Archive for the 'Total MMA' 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 »

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 »

Pictured: Toby Imada lowers the boom on Dave Gardner in their 2007 bout. Imada fights former Olympic judoka Ferrid Kheder at Bellator 36 this weekend.

Last week’s choice for Total-MMA’s fight of the week, Dan Henderson vs. Rafeal “Feijao” Cavalcante, was an easy choice. Two seasoned veterans who have proven themselves on top of the MMA world — one for more than a decade — were squaring off in the main event of another big Strikeforce show. The fight didn’t disappoint, although if you recall our prediction, it didn’t surprise either.

This week’s fight of the week stands in stark contrast. First, it’s an undercard bout, a quarterfinal in Bellator’s lightweight torunament on Saturday in Louisiana at Bellator 36. But more importantly, it’s a fight where we aren’t sure what to expect; and that’s what makes this match so special — and worthy of this week’s spotlight.

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Pictured: Rafeal “Feijao” Cavalcante and Dan Henderson at the Strikeforce weigh-ins yesterday.

It’s Showtime! No, not the “It’s Showtime” kickboxing promotion in Europe — go to our good friends at Liverkick.com for great coverage of their continued success. Nope, it’s time for some title bouts for Strikeforce as Dan Henderson (who nearly stands alone as MMA’s elder statesman these days) challenges for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title against upstart champion, Rafeal “Feijao” Cavalcante, and Liz Carmouche replaces an injured Miesha Tate to challenge Marloes Coenen for the Women’s Welterweight title. Tate’s absence hurts this show but the main event still stands tall as this week’s most relevant to the world’s MMA rankings picture. No question to me what to profile as this week’s “Fight of the Week”.

But, the questions about the fight itself are many.

Can Cavalcante continue to improve? How many times will he find a way to victory before we believe he belongs with a major MMA title? What does Henderson, now approaching his 41st birthday, have left? How many times have we written that until we accept he’s ageless?

I’ll do my best to answer…

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Pictured: BJ Penn (left) and Jon Fitch face off at UFC 127 weigh-ins yesterday.

Tonight in Australia, ZUFFA presents a fairly good show with an interesting main event — pitting MMA’s most decorated lightweight in BJ Penn continuing his run at welter, against top welter contender Jon Fitch. The Total-MMA Staff is proud to offer you our take on it. Yep, the whole staff basically came out to play for this one. Who will get bragging rights this time?

As always, our predictions are for entertainment purposes only so don’t blame us if you lose your fortune and end up in a tent in the Outback. Go Waltzing Matilda with me. Or something.

Starting off is the guy who correctly predicted Fedor’s upset at the hands of “Bigfoot” Silva a few weeks ago, Jose Fernandez:

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Pictured: Fedor Emelialanenko and Antonio Silva square off at the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva weigh ins yesterday.

Tonight, the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey plays host to the Strikeforce World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament and three esteemed members of Total-MMA Daily’s new staff are here to offer our breakdown. This tournament will feature some of the greatest collection of heavyweight talent since the heyday of PRIDE, so don’t miss it. It features the added bonus of being able to catch the fights live on Showtime TV, instead of a scratchy audio broadcast by Japan-based Americans over the internet. (Where are you now, PRIDEcast? I used to love those guys!)

Offering predictions tonight are Total-MMA’s resident Strikeforce columnist Ajit Punj (AP); our man with the Breakdown who’s gutsy enough to pick a 5-1 underdog, Jose Fernandez (JF); and our restless intellectual George Do (GD). Unfortunately we’re out our resident Briton Jacob. Get well soon mate. As always our legal team reminds you that predictions are for entertainment purposes only so any gambling losses you suffer are your own bloody fault, as our resident Briton might say…

On with the show:

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Pictured: An Enson Inoue Christmas card.

I hope everyone is having a good Holiday season. Thank you for visiting us!

As Jacob mentioned in his recent UFC 123 preview, I have decided to step away from Total-MMA to focus on a book project, but the site will continue in my absence. Jacob and several other writers will begin providing content in a few weeks.

If you are interested in writing for Total-MMA, please contact us. We’d love to hear from you.

Thank you again, and Merry Christmas!!

Pictured: Season’s Greetings from Team Golden Glory.

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: 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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As the sport of Mixed Martial Arts grows, as does the public’s interest with the fighters, the personalities and the history of the sport. Of course, to meet that demand that means that publishers are going to start to demand books on the subject are available. With that being said, Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting by Jonathan Snowden sets itself away from the rest of the pack by doing what nobody else has done; present a thorough history of Mixed Martial Arts dating back to the inception of Judo and everything else leading up to modern Mixed Martial Arts. Not only is it the information that sets Total MMA apart, but the narrative style and passion the writer has for the sport of MMA.

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