Marlon Sandro confirmed for Sengoku featherweight grand prix.
January 16, 2009
Tatame is writing that Marlon Sandro is confirmed for the Sengoku Featherweight GP. This is not surprising, as the King of Pancrase I was expecting him to compete.
The first Sengoku featherweight grand prix is expected to kick off at Sengoku 8, on March 20th, 2009. That’s a little over two months away, which means we should be hearing more about who else is going to compete in the next coming weeks. Marlon Sandro, if you don’t know, is the current featherweight King of Pancrase. He’s 12-0 as a professional, and has shown both the ability to KO opponents, as well as submit them. Most of his victories have come via decision, but don’t let that cover the fact that he’s one of the better 145lb fighters currently competing in MMA, I personally think he’ll be a big favorite to win the entire thing.
After getting heel-hooked, he gets his hair done.
January 16, 2009
Props: Suki MMA
It looks like the only thing that could cheer former PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi up after getting submitted by Satoru Kitaoki at Sengoku no Ran 2009 was a visit to his favorite salon. I guess he wanted to look like an emo kid, which I think he did rather well. I’m not one to judge, I’m a firm believer in living how you want to live, and if this makes him a better fighter, whatever….more power to you.
Roger Huerta might be getting the “Ortiz Farewell”.
January 16, 2009
Props: MMAWeekly
MMAInsider has learned from several sources close to former UFC lightweight champ Sean Sherk that a meeting with fellow Minnesotan Roger Huerta is possible for UFC 97 in Montreal, Canada.
The “Ortiz Farewell”, to those that can’t figure it out, is when you leave the UFC on a bad note with Dana White. He ends up getting in one last “F*** You!!” by throwing you into the octagon against a guy that you have very little chance in defeating. Tito’s last UFC opponent was the highly respected Lyoto Machida, who completely dominated Tito for the duration of the fight, with the exception of that one instance. It was a great fight to get Machida into the spotlight, considering Tito was a huge name with a huge following…
Now, Roger Huerta vs. Sean Sherk is a great fight regardless of the whole “Dana White hates Roger” thing. Huerta, regardless of his loss to Kenny Florian at UFC 87, is still widely considered to be one of the best lightweights in the organization. He’s got great well-rounded skills, he’s shown both serious striking skills and solid grappling skills. Sean Sherk, well….the guy’s a beast, great wrestler, great boxing (that we finally got to see when he fought Tyson Griffin), and exceptional cardio. He’s definitely in the running for another title shot, and with a victory over a big name like Huerta, it’d be hard to argue differently.
You see what happens when you decide to piss of the top guy in the organization you fight for? You end of fighting guys like Machida and Sherk before leaving, who will 99% of the time beat you down for 3 rounds and leave you feeling like you just got ass-raped. Huerta, I hope you made the right choice…
**SIDE NOTE AFTER THE JUMP**
Anthony Johnson on Matt Hughes: “He’s a dick”
January 14, 2009
Props: CagePotato
“I’ll fight anybody the UFC puts in front of me but I’d like to fight Matt Hughes one day. People say his level of fighting is better than mine because he has a lot of experience. I don’t care. He’s a dick. Hopeufully I’ll get a chance to knock him out like Thiago Alves did…
When I fought Tommy [Speer] he was weird. Me and my friends were walking out of the locker room and he walked by. I said what’s up to him and nodded my head and he kept walking like I was invisible. I thought ok, you’re like that. I’m friendly. You only have one life to live. But if he’s like that I know why Matt Serra wants to beat his ass…He wants to retire but he doesn’t need to retire until I beat his ass. After Matt Serra beats himI’ll retire him give him to me and . The HIT squad is great. Everything he does is great but I want to fight him because of that incident. Maybe he didn’t see me but I saw him look right at me. You want to be like that I’ll give you a reason not to want to look at me.”
If this doesn’t excite you, what the hell will?
January 14, 2009
What you’re about to see is without a doubt the greatest poster for any MMA event in the history of the sport. Fights like this come along once in a great while, and this poster perfectly sums up how badass it’s going to be….
HKM’s UFC 93 predictions
January 14, 2009
UFC 93 is this weekend, anyone with eyeballs can see that the main event is a light-heavyweight battle between former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson. It’s a big fight for many reasons, but I don’t care to go into that and will instead simply give you my humble thoughts on who will win, which you can see after the jump.
Couture’s jacked up elbow prevents fights with Nog.
January 10, 2009
Props: MMAlinker
Rehabilitation on a surgically repaired elbow and a leading role in Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables prompted Randy Couture to decline a fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 NC) for the first half of 2009, the five-time UFC champion confirmed to SI.com.
“I had to,” Couture, who turns 46 in June, said via text message. “Had to have my left elbow scoped. There were two loose bodies in there! Old nagging injury.”
A pair of abnormally large bone spurs were removed from The Natural’s elbow on Thursday. While training for his failed UFC heavyweight title defense in November against Brock Lesnar, Couture aggravated the joint, which was mined for a pair of 16-centimeter spurs.
This sucks, Couture vs. Nogueira was definitely a “must have” fight for this new year. Randy wanted it, Nog wanted it, the UFC wanted it, and most importantly, the fans wanted it. Two of the best heavyweight fighters ever, now in the same organization, both coming off big losses for championship belts, it seemed like destiny to have these two fight. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this fight could still happen given Randy’s body heals up sooner rather than later, but let’s be realistic, he’s only got so much time left in this sport, maybe 1 or 2 more fights left in him (Nog and Fedor most believe), and injuries sustained at this period of his life are naturally going to take longer to heal, and might not even heal completely. I don’t know what’s down the road for Captain America, all we can do is hope that he heals completely and by that time, still wants to fight Minotauro.
Another legit grudge match on approach.
January 10, 2009
Props: Matt-Hughes.com
Just got a call from Joe Silva and as of right now it looks like I’ll be fighting Matt Serra in Vegas on May 23rd. This is not 100% confirmed, but I believe it is going to be on this date. -matt
Going by the “month-by-month UFC event” rule, this looks like it’ll be for UFC 98. All I can say is that I’m excited as hell that we’re getting some updated news, regardless if it’s not 100% confirmed. This fight was originally supposed to happen at UFC 79 in December of 2007 but most know that Serra got injured and had to pull out, Georges St. Pierre stepped in and destroyed Hughes to claim the interim UFC welterweight title, and then destroyed Serra at UFC 83 to become the undisputed UFC welterweight champion.
The one thing I absolutely love about this is the fact that you either love or hate both guys, nothing inbetween. MMA forums across the planet are going to be a mess of trash-talking and insults, devout Hughes fan’s will probably kill themselves if he gets his ass beat by Serra, and Serra fans will never let it down. As of right now, this is the only rumored fight for the event, so there’s no telling if it will be the main event or act as the co-main event. Either way, I’m pumped, for the sake of MMA, this fight needs to happen, and I can’t wait to see it go down!
On another note, I’m taking Serra via TKO. Don’t hate.
Hasta luego Roger Huerta!
January 9, 2009
Props: Sherdog
The popular lightweight has turned down a new five-fight contract with the UFC to pursue a career in acting in 2009. Huerta has one more fight on his current contract with the UFC that will see him back in the Octagon some time before December. After that, Huerta said he’d re-evaluate his options.
Once a poster-boy for the Hispanic UFC fans, Roger Huerta quickly fell off the radar after his unanimous decision loss to Kenny Florian at UFC 87, not to mention pissing off the UFC suits when he cried about how much money he wasn’t making. While unexpected, I guess I’m not completely surprised. Most knew that he was starring in the film adaptation of Tekken, that arcade-style fighting game, where was taken on the role of Miguel Caballero Rojo. He’s also previously mentioned how he’d like to pursue acting and modeling as a long-term career, and I guess it might be best for him, considering his boss called him a moron.
If there’s one thing to learn from MMA fighters who turn into actors, like Randy Couture’s and his oscar nominated role in Steven Seagals’ direct-to-DVD film “Today You Die”, or Rich Franklin’s terminator-esque role as I.S.S.A.C. (Intuitive Synthetic Autonomous Assault Commando <– WTF!?!), in another direct-to-Wal-Mart bargain-bin film titled “Cyborg Soldier”, it’s that Roger Huerta will make an awesome addition to the low-budget-piece-of-shit-action-films genre over in Hollywood. Good luck Roger, I look forward to not watching any of your horrible movies.
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The illustrated version of how Fedor vs. Arlovski will play out.
January 9, 2009
I found this on the Ultimate-Fighter Forums, couldn’t tell you where it originated from, but it’s hilarious and I think anyone who knows anything about MMA will find it amusing. After the jump you’ll see it, enjoy.
