Archive for the 'Jacob Lawton' Category

Pictured: The poster for tonight’s Light Heavyweight showdown.

Tito Ortiz is, indeed, back. Going into his fight with Ryan Bader last month everyone expected the Huntington Beach Bad Boy to be resoundingly beaten and cut from the UFC, but Mr. Ortiz had other ideas. After his stunning upset of Bader, Tito was called in on short notice to face Rashad Evans in what was, before Phil Davis withdrew, a #1 contender fight, with the winner getting the victor of Jones/Rampage. But with Tito’s imposition on the main event, does it somewhat decrease the legitimacy of Evans’ contendership? And, if Tito were to win, should he get a shot at dethroning Jon Jones? Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: The poster for tonight’s event.

As Ajit promised here, here’s some more of the Total-MMA staff with their picks ahead of tonight’s fights in Hoffman Estate, IL, which goes out live on Showtime. And it’s a strong show too - lead off by a clash of PRIDE legends; as former Heavyweight champ and the man frequently mentioned as the MMA GOAT, Fedor Emelianenko, tries to get back to winning ways against the only man to hold titles in two weight classes at the same time in a major MMA promotion, Dan Henderson. But the fun doesn’t stop there folks, as a pair of Welterweight title eliminators featuring wild sluggers Paul Daley and Scott Smith pitted against hot prospects Tyron Woodley and Tarec Saffiedine round out the undercard — which also sees top Middleweights Robbie Lawler and Tim Kennedy clash. And to top it all off we have a women’s Welterweight (135lbs) title fight between Golden Glory’s Marloes Coenen and the lovely Miesha Tate. Read the rest of this entry »

Total-MMA will not be providing any indepth analysis of this weekend’s mixed martial arts, but I feel it is my civic duty to inform you all that we are in for quite the three days. This post will quickly breakdown the main events (where applicable) from each of the four (yes, four) live events to be broadcast in the USA or on the internet over the next few days and and summarise why you should catch, or at least DVR, them. Read the rest of this entry »

The UFC returns after a month hiatus with a big card from Las Vegas. Well, it was ‘big’ a few weeks back, when the rubber match between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard for the lightweight title was topping the bill, but now, with that bout scrapped due to injury, it has acquired reputation of a rather substandard card. This couldn’t be further from the truth - despite the lack of pure name value on the card, there are plenty of entertaining and relevant scraps on offer. If Rampage should knock off Hamill in the main event, he will be one win away from another title shot, assuming that the victor of Rashad-Davis is next in line. The winner of Mir-Nelson will also find himself on the brink of title contention, behind the winner of Carwin-Dos Santos. One of the top propsects and welterweight Rick Story is set to try to break out against potential top 5 170er Thiago Alves, and the exciting Jorge Santiago makes his return to the UFC to face dangerous striker Brian Stann. Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: The official poster for UFC 129, which emanates from Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the new time of 6pm EST.

Tomorrow night is a huge one in the history of the UFC. It features the shattering of their attendance record - the ~22,000 current is expected to be more than doubled, with 55,000 seats sold at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. It also marks the first time the UFC have visited Ontario, and the first time the UFC Featherweight title is fought for. The card is, in a word, stacked, and every single fight is set to be aired in some form - five prelims on a Facebook stream, two on Spike, and the five fight main card featuring a title double header and Randy Couture’s 3rd ‘last fight ever’ on pay-per-view. It’s an interesting one from many perspectives - how will Jake Shields fare against GSP? Will Mark Hominick fulfill his promise to trouble Jose Aldo on the feet? Will Lyoto Machida go 1-3 since Joe Rogan’s declaration of the Machida era two years ago? Will Randy Couture’s storied career end on a high? This is the card of the year so far, and I, personally, am hyped for it. Read the rest of this entry »

The poster for Strikeforce Challengers 15, which went down last night in Stockton, CA.

This card may not be live, no, but the Primetime network, the new home for Strikeforce MMA here in the UK will be broadcasting all future Strikeforce events on their network. This is a big step for Strikeforce, and one they can probably thank Zuffa for, as the San Jose, California based company have not had a permanent British TV deal before. Tonight’s rerun of last night’s fights will be available for free on Sky Channel 480 and on their website, with next week’s card, headlined by Nick Diaz and Paul Daley, also free on TV and online for the modest fee of £9.95. That card will also be aired live at 3am GMT. The re-run of SF Challengers starts at 7pm GMT tonight, so, fellow MMA loving Brits, get over there sharpish and enjoy what I’m told was a very exciting card!

Pictured: Cole Escovedo’s stunning KO of Yoshiro Maeda at last year’s DREAM 13.

Cole Escovedo has an incredible story. The guy was the first WEC Featherweight champion, before being struch down by a horrific staph infection that left him paralaysed, and lost him two years of hic career. Escovedo has since returned, despite doctors telling him he may never walk again, and established himself amongst the top Lighter-weight fighters in the world not currently contracted to the UFC. Ever since his miraculous return from injury, Escovedo has been campaigning to return to the WEC and now the UFC, and in the video embedded above he ‘auditions’ for the upcoming season of TUF, which is to feature Bantamweight and/or Featherweight fighters. For a man who has gone through so much adversity, it would be great to see Cole’s career come full circle and for him to return to the major league of MMA. So please, join us in tweeting @DanaWhite and @SpikeTV to let them know about this video and help this warrior complete his comeback. And hey, if he’s as amusing as he is in the video, then maybe the guy will not only be amongst the most talented fighters on the season, but one of the most entertaining personalities, too.

For more details, check out this fanpost on BloodyElbow.com.

Pictured: Phil Davis, who is among the prospects to challenge new light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones in the future. Davis fights Antônio Rogério Nogueira tonight at UFC Fight Night in Seattle.

Jon Jones looked amazing last Saturday night. There was a feeling of destiny in the air as the young New Yorker made his way to the Octagon, from a pretty good (considering this was a New Jersey crowd) reaction from the UFC faithful. Then he stepped into the cage and beat seven bells out of a man considered by many to be among the top five fighters on the planet. Even the most hardcore Jones-o-phile couldn’t have foreseen just how dominant their favourite would be as he stepped dominated Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in every aspect of the game, out working him standing and against the cage and destroying him with some young Tito Ortiz-esque ground and pound from inside the guard. When the fight finally finished, there was no doubt who the victor was, and no doubt that he deserves his spot in the sun atop the 205 lbs rankings. But for how long?

The Light Heavyweight weight class has always been a competitive one, and no sooner had Jon Jones hand been raised than the sharks, scenting blood, began to gather:

Read the rest of this entry »

We here at Total MMA do our best to provide you all with our predictions for every major event, and this weekend’s UFC, emanating from the Palace of Auburn Hills Arena in Michigan, is no exception. Pity it’s an average card only remarkable due to a particularly strong headliner, but there is some good stuff going on on the main card. Tommy was at pains to point out to me the prescence of George ‘Georgie’ Sotiropolous on the undercard, taking on Joe Lauzon in a bout BJJ purists will certainly delight in, and in Gerald Harris and Phil Davis we have a couple of American A-List emerging talents getting a chance to air the skills live to the country on PPV for the first time. Along with the aforementioned clash between former Light Heavyweight Champions Machida and Rampage up top, there’s plenty to recommend this card to any looking for a fix of MMA to put the trainwreck that was UFC 122 out of their minds.

For those of you who will not be joining the paying masses for the main card, Spike TV will carry two prelim fights the hour before the PPV - Matt Brown will face Brian Foster at 170lbs and Aaron Simpson will cross swords with Mark Munoz at 185lbs. Neither fight is particularly attractive on paper, but it’s free MMA, and with our glorious sport, even the dullest match on paper can turn out to be a barnstormer, so we all might as well check it out. Set the DVR, at least.

Predictions are by David Batemen (DB) and myself (JL). A reminder that our picks are for entertainment purposes only. Don’t come crying to us when you’re living in the homeless shelter because you foolishly respected our choices. Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: Two of the UFC Middleweight elite, Nate Marquardt and Jushin Okami, who will square off at UFC 122 tonight in Germany.

Loyal Total-MMA readers will recall how I’ve chosen to highlight boxing events here, especially when a great bout is on the same night as a subpar MMA show. One would think tonight would seem such a night — as UFC lines up a show in Germany without a single title match, against a glamorous night of boxing in Texas, as Manny Pacquiao ends his quest for another title in another weight division. One would think this is such night, indeed…

One couldn’t be more wrong. To hell with the Marquis of Queensbury.

Faced with the choice of these two events, any real fight fan will be watching a tape-delayed UFC 122.

Why? Simply put, any real fight fan has to look him or herself in the mirror tomorrow morning. Any real fight fan knows Antonio Margarito should be in jail and not licensed to fight since being caught red-handed with plaster in his handwraps a year ago. Any fan knows that this fight is bogus: a joke of a title in a non-existent weight division. Whether or not Margarito suddenly becomes a decent fighter tonight (he’s looked totally inept since he was caught cheating and put under greater scrutiny), whether or not Pacquiao comes in distracted as rumors state and the bout becomes competitive (of course, those rumore have been swirling about for the last seven years, and so far proven untrue at every turn), whether or not this UFC is subpar (let’s be honest, it is), it just doesn’t stand any ethical scrutiny to take part in Pacquiao/Margarito tonight.

So, here goes. UFC 122 is being televised on Spike TV on tape delay from Germany tonight, and we’re watching. A bout between two possible #1 contenders for Anderson Silva’s middleweight belt is the highlight, along with what should be an entertaining scrap between sluggers Jorge Rivera and Alessio Sakara, and some interesting talent from Europe besides.

Read the rest of this entry »