Archive for July, 2010

Pictured: Jon Jones, who will face Vladmir Matyushenko in San Diego at tomorrow’s UFC on Versus show.

Fight fans have enjoyed a breakneck pace in 2010, until recent weeks where we’ve gone a month or so without a major MMA show. Call it a quick summer vacation, or time off for good behavior from all that MMA overload of late. But the fight game is finally heating up again — as ZUFFA begins a busy few weeks with UFC on Versus: Jones vs Matyushenko tomorrow night in sunny San Diego, CA.

Offering predictions this week are Total-MMA regular David Bateman (BB) and a returning Jacob Lawton (JL), along with newcomer Brandon Lamb (BL). I’m sitting this one out and working on my tan — along with the bizzare formatting issues that popped up last week (sorry about that!). As always our predictions are for entertainment purposes only, so don’t blame us if you get burned…

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Pictured: Ken Shamrock blocks an advancing Pedro Rizzo, along with advancing age, during last night’s listless encounter in Sydney.

Any card featuring Ken Shamrock, Paul Daley’s first fight (since his UFC firing) and names like Murilo Rua, Denis Kang and Paulo Filho is enough to at least grab the attention of most MMA fans.

On paper, this past Saturday’s Impact FC 2 in Sydney, Australia had some potentially great fights. But, fights happen in a cage, not on paper. Although the fights were not completely disappointing, neither did the initial promise of the card produce any lasting memories.

It could be that the main event just sullied my opinion of the whole event.

Ken Shamrock v Pedro Rizzo should simply never have happened. Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: Ken Shamrock and Pedro Rizzo weigh in, from TheGarv.com

It’s been a slow week or so in the MMA world. It’s enough to make you forget what’s on tap. Some kind lads down under are promoting a show which may have slipped under your radar — featuring MMA legends like Ken Shamrock, Murilo Bustamante, Pedro Rizzo, and more.

You can catch the internet PPV at http://www.impactfc.au.com/.

Jacob Lawton has contributed his predictions for this show. Jacob will be taking a brief hiatus from writing and he’s going out (temporarily) with a bang…

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Pictured: Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben

Chris Leben’s already interesting story took another colossal twist at UFC 116 with his shocking victory against Yoshihiro Akiyama, in a fight he’d taken just two weeks removed from another fight, a victory over Aaron Simpson. And now he’s shot from being a relatively sedate Middleweight journeyman to a potential title contender. Something I find amusing considering he’s lost to (among others) Kalib Starnes, Jake Rosholt and Jason MacDonald, all fighters later cut by the UFC. In this article I’m going to take a look at the MMA career of Chris Leben, and offer my humble two pence about him as a fighter and as a person.
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(Editor’s note: Alexia Krause is a usual contributor to MMAIndustries — and we’re happy to have her contribute to Total-MMA this week. If you’re interested in writing for Total-MMA, please contact us! — Tommy)

With the New York state deficit hitting $8 billion, steps need to be taken in order to right the ship that is the state’s budget. Recently New York Gov. David Paterson stated that the projected deficit for the upcoming fiscal year has grown by an additional $750 million. There’s no doubting that the Empire State is in dire straits trying to fix their deficit.  It is extremely difficult trying to balance a state budget at a time when the country as a whole is going through some of its most difficult economic hurdles in recent history. This forces us to take a fresh look at which programs will continue to receive funding. As a result, the state has been forced to cut, reject, and outright shut down many state programs and projects in order to make some type of movement out of the red and back into the black. Many of these budget cuts (like closing down state parks and cutting funding to public schools) were rampant and have cast an unfavorable light on politicians in Albany in the eyes of many New Yorkers. However, something must be done in order to fight the ailing state economy.

As coincidence has it, a good fight might just be the answer to the budget problems.                             

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When Dana White describes an event as “the best night of his career”, you know it must be a good one.

UFC 116 will not be forgotten by any MMA fan in a hurry. That tends to happen when two FOTN bonuses are awarded in the same night (to Akiyama v Chris Leben and Krzysztof Soszynski v Stephan Bonnar respectively). Then, there is the not-so-small issue of Brock Lesnar.

It’s the closest thing MMA has to a fairytale. The UFC Heavyweight World Champion becomes unbelievably unwell, near death — then makes a triumphant return against possibly the most dangerous striker in MMA history. Love or loathe him, no one can deny Brock Lesnar the title of number one heavyweight in MMA, and not just because Fedor lost…

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Pictured: “Lion” Takeshi and Hatsu Hioki battle it out. Picture from MMAFighting.com.

It’s hard to believe that half of 2010, and then some, has already passed us by! There have been so many great fights this year; sometimes it all comes off overkill, and sometimes it seems every show rewrites the book. Just last weekend’s UFC brought a memorable comeback from Brock Lesnar against Shane Carwin and yet another clinic from George Sotiropoulos.

But on 30 May at JCB Hall in Tokyo, one bout’s combination of passion and skills stood out — to at least one observer.

This is my “Fight of the Half-Year” for 2010: “Lion” Takeshi Inoue vs. Hatsu Hioki for the Shooto Lightweight Title. Some of you may not be familiar with Shooto. An MMA organization with a more than 20 year history, Shooto has brought so many classic fights in the past, and one that I’ve been happy to rediscover this year. This very show also featured a spirited comeback from Rumina Sato, whose Shooto bout against Caol Uno was often described as the best of the 1990’s.

Hopefully you feel the same. Is it a perfect fight? No. Everyone knows how much I love a bout on the mat and that never developed here. But, nothing else this half year had quite this combination of guts and skill. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it too. At least you may agree that while MMA in Japan may not enjoy the glamor of years past, this bout shows it still has the passion.

Please click here for the video.

Say what you will about Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Say that they have only a handful of fights, that they perhaps don’t merit discussion with all time greats like Fedor Emelianenko, that the split screen interview segment hyping the bout recently for the TUF finale was the worst in history. Go ahead. Maybe I’ll join you (comfortably on my couch, and far away from them).

But they’ve made UFC 116, eminating live tomorrow night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a huge event. Despite the loss of Wanderlei Silva (who pulled out due to injured ribs), the show is sold out and Dana White predicts a million PPV buys. Two of the biggest and baddest in our sport’s short history are set like planets waiting to collide, and it looks like the whole world is watching. So who’s coming out on top? Read on…

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