Archive for April, 2010

Pictured: Shane Mosley & Floyd Mayweather shake hands during promotional efforts for their bout this weekend.

 (Editor’s Note: David Bateman is a freelance journalist based out of the UK. We’re happy to have him contribute to Total-MMA this week. For more of his writing, go to DavidBatemanJournalist.com.  If you’re interested in writing for us, let us know!  As always, thanks for reading. — Tommy)

Anytime Floyd Mayweather chooses to grace a boxing ring with his presence, there is always a lot of interest.  

His status as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of his generation assures great enthusiasm and excitement anytime he chooses to defend his 40-fight undefeated streak.

This Saturday should be no different. His opponent, ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, is more than formidable. He has beaten impressive names like Oscar De La Hoya, and Antonio Margarito in his latest bout. His power and punching veracity ensures he is a very credible threat to Mayweather’s unblemished record.

 Yet, despite the anticipation and intrigue we are feeling, something doesn’t quite feel right…

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World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Jose Aldo didn’t just emerge victorious in his first title defense Saturday night.  The unanimous decision against Urijah Faber at WEC “Aldo vs. Faber” at Arco Arena in Sacramento, California was a mixed martial arts master class to outline his greatness.

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Pictured: Enson Inoue prepares for training last week, from his official blog at http://blog.goo.ne.jp/enson-inoue/

Tonight (well, actually it’s Sunday in Japan, or early morning US time)
ASTRA launches its first MMA show ever, at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. Headlining the event is the retirement bout of Hidehiko Yoshida, against his former pupil Kazuhiro Nakamura and also the return of Enson Inoue, in a bout against New Zealand kickboxer Antz Nansen. Also on the card are the likes of Ryo Chonan, Jorge Masvidal, and a co-main event with Micah Miller against Michihiro Omigawa. The whole show sounds like a heck of a good time, but unfortunately, you’ll have to be in Japan to see it.

While it was initially reported that J-ROCK would offer a webcast of the event (by Sherdog and others), it appears those plans fell through.It would seem a great show for an HDNet to carry here in the US, but sadly all MMA seems overshadowed by ZUFFA, who are offering a WEC PPV. Sadder still, Dave Walsh of HeadKickLegend reports that the event is getting short shrift from Japanese media as well. Seems a lot of us take for granted the massive impact Yoshida had on the MMA scene there — even me. The biggest story for this show to me is the return of Enson Inoue, and if you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking the same thing.

So we’re out of luck regarding watching this event. But Enson’s fans got a big treat this week from Jaser Davari of Swedish MMA site Kimura.se. Davari has assembled the most in-depth English interview to date with the legend, and has published the video in four parts — with a fifth still to come.

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So Strikeforce has gone from a small to medium sized San Jose based promotion with a lot of local talent and a few big names to network television and cable TV in very quick fashion but you have to wonder are they getting too big too fast. 

In Strikeforce’s MMA debut they came out guns blazing with a lineup that included Frank Shamrock, Cesar Gracie, Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson, Clay Guida, and the MMA debut of Cung Le.  The event still holds the record for the largest paid attendance for MMA in the United States. 

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Pictured: New lightweight kingpin Frankie Edgar celebrates his victory after UFC 112

Our rankings for lightweight through heavyweight have been updated. Please give them a look (in case you missed, our rankings are at the left hand margin) and give us your thoughts. Total-MMA staff writer Bryan Belangia offers his commentary for each selection, as well as some overall thoughts:

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Pictured: Jake Shields dismantles Dan Henderson at Strikeforce: Nashville last night

Strikeforce: Nashville won’t be ranked among the most exciting bell-to-bell action shows of the year 2010, but as the final bell sounded it certainly had offered some interesting results.

The fast rise of “King Mo” Lawal continued with an upset over a tentative Gegard Mousasi. In just his seventh bout, Mo scored takedowns at will and pounded away with shots for a convincing decision victory against a top ten ranked opponent.

The #2 ranked lightweight in the world, Shinya Aoki, was defeated in a slow and methodical bout by a sprawling and brawling Gil Melendez — this, only weeks after the consensus #1 suffered the same fate. Our old friend Dave Walsh at HeadKickLegend commented about the result today, and how difficult it can be to rank Japanese and North American-based fighters together when the rules of engagement differ so much. Personally I like the diversity of style that MMA fans enjoy, but I also see his point.

The main event saw Jake Shields come back from a brutal knockdown to perform a grappling clinic against Dan Henderson, en route to another earning another unanimous decision victory. Shields’ ability to always impose his game, along with Henderson’s advancing age, had caused me to pick him for the unpopular upset here - the first reaction on my Facebook account came “You picked Jake over hendo lol, nooooo way in hell” — and his tenacity mixed with sublime groundwork didn’t let me down. As the final bell rang, it felt like Shields had won over a critic or two, including Frank Shamrock on commentary, and turned a bit of a corner.

Unfortunately, all seems to be forgotten due to what happened after that final bell….

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Pictured: Jake Shields and Dan Henderson square off at the Strikeforce: Nashville weigh-ins yesterday.

Tonight in Music City USA, our good friends from Strikeforce will offer what would appear one of the most intriguing MMA shows of the year. The main features their middleweight champion Jake Shields against former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson in one of the promotion’s most celebrated matches ever. Light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi defends his strap against “King Mo” Lawal, and backing it up will be Shinya Aoki in his debut on US soil against an elite lightweight in Strikeforce’s titlist Gil Melendez.

Simply put, I think this is about as good as we’ll get in 2010. It’s downright criminal that our predictions haven’t already been posted, so let’s get right to it:

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Pictured: Matt Hughes and Renzo Gracie (wearing the “hometown favorite” Manchester City T-shirt) square off at weigh-in for UFC 112.

And… here we go again. UFC 112 will eminate from Abu Dhabi, UAE tonight (that’s Saturday), 10 am PST/1 PM EST, and then be replayed 7 pm PST/10 pm EST. The Brits get it at 6 pm, right? But, it’s Sunday in the Middle East. I think. OK, I don’t know. Confused? Blame the Sheikh who fell in love with jiu-jitsu and made Abu Dhabi an MMA hotbed to attract this show. But be sure to thank him too; the guy has helped bring MMA and grappling to new heights as well. This show, complete with an outdoor arena made especially for the event, will certainly be something to behold.

Whether you choose to enjoy this one with a cold glass of orange juice or just stay off the net and have a beer… here’s to your health.

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The reigning four time world Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion talks about preparing for the BJJ Pan-American Games this Saturday, his supposed retirement, and whether MMA is in his future or not…

Pictured: Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles (right) wins his fourth BJJ World Championship against Bruno Frazzato in 2009. Photograph by Ivan Trindade.

Rubens “Cobrinha” Charles’ jiu-jitsu is exactly what one would expect from a man whose nickname is Portugese for “Cobra” — quick and flexible, with no wasted motion; and always looking for the finish.

If you’re not familiar with his mastery of the “gentle art,” do yourself a favor and watch a highlight video of his achievements, including four world championships in the Mundials., Two are available online: one which I believe originated from his official site, and another from a guy who guys by the nick “Josh K”. In particular, it’s Charles’ guard game which his peers call the best in all of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Still, in a brief interview last Friday at Marcelo Alonso’s academy in Seattle, the legend from the Alliance camp implies he has even more highlights to come…

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Pictured: Kenny Florian

Kenny Florian has proven to be one of the best lightweights in the world, but for a guy who’s already gotten two title shots- is he still improving?

This is a topic that’s been discussed all over the internet since Florian’s technical dismantling of former lightweight star Takanori Gomi.  A lot of what’s been written and said has had the same sentiment- that Florian is a better fighter now than he was when he last fought BJ Penn in August of last year.

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