UFC 125 - Frankie Edgar defends his title against Gray Maynard

from mma junkie:

n old matchup becomes new again, but this time a UFC title is on the line.

As was previously expected, UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) will defend his title against undefeated challenger Gray Maynard (10-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) at UFC 125.

While not officially announced by the organization, UFC 125 is expected to take place Jan. 1 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and air on pay-per-view.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed that verbal agreements are in place for the contest, which was first reported by MMAFighting.com.

Edgar and Maynard, of course, met once before, and it was the current challenger who came out on top. It was Maynard who handed Edgar his lone career defeat in an April 2008 bout at UFC Fight Night 13.

However, Edgar bounced back with a pair of decision wins over Hermes Franca and Sean Sherk, as well as a submission win over Matt Veach, and was awarded a title shot against then-champion B.J. Penn.

Despite seemingly insurmountable odds against him, Edgar defeated Penn in a hotly contested UFC 112 decision. In August, Edgar solidified the legitimacy of his title by again defeating Penn, though it came in even more dominating fashion the second time around.

Meanwhile, Maynard followed up his win over Edgar with a five-straight decision victories over a murderers' row of opponents in Rich Clementi, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Nate Diaz and Kenny Florian. Despite the wins, Maynard was passed over in favor of Edgar for the first shot at the belt.

Additionally, MMAjunkie.com has learned that with the Edgar-Maynard booking, a middleweight title fight between champion Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort will likely take place at the UFC's annual Super Bowl card.

UFC officials had targeted the matchup for Jan. 1, but the champion reportedly asked for the delay in order to fully heal the aching ribs that affected him in the days leading up to his now-legendary UFC 117 contest with Chael Sonnen

MMA Cageside

UFC 119 Dana White video blog

Behind the scene video from UFC 119 president Dana White

 video

 MMA Cageside

UFC 119 Results: Mir KOs Cro Cop, Bader Tops Nogueira

from mma frenzy:

Out of nowhere, Frank Mir finished UFC 119 with a bang, ending an otherwise forgettable headliner by knocking out Mirko Cro Cop in the final minute of the UFC 119 main event in Indianapolis. For more than 14-minutes, the fight was closer to a sparring match than a battle between former champions as both fighters remained tentative before Mir ended Cro Cop’s night with a knee to the chin with 58-seconds left.
Mir rebounds back to the title hunt after improving to 14-5 with the win, while Cro Cop, now 27-8-2, had his two-fight win streak snapped in the loss.
In the UFC 119 co-main event, Ryan Bader scored a unanimous decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira to continue his climb up the light heavyweight rankings, with a showdown against Jon Jones likely next for the undefeated Ultimate Fighter 8 winner.
The rest of the UFC 119 main card also went to the judges’ scorecards, as Chris Lytle dominated Matt Serra, while Sean Sherk and Melvin Guillard earned controversial split decisions.
The official UFC 119 results were:
MAIN CARD

• Frank Mir def. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic via KO (knee) – Round 3, 4:02
• Ryan Bader def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Chris Lytle def. Matt Serra via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Sean Sherk def. Evan Dunham via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Melvin Guillard def. Jeremy Stephens via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)

PRELIMINARY CARD

• CB Dollaway def. Joe Doerksen via submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 2:47
• Matt Mitrione def. Joey Beltran via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Thiago Tavares def. Pat Audinwood via submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 3:47
• Waylon Lowe def. Steve Lopez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• TJ Grant def. Julio Paulino via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Sean McCorkle def. Mark Hunt via submission (straight armbar) – Round 1, 1:0

Vitor Belfort injured for UFC 122, Nate Marquardt In Against Yushin Okami in Oberhausen, Germany

from mmafrenzy:
Vitor Belfort has been forced out of the UFC 122 main event against Yushin Okami with an undisclosed injury, but fellow middleweight contender Nate Marquardt has agreed to step in and face Okami at the Nov. 13 event in Oberhausen, Germany, MMA Weekly reports.
The injury is the latest setback for the former champ Belfort (19-8), who returned to the UFC last September with a first-round knockout of Rich Franklin before missing out on several shots at champion Anderson Silva.
Marquardt (30-9-2) is just one-week removed from a first-round TKO of Rousimar Palhares at UFC Fight Night 22 to rebound from a February loss to Chael Sonnen, while Okami (25-5) edged Mark Munoz last month to improve to 5-1 in his last 6 fights.
On Monday, the UFC promised the next middleweight title shot to the winner of Belfort vs. Okami, and the winner of Marquardt vs. Okami is still expected to challenge Silva early next year with Sonnen sidelined by a failed drug test.

MMA Cageside

Countdown to UFC 119

See the training footage of Mirko Cro Cop and Frank Mir and the interviews.

Link to video 

MMA Cageside

Fight of the night for Ultimate fight night 22

Here is a must see fight between Jared Hamman and Kyle Kingsbury.

Fight video

MMA Cageside
Marko D.

Cro Cop confirms injury. Fight is still on with Frank Mir

from fighters only magazine:


Mirko  ‘CroCop’ Filipovic confirmed to Fighters Only today that he has suffered an eye injury and that a doctor has advised him to pull out of his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 119 next week. But CroCop says he has no intention of pulling out and he will be boarding a flight to Indiana tomorrow as planned.

“It was the very last minute of the very last round of the very last sparring,” CroCop told Fighters Only staff writer John Joe O’Regan today. “We were sparring in UFC gloves and my sparring partner - who is about 120 kilos, Croatia’s best thai boxer - he poked me in the eye. The pain was like… I cant even describe it, the pain was so big I thought he had blinded me.

“Luckily there was a TV crew in the room and also some reporters from two websites. Frank Mir has talked this and that, maybe if nobody had seen this and there was no video, he would again be saying I am trying to make excuses. But no excuses, it is just bad luck. All I need now is for my plane to be hit by lightning tomorrow and crash into the Atlantic.

“I went to see a doctor and he advised that the eye should be rested minimum two weeks. But I have made a commitment to the UFC and a commitment to the fans, so there is no question of backing out of the fight. I do not want to let anyone down, I know they could not find a replacement for me at this short notice and many fans have already bought tickets for the show.”

CroCop is currently having to wear an eye-gauze and has a saline solution to use on the injured eye, which requires further examination but appears to have suffered a severe abrasion to the cornea. CroCop says his vision is “almost normal” from the eye and “I hope it could be back to normal in a week”.

UFC 119 takes place on September 25th, with CroCop and Mir headlining. The card also features Rogerio Nogueira, Sean Sherk and former K-1 WGP champion and PRIDE FC veteran Mark Hunt in his UFC debut.

Alistar Overeem and his life

Alistar Overeem has posted some new videos on his website about his life and fighting career.


 Link:

Cro Cop injured?

from mma junkie:

Rumors of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's possible scratch from next week's UFC 119 event aren't true, according to the UFC's head honcho.

A report from the Croatian site Index.hr stated that Filipovic suffered an eye injury while training and couldn't get medical clearance for the upcoming fight.

However, in a Twitter message, UFC president Dana White today stated Filipovic "is fine" and that the report "is not true."

UFC 119 takes place Sept. 25 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Filipovic (27-7-2 MMA, 4-3 UFC) vs. Mir (13-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) headlines the pay-per-view portion of the show.

Filipovic, in fact, is an injury replacement for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who pulled out of the Mir fight in August to undergo surgery.

Although "Cro Cop" is good to go for next week's show, he recently hinted that his days as a fighter could be numbered. In a recent media call promoting the event, the PRIDE veteran hinted that his retirement could come at anytime.

"I always tell people ... it could be any fight," Filipovic said. "I tell them it could be the last one. This is a hard sport, (and) this is a brutal sport, and any new injury – especially because I turned 36 a few days ago – would definitely take me out of competition. In my age, with my experience (and) so many fights on my back, it would be hard to start over again (with) some rehabilitation."


MMA cageside
Marko D.

UFC Fight Night results 22

from mmafrenzy: 

Nate Marquardt moved closer to another shot at the middleweight title as he scored a first-round TKO of Rousimar Palhares on Wednesday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 22 in Austin, Texas.

After being taken down midway through the opening round, Marquardt slipped free as Palhares tried to grab a leg for a submission and quickly stunned him with a heavy punch before finishing him off with more shots on the ground.

Replays showed Palhares complaining that Marquardt’s leg was greased as he got caught, but officials cleared Marquardt of wrongdoing and the middleweight contender said after the fight that he had worked up a sweat to remain elusive.

In the night’s co-headliner, lightweight prospect Charles Oliveira remained unbeaten with a third-round submission of TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero, while Jim Miller and Cole Miller also scored wins on the Spike-televised main card.

The official UFC Fight Night 22 results were:

UFC Fight Night 22 Live Results

MAIN CARD

• Nate Marquardt def. Rousimar Palhares via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:28
• Charles Oliveira def. Efrain Escudero via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 3, 2:25
• Jim Miller def. Gleison Tibau via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Cole Miller def. Ross Pearson via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 2, 1:49

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Yves Edwards def. John Gunderson via unanimous decisions (30-27, 30-27, 30-27
• Kyle Kingsbury def. Jared Hamman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Dave Branch def. Tomasz Drwal via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Rich Attonito def. Rafael Natal via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 30-27)
• Anthony Waldburger def. David Mitchell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Brian Foster def. Forrest Petz via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:07

by MMA cageside

Marquardt wins at UFC fight night 22

From MMA weekly:

Protect yourselves at all times.

It's a cardinal rule in MMA that every referee from every commission instructs the fighters before they clash. Rousimar Palhares dropped his guard for just an instant in his fight with Nate Marquardt on Wednesday night at UFC Fight Night 22. He paid for it when the Colorado fighter crushed him with a big punch on the ground, before finishing things up to get the first round TKO.

The reason for Palhares dropping his guard came after he attempted one of his patented heel hooks, and Marquardt immediately slipped out and pulled away. The Brazilian motioned towards referee Herb Dean as if he felt something slippery on Marquardt's leg, but no stoppage occurred and he soon paid for that mistake.

Seeing the opening, Marquardt fired down like a missile at Palhares with a monstrous right hand. Palhares' head snapped back like a rubber band, and Marquardt jumped on him with machine gun like shots.

It didn't take long for Herb Dean to step in and stop the fight, declaring Marquardt the victor.

Following the fight, Marquardt was checked over by the ringside physician and referee again, and no evidence was found that he had any kind of greasing agent on his legs.

"They checked it before I fought. The thing is I came out really warm because I wanted a good sweat, I wanted to be slippery," Marquardt commented when asked about the controversy.

Marquardt admitted that the way the fight ended wasn't how thing were planned, but when he saw the door was open for him to take a shot at Palhares, he dropped down with a sledgehammer right hand, crushing him.

"I just saw an opportunity and jumped on it," said Marquardt. "We kind of ended up in that little scramble position. That wasn't part of the game plan, but I saw an opportunity and went for it."

Bouncing back strong after a loss to current No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen in his last fight, Marquardt is once again in the mix at the top of the 185-pound division.

Paul Daley signs with Strikefroce

The next fight for Daley is going to be under Strikeforce. He just won a tough decision win over Jorge Masvidal at Shark fights who was also signed by Strikeforce. There will be some intriguing match ups for him in the upcoming future.

From mmaweekly: 
While the news has been announced globally through Strikeforce, MMAWeekly managed to confirm with various sources close to the situation that a debut will likely occur towards the end of the year, it will be against a high caliber adversary with an exciting style, but with no confirmed bout in the offering at the moment.

Speaking independently to sources in Brazil, it is rumored that recent 170lb debutant Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos currently leads the way as a possible opponent.

For Daley's part, the deal marks a significant step forward in opposition but still opens up doors to remain active - if the promotion doesn't have anything lined up for him; Daley has long been a Ronin fighter and likes to remain active on the circuit, this new deal means that if opportunities in Japan present themselves, and Strikeforce is willing, we may see some further exchange bouts between the American and Japanese promotions.