Archive for the 'Tommy Hackett' Category

In the opening pages of his autobiography entitled Why I Fight (released last month by William Morrow/Harper Collins), BJ Penn spends a moment to describe his parents’ background. According to Penn, his father “had a very difficult childhood…I’ve always known it best not to dig for answers.” It’s sadly representative of the book that, with some very noteworthy exceptions, ends up mostly skimming the surface of the champion’s life and legendary career.

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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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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 and Takanori Gomi yawn their way through a “staredown” at yesterday’s weigh-ins

Remember back when UFC seemed to hold a show every six weeks or so? In a given month, a MMA fan’s time was sentenced to one PPV, with something here and there on TV, with the occassional time off for good behavior? Friends, those days are gone. With this, its third live event in less than two weeks; ZUFFA clearly expects you to be committed to your relationship.

Eh… well, there are lots of worse problems to have.

UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi, tonight airing from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, doesn’t appear to have quite as strong a lineup as the last “free” outing, UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones, at least not on paper. But, like they say, the fights don’t happen on paper. The Versus show’s succession of quick knockouts left some fans feeling a little empty anyway, and so maybe this one will exceed expectations. It definitely boasts an interesting main event, with the UFC debut of former PRIDE standout Takanori Gomi against Kenny Florian, who is looking to continue his road back to contention following a one-sided loss to lightweight kingpin BJ Penn last Summer.

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Pictured: Georges St-Pierre and Dan Hardy face off at the weigh-ins for UFC 111

Tomorrow night, ZUFFA continues their manic Spring schedule in New Jersey with UFC 111, with Pound-for-pound entrant Georges “Rush” St-Pierre making his fourth defense of the UFC Welterweight title, this time against a massive underdog in Dan Hardy. Backing that are two top heavyweights fighting for the interim championship, with champion Brock Lesnar still inactive due to health issues.

It’s a show with a lot to offer: first, a chance to watch a pound-for-pound entrant in St-Pierre, and second, an excellent fight in what may be the UFC’s deepest division. On the other hand, the former bout is a mismatch, and the latter is still something of a letdown due to the absence of titlist Lesnar. Also, UFC 111’s undercard isn’t the best — particularly with Thiago Alves forced off the show after failing a pre-fight physical.

It’s an up and down show, but certainly worth a look if you’ve got the PPV loot to spare…

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UFC kicks off a busy two weeks tomorrow night, with possibly their best-ever live show on “free” US Cable TV. The first ever “UFC on Versus” card eminating from Broomfield, Colorado features a pair of excellent co-main events, with four fighters among or near the top ten in their divisions battling it out to get ahead of their respective packs. Waiting in the wigs is next Saturday’s UFC 111 and Fight Night: Florian vs Gomi on the 31st. Oh yeah, and another one of those reality show things that I got kind of sick of about two years ago…

Anyway, the staff has weighed in, so on to the show!

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March 13 should have been the night that we crowned a true pound-for-pound champion in boxing. We should have seen a joint effort from the sport’s two biggest promoters in Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, finally setting aside their differences to bring the fans the one bout that everyone wanted to see. Top Rank’s Manny Pacquiao vs. Golden Boy Promotion’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. would promise a unification bout at welter for boxing’s biggest ever purse, pay per view audience, and all the glory that comes with it.

But when negotiations broke down, we found ourselves watching Top Rank’s next best welter in Joshua Clottey in what felt like a subpar sparring session against Pacquiao.

So, what went wrong with this show?

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