Photo: BrianStann.com

With less than a week to go before Brian Stann makes his debut at 185Ibs at UFC on Versus 2 against Mike Massenzio, the former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion is feeling the benefits of the dropping the weight telling me that he “feels great, faster than I was previously” while still be able to use the same strength and conditioning training as he was previously. Stann made the decision to drop down to 185Ibs in the aftermath of his defeat to highly credentialed wrestler Phil Davis, explaining that while “previously I wanted to be a small light heavyweight so I could use my speed to dominant standing” he now feels that he needs to be able to use size to impose himself on his opponents and keep the fight standing. To make the weight cut manageable he began “shrinking” his body size from April, getting down to a pre-cut weight of around 215Ibs.

Along with the move down in weight, Stann has been focusing on improving his wrestling in preparation of facing a former wrestler for the third fight in a row. After being matched up against so many fighters “who’s game plan was to take me down and hold me down” he has been focused on developing his ability to defend against takedown attempts and stay active if he does find himself on his back. This is just the latest refinement of his fighting style, with Stann telling me that after initially having to teach himself his knowledge of the sport has significantly increased ever since he became part of the Greg Jackson training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He explains that it’s a “constant training environment” with the entire team being totally open with each other, keen to see everyone improved.

The structured support he now receives from coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn is worlds away from how he began his path to the UFC. It was as a Captain in the Marine Corps that Stann first began training in mixed martial arts, trying to teach himself the moves he was studying on video tapes. He would add to that by using his leave from the military to join with various camps across the country to train in-depth in the different aspects of the sport. Three years after leaving the military Stann is sure that his experiences of active service helps give him the discipline and the mental strength to excel as a fighter, explaining that having been in literally life and death situations a fight never becomes this “cataclysmic” event as he’s always able to stay calm and see “the bigger picture”.

Away from the UFC, Brain Stann works tirelessly to help veterans make the same transition to a successful civilian career as he has, having been the executive director of Hire Heroes USA since 2007. The organization helps veterans improve their resume and interview skills, and matches them up with the right companies. Stann is obviously passionate about the need for more to be done to help veterans find work, telling me that “veteran unemployment is two times the general unemployment rate (this) means that they are being denied the American Dream that they have fought to protect”. He believes that this shocking state of affairs is driven largely by ignorance with civilian employers unaware of “the skills and value that veterans can bring to their organization” while veterans “are not trained to promote themselves to civilian employers”.

In September Brian Stann will release his autobiography, “Heart for the Fight – A Marine Hero’s Journey from the Battlefields of Iraq to Mixed Martial Arts Champion”. He hopes that the book will show people how he’s always been to “take all the negative experiences and turn them in something positive” while also allowing people to see “the amazing thing my marines did under extreme pressures and the amazing that today’s servicemen are doing everyday”. Stann is clear that even if people disagree with conflicts such as the Iraq War they should still honor the service of “19, 20, 21 year olds who are making life and death decisions not just about themselves but also their fellow servicemen”. He explains that although writing the book was strenuous, he got on so well with co-author John R. Bruning that it was a “fun experience” but that the rest of the process was hard to handle. “with publishing companies coming and telling you what should and shouldn’t be in”. Above all else he hopes that his marines read it and then “take it to their families and say you’ll read a little about what we went through and understand me a bit better”.

Stann says that he feels that MMA does a “heck of a job” honoring the service of those in the military, saying that its “one of the most patriotic sports there is”. An injury stopped him fighting on Fight for the Troops, with Stann being clear that should the UFC do the rumored sequel event in Afghanistan “if they don’t put me on that event…then they I will make my own journey there” as such an event would give him the chance to fight “in front of my heroes”.

Heart for the Fight – A Marine Hero’s Journey from the Battlefields of Iraq to Mixed Martial Arts Champion is released in mid-September
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In this edition of MMAthletics, Herschel Walker talks about his journey into MMA, and the crew gets a VIP look at EA’s MMA and much more.

Check out this week’s episode “after the jump”

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Manny Pacquiao will square off against the still-U.S. suspended Antonio Margarito on November 13th at a site to be determined.

The last time we saw Margarito, it was May. He was mugging to the camera and mocking his suspension every chance he got in a lackluster pay-per-view performance against club fighter, Robert Garcia, in a card emanating from Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Every time the camera was on him, he felt the need to grin, hold his fists up to the camera and twirl them as if to say, “Look, no plaster.” It was a good time for him and for his ever-diminishing group of fans, but it did not endear him to the vast majority of fight fanatics who refused to purchase the event (the buyrate was a pitiful 12,000-15,000) and it certainly didn’t win over the hearts of the California commission which suspended him.

Now, the remorseless and blatant cheat who would have willingly gone out and bludgeoned Shane Mosley with loaded hand wraps, is in line for a major payday, major exposure and a major title to boot.

Margarito has yet to receive his license to fight again in the United States and has already had one reinstatement effort put off by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. That being said, it’s hard to see a recession-stricken Las Vegas being able to turn down such a high-profile bout that will generate millions in revenue via Asian high-rollers and Mexican nationals. And even if Margarito isn’t reinstated, the fight will be held in Monterrey, Mexico.

So, there. It’s all set.

In a weight range full of quality talents, much more deserving of the shot than Margarito, Pacquiao promoter, Bob Arum, has decided to match his star attraction against a promotional stablemate in yet another in-house fight.

It’s not like there aren’t credible opponents left for the Filipino champ. Despite the falling apart of a Mayweather matchup, quality names like Timothy Bradley, Paul Williams, Andre Berto and at least a half dozen more would all have been better choices than an over-matched pariah who was beaten from pillar to post the last time he fought a pound-for-pound talent.

Welcome to the world of boxing politics where one day, you’re suspended for having altered hand wraps and the next, someone is writing you a 7-figure paycheck and trying to sell the world on the fact that you’re a swell guy.

Let’s not also forget that Pacquiao-Margarito will be for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title despite the fact that Pacquiao has never even fought at the 154 lb limit and Margarito has only one bout in that division over the last six years. More perverse is the fact that the WBC forced a legitimate, quality champ, Sergio Martinez, to vacate the title just weeks prior to this announcement. If one were inclined to believe in conspiracy theories, this would certainly raise a lot of red flags.

And while it’s easy to blame Bob Arum, the sanctioning bodies and boxing in general for this craziness, at what point do we hold Manny Pacquiao responsible for the things done by his people and done in his name?

After all, he’s agreeing to fight Margarito, agreeing to pay the high six-figure “sanctioning fee” to the WBC and more than willing to take a title shot he hasn’t earned for a belt that he won’t likely defend.

All the insanity stops if Manny puts his foot down, but don’t hold your breath. Because Pacquiao, the media darling and near religious figure to some, is more than willing to take the road of least resistance while letting Arum and trainer, Freddie Roach, come off like the bad guys.

If Pacquiao wins this bout, it will be his eighth title in eight divisions; Truly an impressive fact to read on the back of a baseball card or cereal box. But, in all fairness, his last four titles have come against guys who were not the consensus number one fighters in their respective divisions. Good fighters, yes, but not the best.

Pacquiao moved up to 135 lbs in 2008 and captured the lightweight title by beating paper champion, David Diaz, when Nate Campbell was the recognized best fighter in the division. He moved up to 140 lbs in 2009 and flattened Ricky Hatton (who had already been knocked out by Floyd Mayweather Jr) when Timothy Bradley was already starting to be recognized as the best in that division. Then, he moved on to capture the welterweight title later in 2009 by beating Miguel Cotto despite the fact that Shane Mosley was considered the best fighter in the division after having beaten Margarito (Cotto’s vanquisher) to a pulp.

This latest WBC 154-pound trinket will be the fourth straight division where Manny will stroll in, beat a hand-picked opponent, and claim divisional dominance despite not facing the best fighter in the division. Then he’ll leave the title vacant, the division in chaos and the WBC can re-sell their belt to the next chump.

Like it or not, this is big-time boxing in 2010.

If the fans want a change and want some sort of return to common decency in the sport, they will boycott this circus sideshow and save their pay-per-view money for the real bouts and for the fighters who actually care about the sport enough to not insult our intelligence.
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As ridiculous as the above statement sounds, that’s the line of logic that Bob Arum and Team Pacquiao want us to buy when it comes to the alleged negotiations for a November Mayweather-Pacquiao mega-bout.

And now, to make things even more hilariously over the top, Arum has given Mayweather a Friday deadline to sign this alleged contract before Pacquiao turns his attention to other endeavors and other possible opponents.

At this point, though, it needs to be pointed out that nobody outside of Arum and Pacquiao adviser, Michael Koncz, has even acknowledged the existence of any such contract. As a matter of fact, everything we know about the supposed negotiations and subsequent contract has come directly from the mouth of Bob Arum. Golden Boy has said nothing and, as of a few weeks ago, Mayweather adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, denied that there were any negotiations going on at all.

So, what we’re looking at is this: Arum says that negotiations are taking place, but that all details were strictly confidential due to an alleged, self-imposed gag order that, by the way, Arum, Pacquiao and Koncz have regularly broken over the course of the last several weeks. Then, suddenly, a contract is produced for Mayweather to sign and, on this contract, are the conditions allegedly hammered-out in the Arum-Golden Boy-Mayweather negotiations which, again, nobody will even acknowledge. And, now, Mayweather is issued a deadline to sign this supposed contract.

The questions that any smart fight fan should be asking are the following: If negotiations have been completed and a finalized contract produced from said negotiations, why didn’t Golden Boy join Arum in announcing the completed and finalized talks? For that matter, why was Golden Boy put into such a high position when it came to negotiations when they are not Mayweather’s promoter? Golden Boy is a third party hired by Mayweather Promotions to act as a go-between on occasion, but they would not have been negotiating if not contracted to do so by Team Mayweather. So, logically, Golden Boy could not have hammered out any deals or agreed on any conditions without the full knowledge of Mayweather. Why would there even be a need for Mayweather to sign-off on anything? Golden Boy couldn’t have acted on any terms without Mayweather’s ultimate approval.

Sorry, but when being asked to take sides in a “he said vs. he said” debate, I’m not going to automatically believe an admitted liar and confessed briber of officials. The only reasonable way to remove all doubt is if Arum decided to make copies of the alleged contract in question and send them to the media or post a copy of the contract, in full form, on the Top Rank website for all to see. Then, and only then, we can find out what’s really going on here. After all, if both parties are in agreement over the finalized contract, there should be no problem from either side when it comes to sharing the contract with the world. The details will eventually be made public anyway via the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

We all know that the above won’t happen, but it sure would go a long way in terms of establishing credibility on this issue, wouldn’t it?

Forget the garbage propaganda published on other sites and by other writers. Forget any personal dislike you may have for Floyd Mayweather Jr and let’s use some logic here. The story that Arum and Team Pacquiao are trying to sell us just doesn’t make sense. And until the alleged negotiations and contracts are substantiated by a source other than Bob Arum, Top Rank or Team Pacquiao, they should be regarded as nothing more than a pathetically cynical hype job aimed at saving face at the expense of another man’s reputation.
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To be fair to Bradley, if he had his way, he’d be fighting Marcos Maidana instead of Abregu, but the Maidana fight fell through in a wave of bogus injuries, forged press releases and contractual disputes. And, of course, you can’t attack a fighter like Bradley, with such an old-school work ethic and a willingness to fight anyone, anywhere. This is the man who was set to fight Jose Luis Castillo in Mexico before Castillo dropped out due to weight issues and this was the fighter who beat Junior Witter in his own UK back yard. Bradley has shown, time and time again, that he’s someone you don’t have to come looking for when risk-taking is concerned.

However, one has to wonder why, exactly, he’s fighting Abregu at welterweight in his first high profile HBO bout. For someone looking to defend his spot atop the junior welterweight division against young, hungry talents like Devon Alexander and Amir Khan, it makes little sense to take on a little-known welterweight from Argentina.

Khan and Alexander found Paulie Malignaggi and Andreas Kotelnik, respectively, to help them showcase their abilities while facing relatively harmless ex-junior welterweight champs. Khan got a huge push after beating the stuffing out of Malignaggi and Alexander will get a similar push from demolishing Kotelnik on August 7th. Bradley’s bout with Abregu, in comparison, is meaningless to the 140 lb. division and to Bradley’s overall reputation.

Worst of all, this is a meaningless fight that poses a real, legitimate threat for Bradley. Abregu, while nowhere near elite level, is young, tough and in possession of real one-punch power. A loss for Bradley takes him down several rungs on the junior welterweight ladder; A win, however, does nothing for Bradley’s desire to be recognized as the best 140 pounder in the world.

Surely, Bradley’s people and HBO could’ve put more thought into this HBO showcase. Any number of 140 lb. fighters could’ve been chosen for this date, all with more name recognition than Abregu; All more logical and significant for Bradley and where he wants to guide his career.

As it stands now, this is merely an empty pay day for Bradley. The card will no doubt tank in the ratings, HBO will question their choice of bringing him aboard and the end result can only be bad news for “Desert Storm.”

This is a real wasted opportunity for Bradley and, like a gunslinger who wasted two precious bullets on tin cans, let’s hope this doesn’t come back to haunt him.
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The wait is almost over. Only hours remain until Brock Lesnar faces Shane Carwin in the biggest all-American heavyweight world title fight since Tyson-Holyfield II. UFC 116 begins with the live broadcast of pre-lims on Spike TV at 9pm ET and then at 10pm ET the main card begins.

Our live coverage of the biggest UFC event of the year so far begins at 8pm ET with Will Cooling discussing his picks for the night’s fights, then at 9pm ET we will be providing round-by-round coverage of all the televised action.

Main Bouts (On Pay-Per-View):
Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben
Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos

Preliminary Bouts (On Spike TV):
Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Ricardo Romero vs. Seth Petruzelli

Evening (or my case morning) folks, welcome to the Inside Fights liveblog of UFC 116: Lesnar vs Carwin. With the two goliath’s of the heavyweight division preparing to do battle we’ll be bring all all the action from what will be one of the biggest events in UFC history. For the next fifty minutes we’ll be previewing the main card and discussing any last minute rumors.

For those who are interested, its been confirmed by the likes of Jeremy Botter and Oliver Copp that Brock Lesnar will be coming out to Enter the Sandman.

Pick 1 Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos

A battle of two grapplers, both of whom are in the middle of winning streaks. I like the look of George Sotiropoulous; he was impressive against Joe Stevenson and has previously demonstrated the tools needed to defeat Kurt Pellegrino. Obviously the key will be what happens when the fight gets taken to the ground, Sotiropoulos’ should have the guard to frustrate Pellegrino and stop him being able to seriously work his ground and pound. And should Pellegrino be put on his back, not only has Sotiropoulos has showed a superior ability to pass guard and be dominant from the top but Pellegrino often looks deeply uncomfortable off his back. Sotiropoulous should take this in the second half of the fight as Pellegrino starts taking risks to escape his stifling guard.

Bryan Alvarez is reporting that the arena is 35% full at the moment, which is standard for a big Las Vegas show.

Pick 2 Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

A fight that we demanded – something that makes me want to find one of those big anti-war ‘Not in my name’ banners and wave it at the UFC. The first fight was enjoyable enough but just demonstrated how limited Bonnar has become – it was just fairly stodgy brawling with Bonnar usual lack of sophistication in his footwork, head movement or shot selection. Yes he was the victim of a bad referee call when the fight was stopped due to an illegal blow but he was undoubtedly losing the fight legitmately anyway. I don’t see this fight being any different, with Soszynski having enough in tank to captialise on the holes in the ‘American Psycho’s’ technique.

Dana White is going crazy on twitter; asking amongst others John Cena, Barrak Obama and Pink who they’re picking in the main event. Interestingly  he will be sitting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Pick 3 Chris Lytle vs Matt Brown

Chris Lytle is both the better fighter standing and on the ground; with heavy hands, a solid chin and good submission skills. Whether he’ll probably apply himself to defeating Matt Brown is another question entirely. For awhile Lytle has adopted the mentality of always focusing on getting the Fight of the Night bonus, even if it means he has to eschewed strategies that would serve as the surest road to victory. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but usually he ends up giving the fans a hell of a show either way. This will be no different, with Brown looking to avenge a 2007 loss. I just don’t see what tools he has to defeat Brown – he lacks the punching power to inflict damage standing and if he takes it to the ground he stands a good chance of once again being submitted by Lytle.  Lytle looks a pretty safe bet here.

Plenty of rumors about pro-wrestlers attending tonight’s event to see their former colleague Brock Lesnar; with Jim Ross, Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg and Paul Heyman already sighted. Strong rumors that both The Undertaker and The Rock will also be in attendance. Is it really eight years since Lesnar debut in the then WWF?

Pick 4 Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

It seems a lot of people are backing Chris Leben based on Akiyama’s long lay off and his slightly underwhelming debut against Alan Belchor at UFC 100. There’s also something of the MMA community starting sell Japanese fighters a tad short after spending so many years talking them up to absurd levels. The facts are that Akiyama is not just a sexy model and pop star, but a Judo gold medalist with powerful takedowns, a good submission game and a slick technique standing. Chris Leben on the other hand has heavy hands. And that’s it. His defensive boxing isn’t too clever (as shown in his fight against Bisping) and his wrestling is lacking, as shown early on by Aaron Simpson. Then there is the conditioning factor with Leben having only fought two weeks ago, something that will surely play havoc with his cardio. Leben’s only hope is that he has the size to bully his undersized opponent, however I’m fairly confident that Akiyama’s technical edge both standing and grappling will be too much for Leben to overcome.

Shane Carwin will be coming out to ‘The Bodies’.

Pick 5 Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Title

This is the big one and its for all the marbles. A fight that deliberately tries to recreate the buzz that use to surround the biggest heavyweight title fights in boxing, something that will probably result in a very large and a very different audience for this event on PPV. There are way too many ‘known unknowns’ for a reasoned prediction to be made but my gut says Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is the superior wrestler, the naturally larger and stronger man and has freakish speed for a man of his size. Carwin will be hoping to impose himself standing but the talk of Lesnar fighting southpaw shows that Lesnar has used his year off to add technical sophistication to his undoubted power standing. Other factors in Lesnar’s favour are that he has more experience in these high-pressured situations, has fought a higher standard of competition and knows what its like to go beyond the first round. But it must be remembered that Carwin only needs one big punch.

The first Spike prelim is abouit to air.

Ricardo Romero vs. Seth Petruzelli

Round One

Petruzelli pushing the action standing, Romero tries to grab a kick and shoot for a takedown but Petruzelli is able to stuff it. That seems to give Petruzelli the confidence to really commit standing, really hurting Romero with some nice combinations that climax with a jumping high kick. Petruzelli blocks a judo takedown but is starting to tire after committing so much to the stand up. Tries to throw a spinning back kick but Romero is too close and Petruzelli ends up on his back.  Petruzelli is able to get back to his feet and tries to work some ground and pound standing. Romero is able to drag Petruzelli back down to the ground, and starts to luck for first an arm triangle and then an armbar. Pertuzelli gets back to his fist and knocks Romero down with a big uppercut, and then unloads some nasty hammerfists on the prone Romero. However Petruzelli is absolutely gassed and ends up back on his back as the round ends. Great first round. Just incredibly action packed as Petruzelli just threw everything into trying to finish the fight while Romero looked to catch him with a submission. 10-9 Petruzelli.

Round Two

Romero goes for a takedown but eats a big knee that really hurts him, Petruzelli follows up with a big high kick but is clearly tiring. Romero’s knee seems to be giving him problems, with Petruzelli taking him to the ground and trying to secure an armbar. Romero is able to escape and get top position, with Petruzelli doing some good work from the bottom with some nice 6-12 elbows and an triangle attempt. Both fighters are bleeding, with Romero controlling Petruzelli in a crucifix position. Petruzelli tries to move to a better position and free his left arm but actually gives Romero the space he need to fully apply pressure to his right arm. Petruzelli taps immediately, literally screaming and bucking. Looks like his arm is broken. That gives Romero the victory at 3:05 of the second round. Really good fight.

Shane Carwin is talking to Joe Rogan. Directly references that we (presumably America) have been missing this type of heavyweight fight for around the past ten years (i.e. since Tyson-Holyfield II) and Rogan explictly brings up Brock Lesnar being the ‘enemy’ who plays at being a ‘WWE heel’. Rogan and Goldberg now hyping up Carwin as the perfect fighter to defeat Lesnar, hinting that he seems more relaxed than the linear champion. Bloody hell, the UFC is as subtle as sledgehammer when it comes to marketing a fight.

Brock Lesnar is talking to Joe Rogan. Rogan wasn’t kidding, Lesnar is shooting a death stare. Nothing really of note but Lesnar has the demeanor of being all business.

Second Spike pre-lim is up next.

Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Round One

Battle of the training partners – Chris Tuchscherer trains with Lesnar while Brendan Schaub trains with Carwin. Schaub begins by landing some nice combinations standing and after some feeling out Schaub lands a heliacious right hand that drops Tuchscherer. Schaub swarms all over Tuchscherer, quick ground and pound and its all over at 1:07. Good finish and is that an omen for what Carwin has in store for Lesnar?

When I last looked, Carwin was +105 while Lesnar was -135. Do you want to bet that after that finish the money’s going to flow towards Carwin?

Earlier on in the evening, Gerald Harris knocked out Dave Branch at 2:35 of the third round with a devastating slam that can only be described as a real life powerbomb!

Joe Rogan is now talking to Dana White, who is doing more of the hard sell to old-school heavyweight boxing fans. Promises fans that it will be the type of big heavyweight fight that ‘we’ have been denied for too long. Pushes Carwin hard, obviously aware that the more people buy him as a threat the more likely they are to purchase the event.

Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos

Round 1

Sotiropoulos starts off with a very low boxing stance, with very high hands. Pushing the action with his boxing, working the jab and drops Kurt Pellegrino with a big right hand-straight left combination. Sotiropoulous swarms trying to finish the fight, eventually trying to take Pellegrino’s back. They get to their feet and Sotiropoulous is dominanting standing, with Pellegrino just not able to pick out the left hook. Pellegrino tries to shake off the damage by shooting for a takedown but can’t establish top control due to Sotiropoulos’ excellent guard. Standing again, Sotiropoulos lands a nice knee to the head standing, with Pellegrino once again going for a takedown. Sotiropolous dominants from the bottom, controlling Pellegrino in his guard and throwing some viscious 6-12 elbows. At one point Sotiropoulos seemed to be going for a triangle but Pellegrino escaped. Dominant round for Sotiropolous, who leads on my scorecards 10-9.

Round 2

Pellegrino throws a kick but Sotriopoulos catches it and gets the takedown. Sotriopoulos controlling on the top but Pellegrino is putting up a very good fight, keeping the Australian in half-guard and throwing some hard 6-12 elbows. Sotriopoulos really punishing Pellegrino with some superior ground and pound although Pellegrino is eventually able to get bakc to his feet. Pellegrino caught in the clinch against the cage and the fight grounds to a halt as Sotriopoulos struggles for the takedown. They eventually seperate and Pellegrino connects with a very nice knee but its still Sotiropolous’ round 10-9. Pellegrino’s corner agrees, telling their fighter that he needs the finish.

Round 3

Sotiropolous is pushing the action standing, working Pellegrino over with his jab. Pellegrino is obviously hurt and seems to be unable to get any power or speed in his punches. Pellegrino is staggered by a big left hook and he responded by taking Sotiropolous down. Sotriopolous throws some nasty 6-12 elbows, and is actively controlling Pellegrino with his full guard. Sotriopolous eventually traps Pellegrino in his rubber guard, which Pellegrino eventually escapes by getting to his feet and slamming Sotripolous down. They get back to their feet and a heavy breathing Sotripolous tries to wind down the clock by pushing Pellegrino into the cage. Pellegrino almost steals the fight at the end with a big knee that drops Sotriopolous but the buzzer sounds before he can finish. That’s probably enough to give Pellegrino the round but not the fight, I have it 29-28 for the Australian. The three judges have it 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for George Sotriopolous.

George Sotriopolous wins by unanimous decision

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

Round 1

They start with wild exchanges. Soszynski throws some leg kicks but Bonnar knocks him down with a big left hand. Bonnar dives onto Soszynski, but gets trapped in full guard. They struggle in the clinch against the cage, with both having strong attempts to take the other down. Although his takedown attempt does fail Bonnar gets the better of the exchanges, punishing Soszynski with some nice Muay Thai combinations against the cage. Bonnar is looking very good standing, trying to vary his striking throwing some throwing some nice looking high kicks and a solid left jab. Soszynski rallies and starts pressing Bonnar and seems to hurt him with a late boxing flurry. Very close round and very difficult to score, but I’d probably just give it to Bonnar 10-9.

Round 2

Soszynski seems to hurt Bonnar at the beginning of the round with several right hand-left hand combinations. Bonnar rallies and throws some wild punches of his own as they just slug it out. Soszynski clips Bonnar and tries to get the takedown against the cage, Bonnar stuffs it and connects with several hard shots. Bonnar gets the takedown but Soszyznski is able to frustrate Bonnar and quickly get back to his feet. Bonnar hurts Soszynski with a big Muay Thai knee to the head, and Bonnar swarms on ‘The Polish Experiment’ with repeated shots  to the head, eventually getting the TKO victory at 3.08. Bonnar looked really good here.

Stephen Bonnar wins by TKO at 3.08 in the second round.

Wrestling Observer reporting that former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is in attendance at UFC 116.

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

Round 1

Chris Lytle tries to push the actions tanding but Brown clinches up to frustrate him. They’re pushed up against the cage, with Brown getting Lytle down with a nice trip although Lytle is straight back up. Crowd getting frustrated as the fight gets stuck against the cage. They break and Brown catches Lytle with a big head kick, goes back to controlling Lytle with the clinch. Lytle struggles for the takedown against the cage, but Brown takes it to the ground with a trip. Brown gets a tight d’arce choke but even though its on for a long time Lytle doesn’t tap and is able to get back to his feet. Lytle is struggling to find the space to work his striking thanks to the holding of Brown. At the very end Brown knocks Lytle down with a glancing blow but almost gets caught in an armbar when he follows. Good round, 10-9 to Brown.

Round 2

Brown doesn’t continue the holding tactics that had so successfully frustrated Lytle in the first round, instead the two of them start the round with open boxing exchanges. Lytle hurts Brown with a big uppercut, and quickly applies a tight guillotinechoke. Brown escapes but Lytle is still controlling the action from the top. Lytle moves to side control to secure the armbar for the submission at 2:02.

Chris Lytle wins by submission at 2:02

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

Round 1

Akiyama catches a kick and takes Leben down, although Leben is quickly back on his feet. Leben throwing big punches and kicks but not connected with much. Akiyama is noticeably smaller and seems tentative. Leben connects with a big punch but soon takes a lowblow. Fight stopped to allow Leben to recover. Leben lands a couple of kicks, although Akiyama gets in a straight jabs. Akiyama gets the judo takedown but Leben keeps him in full guard. Leben twice goes for the armbar but Akiyama is able to escape, the second time Akiyama spins out into his own armbar attempt. Leben escapes and puts Akiyama back into half-guard. Akiyama working to get out of half-guard, possibly to secure an arm triangle. Leben back to his feet but Akiyama pushes him up against the cage. They break and Leben tries to push the action standing towards the end, but Akiyama again secures the judo trip. Really good round for Akiyama who despite giving up a lot in size is clearly the more skilled fighter, Leben has no answer for his trips. 10-9 Aikyama.

Round 2

Both fighters seem tired in the early standing exchanges, some quality in there with Akiyama connecting with a nice spinning backfist and Leben with a superman punch. Then the intensity goes up a notch, with about a minute of non-stop slugging between the two fighters as they both connect with punch after punch. Akyiama trips Leben but the American is eventually able to get back to his feet. They grapple against the cage, with Leben trying to secure the standing choke. Akiywama escapes but Leben connects with several hard combinations with Akiyama visibly tired but refusing to go down. The final exchanges were probably enough to secure the round for Leben. 19-19 going into the third round.

Round 3

Akiyama seems to be very tired, breathing heavy and moving nowhere near as fast as he was in the first round. Leben connects with several punches and kicks but Akiyama knocks him down and dives into guard. Leben goes for an armbar which causes Akiyama to stand in an attempt to slam him down and so force a break in the submission attempt. What actually happens is that Leben’s head gets caught behind his body, with his neck almost fully cranked. Leben was very close to tapping but Akiyama gave up the position. Akiyama working in half-guard, but arguably Leben is doing the most damage with 6-12 elbows and punches off the back. Leben goes for the triangle choke, Akiyama stands in an attempt to escape but eventually falls back down and taps at 4:30. Great fight, really impressive performances from both fighters.

Chris Leben wins by submission at 4:30 in the third round.

UFC copy Showtime’s gimmick of using a videogame to illustrate fighter analysis, although it has to be said they do it in a far classier way.

Cain Velasquez is in the house, no doubt to do the staredown with the new champion.

Undispusted World Heavyweight Championship Fight

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

Round 1

Here we go. Softly spoken engineer against brash former pro-wrestler. The deadliest puncher in the division against its most dominant wrestler. Interim Champion against Linear Champion. This is for all the marbles, the biggest all-american heavyweight fight in thirteen years. Is Brock Lesnar fully recovered from his health problems? Does Shane Carwin have the cardio to go beyond the first round? Has Lesnar sufficiently improved his boxing? Does Carwin have the wrestling to frustrate Lesnar? So many questions but there can only be one answer, one champion.

Lesnar is noticeably the bigger of the two. Lesnar throw the jab, but Carwin clips him with a big punch. Lesnar shoots for the takedown, Carwin momentarily down but gets back to his feet quickly. Carwin unloads on Lesnar, connect with several hard punches that has Lesnar losing his compsure standing. Lesnar tries to go for the takedown but Carwin stuffs him. Carwin knocks Lesnar down and Carwin is looking to finish the fight. Lesnar is bleeding heavily and is in survival mode. Dominant ground and pound from Carwin, and this could be over anytime now. Lesnar back into half-guard and trying to work from the bottom. Lesnar is back on his feet and   is content to run the clock down by holding Carwin up against the cage. 10-8 to Carwin.

Round 2

Carwin looks tired compared to the first round, breathing heavy. Brock Lesnar gets the takedown, moves from half-guard to mount and then moves to side control to…to…apply an arm triangle! Tightens the arm triangle and Carwin taps out at 2:19. That is an incredible performance from the champion who overcame a terrible first round to secure a gutsy victory.

Brock Lesnar wins via submission due to arm triangle choke at 2:19 in the second round to become the undispusted world heavyweight champion

Brock Lesnar speaks emotionally about his recovery from his recent health problems, thanking everyone who supported him and saying that he was a humble champion. Says that he knew that Carwin was tiring with the punches losing their power throughout the first round. He then celebrates in the crowd with his ‘pro-wrestling buddies’ Steve Austin, Bill Goldbery and Jim Ross.

Well that was an incredible night of fights, with every fight providing plenty of action. After a terrible first round, Lesnar survives long enough to take Carwin to deep water and pull off the shock submission. This concludes our live blog of UFC 116 but make sure to stay tuned to Inside Fights for all the latest news and analysis from UFC 116.
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[Image: UFC.com]

UFC 100 was meant to herald the dawn of the heavyweights. After years of struggling to amass a heavyweight division worthy of the name Dana White finally had in world champion Brock Lesnar his Mike Tyson. Lesnar’s battle to first defeat and then recover from diverticulitis postponed this glittering future but as we approach UFC 116 we can clearly see that the ‘biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history’ is just the beginning. For whoever wins on Saturday, exciting Hispanic heavyweight Cain Velasquez lies in wait.

While not quite as large as either Carwin or Lesnar, Velasquez is very much in the same mould, combing size and speed in one irresistible package. His last three fights have seen him smother renowned kickboxer Cheick Kongo with dominant wrestling, destroy Ben Rothwell with remorseless ground and pound and demolish Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria in less than three minutes with devastating kickboxing. Velasquez matches up well against either Lesnar or Carwin, with the wrestling credentials to be credible against Lesnar on the ground and the kickboxing skills to test Carwin standing. A Carwin-Velasquez fight would be the clash of undefeated heavyweight KO artists while the quietly imposing Velasquez would play off well against the brash Brock Lesnar.

Cain Velasquez’s title challenge won’t be the only heavyweight blockbuster in the second half of 2010. At UFC 117 Junior Dos Santos will face TUF ‘10 winner Roy Nelson in a contender eliminator fight. Junior Dos Santos has been on absolute tear in the UFC, defeating the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Mirko Cro Cop and Gabriel Gonzaga in a five-fight winning streak that is more impressive than the UFC records of either Carwin or Velasquez.  Despite being trained by the Nogueria brothers Dos Santos leads with his striking, dismantling opponents with a brutalizing mixture of fast hands and heavy kicks. He already has the record to be a credible world title challenger and a sixth UFC victory would secure him a world title shot in early 2011.

Of course Roy Nelson isn’t making up the numbers on August 7^th, with the popular fighter looking to dispel any thoughts that he is merely an entertaining mid-level attraction. Despite being officially 2-2 in his last four fights, strong performances during The Ultimate Fighter series would make him a popular if incongruous challenger for the world title.  Having dominated against Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve, an upset victory against Junior Dos Santos would propel Roy Nelson into world title contention.

Away from the world title scene former world champion Frank Mir is once again looking to rebuild his career after being pulverized by Shane Carwin at UFC 111. If Brock Lesnar loses on Saturday then the path will be clear for Mir vs. Lesnar III, which even as a n0n-title fight would be one of the biggest fights in UFC history. Should results deny Mir the opportunity to settle the score with Lesnar then a rematch with Nogueria would grab the attention of fight fans, especially given the controversy surrounding Nogueria’s condition going into their first fight. The fall may also see the retirement of legendary heavyweight striker Mirko Cro Cop with rumors that he will fight for the last time when the UFC makes its return to Germany in November.

Whoever leaves UFC 116 as the world heavyweight champion will reign over the most stacked heavyweight division in UFC history, filling the vacuum left by the collapse of the American heavyweight boxing scene. Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin is not only the biggest heavyweight fight in UFC history but the biggest all-American heavyweight fight since Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield II. And this is just the beginning, with 2010 promising much more top-quality action from the UFC’s heavyweight division.
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July 2

Demetrius Hopkins vs. Mike Arnaoutis – ESPN2
Francisco Contreras vs. Noe Bolanos – ESPN2

July 3

Mark Jason Melligen vs. Anges Adjaho – Fox Sports Net
Ulises Solis vs. Eric Ortiz – Fox Sports Net
Joey Gilbert vs. Billy Bailey – Fox Sports Net

Hugo Cazares vs. Everardo Morales

July 9

Mike Jones vs. Irving Garcia – Showtime
Antwone Smith vs. Lanardo Tyner – Showtime

Hank Lundy vs. John Molina – ESPN2
Vladine Biosse vs. Joe McCreedy – ESPN2

Vicente Escobedo vs. Raymundo Beltran – TeleFutura

July 10

Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Bernabe Concepcion – Showtime
Nonito Donaire vs. Hernan Marquez – Showtime

Saul Alvarez vs. Luciano Leonel Cuello – Televisa

Brian Viloria vs. Omar Soto

July 16

Fernando Guererro vs. Ishe Smith – Showtime
Lanard Lane vs. Mike Dallas Jr. – Showtime

Zab Judah vs. Jose Armando Santa Cruz – ESPN2
Alex Perez vs. Vincent Arroyo – ESPN2

Carlos Ivan Velasquez vs. Alejandro Perez – TeleFutura

Matthew Hatton vs. Yuri Nuzhnenko – SKY Sports

July 17

Timothy Bradley vs. Luis Carlos Abregu – HBO
Alfredo Angulo vs. Joachim Alcine – HBO

Fernando Montiel vs. Eric Morel – Fox Sports Net
Alfonso Gomez vs. TBA – Fox Sports Net
Joksan Hernandez vs. Rogers Mtagwa – Fox Sports Net

David Tua vs. Monte Barrett – Integrated Sports PPV

Jurgen Brahmer vs. Alejandro Lakatos
Alexander Alekseev vs. Denis Lebedev

Johnny Tapia vs. Frankie Archuleta

July 21

Danny Green vs. Paul Briggs – Australia Main Event

July 23

Beibut Shumenov vs. Viacheslav Uzelkov – ESPN2

Sergio Mora vs. Juan Carlos Candelo – TeleFutura

Matthew Marsh vs. Kris Hughes – SKY Sports
Stuart Hall vs. Martin Power – SKY Sports

July 24

Johnreil Casimero vs. Ramon Garcia Hirales – Fox Sports Net

Deandre Latimore vs. Willie Lee

Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Hisashi Amagasa

July 26

Chris John vs. Fernando Saucedo

July 30

Derek Ennis vs. Gabriel Rosado

July 31

Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz – HBO PPV
Joel Casamayor vs. Robert Guerrero – HBO PPV
Jorge Linares vs. Rocky Juarez – HBO PPV
Daniel Jacobs vs. Dmitry Pirog – HBO PPV

Giovanni Segura vs. TBA – Fox Sports Net
Gennady Golovkin vs. Milton Nunez – Fox Sports Net

Sebastian Zbik vs. Jorge Sebastian Heiland
Dimitri Sartison vs. Khoren Gevor

Staff Picks: Fight To Watch

Paul’s Pick: Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Bernabe Concepcion
July 10 on Showtime

Forget about the Luevano fight, this one will tell us whether Lopez is here to stay or if he’s just another solid prospect with a big punch, but no staying power. Physically, Concepcion has all the tools to beat Lopez and this will be the first time in his career where Juan Manuel won’t win the fight by just showing up and being so physically gifted. Concepcion has a penchant for making mental mistakes and costing himself the big fights, but if he can focus he can turn this into a real war.

Will’s Pick: Matthew Hatton v Yuri Nuzhenko
July 16 on SKY

Obviously, the only rational answer is Marquez vs Diaz II but let me go off the beaten track and highlight Matthew Hatton vs Yuri Nuzhenko. The younger brother of Ricky, Hatton has been trying to escape his brother’s shadow for some time; a quest not helped by his mechanical style and tendency to freeze in title fights. While he couldn’t escape the former he overcame the latter, winning the European Welterweight Title by defeating Italian veteran Gianluca Branco. Given the marketability of his family connections, a good victory may well move Hatton into the lower echelons of the world title scene. However to secure that victory he’ll have to add more variety and flair to his game as he was at times depressingly predictable against Branco. As an added bonus, the post-fight antics should give us our latest chance to hear his elder brother’s latest musings on a possible comeback.

Trent’s Pick: Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz II
July 31 on HBO PPV

My strategy for picking Fight To Watch each month is simple. If I could only watch one fight this month, what would it be? A rematch of the 2009 Fight of the Year is an easy way to sway my interest. While I’m more interested in the result of Lopez-Concepcion than Marquez-Diaz II, I’m more interested in the means to the result in Marquez-Diaz II than Lopez-Concepcion. Both Marquez and Diaz need a win so I expect just as much heart in the second affair than the first. It should be a great fight on top of a nice overall PPV card.
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Photo: Esther Lin/STRIKEFORCE

Most empires are dead long before they’re actually destroyed, being sustained through their final years by the prestige of their earlier achievements. The story of The Last Emperor is no different, with the sad decline of Fedor Emelianenko having long been hidden by the prestige of his many achievements during the first half of his career.

One of the things that sets mixed martial arts apart from boxing is the integrity of its matchmaking. The decline and eventual collapse of Pride led to the UFC becoming the premier league of elite-level MMA with Pride mainstays facing UFC veterans, while the world’s most gifted younger fighters developed into polished fighters. However there was one world class fighter who continued to stand apart, namely one Fedor Emelianenko. Negotiations to bring the last-ever Pride FC heavyweight champion into the UFC failed both in 2007 and 2009, largely due to the demands of M-1 Global to co-promote any show that Fedor appeared on. While M-1 Global had been able to secure several high profile fights for Fedor by working with Affliction by the summer of 2009 the big spending American promotions were all out of business with no surviving promotion capable of paying anything close to the seven-figures the UFC was offering.

Nor was any promotion capable of proving the same level of competition. Fedor eventually signed with Strikeforce, a promotion whose heavyweight champion had been AWOL since 2007 and whose success had largely come from promoting welterweight and middleweight fights in California. Fedor’s promotional debut saw the ‘best heavyweight in the world’ fighting Brett Rogers. A bully of a fighter, Rogers had remained undefeated in his ten fight career with no one lasting more than three minutes against him. However, much like an over-hyped boxing heavyweight, his record was impressive on paper only. In reality, Rogers was nothing more than a circuit fighter with his ten wins mostly coming against low quality fighters who couldn’t handle his power nor expose the holes in his technique. While a quick KO victory against Andrei Arlovski gave Rogers some credibility, few believed that he was worthy of fighting Fedor and even fewer felt he had a chance of winning. While he would go on to lose the fight, Rogers surprised people by controlling much of the first round.

As in his previous fight against Arlovski, Fedor struggled to impose himself on a little fancied challenger. Despite Rogers’ boxing being mechanical and his wrestling being sloppy, Fedor couldn’t pick out Roger’s jab and spent much of the first round being manhandled by his larger opponent. Fedor was able to recover and secure the KO victory in the second round but it seemed that he was relying less on technique and more on raw KO power. The underwhelming nature of Fedor’s performance was confirmed when Alistair Overeem dismantled Brett Rogers in the main event of Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery in a one-sided demolition job.

The sight of a fighter who had given Fedor such a surprisingly competitive fight being utterly outfought once again raised questions about the quality of Fedor’s opponents. Of the eight men he had faced since defeating Cro Cop, only one had managed to win their next match, and that was Matt Lindland, and post-fight, he made his return to the middleweight division. Defenders of Fedor argued that this was a sign of the devastating psychological impact of fighting Fedor, with his former opponents never being the same after facing him. This always struck me as nonsense as the top-quality opponents he faced in Pride were usually able to bounce back with a win and no other dominant fighter had ever had such an effect on their opponents. The simpler and more logical explanation is that the fighters Fedor had recently fought weren’t very good. I mean let’s look at the facts:

• Zuluzinho, Melvin Manhoef and Hong-Man Choi were special attractions with more losses than victories
• At the time of their second fight, Mark Coleman was nearing forty and had long since passed his peak as a fighter.
• In the fight prior to facing Fedor, Mark Hunt had been quickly defeated by Josh Barnett.
• Matt Lindland usually fights at middleweight, not heavyweight
• In his three fights before facing Fedor, Tim Sylvia had gone 1-2 having been defeated by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria and Randy Couture

Of the eight fighters that Fedor fought between his victory against Cro Cop and his defeat to Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski was the one in the best form. He was in the middle of a five-fight win streak with his most of his wins coming against solid fighters. And Arlovski started very well, taking the action to Fedor in the opening minutes and seemingly having him in all sorts of trouble. However Arlovski was undone by his infamous glass chin as despite his early good work Fedor was able to land one good counter-punch and that was the end of the fight.

Fedor has not only been fighting inferior opponents; he has been failing to truly excel against them for quite some time. Arlovski was destroyed in just 22 seconds by Brett Rogers, while Rogers was utterly and completely dismantled by Alistair Overeem. In Mark Hunt’s last five fights, Fedor was the only opponent that needed more than two minutes to finish him – in fact, Fedor needed more time than the other four fighters combined. In his first fight after losing to Fedor, Tim Sylvia would embarrass himself and the sport by losing to semi-retired boxer Ray Mercer in only nine seconds.

While Fabricio Werdum was a step up in competition from Rogers, and he didn’t have the handicap of having a glass chin like Arlovski his record is no better than most of the previous eight men to face Fedor. In many ways it was significantly worse. His UFC career had been underwhelming, going 2-2 in his four fights and eventually being cut after quickly losing to Junior Dos Santos in Santos’ UFC debut. His two fights in Strikeforce had been nothing special, and he had struggled to defeat Antonio Silva last year. Werdum’s credentials as a grappler are undoubtedly impressive but he lacks the tools to get the fight to the ground, something that would be quickly exposed against the Super Heavyweight wrestlers that dominant the UFC’s heavyweight division. If Fedor hadn’t have over-committed himself and literally jumped into Werdum’s dangerous guard then Werdum would have struggled to stay in the fight let alone take it to Fedor.

Both Fedor and Werdum are already talking about an instant rematch to see whether Fedor can avenge his first true defeat. It’s the most marketable fight Strikeforce can make involving either guy but defeating Werdum won’t be enough to restore Fedor’s reputation. If Fedor wants to reestablish himself as the best heavyweight in the world then he will have to enter the UFC and defeat its top contenders, just as he did in Pride. For too long the aura of invincibility that he developed in Pride has allowed Fedor and his management to behave in a way that wouldn’t be tolerated from any other fighter. If any other fighter had turned down millions to fight the best fighters so he could instead fight inferior fighters for less then he would be accused of running scared. If any other fighter’s management company had demanded that they co-promote any UFC show he appeared on and receive half the profits, they would have been widely ridiculed. For years there has been a double standard in how the actions of Fedor and M-1 Global have been judged. Now that we pull can the curtain back we can now all see that the past five years of Fedor’s career have been wasted. Instead of testing himself against the best, Fedor has regressed as he fought one soft-touch after another. If he’s to ever reclaim his status as the world’s best heavyweight then he’ll have to enter the Octagon and once again claim the heavyweight championship of the world by defeating the best heavyweights in the world’s biggest MMA organization.
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Stay tuned for more of this story.
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