Saturday, June 27, 2009

With the sport of mixed martial arts booming, and as millions of new fans are created, the need to introduce the historical events and figures of the sport’s early days becomes more and more relevant. Educating these young fans and providing some of the most talked about headlines from MMA lore is the focus of MMA Spot’s “Exploring MMA History”. This week’s look back focuses on one of the gre- atest MMA events of all time: IFC: Global Domination featuring fight video of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Forrest Griffin, Renanto ‘Babalu’ Sobral, and Nate Marquardt.

Friday, June 26, 2009

With one of the most intriguing pay-per-view events of year less than a day away, the fighters for “Ultimate Chaos” stepped on the scale to weigh in for Saturday night’s event. The Main Event for the card includes former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley (3-0) and K1 and PRIDE living legend Bob “The Beast” Sapp (10-4-1), in a battle of super heavy-weights. Also on the card will be Pedro Rizzo versus Gilbert Yvel, Din Thomas taking on Javier Lopez, and featuring Chris Hordecki, and Affliction executive Tom Atencio.

Tonight on "Inside MMA," Kenny and Bas look to three fighters for insight into recent (and upcoming) fight events.  These men have a combined twenty years experience in the fighting world: UFC mid- dleweight Nate Quarry, WEC feath- erweight Leonard Garcia, and Affliction welterweight Brett Cooper. Both Quarry and Garcia have fought for titles in their respective organizations while Cooper has won eight of his last nine fights.  Ron Kruck will also have the latest in fight news - and also presents a look at how an MMA cage is built  - in Kruck's Korner.

This Saturday is Ultimate Chaos' first PPV event at a bargain PPV price of $29.99. With a great line-up for the maincard its sure to impress even the snobbiest MMA fan. Support the sport's new organization by ordering their premiere event, starting at 9pm (EST)!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

On July 11, 2009, at UFC 100 from The Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, two of the most talented welterweights in MMA will square off when reigning champion Georg- es “Rush” St. Pierre (18-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) takes on the most for- midable challenger of his illustrious career in Thiago “Pitbull” Alves (16-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC). The two opponents would join up today for a media conference to promote their upcoming championship fight.

Bellator FC closed-out its ground- breaking premiere tournament sea- son by crowning two new world champions, however, the one of the biggest highlights of night came from a special feature bout.  This 19-year-old striker, Stefanie Guimaraes, was able to dismantle her opponent with a devastating knee just 0:49 seconds into the first round. Guimaraes faced the 44-year-old Kung Fu fighter Yvonne Reis in the 145lb matchup.

“Ultimate Chaos,” the star-studded mixed martial arts Pay-Per-View ev- ent, presented by Prize Fight Pro- motions and Fight Force Inter- national, explodes Saturday night live from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi. The much-anticipated main event features two of the most popular and entertaining combat fighters in the world, former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley (3-0-0) and K1 and PRIDE living legend Bob “The Beast” Sapp (10-4-1), in a battle of super heavy- weights.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is filled with stories of legendary fights and athletes who built a sport behind skill, heart, and determination. On July 10th and 11th, just before the lights go down and the first bell rings for July 11th’s historic UFC 100 event, fans will have the opportunity to meet and greet the fighters who made mixed martial arts what it is today, as well as the ones carrying the flag for the next generation, all under one roof at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center during the UFC® Fan Expo™.

With a slim one win lead over Fin- land, USA East is hardly guaranteed an M-1 Challenge post-season ber- th with the tightly-contested Group C title is still up for grabs. Finland has a chance to finish the regular season with a 2-1 record on July 4 in Seoul, South Korea and could also greatly improve its individual win record when it faces third place Bulgaria. A dominant win by Finland on July 4 coupled with a loss by USA East on Aug. 15 could propel the Fins into the '09 post-season. But in order to have any shot at the title, Finland first must make sure it takes care of business in Seoul, South Korea when they face the Bulgarians.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

“Essentially, we just ran out of time,” was the explanation from a staffer for New York State Assem- blyman Steve Englebright on the failure to pass a bill legalizing and regulating Mixed Martial Arts in the state during the past legislative session. Governor David Patterson called the state Senate into an emergency session to break a leg- islative deadlock resulting from several members alternating between political parties. As a result, the focus of the session will be on high-priority bills including city budgets and same-sex marriage, while less-priority bills including the regulation of mixed martial arts will be deferred to the following year.

Grapplers Quest “The World’s Larg- est Grappling Competition” is host- ing the Official 2009 U.S. Nationals of Grappling to The Mennen Sports Arena Center (161 East Hanover Ave.) in Morristown, New Jersey on Saturday and Sunday, June 27th and 28th.  UFC and MMA veterans competing will include: Vinic- ius “Pezao” Magalhães (TUF Season 8), Wilson Reis (Bellator), Dante Rivera (TUF Season 7), Matt “No Regard” Arroyo, Jamal Patterson (IFL Veteran) and Brian McLaughlin.

When U.S. Navy veteran Woody “The Dynasty” Weatherby (7-1) enters the cage July 31 to fight Lance Everson (11-6) in the main event on the inaugural American Steel Cagefighting (ASC) profes- sional mixed martial arts show, Nashua resident Weatherby will be fighting for all of New Hampshire’s MMA fans, fighters and clubs. He represents Renzo Gracie NH, out of Derry (NH), where he earned a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to complement his boxing skills learned and developed in the Navy. Woody spent 4-years active duty in the Navy, including two stints fighting in the Iraq War on a ship, serving as a search-and-rescue swimmer and operations specialist.