Page 518 - Top MMA News and Mixed Martial Arts Headlines

To be honest, since Gono is my friend, my spirit sank a little when the fight card was announced. But we are professionals and this is a fight that the fans want to see, so I will give my best. No one wants to see a lukewarm fight between friends, right? Instead, we will have a murderous battle for fifteen minutes... yes that's what we want to do... we will (laughs). Gono is really talented. When he fought in Shooto, he had yet to discover his style so he struggled in some of the fights. Once he started coming into his own, however, he was amazing in PRIDE. He is a very cerebral fighter. Seriously, if I were not fighting him this time, I had been thinking about training with him to absorb the techniques of the master strategist. I can't cut myself any slack since he is craftier than I am.

Add your comment  

The NSAC has released the official fighter payouts from WEC 45. The total disclosed payouts were $162,000 with the biggest share-$25,000-going to Joseph Benavidez.

Add your comment  

Other top earners from the Showtime-televised event included main-card winner Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza ($65,000), Smith ($55,000), Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez ($55,000) and Matt Lindland ($50,000). Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, who also competed on the main card and make his promotional debut, earned $20,000, half which came in the form of a win bonus. However, CSAC officials said the fighter was fined 10 percent of his purse for an issue with his sponsor. (Lawal splashed the cage with Rockstar Energy Drink after his win.)

Add your comment  

Relief overshadowed joy in Gilbert Melendez’s successful bid to unify the Strikeforce lightweight title against Josh Thomson.In a fight certain to be on the short list for Fight of the Year, Melendez was smarter and sharper than his first meeting with Thomson in June 2008 – where he lost the title and took the interim strap waiting for Thomson to heal from multiple injuries – and took a unanimous decision nod for a second turn as undisputed champion at Saturday’s “Evolution.”

Add your comment  

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed Nick Diaz will face Dream welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis on Jan. 30 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title and Cris “ Cyborg“ Santos will defend her 145-pound belt for the first time against Marloes Coenen.Strikeforce originally planned to put Diaz in with Jay Heiron in August for the welterweight crown, but those plans were scrapped when Diaz failed to show up for mandatory licensing drug screening. Heiron defeated “The Ultimate Fighter 7” cast member Jesse Taylor in a non-title fight instead.

Add your comment  

“I owe everything I am in fight to Rodrigo. When he has the belt, I’ll be his guardian. To fight with him, they’ll have to fight with me first”, said the heavyweight, laughing. With defined return on UFC 108, against the rough Gilbert Yvel, revealed that his biggest dream is to be on top of the world. “As fighter I’m not different of anyone, I also want to be a big champion, to be a big name as Minotauro and Minotouro”, said.

Add your comment  

After signing notables Dan Hornbuckle (19-2), Jacob McClintock (6-0) and Ben Askren (3-0) for its upcoming eight-man welterweight tournament, Bellator Fighting Championships has added another star competitor to the field: top British 170-pounder Jim Wallhead (18-5). Bellator officials today informed MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that "Judo Jim" has signed a multi-fight deal with the organization to compete in the tournament.

Add your comment  

UFC veteran Tito Ortiz, who will soon serve as a coach and tape the 11th season of "The Ultimate Fighter," will first depart for his third USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour. The popular fighter, who visited with more than 3,000 service members during two 2007 USO Tours with fellow UFC vet Justin McCully, will again sign autographs and participate in training exercises on his upcoming trip.

Add your comment  

Karo Parisyan got out of a cab at the Las Vegas airport, and his father's voice on the other end of his cell phone was finally too much to bear. It hadn't been long since Parisyan told his manager to inform the UFC brass that he was pulling out of his scheduled UFC 106 bout with Dustin Hazelett last month. A series of suffocating personal issues, Parisyan said, led to the decision, the most difficult he said he has ever made. He had hundreds of texts and phone messages pleading with him to answer the question: Why?

Add your comment  

Although it's not a done deal yet, Strikeforce is reportedly working on making Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum for it's April event on CBS. SF's Scott Coker also says he plans to invite Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem to compete on the event and also hopes to make Gilbert Melendez vs. Shinya Aoki and Josh Thomson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri in '10.

Add your comment  

World Extreme Cagefighting on Saturday night announced former featherweight champion Mike Brown (22-5) would make his return – just two months after losing the title to Jose Aldo – at the Arco Arena. He will face Anthony Morrison (10-7), who finished UFC veteran Alvin Robinson in little more than a minute at a recent Ring of Fire event in Denver.

Add your comment  

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A pair of title fights will headline "Strikeforce: Miami" next month when Nick Diaz (20-7 MMA, 2-0 SF) takes on DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis (13-3 MMA, 0-0 SF) for the first-ever Strikeforce welterweight title and Cris "Cyborg" Santos (8-1 MMA, 2-0 SF) puts her women's featherweight title on the line against Marloes Coenen (17-3 MMA, 1-0 SF). MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) was informed of both of the rumored matchups in the post-fight press conference for Saturday's "Strikeforce: Evolution" event.

Add your comment  

LAS VEGAS – Donald Cerrone, Ed Ratcliff, Scott Jorgensen, Takeya Mizugaki, Anthony Njokuani and Brad Pickett each earned fight-night bonuses for their performances at Saturday's "WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff" event.

Add your comment  

Get ready, Boston-UFC's debut in the area is now set. Although it won't be officially announced until closer to the event date, Dana White tells The Boston Herald that UFC will make it's Boston debut on August 28 at TD Garden. White also says the event may feature many local fighters including Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon among others, but Brock Lesnar main event rumors are premature.

Add your comment  

"I don't like Jake. I've got nothing for him.... He'll never fight me. He'll never make that kind of money and get that kind of shot because I don't like him.... I don’t want to fight Jake Shields because he has no personality. He’s a boring fighter. And when he got on to CBS, and it was his chance to be a star, he leg humped [Jason "Mayhem" Miller] all night long and killed our ratings. That’s why I don’t want to fight Jake Shields."

Add your comment  

ollowing his five-round dismantling of Diego Sanchez at UFC 107, an emotional BJ Penn licked the blood off his gloves and pounded his chest in an animal-like frenzy.The UFC lightweight belt holder displayed similar post-fight behaviour against Joe Stevenson last year at UFC 80."(My boxing trainer) Jason Parillo said, 'Go out there. I want you to be the crazy blood licker. I want you to kill this guy,' "Penn explained in an interview with the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

Add your comment  

Strikeforce: Miami now has a main event. MMAWeekly.com has learned that Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis have verbally agreed to a welterweight battle in the Jan. 30 event’s top slot, set for the BankAtlantic Arena in Sunrise, Fla. The two will fight for the promotion’s vacant welterweight belt. My thought- Nice match up by Strikeforce.Affliction also matched up great fights.I think this is the difference between the large American organizations and the rest.The big American organizations are more apt and try harder to give the fans the fights they want to see instead of pitting the big name guy against a scrubs.Let us hope that Strikeforce does not have the same fate as Affliction

Add your comment  

Having succeeded in helping re-open Vancouver to mixed martial arts, the UFC continues the fight to get the sport sanctioned in Ontario. That involves a two-pronged approach, with lobbyists working on both the Ontario and federal governments. Having expected sellouts shows in May in Montreal and June in Vancouver should help the UFC cause in Toronto, although privately the UFC acknowledges Ontario has proved to be more difficult than expected.

Add your comment  

Some worry about ring rust as Chris (The Polish Hammer) Horodecki returns to action Saturday night in his World Extreme Cagefighting debut. The baby-faced 22-year-old from London, Ont., has fought just once since April 2008 after all. But an excited Horodecki (13-1) sees it differently. "This would be my fourth fight this year," he said. "If everything had went through the way it should have." Of course it didn't.

Add your comment  

From breakdancing to cage-fighting and Nigeria to the U.S., Anthony (The Assassin) Njokuani has come a long way. The 29-year-old lightweight takes on Canadian Chris (The Polish Hammer) Horodecki in the co-main event of a World Extreme Cagefighting card Saturday night in Las Vegas. A win over the former IFL star and the hard-punching Njokuani moves nearer the front of the 155-pound contenders' in the WEC.

Add your comment