Friday, April 22, 2011
UFC Breaking News: Rich Franklin, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Added to UFC 133
After the recent announcement of Vitor Belfort versus Yoshihiro Akiyama, MMAJunkie.com just announced the signing of another high-profile bout at UFC 133 between respected veterans Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio "Lil Nog" Nogueira.
Franklin's recent meeting with Forrest Griffin at UFC 126 showed the former middleweight champion had difficulty dealing with the size and strength of his opponent. But an opponent like Nogueira, who is of smaller stature, will be a much more fitting opponent to match up against the Ohio native.
Nogueira has had troubles throughout his tenure in the UFC, despite showing a better effort in his recent bout against Phil Davis at UFC Fight Night 24. Currently sitting at 2-2 inside the octagon, "Lil Nog" could be looking at a third straight loss, should he lose, and an uncertain future to add to that.
Franklin is a much more well-rounded than Noguiera's two previous opponents, but Nogueira holds some of the best boxing skills in the light heavyweight division and it could pose problems to Franklin, who has had problems with world-class strikers in the past.
While the event hasn't been formally announced, UFC 133 is slated to take place on August 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Akiyama-Belfort meet in Philly, middleweight division heating up again
Akiyama and Belfort will square off at UFC 133 in Philadelphia in early August. Akiyama (13-3, 1-2 UFC) last fought in October at UFC 120. "Sexyama" was submitted in the final minutes against Chris Leben. He's lost two straight, but he's also garnered Fight of the Night awards his last three times out.
Here's a look at the rest of the scheduled bouts for 185ers near the top of the UFC's middleweight division.
UFC 130: Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago
UFC 131: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
UFC 132: Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben
UFC 134: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
We're still waiting for the next shoe to drop on middleweight bad boys Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping. Sonnen has to sit down with the Nevada State Athletic Commission in mid-May. The UFC has been tight-lipped about the actual penalty it handed down to Bisping for his spitting incident at UFC 127. One would think, he'll be back in the Octagon no later than July or August. Alan Belcher recently announced that he's ready to return in September.
The division lost one its bigger names with Nate Marquardt dropping to 170, where he'll debut against Anthony Johnson as the main event at UFC on Versus 4 in Pittsburgh in late June.
Traditionally, middleweight has been one of the promotion's weaker divisions. That could change once Strikeforce fighters like Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Tim Kennedy, Jason Miller and Robbie Lawler start crossing over.
Update:� That didn't take long. Miller has officially signed a deal with the UFC.
Tournament Brackets Set for Dream Bantamweight GP
Filed under: DREAM, News, Japan
Dream has announced the first- and second-round matchups for the May 29 Dream "Fight for Japan" event at the Saitama Super Arena, the promotion's first card of 2011.In the 134.5-pound tournament, Darren Uyenoyama will face Atsushi Yamamoto; Yoshiro Maeda will meet Hideo Tokoro; Masakazu Imanari takes on Keisuke Fujiwara; and finally, Kenji Osawa will fight Takafumi Otsuka.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will both take place on May 29. The winner of Uyenoyama vs. Yamamoto will fight the winner of Maeda vs. Tokoro. On the other side of the bracket, the winner of Imanari vs. Fujiwara will face the winner of Osawa vs. Otsuka. The finals will be held at a Dream event planned for July.
Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/20/tournament-brackets-set-for-dream-bantamweight-gp/
MMA Knockout of the Day: Anderson Silva Pounds on Curtis Stout
He's a man who needs no introduction into the MMA world. He's the man who has dominated the UFC's middleweight division and has reeled off 13 straight victories inside what many consider the best MMA promotion in the world.
Anderson Silva achieved this knockout victory over Curtis Stout during Cage Rage 14 in London, England.
It begins as a normal Silva fight and it ends the same as a normal Silva fight. In the process of beating Stout, Silva improved to 14-3 in his career and successfully defended his Cage Rage middleweight championship for the second time.
Since the fight Silva has achieved nine wins via TKO or KO, eight of those coming against UFC competition.
Curtis Stout has gone on to lose five of his last six fights since the Silva knockout. In case you were wondering only one of those came via knockout. Stout's last fight came in 2007 against Ryan Jensen. He has not fought since and has no future fights in store.
Stout's previous victory leading up to his fight with Silva was a 15-second knockout victory over Nilson de Castro.
The Cage Rage card Silva and Stout fought on though, actually had a few notable fighters on the card, with the likes of Vitor Belfort, Paul Daley and Matt Lindland.
Still, that card on December 3rd, 2005 will always be remembered though for the brutal knockout by Silva, successfully sending Stout's career in a downward spiral.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Monday morning knockout: Freire’s knee at Bellator
As Cofield wrote about, Patricky Freire knocked Toby Imada out, as well as out of the tournament, with a devastating knee at Bellator on Saturday night. Take a look for yourself.
Imada was dazed the second that knee hit him, but he held on for a few seconds before dropping to the floor. After a mere 2:53 worth of work, Freire moves onto face the winner of Michael Chandler/Lloyd Woodard in Bellator's lightweight tournament.