MMA Punch

May, 2007

Magazine Covers - Couture One Ups Liddell

Monday, May 21st, 2007


First Chuck Liddell makes the cover of ESPN the magazine and now as reported on Randy Couture’s website, he’ll be gracing the covers of Sports Illustrated.
From the Randy Couture website: “At what point does a sport go mainstream? How about when it’s best-known fighter graces the cover of the nation’s best-known sports magazine?
Randy Couture, the only five-time champion in UFC history, will appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine at a later date this summer.

SI writer L. Jon Wertheim, a 10-year veteran of the magazine, penned the piece which will dig into the life of the most famous MMA star in the U.S. Couture recently regained the UFC heavyweight championship at the age of 43 years old, defeating Tim Sylvia at UFC 68. The win catapulted him even further into mainstream sports fame, as he appeared on ESPN’s “Hot List” following the victory.

Couture also has a biography in the works, co-written with Fight Network writer Loretta Hunt. “

Ruas Throws in the Towel

Sunday, May 20th, 2007

Maurice wins IFL superfight

Former UFC champion Maurice Smtith defeated former UFC Champion Marco Ruas in front of 5,000 fans at last night’s IFL Super Fight in Illinois. Durning the rematch of their 1999 fight, Ruas stalked Maurice, scored a few takedowns, and even came close to securing a submission via a north-south choke. For the first three rounds, Ruas appeared to be pitching a shut-out on the judges score card. Unfortunately for Marco, the fight took a major turn in the fourth round when Smith came out fresh and Ruas a bit gassed. Maurice landed an overhand right, a leg kick, and another overhand right that left Ruas dazed and caused him to fall to the mat in hopes of pulling guard. Maurice wanted noting to do with the ground game and waited until the ref made Ruas stand up. Another quick exhange and Ruas falls to the mat to pull guard again. No dice said Smith. Marco was completely gassed and appeard to either not want to continue to fight or didn’t have the energy to even stand up. Regardless, his corner threw in the towel giving Smith a fourth round TKO. Maurice has always been known for his cardio and proved that it was king once again (see Smith vs. Coleman).

TUF Recap - 5/17

Friday, May 18th, 2007

Here is The Ultimate Fighter TV show weekly recap:
Dana pulls BJ aside, nicely, and tells him that he needs to take control of his team and that he’s heard they haven’t been working enough cardio (imagine that, Penn not working enough cardio). Back at the house, Geraghty and Emerson score a keg and a hooka and party it up. At the gym, BJ has a brow beating with the team and is upset that they are not giving 100%. Suddenly he calls out Andy Wang and tells him he is wasting everyone’s time and kicks him off the team. Wang doesn’t want to leave the show. Dana gets called to the gym. Agrees they can’t kick a fighter off the show for that reason. Dana asks Jens if he would take Wang on this team. Pulver consults with his team and they say they are cool is Andy joins the team. Dana give Andy the news but dipshit Wang says he feels like he is betraying BJ (what? BJ just kicked your dumb ass off of his team!?). Dana goes off on Wang and eventually Wang accepts his offer.
With both teams back at the gym, the remaing two fights are picked. Wayne Weems vs. Gray Maynard and Marlon Sims vs. Matt Winman. Weems ( 16-2) says he prides himself on being able to take a punch (careful what you ask for) and Gray (3-0) says he out classes Weems in every respect of fighting.
In the octagon, Gray lands a solid punch, takes Weems down and moves into side mount to half guard. Then takes his back and reigns down punchs to Weems head, about 30 of them. Herb Dean lets it go a little longer than normal because Weems tells him he is OK as he was getting smacked upside his head but he eventually stops the fight when its 100% clear that Weems is not going to get out of trouble and isn’t defending himself. Pulver praised Weem’s ability to improve drastically over the past few weeks and everyone agrees that the kid has heart, but in the end he was totally outclassed. Gray looked very good.
Marlon (3-1) vs. Winman: In the opening exchange they both land right hands to the head with Winman landing the better punch, staggering Marlon. Matt takes his back, throws a few punch, then chokes him unconscious. Even though Marlon gave Matt a black eye he was outclassed.
Winman and Maynard steamroll their opponents and advance to the semis with strong victories.

Mirko Cro Cop Down But Not Out

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

I wasn’t sure if Cro Cop would continue his MMA career after the devistating knock out delivered by the big under dog Gabriel Gonzaga. During the Pride tournement (which he eventually won) he made reference to the fact that if he didn’t win he might retire from the sport. During his UFC fight against Gonzaga, Mirko didn’t seem to have that competitive fire needed to be a future champion.
His website has made it clear that he will indeed continue to fight MMA. When he got back to his home town after the UFC event, he’s quoted as saying, “I deserved that loss because of the way i was fighting. I fall down every now and then, i was twice in this situation, after Randleman and after Fedor and i got back up again, i will be back this time too, that is a part of my career. I have 4 more fights to come and i will do them all.”
Also, he is going to replace the ring that he uses for his training and will replace it with an octagon. His ankle is healing and he plans to get back into full training in a few weeks.

Pay $1.99 for a UFC Clip?

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

I just received my semi regular e-newsletter from the UFC today. The headline was that Chuck Liddell was going to be featured on ESPN magazine. This I already knew. But they also had a link that read something like “Full Video of Liddell vs. Sobral.” Sure, I’ll check out that fight again. I click and get taken to a UFC.com page where they want you to pay $1.99 for a fight that lasted all of 1 minute and 35 seconds.
How about this UFC, in order to help hype up the upcoming championship match with Rampage Jackson, show the damn video for free. After all, this fight was back at UFC 62 and it will give fans who may not have seen the fight a little more insight into the Ice Man’s fighting style. News flash: If you are afraid that if people won’t want to buy the UFC 62 DVD because they can see it for free then you are a bit too full of yourselves.

UFC Vets Headline Art of War 3

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

There is a new mixed martial arts fight organization on the block and they are putting together some impressive events will well know MMA fighters, many of them UFC and Pride FC veterans (including former UFC Heavy Weight Champion Ricco Rogriguez). Just announced, the Art of War 3 event will be held in Dallas June 30th and is billed as USA vs. Brazil. Here is the official fight card:
USA JEFF MONSON VS PEDRO RIZZO BRAZIL
USA JEREMY HORN VS JORGE SANTIAGO BRAZIL
USA JAKE SHIELDS VS CARLO PRATER BRAZIL
USA RON WATERMAN VS MARIO RINALDI BRAZIL
USA RICCO RODRIGUEZ VS MARCIO CRUZ BRAZIL
USA HECTOR MUNOZ (6-2) VS BRAZIL CRISTIANO MARCELLO (3-2)
USA DAMIEN STELLY (2-1) VS BRAZIL LUIS ARTHUR CANE (6-0)
For more information on Art of War you can visit their official website HERE.

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