinicius Magalhaes vs George Bush
Ronaldo Souza vs TBA
Thomas Denny vs TBA
Daniel Moraes vs TBA
Nissen Osterneck vs. TBA
Miguel Torres vs TBA

More info at gcfighter.com

Take me to your leader

2007-03-31T14:58:00.000-04:00

This photoshop job was too funny...couldnt resist it!

Bravado WrestleFest tournament tomorrow

2007-03-30T08:50:00.000-04:00

The Bravado WrestleFest tournament is on tomorrow, more details here.

Come participate, check it out or even better, if you can, volunteer to help! Its a great way to get involved in the sport!

Bocek wins, "Capital Chaos" results

2007-03-28T23:25:00.000-04:00

Mark Bocek won convincingly again, winning by RNC in the first round.

Results from thefightnetwork are as follows:

- Eric Muir def. Terry Rea TKO (Strikes) 4:24 R2
- Wayne Xilon def. Frank Andre - Tapout (Kimura) 2:18 R1
- Jean Marc Lalonde def. Paul Ebejer - TKO(Strikes) :36 R1
- Jason Motard def. Markhaille Wedderburn - Tapout (Arm Triangle) 2:15 R1
- Eric Leclerc def. Jesse James Green - TKO (Strikes) 1:13 R1
- Nick Denis def. Chris Myra - TKO (Strikes) 1:40 R1
- Stephane Lemarche def. Eugene "Cujo" White - Tapout (Rear-Naked Choke) 3:46 R1
- John Cole def. Jason Bissonnette - TKO (Strikes) :45 R2
- TJ Grant def. Elmer Waterhen – Tapout (Armbar) 2:16 R1
- Mark Bocek def. Garett Davis - Tapout (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:39 R1

Loretta Hunt from thefightnetwork described the fight:

Bocek slams Davis after securing a single leg. Works Davis and picks him up and slams him againin the centre of the ring.

Bocek is in Davis' full guard landing punches,passes and takes his back.

Bocek sinks in choke, both hooks in, deep. Davis rolls out, but hooks are still in. The choke is resecured.

Mark Bocek def. Garett Davis - Tapout (Rear naked choke) 2:39 R1

Congrats Mark, great job!

So, if anyone pays attention, this was a short night. If you add it up, there was only about 30 minutes of actual action for the whole night. It does sound like the whole event was put on in a hurry and matchmaking suffered from that.

Hopefully KOTC, next time can put a better balanced card together, or many patrons, I heard were not too satisfied with the show.

All your base are belong to us

2007-03-28T09:31:00.000-04:00

After months of rumours, I cant past this up. The title would have been funnier if Pride had bought UFC. Regardless, it is now Official the Fertita brothers have bought Pride. I wont go on about it, as it is being written up everywhere. Literally MSN, ESPN and CBS are covering it as well! The sport is getting mainstream...

More details at ufcjunkie.

Quinton really didnt like Pride

2007-03-27T09:54:00.000-04:00

A great interview with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. As usual Quintons humour shines right through:

whoa, you mean I can beat up white dudes and not go to jail?

But the more interesting part is his perspective on Pride:

I was so pissed at Pride because I felt like Pride had brought me in to lose again and I felt like pride always brought me in to lose.

He also talks about the Pride refs not really being fair to him, read the whole article to get his perspective.

Incidentally, Quinton just signed a four fight extension to his UFC contract, that should calm him down and not be as nervous as he was in his first UFC fight. Lookout Chuck!

Marcelo Garcia does Borat

2007-03-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

Here's a funny clip of Marcelo Garcia doing a Borat impression! Pretty funny!

Download clip.

Marcelo is totally one of my favorite athlete and a super nice guy!

Catch many of his bouts on YouTube

The guy is a total inspiration, about my size and he goes (and wins) in openwieght classes...just incredible! Mr X-Guard!

Toronto Kettlebell Seminar

2007-03-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

If you've ever been curious about using/training with Kettlebells, there's a seminar tomorrow you can attend, check it out at:

Shawn Mozen will be giving a seminar at Crossfit T.O on Saturday from 10:00am to 12:00pm

Contact John at www.crossfitto.com for more info and to reserve a spot.

Tanya Vlahac was a great warrior

2007-03-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

I didnt know Tanya, only about her exploits. But reading about her passing away this weekend was tough.

She asked that no one mourn her death, that we could only celebrate her life.

So in her honour, I am inviting to read an interview with her over a year ago.

Gaijins buy PRIDE!

2007-03-20T10:10:00.000-04:00

Wow, I have mentioned a few times in the past that there were rumours of UFC buying Pride.

The Fertita brothers who own the Stalion Casinos in Las Vegas, are the one who rescued the UFC in 2000 for what was reported as $2 million from ailing SEG. When they did, they created Zuffa to operate the UFC. Of course the Fertita brothers also own Zuffa. Dana White reportedly owns 10% of Zuffa. And of course, they have been mighty successful in the development of the UFC.

So, the Fertita brothers now take another challenge now. We all have heard of PRIDE's problems; yakuza (means mafia in japanese), corruption, losing their TV deal. Seems the Fertita also have a vision for rescuing PRIDE.

I am torn about it, really happy to see the name PRIDE survive, but always leary of monopolies (for the fighters sake).

Will the rules change? Probably, Dana White always said that he wants unified rules, and I'm all for that. So I'm sure the knees to the head of a downed opponents are gone. In the end though, this is probably a good thing.

Back to the Fertitas, in the minds of Japanese, they are Gaijins (foreigners). Can a Gaijin-owned Pride regain its japanese share of the market? Thats a big question. As much as I love the Japanese, they are not very open to foreign-ownership, and especially not very supportive. The key here may be getting a Japanese Dana White...Is this possible? People following the various Japanese fight organizations (KI, Pancrase, Shooto, etc) may think of somebody in that capacity, but I dont follow them so I really dont know.

Interesting times ahead, regardless! This could be tremendous for the sport, I've mentioned before, can you imagine a New Years Eve Superbowl of MMA where UFCs best of each division fight the best of Prides divisions?! This could be awesome for both organization!

Imagine again:
- Sakurai vs BJ Penn?
- GSP vs ? Kikuchi?
- Shogun Rua vs Liddell? (I know Dan Henderson is the current champ, but it wont last long)
- Dan Henderson vs Anderson Silva
- Fedor vs Crocop (Crocop really wants it)

And Pride could now have a super heavyweight division, just for the sake of seing Mark Hunt!

Jackson vs Liddell at UFC 71

2007-03-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

I'm suprised not too many people have caught on yet, well take a look at the poster for UFC 71! It's on! I have been anticipating this rematch for awhile now. First when Rampage was rumoured to come to the UFC last year, but ended going to the WFA. Now last November when the UFC bought the WFA, thats the rematch I have been looking forward to the most!

This is probably a little earlier than what Rampage wanted, we heard he wanted another fight first. You may have been disappointed by Rampage's UFC debut, but make no mistake, Rampage will rise to the occasion.

And I frankly, dont believe the Iceman has met someone with the chin of Rampage yet. Rampage can take a serious beating, and he can dish it out badly too.

Now, I'm just waiting for the official press release, the rumour is that it will be Tuesday!

We all know Chuck likes to Party, this could be his official UFC 71 After Party van!

Couldnt help it!

Replacement to fight Mark Bocek at KOTC

2007-03-16T14:52:00.000-04:00

According to the fightnetwork Garrett Davis will replace Short at the KOTC in Hull, QC on March 28th. No reason given for Short not appearing, we'll have to assume injury (or fear!). I dont know anything about Garrett Davis, if anyone has any info, pass it on!

I like the second paragraph of the article:

Short had been brought in to fight Bocek when none of the organization’s 155-pound stable would face the feared Nova Uniao black belt.

Pretty funny! Mark is a great guy and a fantastic fighter. I was discussing with him this past weekend as I thought he looks big for 155, well as it turns out he walks around 180lbs, so yes he is big for 155! Not really his height, but he is bulky!

I also asked Mark if he had applied for TUF, he said no, because he doesnt have a TV personality for the show. The Spike executives want sparks on the show, and he's not the type. He is right, and its not the first time I hear this observation.

Keep fighting like you do Mark, they'll be calling you soon.

Monson to fight Fujita in Pride

2007-03-15T10:39:00.000-04:00

Directly from Jeffs blog, The Snowman is no longer fighting in Bodog, but will be fighting Kazuyuki Fujita in Pride:

This morning i found out the Bodog fight wil not be happening now, but im set to fight in Japan for the Pride show on the 30th March against Kazuyuki Fujita. Its been crazy this last couple of weeks with all the changes, but this is a definate go ahead now. sorry for all the confusion. Im still in England now training down at Red Corner doing stand up, and hopefully with Braulio Estima some time this week for my grappling. My training is going good and im in fairly good shape now. thanks to everyone for the support.

Monson has just won a grappling championship in England, with a purse of 10,000UK Pounds (roughly $20000). Not too shabby.

As usual, Jeff has to be able to take Fujita down, I think he can in this case. Fujita wiill be overwhelmed bu Jeff's strength. Jeff should do well.

Fighters who need to revisit their game

2007-03-14T09:57:00.000-04:00

Sherdog had an article yesterday on fighters that need to retire (basically most of Hammer House!), and UFCJunkie had a followup on it.

I caused a bit of controversy by adding the following fighters to the list, and in retrospect I was probably too harsh. They dont really need to retire, but rethink their game:

- Wes Sims: we havent seen him in the UFC since losing to the old very capable Frank Mir and Frank Kyle. I didnt realized he had remained very active and successful, so he may be ready to make a comeback to the UFC.

- Shonie Carter: he's had many chances, transition to teaching or coaching.

- Ken Shamrock: he still says he’d fight again! God I hope not.

- Alessio Sakara: great boxer, but thats it. Very one-dimensional, needs to become better rounded to stay as an MMA fighter.

- David Loiseau: he seem to have lost the fire. I know he lost against formidable opponents (Franklin, Swick, Villasenor), but in none of those fights he seemed to have any fire to win (he was a warrior for hanging with Rich for 5 rounds, but with very little offensive). I also say that his win against Tanner is less than a great win, he was losing most of the fight, except when he won by cuts. David, if he wants to continue has to find that fire and be on the offensive.

- Chris Leben: I guess I put him on the list because I cant stand him, to me he is clearly a B-list fighter, with not that much skills, just a strong chin.

- Marcus Aurelio: that was also harsh, he did submit Gomi and has a very good record.

- Mario Sperry: loved the guy, he stayed too long, and he finally retired.

- Justin Eilers: he clearly proved he cannot hang with the top guys, his UFC career is a highlight reel of brutal KOs (except his first fight against Mike Kyle). He has gone back to smaller promotions, he is still young, hopefully he can improve.

Take a break:
- Wanderlei Silva: has had his two last fight lost by KO, needs time to regroup, specially from losing to a smaller opponent in Dan Henderson.

- Josh Barnett: has improved tremendously, has fought 7 fights in 2007.

Note to self, next time qualify my thoughts.

Tiffany Fallon with Bas as IFL commentator, where is Quadros?

2007-03-13T09:18:00.000-04:00

I guess the IFL is trying to increase viewership, as they have signed a Playboy playmate to be cohost of the IFL Battleground!

Known for her intelligence and quick wit on camera, Fallon is widely regarded as one of the great new faces in television. The former Miss Georgia has been featured in dozens of commercials and has held on-camera roles for Spike TV, E! and TBS Rivals.com. A graduate of Florida State University with a degree in Sports Management, Fallon was selected as Playboy’s "Playmate of the Year" in 2005.

Tiffany Fallon, well, I had a difficult time finding a picture of her NOT naked! Just google her and you'll find her mostly in all her glory! Dont get me wrong, I'm sure she'll be pleasing to the eye, but what about Stephen Quadros? Quite a difference in terms of MMA broadcasting quality. The IFL with Stephen and Bas had the best MMA commentating team in the sport. Rogan and Goldie are not bad, Rogan is great, knows his stuff, but Goldie is just plain terrible, I have no idea why they still have him. Pride, well they're losing everything these days...Trigg is a great fighter. EliteXC wasnt doing too bad with Mauro Renallo.

Sorry, for sounding chauvinistic, but I say, you could have her and Stephen Quadros as well, then you would have a great team. Regarless, I guess it worked, I'm curious to hear what she can add to an MMA broadcast.

Btw, the first IFL Battleground show was on last nite, and I dont even want to talk about how bad it was, check a review here. Write them an email at info@ifl.tv.

Jeff Joslin no longer on UFN 9

2007-03-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

If you look at the card lineup for UFN9 in April, you'll notice that Jeff Joslin is no longer on the card. Neither is Frank Mir, but I dont care for him anymore, he would have got murdered by Hardonk.

Rumour had it on ufcjunkie that instead Jeff was to face Jon Fitch in his next bout. This would be tremendous, as Jeff wants to avenge the weirdest loss in his career.

But that was wishful thinking, today at the dojo I found out that Jeff was injured, I know the nature of the injury but will not reveal it until it is public.

Mike Doyle has written the official story at thefightnetwork:

An undisclosed injury has forced Canadian welterweight Jeff Joslin to pull out of his scheduled bout with Kuniyoshi Hironaka (10-3) at the upcoming Spike TV-presented UFC Fight Night on April 5 at The Pearl in The Palms Casino & Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A replacement has not been named yet for Joslin.

Joslin (5-3) looked impressive in a losing effort during his UFC debut against Josh Koscheck in December, controlling the stand-up portion of the fight. Nonetheless, the Hamilton native dropped a decision to the NCAA wrestling standout.

...

Matt "The Law" Lindland at Kombat Arts

2007-03-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

Dont forget Matt Lindland is giving a seminar tomorrow and Sunday at Kombat Arts! It should be interesting to find his ideas on beating Fedor (right)!

Watch IFL Battleground online

2007-03-08T10:22:00.000-05:00

If you misssed it last night (like I did) and forgot to tivo it (Tivo is now a verb!), the show is legally viewable online! I'll say something, EliteXC and IFL are breaking new ground on internet access, very cool.

Check it out here on www.mynetworktv.com.

IFL Battleground is a review of the IFL first two seasons, tons of actions, and the commentating is not bad.

Victor Valimaki at UFC 70

2007-03-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

This has been announced a while back, I havent had the chance to even acknowledge it. Victor is another fighter from Edmonton to keep an eye on. He lost a close split decision to David Heath in December.

After losing to Rob MacDonald at a Maximum Fighting Championships (MFC) 5 in September 2002, Victor left MMA for three years. Valimaki was often criticized for a lack of heart. Victor says that his passion is back, and his record shows it, he is now 6-1 since coming back in September 2005 at MFC 8.

He will face Allessio "The Legionarius" Sakara at UFC 70 in England. Sakara is one dimensional standup fighter, who had a terrible stand up loss last time. If Victor wins, it wqould be nice to see a rematch against Rob McDonald who recently lost to Eric Shafer (Shafer is facing Sean Salmon at UFC 71).

Good luck Victor!

UFC 68 trip diary

2007-03-06T15:34:00.000-05:00

Just writing an account of how the UFC trip to Columbus went. This not me showing off, but is to give you an idea of what you can expect by doing such a trip. Las Vegas was always too far and too expensive for me. My friend Sean tho did it many times, one of those days I'll have to do it as well! Just like I'd love to see Pride in Japan (right! with my luck it'll be gone by then).

Friday night, March 2nd - ucfjunkie party

First on getting at the hotel, someone sees my tapout hat, and it turns out he's Tim Sylvia's cousin! Funny! He was quite excited!

We got to the party, and chatted a while with Dann and Tom from ufcjunkie. I plug them a lot these days, because frankly, the best part of the party was sitting with them and discussing everything from MMA to poker. We had a great time with them, and wish we could have spent more time. We then went to the dance floor section of the club to meet UFC people. We did meet Sean Salmon and Keith Jardine. Unfortunately, it was so loud, no discussion was possible. We then went back to the bar/pub section of the club, we ended up just by luck hanging around Rashad for a while! What a fun guy he is!

Saturday, March 3rd

Thanks to Dann and Tom, we now knew that the UFC had booked everyone at the Renaissance! We were aiming to go have breakfast there...but our sleepy heads wouldnt allow it! We ended up going there for lunch. My buddy Sean had been carrying a pic he had of Big John and him to get it autographed (even at the party), and as we're about to go for lunch, there is John and his wife! Super nice guy!

We go in for lunch, I'm looking outside and see Matt Hamill coming back from a run! Its cool to be surrounded by these guys...Then suddenly, Pat Miletich comes alone and sits right behind me. He spends most of his time on the cell (and of course I'm eavesdropping! nothing to report here). We finish lunch and wait outside for him to finish, I didnt want to bother him while he was eating. He comes out quickly with a bunch of people, and I miss him as he goes straight for the elevators! Damm! Then from the corner of my eye I see the UFC Stich man coming in to check in. I find out his name is Jacob Duran. With him is also famous Cut man Leon Tabbs. Since most people dont seem to recognize them, we have time to chat a lot with them! Great guys, there was also a judge (sorry dont remember his name), he offers to take a pic of us! Nice!

We decide to spend the afternoon at the arnolds, the really only section that interest us is the Martial Arts section where I spend too much money! (what else is new) Its super crowded in the martial art section...Everyone is around...Rashad! Great happy smile...I give him a high five as I go by! Cool dude. Further is the UFC booth...I do my purchases here, as I dont want to lug clothes around tonite...I thought I was paying extra, but I checked and no, same price as at the arena. KTFO is there with their great gear, American Fighter (but Rich is absent but will be there tomorrow)...I see a Pride sign...finally get to it, its Pride Nutrition and Frank Trigg! 50% of people dont pay attention to him...chat a bit with him. Tell him not to grow his hair, he says many people say that. I debate whether to ask him to take a pic of me giving him a rear-naked choke, but decide that would be insulting and congratulate him on his win from the previous weekend.

Next row, Swain flexiroll mats...I gotta get me some of these...Wonder if they ship to Canada. Chat a bit with them. Next is Mikey Burnett, he's also fun...everyone is such in a great mood. Then there's Chris Lytle, I ask him, shouldnt you be holed up in the hotel? He says no...I get too nervous, I have to see people keep somewhat busy! I tell him he saw what GSP could do, and wish him well! Then Couture Extreme, Randy will be here tomorrow they tell me (I'm thinking if he can get out of the hospital - little did I know).

We go back to the hotel, sleep a bit...watch the UFC countdown, and off we go! We get at the arena at 7:15, the doors dont open until 7:30pm....theres a sea of people, overflowing in the streets. 2 minutes later, they wisely open the doors. Get more gear, watch the show...meet all kinds of nice people! Lots of hot chicks too...I thought we'd be mostly guys, which we are, but I'm suprised that they are so many women....and children! Yes...wow!

I wont cover the show itself, just my impressions, it was amazing just to be there...I'd love to get my hand on that Baba Oriley promo video. The prelims are good, and the full crowd is there! Big difference from Las Vegas. Matt Hammill surprised but beating someone just as bad in stand up as him, but the crowd was behind Matt big time. I was pleasantly surprised to see/hear how everyone were cheering for Babalu (instead of Lambert), who said the midwest is all-american?! I dont quite remember the order, but I cheered for Jason McDonald, but he got dominated as expected by Rich, at one point tho, it looked like Jason had a reversed armbar. Chris Lytle should be proud, he did really well. Make no mistake about it, Matt Hugues is on his way down.
And then, wow...I was taking a pic of the start between Sylvia and Couture, and bamm...Tim is knocked down...what a shocker...we all stood up and screamed pretty much the rest of the fight for Randy!

After the show, we managed to go down by the octagon and take some pics. I chatted a bit with Wes Sims, nobody seemed to noticed him (is that possible) while Joe Rogan was getting mugged! Everyone was around him! In the same vein, I came across Eddie Bravo, he told me to keep working my rubber guard! Ya, for sure!

After we were basically kicked out of the place, we headed back to the Renaissance. This time more people knew that the UFC crew was staying there. Pat Miletich came in, and I redeemed a pic with him...Hermes Franca, Bruce Buffer, Goldie, Babalu. Babalu's face was pretty roughed up. Then Big Tim came in (what a big guy), and his entourage basically screamed at us to get out of the way...He didnt want to talk anybody...sore loser I would guess. I stayed a while, but didnt see Randy!

Phew thats it! If you've read that far, then I urge you to go next time to experience this, its a grand time, and they're all very cool and talkable.

Thanks ufcjunkie and Randy!

2007-03-05T10:11:00.000-05:00

Although I brought my laptop to Columbus, I was too busy to actually use it!

It was a great weekend, and am only starting to recover my voice from cheering Randy on! What an amazing feat he pulled. Randy learnt some great boxing head movement, common in boxing, but very rare in MMA. The only one doing this that I can remember is Nishijima against Mark Hunt in Pride. But the difference is that Nishijima was a boxer turning to MMA.

So Friday, thanks to our friends at ufcjunkie.com for putting a great party at the Karma nightclub!

And then, really to Randy for saving a pretty boring card. As much fun as it was fun to attend a UFC show, this was one of the weakest card in a long time. I will post more about my weekend as I have time this week!

My UFC 68 Schedule

2007-02-28T13:45:00.000-05:00

If any of you is attending UFC 68, it would be nice to hook up (I got a few emails already).

Friday 3pm: meet'n'greet and official weighins

UFCJunkie/Sean Salmon party 11pm at Karma (see UFCJunkie about registering, it sounds like a great party, I will be wearing CanFight gear (red), there shouldnt be too many there!

Arnold classic Saturday during the day and Sunday as well

Of course UFC68, I'm in section 212. I should have bought earlier when I first knew about it! oh well!

Have a great weekend all! I will try to post an update over the weekend...

Pride salaries set new standard

2007-02-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

So, mmaweekly released the salaries from the last Pride show in Las Vegas. Here is the summary:

Main Event Fighters
-Dan Henderson: $50K defeated Wanderlei Silva $150K)

Main Card Fighters
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: $50K defeated Alistair Overeem $10K
-Nick Diaz: $15K defeated Takanori Gomi $20K
-Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: $10K defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira $20K
-Joachim Hansen: $15K defeated Jason Ireland $10K
-Hayato Sakurai: $10K defeated Mac Danzig $10K
-Frank Trigg: $10K defeated Kazuo Misaki $10K
-Sergei Kharitonov: $10K defeated Mike Russow $10K
-James Lee: $10K defeated Travis Wiuff $10K

Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $430,000

Do you notice anything special? While the top salaries are not earth shattering, one thing they did is set a nice base pay, 10K minimum! This is a clear message to the UFC, if you are number 1 then there should be no more 3+3. And frankly, as much as I like Pride, the UFC is now the No1 MMA organization in the world, so should act like it.

Upset night at PRIDE 33!

2007-02-25T07:40:00.000-05:00

Wow, three big upsets on the Pride show last nite!

First Nick Diaz beat a tired Takanori Gomi by gogoplata. The first round between Diaz and Gomi may have been one of the best round I have seen in Pride! This is one for the books!

Second, we have Antonio Rogerio Nogueira getting beat so fast by Sokoudjou. Little Nogueira looked surprised himself as he was leaving the ring!

And then Dan Henderson knocking out Wanderlei Silva! Silva looked slow, there are rumours that he had a strep throat, which would explain it.

It wasn't long before it was roaring as Henderson used his punching power to subdue the hard-hitting Brazilian, who was taken to a local hospital Friday night and received antibiotics to treat a case of strep throat.

The no-knee rule on the ground in america also makes a difference in the game. Give credit to Hendo though, so far for some reason he's been on fire in the two PRIDE shows that have occured on american soil.

Frank Trigg also performed well, he should continue staying in the ring as opposed to trying to be a commentator. I actually think Josh Barnett did a great job on the mic!

I truely want Pride to survive! Great show!

Go Dragons go!

2007-02-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

I had a busy day, but wanted to wish the Dragons well tonight against the Wolfpacks.

The current lineup is:

Wolfpack vs Dragons

155 - Ian Loveland (replacing injured Ryan Schultz) vs Wagnney Fabiano
170 - Mike Dolce vs Jim Abrille (from Atlanta, replacing injured Claude Patrick)
185 - Matt Horwich vs Brent Beauparlant
205 - John Krohn vs Wojtek Kaszowski
265 - Devin Cole vs Rafael "Feijao" Custudio

Check out sherdog tonight for live play-by-play.

Loiseau moves West

2007-02-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

Well, David Loiseau, fresh from his lacklustre performance at the EliteXC show, has once again changed training camp. Maybe that is his problem, he has changed three times in the last year. At the stage that he is, maybe he should just make amends and go back to where he started from.

Good luck Dave!

Pride 33 - Second Coming - Analysis

2007-02-21T09:03:00.000-05:00

I was going to write an analysis of the upcoming Pride 33, The Second Coming, but there's already a fantastic and entertaining analysis available here.

From what I have heard ticket sales are not doing well at all this time. And it sounds like it is already getting papered, many tickets are being given for free. Pride may have made a mistake of going back to Las Vegas so soon. Pride in the US, really only has a hardcore fan base, and not a wide and diverse audience like the UFC has today.

PRIDE would have done better by coming out east (New Jersey or Connecticut), that way many fans that couldnt make it to the October show in Las Vegas from this side of the continent, could have gone to that show.

Anyways, read the analysis, it well done and funny!

Claude Patrick injured

2007-02-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

As reported by Claude on the Underground:

I am very sorry to say I sustained a fairly serious injury during wrestling practice that is going to keep me out of the upcoming Toronto Dragons vs Portland Wolfpack match-up at the upcoming february 23rd IFL event..

I was very excited to be competing with guys the level of Matt Lindlands team so it really sucks to have to sit this one out. especially since at the time of the accident i can easily say was at the absolute peak of my abilities mentally + physically and ready fight like never before and had more than a few interesting tactics to employ in this one.

I am still waiting for an MRI scan on my knee but by the looks of it i will be out for at least a few more weeks prior to gearing up for the april event vs Don frye's guys..

Best of luck to the fighters and staff at the IFL in putting on another great show FEB 23rd in Atlanta

Claude Patrick

Get better Claude, its always better to err on the side of caution in this business.

Chute Boxe opening in Canada

2007-02-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

According to the following article, Chute Boxe is coming to Canada, Toronto maybe?
This is pretty big news if you're an MMA fan, and even more if you seriously train MMA.

The translation (using Babelfish) is:

Mauricio Veio is of readying luggages for the city of Toronto, in Canada, where it will command the new branch office of the Boxe Kick. "It is a great chance that the master Rafael and the Rudimar master are giving me and I go to hug with the two hands this possibility. He has a very great structure there, the academy he has an olympic medal of Boxing, one of Wrestling and has also a black belt of the Nova Uniao giving lesson of Jiu-Jitsu back in the academy, that still has musculação. Now it will be the Boxe Kick there ", counted Lode, that will take care of of the preparation of the athletes for Vale-Tudo.

Not perfect, but you get the idea. I have no idea where this will happen exactly. I'm sure we will hear more. I will keep you posted.

CANFIGHT launches site!

2007-02-18T15:12:00.000-05:00

CanFight is a company that has Mixed Martial Arts gear, I know about them for being in close contact with the owner of the company (and wearing a lot of the stuff). His goal is to promote and help canadian mma fighters. There may be sponsorship coming.

Anyways, after a bit of wait, the site lauched today, check it out. Its definitly in the early stages, but to start, check out a great interview with Shaun "The Phenom" Krysa an up and coming MMA fighter.

There is a definite possibility of synergy between mmatoronto and canfight. Stay tuned!

Matt Lindland seminar at Combat Arts, Mar 10-11

2007-02-16T10:13:00.000-05:00

Kombat Arts has been getting some great seminars and here is another great one, Matt Lindland. See him a month before he gets destroyed in russia by Fedor!

Ontario Grand Prix Qualifier 1 - results

2007-02-15T10:49:00.000-05:00

The results from the 1st event of the Ontario Grand Prix are posted here.

I did my usual, win first one, lose second one, still managed for a 4th place (some points anyways). Next event is Bravado on March 31st.

Dear Don, advices fom Don Frye on Valentines day!

2007-02-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

This is pretty funny, Don Frye giving advices now!

He still has the Tom Selleck mustache...but not the hair!

Dear Don,
Valentine's Day is coming up, and this is the first one with my girl. I'm not a real romantic guy and I know she expects something special, besides some half-dead flowers and an overpriced meal, so do you have any ideas/tricks I can use to please my lady and get me some booty this Valentine's?

Here’s what you do. Obviously, you’ve got a computer, so go on the internet and find a place that sells really nice wine. Next, print off a picture of the one the fancy bottles of wine, one of the real expensive ones. Then glue it on top of a cheap bottle.

You see, women like expensive stuff because it means you care enough to spend your dough. My guess is she wouldn’t know a cheap bottle of wine from an expensive one anymore than she’d know a wristlock from a wrist watch. So let her think it cost you a bundle. It’s still got alcohol in it, right?

Once that’s done, do the same thing with a box of chocolates. She’ll like that.

When she comes over to your house you give her the wine and the chocolates. Watch how excited she gets. Once she’s in a good mood you give her two choices: either go out to a strip club or stay in and some watch some fights.

Either way, it should be a pretty good night.

Fabio Holanda in Toronto, Feb 18

2007-02-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

Lin Martial Arts will be holding a Fabio Holanda seminar from 1-4 pm on Sunday, Feb 18th, 2007. The location will be at 55 Glen Cameron Rd, just north of Yonge/Steeles.

Fabio is one of Canada's leading active Black Belts - a world class competitor and coach with a lot to offer!

If you are interested, for more information, please visit http://www.linmartialarts.com/news.html.

Fabio recently won at Apex, he was also in Patrick Cote's corner at UFC 67. Unfortunately last Friday in Montreal, Fabio lost at TKO against Sam Stout. It appears that Fabio lost because he cut too much weight too fast, he could not get up for the third round (he wasnt even sweating apparently - which is why I think he cut too much weight too fast). Fabio walks around 170-175, so cutting to 155 is demanding, 10% of his body weight. That is unfortunate, as it sounds like he had won the first round and maybe the second round as well.

Here's a report on his fight with Sam Stout

First round:

"At the beginning, Fabio took Stout's leg to reverse him and got the takedown. Then he took his guard, went to the side control to pursue his way to the full mount. He landed a few shots from he mount position. Stout tried to get back on his feet, and gave his back to Fabio, who tried the kimura as Stout resisted. With almost half of the time to go, Holanda went for the single leg, twice, but Stout sprawled to avoid the takedown and hit Fabio at the head. 1st round to Holanda."

Second round:

"Between the first and second round, it seemed like holanda hesitated to get back for the 2nd. He was apparently tired. Stout attacked with punches, but Fabio got the takedown and took the full mount. Stout reversed him and went back on his feet. Holanda stayed on the mat. The referee asked him to stand. The fight restart then went back to the ground, as Holanda was trying to unsucessfully applied an armbar. Holanda took the decision to surrender."

This is in no way lessening Sam Stout's win, but Sam has fantastic standup and next to zero ground, I'm not a big fan of not well rounded MMA fighters.

Kickboxing tournament on Feb 10

2007-02-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

Theres a great kickboxing tournament and show tomorrow in Burlington, a few friends are participating, so I will be cheering them on!

Check out the details.

EliteXC on Showtime this weekend

2007-02-07T09:47:00.001-05:00

Not a bad card on Feb 10th, a few good fights I'm looking forward to see are:

Frank Shamrock vs Renzo Gracie

David "The Crow" Loiseau vs Joey Villasenor

Gina Carano (recently featured on Warrior Nation episode 3) vs ?

I'd love to see Renzo take care of big mouth Frank, he hasnt done anything real in 5 years. He did beat Caesar Gracie last year, but I think he's resting on his UFC laurels from years ago. The odds apparently are clearly on Frank to win. Thats fine, I would even prefer to see Baroni shut Franks mouth off.

David Loiseau after being dumped by the UFC has a good challenge on his hands if he wants to continue his career, his has been less than lacklustre in his last few fights. This is not an easy fight by any means. The question is whether he willunleash his expolsive power from the start (as he used to do)? I'd really like to see Dave winning again and with Villasenor, he'll have his elbows full! This match is very important for his career. If he loses, as long as he fights with his heart (and not just standing around). Good luck Dave! Go for it!

Gina Carano, I have seen a few of her fights on youtube, she's a real knockout (ya she's super cute and a real MMA fighter), that is awesome to see!

Crocop on the UFC and the octagon

2007-02-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

This comes from the Sherdog forums where a userid named Saiyan translated it from Croatian to English:

"in the end Sanchez didn't materialize his promise of knocking me down in the 2nd round" - said CroCop who was in the good mood.

Mirko landed many shots, but it was hard to hit Sanchez who was backpaddling almost the whole fight: " I got tired chasing him. In one moment I even got dizzy running after him in the circle. I really thought the ref is going to warn him to fight."

Ed. there are no yellow cards in UFC, I think Mirko was expecting one because Sanchez was not fighting, but running away...which is what I would do if I had to face Mirko!

How did you feel in the octagon after fighting all your life in the ring? "It is bigger than ring, you can feel that extra space, especially when you have to run after someone. For the one who defensed it's somewhat easier, since you can't corner him."

How did you preparations go for this fight? "They were one of the hardest in my whole career. I had many so called little injuries. I injured my wrist, then I got a swollen toe, my operated foot is still causing some trouble. Non of them are serious injuries but when they appear all at once, it's not easy"

There were also many Croatian fans in the arena. "Yeah, I noticed many Croatian flags. It was really nice of them, some even came from Canada"

So your next fight is scheduled for Manchester (since there are some complications with London)? "I have no idea who I will fight next, I will just wait what UFC decides"

So what now? "Now I will take a 2 week break for resting and healing my injuries with Dr. Bu?an. Then I will start preaparing for Manchester, I have more than enough time."

We also saw Rick Peneda, our journalist colleague from Chicago: "CroCop is going to be a huge star in USA" - said Peneda.

But the problem is Mirko doesn't want to be a star. The only thing he has problems with are media and the cammeras: "They even follow me to the bathroom" ended CroCop

Mirko also commented why he didn't join the after fight press conference: "I really didn't know, no-one mentioned it when and where it will be. If they said something to me I really would have came. I'm in my room all the time anyways"

I can also give you the 2 comments from Charles Barkley and Kevin Lole (writer for Las Vegas Journal):

Barkley: "Mirko is a fantastic fighter. I loved how he tactically lead the whole fight. He is tactically perfect and efficient. Without a doubt he is already a big star here"

Kevin Lole was asked his opinion on Mirko's salary in his first fight: "He surely got 350 000 $ for this fight, from what it was registered in Nevada. But you must also count the PPV share which is huge, so I think he got nearly 1 million $$ all"

So all the rumours about defying Dana (with missing the press conference) are a mishap.

On building your own training dummy

2007-02-05T10:09:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you're at home and would like to practice some drills, armbars, triangles, or that new rubber guard book you've seen from Eddie Bravo. But you have no partner, or no willing partner and the kids are too small ;-) If you've ever looked at buying a training dummy but found them expensive, read on. You can actually build a pretty decent one fairly cheaply.

Stephan Kesting of GrappleArts.com sent a great email (you should really subscribe to his newsletter - definitely one of my favs) about grappling dummies. But for those that dont subscribe, here's the part I found interesting:

There are many commercially available throwing and grappling dummies available on the market, including the Bubba dummy, Erik Paulson's Motion Master and Submission Master dummies, the Adam Takedown Machine, the Big Blue Dummy, etc. These are all quality products and can all be valuable training accessories, but they are very expensive, ranging from c. $400 to over $2000, not including shipping!

One possible solution is to try and make one yourself. An example of plans can be found at http://tinyurl.com/37jgc. If you make it and find that you DON'T enjoy using it then at least you are only out about $50, rather than ten times that much.

So, here goes another project on my list! I will let you know how mine turns out!

Nothing for Lutter

2007-02-03T00:29:00.000-05:00

So, it turns out this match that was "All or Nothing" is for Nothing, Travis Lutter could not make weight.

This is the second time in less than two weeks that this happens. Pretty shameful, Travis will not get another kick at the can. This is kinda the nail on the coffin for TUF4, isnt it? Serra is the last one left with not much of a chance at all either.

I'm sure Dana is not a happy camper. Lutter should be thrown at Mirko for punishment! Nah, Silva will take care of him.

Joslin vs Hironaka at UFN 9

2007-02-02T09:07:00.000-05:00

Jeff Joslin vs Jon Fitch

Jeff Joslin is rumoured to be fighting Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFN 9 slated for April. Jeff had a great showing against Josh Koscheck in December, and it will not get any easier for him.

Hironaka is a Shooto veteran who made his UFC debut this past October at UFC 64. He lost a unanimous decision to Jon Fitch. Hironaka is a better matchup than a wrestling blanket that Jeff got last time.

Jeff Joslin would like nothing better than a rematch to Fitch (who beat him by one of the most controversial decision in Canada).

Go Jeff go!

Bloomberg on IFL

2007-02-01T08:33:00.000-05:00

I have been following this stock, simply by curiosity (I guess I'm not alone, some people have actually invested money in this).

This is kind of crazy, imagine what the UFC would do if it went public? No chance about that, Dana clearly said that the UFC would not go public under his watch.

Here is the article in question.

Some interesting points:

International Fight League stock has gained 64 percent this year, closing at $15.50 yesterday after ending 2006 at $9.45. For part of 2006, the shares traded for less than $1.

The stock market values International Fight League at $829 million.

No Wall Street analysts cover International Fight League. So far, there isn't much to analyze.

The company's book value (assets minus liabilities) is a negative $960,000 as of Sept. 30. Total assets on the same date were $10,000.

According to the "Forbes Franchise Values" posted on the ESPN Sports Business Web site, the New York Yankees are worth about $730 million and the Dallas Cowboys $923 million. To put International Fight League in the same ballpark seems ludicrous to me.

Families that fight, stay strong together!

2007-01-30T13:49:00.000-05:00

According to an article on MSN, families that do martial arts, have better bonds.

Martial arts are booming because they offer something for all ages. They help preschoolers develop social skills and improve their attention spans; they give grade-schoolers and teenagers a confidence boost while teaching self-control; and they leave parents with greater stamina, improved endurance, and a trimmer, toned body.

Best Self Defense martial art; Karate WTF? Kicking and screaming for self-defense?!?!?

UFC 68 to be biggest MMA event in N.A. so far

2007-01-29T09:57:00.000-05:00

Have you tried getting tickets for UFC 68? Well, ticketmaster has been out for a while. If you look on ebay and other places (TicketZoom.com), you will find tickets, but not cheaply.

The event is a sellout and could surpass the North American record mark for an MMA event. That event was Strike Force's March '06 which had 18,265 in attendance. The Nationwide Arena can squeeze in 20,000 for a boxing kind of event.

If you look at the actual Nationwide Arena layout, you will notice how big this place is, and the tickets on ebay are mostly on faraway corners. I dont the know the arena at all, but seeing as they're all 3 levels, I'm not sure that being on the second level is bad.

I will be in attendance, many people dont realize that Toronto is only a 7 hour drive to Columbus. Most people in Toronto are waiting for the event in Montreal. I didnt want to wait, as I think they may be able to sell the Olympic Stadium when they come to Montreal!!! A slight exageration, but not by much, it seems half of Ontario will be going . Everybody I talk to are waiting for THAT event.

If you're in Columbus for UFC 68, do let me know. I know UFCJunkie is planning a party, we could all meet! That would be fun!

Jason McDonald article in Calgary Sun

2007-01-27T21:53:00.000-05:00

I'm too tired to write anything, but here is a great article in the Calgary Sun about Jason MacDonald.

Bad matchups are dangerous for the sport

2007-01-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

So, Rashad lands a highlight reel high kick to newcomer Salmon. The UFC didnt really update on the status of Sean, but MMANews.com reports:

According to WrestlingObserver.com, Sean Salmon is fine now after his devestating knockout loss to Rashad Evans at the UFC Fight Night 8 live special on Spike TV last night.

Salmon, who lost via vicious knockout from a high kick in the second round, remained unconscious for a reported seven full minutes following the bout, and was carried away on a stretcher. The live TV audience was left with the only update on his condition being from the Rashad Evans post-fight interview, where he indicated Salmon was still on the ground and not moving - unbeknownst to viewers who had no camera shot of Salmon after the initial live knockout.

Since the fight, Salmon has been sent to a local hospital and was reportedly conscious, coherent and talking normally.

So, Sean was out for a full 7 minutes! That is not good. When I wrote my preview for fightopinion.com, I remember writing "Who the heck is Sean Salmon?". But I changed it I didnt want to be so mean.

But the point is, the UFC matchmaker, Joe Silva, has to be very careful. It is obvious they are trying to promote their TUF fighters by giving them easier opponents, but we dont want to witness the first MMA death at a free live UFC event!

This could be the death knell for the sport.

Mirko Crocop also has that kind of dangerous power, Eddie Sanchez (whoever that is with only one fight in the UFC), is facing a life treatening challenge.

This is a sport and a dangerous sport, matchmakers have to be careful with those matchups.

Dana has good hands!

2007-01-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

We now know that Tito vs Dana boxing match will happen in March, the question is, how good is Dana's boxing? Check it this video about the UFC and see Dana hitting the pads! Not bad! We will have to wait for the fight to see his boxing game!

Jan2407cnbc
Uploaded by Wilmot

Loiseau reflects on 2006

2007-01-23T08:47:00.000-05:00

A great article about Loiseau and his reflections from 2006, being cut by the UFC, etc.

We were all disappointed by his performance last year, he has reflected and hopefully can refocus and continue. Good luck David.

Bocek wins in his King of The Cage debut

2007-01-21T18:26:00.000-05:00

Mark Bocek (bottom right of picture)

Mark Bocek, I dont think he has a nickname yet but The Animal would fight him well, he is non-stop. Anyways, Mark Bocek improved his record to 3-0 by winning Jan 20th at King of The Cage in Gatineau.

Apparently, Mark Bocek definetely put on quite a spectacle by ending the fight by submission in the first round (armlock). It wasnt an easy fight, Mark faced a seasoned veteran in John Mahlow, but Bocek showed why he is the adcc trials champ and can mix it up in mma.

Be ready to hear more about Mark as he makes his mark in MMA. H eis destined for the UFC.

Great job Mark!

Other results for KOTC Freedom Fight 2007:

JEAN MARK LALONDE VS BRETT PORTIEOUS - Portieus won by TKO in an exciting slugfest apparently (R1)

TJ GRANT vs NICK PORTIEOUS: Grant won by armbar (R1)

BARRY MCDONALD vs DEREK GIROUX: won by Giroux by rear-naked-choke (R1)

GARRETT VENROY vs STEPHANE LAMARCHE: won by Lamarche by unamous decision

WAYNE XILON vs JOHN COLE: Cole by TKO (R1)

MARKHAILE WEDDERBURN vs CHESTER POST: Post by Guillotine (RD2)

NICK DENIS vs JEAN ROBERT MORTIER: won by Denis by armbar (R1)

Main event: TRAVIS "The Gladiator" GALBRAITH vs CRAIG "Farmer" BROWN: Galbraith retains his KOTC Lightheavyweight title with a TKO (2R).

Lindland vs Fedor?

2007-01-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

TheFightNetwork reports that Matt "The Law" Lindland will fight Fedor at Bodog 2 in Russia (now slated for April 6th).

So is Matt that crazy? Does he really have a deathwish? Although they are both 6', Matt is a 185 pounder, that can maybe stretch to 205...Matt, also known as the skunk by Rampage last summer at WFA (the guy reeks apparently - maybe thats his secret weapon), is a good wrestler, but has no chance even if he manages to take Fedor to the ground. Standing up, he's as good as dead

Fighting Fedor? and in Russia?...Money must be good or Bodog must be desperate for a matchup with Fedor.

Reflections on getting a BJJ blue belt

2007-01-18T15:11:00.000-05:00

Last night I was totally surprised and shocked when my Sensei Dan Moroney awarded me my blue belt! Surprised and shocked because I had told him to simmer me when I got my fourth stripe, I was in no rush for the blue.

Not to go on about it, I'm very pleased and happy about it! Unlike most people I had not set a time goal to reach it, I always said "I would get it when I'm ready". As it turns out I got my blue in just under two years, which is exactly average. Many people also set Blue as their goal and then stop when they reach it. I have seen it, many blues have disappeared. There is some stat somewhere that I've heard, something like only 10% ever get to Purple. Blue is not my stop, I will keep going, this is so much fun. It is a fantastic sport which is both physical and cerebral!

So, I am not flaunting it, but I am proud of it. Actually what I want to say is that if I can achieve it, most people can. I started at 40 years old, as a way to keep healthy and fit (I dont like gyms). I am not an athlete by any means, I've always been good at almost any sport, but not the best of any. With BJJ, its different, you can be as best as you can be (sorry for the pun), being small, has forced me to remain as technical as possible and that has helped me a lot.

Although BJJ is an individual sport, you can only get as good as you can get with a great dojo and super training partners. This is also one of the reason that I really enjoy helping the beginners when they ask for help. Learning BJJ, is definitely one of the most difficult things that I've had to learn in my life, patience

Last but not least, thank you all at Bravado JJ for helping me along! I dont want to name names for fear of forgetting anyone. Learning BJJ, is a team effort, what a great team! Thanks!

Takanori Gomi to the UFC

2007-01-16T13:14:00.001-05:00

A report on FightOpinion that Takanori Gomi is heading to the UFC.

A little differently that outright signing with the UFC, DSE would be acting as his agent. Not sure this will happen, tho...would the UFC allow him to compete for a title if he doesnt sign for a multi fight deal?

He would bring a very exciting dimension to the lightweight, but I'm not sure he would go far, with BJ Penn back in the class (didnt BJ beat him good before?) and Sherk as the current title holder.

They would be great fights regardless!

If Gomi coming to the UFC is true, then this sounds like Pride is just putting out smoke to cover Gomi possibly signing a 3 fight deal with UFC (they did the same w Crocop signing with the UFC). Just more desperation from Sakakibara.

It used to be that PRIDE was stealing all the good UFC fighters (Barnett, Coleman, etc), now the tide has clearly changed, Gomi going to the UFC would be a real eye opener about the real situation of Pride.

Ontario Grand Prix 2007

2007-01-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

The Ontario Grappling Grand Prix is starting nest week with the ASCENSION JIU-JITSU OPEN 2007, more info here.

I think I will participate this year, if I can get over the cold I have now!

Zuffa buying Pride????

2007-01-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

Not sure if this the best troll job ever done in a forum, but many forums are rampant with claims that Zuffa is buying Pride!

If it turns out to be true, we could finally now have the SuperBowl of MMA...every New Years Eve?! Can you imagine? That would be awesome. Maybe like baseball is now...two leagues and one championship. Wasnt the NFL two leagues as welll originally?

Let's wait and see...

Should Randy return?

2007-01-11T09:02:00.000-05:00

All the media is buzzing with a forthcoming announcement that Randy "The Natural" Couture is coming back, this time to fight Tim Sylvia.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a big fan of Randy. However, unfortunately I believe there really is only one reason he is coming back, and to me that is tarnishing his image. The only reason that I see is "The Almighty Dollar" $$$$! The UFC was big when he retired, but its huge now.

Should he be getting a shot right away at Tim Sylvia? And believe me I want Tim to stop wearing the belt as much as anybody. What about Brendon Vera? He should be next to fight Tim.

And then, when Couture beats Tim, which will be great...We'll he retire again? If not, if you thought Randy didnt do well twice against Chuck, he will look even worse when he faces Mirko Cro-Cop! He could be disfigured a la Rich Franklin...is that how Randy wants to be remembered?

Former boxing champion Yvon Durelle dies in N.B. hospital at 77

2007-01-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

An article on CBC about Yvon passing away, I heard he was a very fun and interesting fellow.

Article here

Frank Trigg a "Kept" man?

2007-01-07T16:16:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine sent me this:

Go to the kept website here:
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/kept/series.jhtml

Under "photo galleries" click on "Kept: Sharp-dressed men". Advance through all the gay photos of dudes to photo number 11. Do you recognize this guy?

Frank, are you that hard up for money? or women?

Jason MacDonald to fight Rich Franklin

2007-01-05T10:43:00.001-05:00

Jason surprised many people with two very impressive wins in the UFC. First against Ed Herman, and then last Saturday against fan favorite Chris Leben. Probably because both wins were very convincing, he now faces a real tough challenge of fighting ex champ Rich Franklin.

Rich Franklin is needing a win to erase his embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva. Jason is used to be the underdog, but this fight will be even bigger to overcome. Jason needs to get Rich down, and not in his guard as Rich has fabulous ground and pound from the guard. Also, I really dont know how good is Jason's stand up game, this could be key if he cant bring him down.

Nevertheless, good luck Jason, we'll cheer for ya!