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.

Watching Fedor Emelianenko “made me nervous tonight,” said Josh Barnett about Fedor’s bout with Andrei Arlovski at  Afflictions “Day of Reckoning”. Barnett will face Fedor on August 1st at Affliction M-1 Global’s “Trilogy.” He is prob- ably wondering, like all fight fans and fighters on earth: can Fedor be beaten or is he invincible? The single loss on Fedor’s record is often disregarded as evidence of his vulnerability, since it was due to a cut resulting from an accidental (and illegal) elbow by Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Even with this one debatable blemish on his record (he went on to later beat Kohsaka in a follow-up match), Fedor is the most revered heavyweight in the world by fighters and fans alike.

Written by: Chris Goldstein

What could be the solution for contro- versial decisions like the ones we saw in the Mirko CroCop vs. Mostapha Al Turk and Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns fights? Well, Nevada State Athletic Com- mission Executive Director Keith Kizer believes he might have the answer. Like most major sports, MMA might soon have an instant replay system of its own. Kizer has been recently quoted saying: "We're trying to find out if there's a way to do limited instant replay; we’re hoping to find a way to do that." 

Monday, June 22, 2009

In April, Japanese sensation Takeya Mizugaki did what many thought was impossible. The 25-year-old, filling in as a late replacement for an injured Brian Bowles, pushed WEC bantamweight champion Mig- uel Angel Torres to the limit. For five grueling rounds, Mizugaki landed knees in the clinch and traded leather with one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters. Although he couldn’t wrestle the title away from Torres, Mizugaki returned to Japan following the bout knowing that he had earned the respect of the U.S. fans.

"The Ultimate Fighter 9: Finale" was the last installment of this sea- son's show which pitted Team UK vs Team USA this past Saturday. Coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson could only watch as their only fighter's left in the comp- etiton would battle it out for the honour to be called this season's champion. Also on the card was Clay Guida vs Diego Sanchez, Nate Diaz vs Joe Stevenson and Chris Lytle vs Kevin Burns all of which didn't leave anyone unsatisfied.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The finale for “The Ultimate Fighter 9: United States vs. United King- dom” takes place this evening at 9 p.m. ET from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nev.  In preparation, the weigh-ins took place yesterday with all fight- ers, save one, making weight on the first attempt.  Mike Ciesnolevicz (17-3, 1 NC) failed to make weight coming in at three pounds above the light heavyweight limit.  His fight against Tomasz "Gorilla" Drwal will continue with Ciesnolevicz forfeiting twenty percent of his base pay.  Continue for full results.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Alvarez is just one win away from capturing the Bellator lightweight world championship. With less than one week remaining until the season ending Bellator XII event at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL, the lightweight contender is preparing for the fight of his life. Alvarez (17-2) will take on Toby Imada (22-12) for a championship purse of $175,000 and the right to hold the first ever Bellator lightweight World champ- ionship title.  “There’s no doubt in my mind that come June 19th that I’ll have my title and will continue to be a champion of Bellator,” said Alvarez.

It was one of the most contro- versial endings to a fight in quite some time. In a fight outcome resembling a last-second game winning three point shot in bask- etball, Team USA East heavy- weight Herbert "Whisper" Goodman's come from behind knockout attempt will be shown on U.S. television for the first time tonight (Friday, June 19) at 8 p.m. ET on HDNet.  The outcome of the bout was put in the hands of the judges and later M-1 Challenge regulatory officials.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

In the wake of UFC 99: The Comeback, the UFC's first show in Germany, eleven fighters have found themselves on the medical suspension list.  Amongst these fighters is former middleweight, Rich 'Ace' Franklin, who took a unanimous decision victory over Wanderlei 'The Axe Murderer' Silva in a battle which earned each man a $60,000 Fight of The Night Bonus.

With what is, without a doubt, the most significant fight in the history of Women's MMA fast approaching on August 15th, MMA Spot took part in the conference call for Strikeforce: Carano-Santos. In a truly unprecedented event, the match-up is set to take place with five 5-minute rounds as these two warriors battle for for Strikeforce's first women's championship title.