Just when you thought Anderson Silva had a lock on the MMA comeback of the year for his win over Chael Sonnen, Joe Warren won the Bellator featherweight championship with an unbelievable comeback.
Returning Bellator champ Joe Soto dominated Warren in the first round, landing punch after punch. After all the shots that Warren took, there was no good reason for Warren to be standing. Soto taunted his Warren, moving his hands away from his face. Warren, a former world champion wrestler, couldn't get Soto to the ground. Warren tried for a spinning back kick, but after he slipped, Soto shook his finger at Warren.
The tide changed in the second round, with Warren knocking Soto down with a big righ, following up with unanswered ground and pound, and then when they returned to their feet, Warren finished the fight off with a huge knee. The fight was stopped at 0:38 of the second round.
The fight changed so quickly that Soto asked his corner, "What happened?"
"It was all about refocusing. You can't stop me. I'm the baddest man on the planet," Warren said.
Bantamweight tournament semifinalists set
Ed West moved onto the semifinals of Bellator's bantamweight tournament with a 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 unanimous decision over Bryan Goldsby. West kept the fight moving, attacking Goldsby's legs early in the fight. West was able to maneuver Goldsby into several submissions throughout the fight, but couldn't finish on any of them.
Zach Makovsky won a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three judges cards, over Nick Mamalis. Makovsky outgrappled Mamalis, controlling him throughout the bout.
"I expected an all-around war. After I won the first round, I realized how I could control the fight from on top," Makovsky said after the fight.
Ulysses Gomez claimed the final bantamweight tournament spot with a split decision over Travis Reddinger. Gomez survived a late arm bar attempt from Reddinger to win the fight.
Jose Vega, West, Mavovsky and Gomez are the bantamweight semifinalists.
For the opening five minutes of Thursday's Bellator 27 main event, the
self-described "baddest man on the planet" looked like anything but.
Then came round two.
After getting tagged throughout the first round with lead left hands and nasty right uppercuts, Joe Warren uncorked a powerful barrage of strikes that left former champion Joe Soto unconscious on the floor.
Former WEC light heavyweight champion Doug "Rhino" Marshall
returns to the venue that gave birth to his MMA career to take on "The
Ultimate Fighter 11" cast member Kyacey Uscola under the Tachi
Palace Fights banner.Marshall and Uscola meet in the main event of "Tachi Palace Fights 6: High Stakes" on Sept. 9 at The Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif.
The card also features a co-main event between former WEC lightweight champ "Razor" Rob McCullough and "The Ultimate Fighter 5" cast member Corey Hill, as well as a middleweight title fight between dual challengers Anthony Ruiz (20-14) and Leopoldo Serao (7-7).
In an odd way, Roger Huerta is proving you don't need the UFC marketing machine to promote yourself to casual and non-MMA fans. The former UFC prospect is only 1-1 since leaving the promotion but has gotten plenty of national attention.
The reason? It wasn't exactly part of some grand plan. At 2:15 a.m., Huerta happened to stumble upon what looked like a man hitting a woman outside an Austin bar in Texas. Huerta stepped in to beat the snot out of the unsuspecting dude, who was reported to have been a former University of Texas linebacker. According to TMZ's Harvey Levin, the Huerta fight video was one of the biggest stories of that week on the site. Considering that TMZ is normally dealing with the likes of Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Justin Bieber, for anything concerning an MMA fighter to compete with that mix is pretty impressive. Huerta was invited to appear on TMZ's afternoon webcast and talked about the incident.
"I approached the man and said, "You don't do that. You don't hit a woman," said Huerta. "The video doesn't show what happened next, but he said, '[Expletive] you. I'll knock any [expletive] out I want.' The tape also doesn't show that he swung at me two or three times right after that."
"All you see is me bouncing up and down. He has already swung at me at that point. Then the guy takes off running. I chased him down and you saw what else happened ... I can't talk about what exactly happened because it's a legal matter. If the same thing occurred, I would do it all over again. I have no regrets."
It's interesting to note that Huerta had to often restrain himself from going into too much detail. There are still plenty of legal hoops to jump through. Huerta says he do it again but you wonder if he'd like to erase the end of the brawl where he apparently got pretty vicious? The appearance actually makes you wonder who's handling his case. It's a little surprising that a lawyer would allow him to speak at all on this sort of platform.
These TMZ videos are unique. There's no real setup. Check out the beginning. It looks like Levin is ready to ask Huerta to beat up a faulty chair.
Quotes via Fightlinker
Well, you can't always get what you want. One day after Thiago Alves welcomed a fight with Mike Pierce, who on Tuesday called him out on MMAjunkie.com Radio, the former contender is now expected to meet John Howard at UFC 124.
Sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com that verbal agreements are in place and contracts will be sent out shortly.
If an early childhood choice had gone another direction, Germaine De Randamie might've become a danger.Instead, she turned to something no less focused on movement but a touch more violent.
"When I was 8, my mother said I could choose between dancing and kickboxing," De Randamie told MMAjunkie.com. "I went to the first kickboxing class, and I never even made it to dancing. I told her I had found what I wanted to do."
UFC middleweight Alan Belcher was on a roll. After wins over Patrick Cote and Wilson Gouveia, he was training for a bout with Demian Maia when he had to pull out of the fight. He had a detached retina and had to undergo surgery in late July to have his eye corrected.
Now, more than a month later, he is still having problems with his vision.
According to his Twitter, Belcher again had to have surgery after experiencing blurry vision. His wife said that he is in pain, and that the next few weeks are important in seeing how his vision progresses.
As it turns out, UFC president Dana White believes in second, or maybe third, chances. Nine months after White gave Karo Parisyan his walking papers, the welterweight veteran is octagon bound once again for a meeting with Dennis Hallman at UFC 123.
Although not officially announced by the promotion, UFC 123 is expected to take place Nov. 20 at Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Michigan.
A bantamweight contest between former champion Brian Bowles and Nova Uniao submission ace Wagnney Fabiano
has been targeted for WEC 52.MMAjunkie.com has confirmed with sources close to the event that verbal agreements are in place for the contest and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly. News of the matchup was first reported by SportsNet.ca.
While the event has yet to be officially announced, MMAjunkie.com has learned that WEC 52 is expected to take place Nov. 11 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Undefeated welterweight prospect Chris Lozano was
recently announced as the newest member of the Bellator Fighting
Championships' roster, and it appears his first matchup has already been
determined.MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the fighter that Lozano has agreed to meet five-time UFC veteran Yoshiyuki Yoshida at Bellator 31.
Bellator officials have yet to officially announce the contest, which takes place Sept. 30 at L'Auberge du Lac Casino and Resort in Lake Charles, La.
While this past weekend's UFC 118 event concluded without a single
knockout, that doesn't mean the night's competitors escaped without
issue.The Massachusetts State Athletic Commission today emailed the list of UFC 118 medical suspensions to MMAjunkie.com.
The evening's four main-event and co-main-event competitors were each cleared to return immediately, though Nate Diaz and John Salter's six-month orders led a list of 10 fighters suspended by the commission.
This past weekend's "UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn II" event at the TD Garden
in Boston drew 14,168 spectators for a live gate of approximately $2.8
million, according to the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission.MSAC officials today emailed the preliminary figures to MMAjunkie.com.
Of the 14,168 fans in the arena, 11,205 purchased tickets and 2,963 were issued complimentary admission, according to the report.
Co-headliners James Toney ($500,000) and Randy Couture ($250,000)
garnered the most attention heading into this past weekend's UFC 118
event, and they also walked home with the evening's largest disclosed
checks.MMAjunkie.com recently requested and today received the list of officially disclosed paydays from the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission.
The total disclosed payroll for the Aug. 28 event was $1.428 million.
MMAjunkie.com Radio today welcomes Bellator Fighting Championships CEO
Bjorn Rebney to the program, as well as UFC 120 competitor Mike Pyle.Rebney calls in to preview tonight's Bellator 27 event, which features a title fight between featherweight champ Joe Soto and challenger Joe Warren. Pyle, re-scheduled from Wednesday's show, discusses his bout with John Hathaway at next month's Spike TV-televised UFC 120 event. "The Sunday Junkie" winner David Quan also calls in to discuss his winning entry.
MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from 12-2 p.m. ET (9-11 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.
For his beatdown of Gabe Ruediger, Joe Lauzon had special t-shirts made for his friends and family. Since he was fighting in his hometown of Boston for the first time since making the UFC, there was a large group of friends and family there, so the shirts were everywhere. They became so popular that Lauzon now is selling them on his site.
The men's version is a plain green t-shirt while the women's is a green ringer, as seeon above. Both have the JL Shamrock, and "I love fighting like a fat kid loves cake." You can even request that the shirt is signed by Joe, all for $20.
Well, that didn't take long. UFC welterweight Thiago Alves is more than willing to fight up-and-comer Mike Pierce this fall. Alves plans to text UFC president Dana White for a possible booking at UFC 123 on Nov. 20.
"I would be more than happy to beat [Pierce's] ass if the UFC allows me," Alves told MMAjunkie.com. "I will show him some love, definitely."
Despite a less-than-impressive return to the organization, Gabe Ruediger will get another fight in the UFC.Ruediger, who failed to make weight and then flamed out of "The Ultimate Fighter 5" cast back in 2007, posted a six-fight win streak to earn his way back into the UFC.
But this past weekend as a replacement for injured Terry Etim, Ruediger suffered a one-sided beatdown and eventual submission loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 118.
UFC Gray Maynard jokes that he doesn't even know his professional fighting record; maybe, he says, he should write it in the "Notes" application of his iPhone.The lightweight contender used to keep score of such things. As a wrestler, he put a heap of pressure on himself to take home a new accolade in every season.
But as an MMA title shot with champ Frankie Edgar looms, Maynard has taken a much more relaxed approach to the fight game.
Bellator Fighting Championships today hosted official fighter weigh-ins for Bellator 27, and all 20 event competitors successfully made weight for the show.
The weigh-ins took place at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio.
Bellator featherweight champ Joe Soto (144.8 pounds) and season-two tournament winner Joe Warren (143.6) had no issues making weight for their main-event fight, which takes place Thursday at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.
October's Bellator 33 fight card has another big addition.A week after the organization announced a headlining non-title fight between lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and Roger Huerta, a five-round title fight has been added to the mix.
Welterweight champ and season-one tourney winner Lyman Good meets former NCAA Division I national wrestling champ and season-two tourney winner Ben Askren.
When Brazilian submission ace Rousimar Palhares
steps into the cage against Nate Marquardt in the
main event of UFC Fight Night 22, he'll be competing in perhaps the most
high-profile contest of his career.But don't for one minute believe that the Spike TV-broadcast bout is the toughest fight of Palhares' life.
No, the UFC middleweight contender's biggest struggles came well before he ever set foot in the octagon - when a 10-year-old Palhares and his brothers and sisters siblings worked 13 hour days on Brazilian plantations while (usually) making just enough money to live just slightly more luxuriously than the animals to which they tended.
When Dana White travels to England for UFC 120, he will stop in at Oxford University. He will speak to the members of the world-renowned Oxford Union debating society.
"Anyone who knows anything about me knows I always speak my mind and am very passionate about what I do, and the Oxford Union was founded on exactly those principles," White said in a statement released by UFC. "I'm looking forward to meeting the students, and I know they have a reputation for asking tough questions and expecting straight answers from their guests. That's exactly what they'll get from me."
Yes, the same place that hosted Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill and Robert Kennedy will now host the foul-mouthed chief of the UFC.
White isn't afraid to speak up, a trait that has gotten him in trouble from time to time. But how will the Union members respond to White's tactics?
Though they have been around since 1823, the members of the Oxford Union aren't all fuddy-duddies. A bar is part of their facilities. MMA has exploded in popularity in England, and the Oxford members likely have plenty of questions for White about the sport.
Not only that, Churchill was known to drop a dirty word or two in his day.
The UFC's traditional year-end show will be a first-of-the-year event with UFC 125 tentatively scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 1 in Las Vegas.A source close to the pay-per-view event today told MMAjunkie.com that the 2011 event tentatively is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The event kicks off a new year for the UFC, which hosts an annual high of 24 events in 2010.
For the first time in more than 14 years and 150 events, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is heading to Michigan.
UFC 123, which takes place Nov. 20, will be hosted by the 23,000-seat Palace of Auburn Hills in a suburb of Detroit.
The "Detroit Free Press" first reported the plans, and MMAjunkie.com since has confirmed them with sources close to the show. A light-heavyweight fight between former champs Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida headlines the show.
With his title shot already promised and a meeting with champion Frankie Edgar on the horizon, UFC 118 winner and still-undefeated lightweight Gray Maynard today joins MMAjunkie.com Radio.Veteran Mike Pyle, who fights John Hathaway at next month's UFC 120 event, also joins the show to discuss his preparations for the Spike TV-televised fight.
MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from 12-2 p.m. ET (9-11 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.
B.J. Penn wants to return to the octagon sooner rather than later.This past weekend at UFC 118, the former champ fell short in a rematch with Frankie Edgar, the same fighter who defeated Penn and took his belt in April at UFC 112.
Rather than sulk about the loss or rethink his approach, Penn simply wants to get back in the cage as soon as possible.
Recent WEC fighter Anthony Leone (8-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) has replaced injured Alvin Robinson and now meets fellow featherweight Georgi Karakhanyan at next week's Bellator 28 event.
Karakhanyan confirmed Robinson's injury via Twitter, and a source close to the event told MMAjunkie.com Leone has been tapped as a replacement.
Bellator 28 takes place Sept. 9 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans.
With Josh Shockley scratched due to injury, Strikeforce and IFL veteran Conor Heun has stepped in as a replacement.The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt now joins the eight-man field for next month's "Shine Fights: Lightweight Grand Prix" tournament.
The pay-per-view event takes place takes place Sept. 10 at the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Mike Pierce says he'll stand and bang when he gets the right match-up.The UFC welterweight earned his third octagon victory this past Saturday when he submitted newcomer Amilcar Alves at UFC 118 with a straight armbar.
So far, he's chugged forward by keeping his opponents on the mat. But he's only graced the main card of one event - a short-notice meeting with perennial contender Jon Fitch. But Pierce knows just the opponent who could provide an exciting televised matchup.
Nate Diaz established a strong foothold in the UFC welterweight division this past Saturday when he submitted Marcus Davis at UFC 118.It was Diaz's second victory at 170 pounds after serving most of his six-year career in the lightweight class.
And though Diaz wants to avenge his losses there, trainer and manager Cesar Gracie thinks he should stay at welterweight - at least for the time being.