HEIWA DREAM.5 Lightweight GP 2008 Final Round
Date: July 21st, 2008
Place: Osaka Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan

10. Lightweight GP Final Fight: Kawajiri/Alvarez vs. Uno/Aoki
9. Heavyweight Fight: Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem
8. Middleweight Fight: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata
7. Featherweight Fight: Hideo Tokoro vs. Takeshi Yamazaki
6. Welterweight Fight: Motoki Miyazawa vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
5. Featherweight Fight: KODO vs. Joseph Benavidez
4. Lightweight GP Reserve Fight: Joachim Hansen vs. Black Mamba
3. Lightweight GP Semifinal Fight: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Eddie Alvarez
2. Lightweight GP Semifinal Fight: Caol Uno vs. Shinya Aoki
1. 2×5 Minute Special Rules Fight: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Andy Ologun

Read more for results and a few thoughts and comments. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo credit: MMA Weekly

The ever-controversial Phil Baroni secured both his first win fighting in a new country and a new weight class in the main event of Cage Rage 27 with his first round stoppage of Londoner Scott Jansen.

However there was as much drama after the devastating knockout as before it when a corner-man, believed to be the brother of the fallen opponent, delivered a headbutt to the former UFC star which resulted in an unsavoury scene that will do nothing to improve the British image of mixed martial arts.

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Photo credit: Jim Page @ Sherdog

The heavyweight semi-main event at Cage Rage 27 now carries greater significance with the announcement that the winner could then be in line to face Elite XC superstar Kimbo Slice.

Neil Grove - who will take on Robert ‘Buzz’ Berry at Wembley Arena - revealed exclusively to Total-MMA.com that while promoter Gary Shaw has discussed the potential mega-fight with him, he is not holding his breath about being flown to the US any time soon even if victorious on Saturday night.

“I think it’ll be a good fight and whoever wins, best of luck to them because i think they’ve got a either a British title shot or Kimbo Slice,” said Grove.

“This is what we’ve been promised all long by Gary Shaw.  I’d been told by some of the boys that if I beat Buzz in December then they’ll send me to America.  I know it wasn’t a pretty fight but I’m still here (in England).  I’m not too impressed with their promises.

“I don’t really rate him (Slice) at all to be honest with you.  James Thompson almost beat him and i think to me it would be more important to fight for the British title.” Read the rest of this entry »

Your round-tablers today:
Lee Casebolt (LC)
Dave Walsh (DW)
Alan Conceicao (AC)
Iain Liddle (IL)

Topics being discussed:
- Affliction planning future shows already - brave or foolhardy?
- Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny booked for CBS - the correct decision?
- Have you been able to watch the Kim Couture fight?
- Will you miss Ivan Salaverry?

Read the rest of this entry »

Your Roundtable:

IL: Iain Liddle(UK)
DW: Dave Walsh(USA)
AC: Alan Conceicao(USA)
LC: Lee Casebolt(USA)
KS: Kendall Shields(CAN)
JS: Jonathan Snowden(USA)
MS: Marc Staehling(CAN)

Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson for the first Elite XC Welterweight Title Live on CBS

DW: As fun as it is to make fun of EliteXC or anything involving Gary Shaw, this is unquestionable content. I can’t wait to see it, but this really isn’t going to wow a CBS crowd. As much as people complain about subpar displays like Kimbo Slice, that is what your average person in the audience is expecting to see.

JS: think the Shields-Thompson matchup is great and should add some much needed technical prowess to the Elite XC CBS show. Read the rest of this entry »

So, the big announcement today was that Lorenzo Fertitta is moving from the casino side to work on the UFC full time. Can you feel the earth shake?

Your roundtable:
DW: Dave Walsh
AC: Alan Conceicao
IL: Iain Liddle
JS: Jonathan Snowden

MMA Wars: UFC versus Affliction

DW: This is desperation. We all know Affliction isn’t going to be able to directly to compete with UFC, at least not for a while. They’d need to establish themselves, put out an incredibly aggressive advertising campaign and run a bunch of shows to show they are for real, and not just a flash-in-the-pan ran by a money mark who wants to book his favorite fighters for his own enjoyment. Basically, they need to prove they aren’t BoDog.

JS: This is such an incredibly horrible idea. Why does the UFC feel the need to run competition for an event that will likely lose millions of dollars all by itself? I’m not sure of the rationale behind further diluting a brand that already produces more shows than people want to watch. Not only is it not necessary, but putting marque fights on free TV is a dangerous ploy. How soon until people just don’t want to pay $50 to see Hughes v. Alves? They’ll just wait for Anderson Silva on TV.

IL: It’s Dana White putting two fingers up to Affliction and, in effect, to anyone that would like to see the existing monopoly challenged. They are attempting to punish a company whoseideology includes paying fighters decent sums of money without the need to dress it up as a “bonus” and deliver it in a brown paper bag.

AC: I’ve said all along that the more promoters, the more money, the merrier. First, let’s dispell a myth. The UFC is never going to be alone as the sole promoting power in MMA in the US or anywhere else. Its never been that way (real heads remember Battlecade, the WEF, the first version of WFA, etc), it never will be that way, etc etc etc. Views contrary to that are utterly delusional.

DW: Dana White needs to get the fuck over himself and his UFC brand name. This is complete insecurity on their part, just like running that Chuck mockumentary and playing Chuck vs Wandy on the night of the EliteXC show. Even Kevin Iole just taped the Chuck thing to watch Kimbo live. That is saying a lot.

JS: Much has been made of comparisons between Dana White and Vince McMahon. This is classic Vince McMahon decision making. Dana is settling scores with Fedor’s people and Tim Sylvia, and Arlovski, and Lindland, and everyone else he is personally angry with. Ultimately, the UFC is a privately owned business. He isn’t responsible to anyone or anything but his own self destructive urges.

IL: Zuffa is ultra-competitive and hates the idea of competition. That is obvious. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that they would attempt to kill maybe the most legitimate potential rival before they have had a chance to make any impact. However that doesn’t mean we have to like it or put up with it.

AC: In any case, the card looks like it was thrown together at the last minute because it was thrown together at the first minute. The UFC shouldn’t go worrying that they need to bury everyone else. They will succeed or fail on their own merits and there’s nothing they can do about it. I know Jon and many others compared it to the Clash of the Champions and whatnot, but there is a huge difference. Jim Crockett Promotions could pick winners. Dana White can’t.

Anderson Silva: 205?

JS: Anderson Silva’s move to 205 has been long rumored. That’s no real surprise. The choice of opponent is. Why take the chance of having one of your hottest fighters at 185 lose to a mid-level fighter like James Irvin? What is the benefit to Silva? If he wins, so what? If he loses, his aura is finished. Losing to Chuck Liddell at 205 is one thing. But why risk a fluke loss to Irvin? What the hell was going on at Zuffa INC yesterday? Margaritas and Mexican for lunch?

IL: The idea is a good one. Take your most exciting champion and put him on free TV against a PPV headlined by someone with a reputation for dull fights. For the reasons mentioned above, I still want them to somehow find a way to fail though. In fact, if it was pretty much anyone else but Silva then I’d love to see the whole experiment implode in front of their eyes.

AC: Enormously foolish. Who wants to see this? Who was asking for it? “Man, I really want to see the guy with the No Fear tattoo fight a middleweight.” Vera being matched up tough against an IFL vet who has a far less than entertaining style who may very well beat him by laying on top for 15 minutes doesn’t help either.

DW: Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin is, to paraphrase Dana “Fucking” White, “fucking retarded.” This is a lose-lose situation. The only possible, positive outcome would be if Silva scores a very easy win, so he can have another highlight reel KO and can add “dominant in 2 weight classes” to his little 3-point UFC pre-fight bio.

IL: The risk/reward ratio simply does not make sense in this situation. James Irvin may not be very good but he does possess the cliched “punchers chance”, especially against someone from a lower weight class. If Silva wins then it’s expected, but if he loses then you’ve managed to at least partially castrate a strong champion and take help kill the buzz for potential Liddell or Jackson matches further down the line - all on free tv! I would view it as the perfect irony if it were to happen on a show that is only occurring for destructive purposes.

TUF Finale:

IL: I haven’t been paying enough attention to know people’s names but it would shock me if anyone managed to out-stupid the guy who proudly stands around and pisses himself for laughs.

AC: If its CB, its lol-material because Elite XC will probably sign him immediately. Also, CB was the only reason to watch. This will go down as the season with the guy who could piss himself and had no good fighters.

DW: I haven’t watched TUF in a long time. It is on at a time when I really don’t want to watch TV,
the fights usually aren’t that great and it is just over saturating the market with sub-par fighting. If I want to see sub-par fighting I can go out and grab some KOTC DVDs for 2 bucks a pop.

JS: In a perfect world, there would only be a couple of tremendous assholes or social rejects in the house. That would help limit the possibilities. This season, everyone is a suspect.

Real men stay up / get up for Sengoku shows. Join us.

The official Total-MMA.com AIM Sengoku chat is now live. The room is ‘loganclarkforthewin’. Add me on AIM - Iain Total MMA - if there is any problems.

ALAN: I’m excited for the night/early morning/whatever it is wherever you are of fights. A dude who’s been to Saitama is in chat with us, and he’s quite adamant that the building is pretty empty though, which is interesting.

1. Fabio Silva 9-4-0 vs. 28-22-3 Kazuo Takahashi

ALAN: The intro video was done to “The Boys are Back in Town,” so I’m reasonably sure this will be awesome. First round had some good give and take, with Takahashi getting a takedown and controlling in top position, Silva reversing it, and some okay standup between the two. I actually give it to Takahashi and would score it 10-9, but this is Japan.

Round 2 doesn’t go the same way. Silva runs out, punches a lot, and Takahashi falls down. The ref takes his time to stop the fight and so he absorbs some head stomps.

2. Rodrigo Damm 7-1-0 vs. 13-2-0 Jorge Masvidal

ALAN: Masvidal is all sorts of awesome, so I am excited for this also.

Well, he kinda makes my faith worthless. Early knockdown of Damm leads to a takedown by Damm, but that goes nowhere. The fight is back on its feet and its really tenative standup from both. Round 2 is absurdly slow, and then somehow Damm drops a right hand on Masvidal’s chin nearing the end of it that drops Masvidal. Some punches on the ground later and a surprise Damm KO win.

IAIN: That was the outcome I least suspected, but it was a very poor stoppage. Worse than Vera/Werdum last night. Masvidal had won the first but the fight wasn’t terribly exciting and made worse by the inconclusive finish.

3. Choi Mu Bae 7-2-0 vs. 3-2-0 Marcio Cruz

Cruz runs over Choi Mu Bae here. Once it hit the mat Cruz had this on lock and controlled Choi and constantly put him in bad situations. The triangle from being on Choi’s back was choice. Good win for Marcio, who got put in with too stiff of competition too fast.

IAIN: God or Pe De Pano answered my prayers. I requested an early stoppage and they delivered in tremendous style. I am not sure who to thank specifically. Although with Cruz having so many BJJ titles maybe it is not fair of me to differentiate between the two.

4. Sanae Kikuta 26-6-3 vs. 12-5-0 Chris Rice

IAIN: Oh yes, UK MMA is ready to make it’s mark on Sengoku. Excuse me while I stand for the national anthem…

ALAN: Iain will not be please. Kikuta gets this to the ground with the slowest shot ever, and from there positions himself for the slooooooowwwwwwwwessssssst armbar ever. It made Brad Imes’ TUF triangle look masterful.

IAIN: Chris Rice, you have let Britain down. I will no longer be voting for you in the BBC’s Sports Personality Of The Year awards come December. My vote will go to ‘Buzz’ Berry again.

5. Nick Thompson 35-9-1 vs. 9-3-0 Michael Costa

IAIN: Thompson is largely dull it seems, as a character, whereas Costa has dressed up and is dancing to the ring. I cannot overlook this and will be cheering accordingly.

ALAN: First round was pretty nothing. Thompson almost gets an armbar early and then Costa gets out of it and lays in guard for 3 minutes. Second round was a vast improvement. Thompson is nearly KOed by Costa and then put on his back, but he is able to sweep his way to side mount and then gets a kimura to win the bout. Not too bad in the end.

IAIN: Thompson is wearing motherchuffin’ ZUBAS. TJ De Santis on Sherdog was right - people from minnesota really do wear them in a non-ironic way. Half-way through the fight I was questioning how good Thompson was as a fighter. He lost his first Sengoku fight despite the result and was losing this. However he recovered well and got a good victory here. I am not ready to call him World Top Twenty material like some but I am interested in seeing him fight again.

INTERMISSION - WILL AMERICA BE AWAKE FOR THE SECOND HALF?

Intermission ends and they announce a bunch of Russian dudes fighting on the 8/24 show along with Frank Trigg and a lightweight tournament featuring Mitsuoka, Ludwig, Damm, Gomi and a few other guys.

6. Kazuo Misaki 19-8-2 vs. 11-1-0 Logan Clark

IAIN: This is where I win money. Go Clark!

In a strange but pleasant turn of events, Logan Clark’s brother has joined the Total MMA live chat and will be watching the fight with us. Another reason to cheer for him.

ALAN: Not the most exciting fight ever. Misaki went out to channel Lyoto Machida and basically succeeded. Clark just didn’t impose his size and reach here. The jab, when doubled, worked well, but he only did it in combination a couple times in the fight. Misaki just took the bout with low kicks and some sharp, fast, but generally not powerful punching in a defensive performance that was not exactly for the ages.

IAIN: Misaki ran a lot. I thought Clark should have gone for more takedowns and tried to repeat the Frank Trigg / Misaki fight but he chose to stand for the whole fifteen minutes basically. He was not outclassed and great fighters have lost to Misaki but there was the opportunity to win here.

7. Kazuyuki Fujita 15-6-0 vs. 53-11-0 Travis Wiuff

IAIN: Here comes that good up-and-coming fighter (so says John Peretti) Travis Wiuff, YAMMA champion. YAMMA and Bodog champs on this show so far. Sengoku is truly the king of B-league MMA.

ALAN: So there are two guys, and both are noted as wrestlers. What happens? They punch! And in this case, Wiuff lands first and hardest. Fujita just crumples and Wiuff wins the fight as he hammerfists Fujita into oblivion.

IAIN: Never doubt the power of a YAMMA champ. Maybe now people will listen?

8. Hidehiko Yoshida 7-6-1 vs. 12-12-0 Maurice Smith

IAIN: When you’re relying on a main event to save a show, and it features a nearly 50-year-old kickboxer against a washed-up, 40-year-old judoka then it is not a ringing endorsement of the show as a whole.

ALAN: So Yoshida and Smith stand for awhile and nothing happens. And then Yoshida clinches, gets a takedown, gets to side control and has some side headlock/gi choke thing and Smith didn’t tap and goes out. Well, that was not very good.

IAIN: Oh man, avoid this show unless you’re an incredible hardcore. Yoshida is covered in ticker tape and streamers afterwards like he has actually done something worth celebrating.

ALAN: We had a short discussion in chat about how bad this was. I think it was worse than Elite XC’s last show, UFC 83, and that Strikeforce show with Sapp/Nortje. No doubt in my mind. It wasn’t YAMMA bad but that is because there were actually conclusions to these fights generally. There is really no reason to see this.

I’m back after a week off from gambling in the giddy aftermath of my spectacular UFC 84 winnings. Listen up heads, to Jordan Breen, because I’ve got another SURE-FIRE winning accumulator hidden below.

Read the rest of this entry »

So the crazy MMA calendar has thrown up two high-profile events in two days and as such you’re all being treated to two liveblogs in two days.

Join us from near fight time for live results and thoughts on all the main card action.

In the meantime, go and read significantly fewer headlines than yesterday relating to tonigh’s event. You can also watch some highlights from the post-fight Elite XC press conference where there was an altercation between a very smart man in Brett Rogers and a not so smart in Kimbo.

Picture credit goes to Combat Lifestyle.