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Pictured: Henderson and Fedor meet in their hotel lobby.

After a month’s absence it feels good to start writing again! And since I’ve been away, there has been an incredible amount of fighters withdrawing from their scheduled bouts. One of the most shocking is Alistair Overeem. When the word first got out, rumors went about saying Overeem did something to be pulled out of the tournament and he is on thin ice with Zuffa. It appears, however, that he pulled out due to a toe injury, and will now be replaced by Daniel Cormier. It will be very interesting to see how DC steps up to fighting “Bigfoot” Silva and have a shot at winning the Strikeforce GP. Shotime demanded that the event be held September 10, and Overeem did not feel he would be ready in time.

But September 10 still feels ages away, and there is an interesting card this weekend. There are a few fights that interest me more than the others, so I’ll go through them and give my breakdown.

Paul Daley vs Tyron Woodley-
Two top contenders in SF will go at it this weekend, both of them looking for a shot at the title. Woodley has amazing wrestling and is looking unstoppable in Strikeforce, pulling together a perfect 8-0 record. In his last fight with Tarec Saffiedine, Woodley was able to use his wrestling to keep the fight where he wanted it-anywhere but in striking range. Daley’s wrestling is…not so great, to put it lightly. I do not think it would surprise anyone if Woodley looked to take down Daley from the beginning of the fight. Daley has big power in his hands, and fast, crisp combinations at his disposal, but it will be interesting to see how he takes advantage of that before Woodley can begin his takedown attempts.

Meisha Tate vs Marloes Coenen-
A fight that should have taken place a while ago will now be the co-main event this Saturday night when these two women battle for the Women’s Welterweight strap. Tate has expressed her interest in taking this fight to the ground, especially considering the way Coenen’s last fight went. Liz Caramouche was able to mount Coenen repeatedly and work some great ground and pound. With a triangle in the 4th round, Coenen was able to win the fight and keep her title, but only after exposing a flaw in her game. Meisha “takedown” Tate will no doubt be using her wrestling and ground and pound to take out Coenen, but this is a dangerous gameplan against a submission specialist as good as Marloes.

Dan Henderson vs Fedor Emelianenko-
Two legends from Pride will square off this weekend in a fight that has been heavily anticipated since the rumors began earlier this year. After his 2nd loss in a row to “Bigfoot” Silva, Fedor began contemplating a move to LHW, and his fans backed his decision. Well, “The Last Emperor” will be facing a Light Heavyweight, but it will be in the heavyweight division (although Hendo has plans to weigh in at the smalles possible weight.) Both men have incredible chins, huge power, and insane right hands. I see this fight being a 3 round war, and not even the H-bomb or Fedor’s lethal right hand earning either man a KO/TKO win because of the tough chins at play and lack of cutting weight.

Check back Friday for a full list of predictions from the staff here at http://www.total-mma.com!

Pictured: The poster for tonight’s event, featuring non-competitor Gina Carano.

Another weekend, another thrilling card produced by our friends at Zuffa. Once again this strong offering is headlined by, in my opinion, the most enthralling Heavyweight contest all year in the rematch between K-1 World Grand Prix Champ Alistair Overeem and two time ADCC Heavyweight winner Fabricio Werdum. And it’s got some nice support, too - everyone’s favourite pantomime villain Josh Barnett has his first fight stateside in two and a half years against the always entertaining Brett Rogers, and MMA’s best lightweight boxer KJ Noons will also see action against Jorge Masvidal. All in all, there’s plenty of entertainment to be had, and, with the whole prelim card (featuring former Top 10 Lightweight Gesias ‘JZ’ Cavalcante) airing live on HDNet, this is a whole evening’s entertainment available for free that could easily be marketed by the UFC as a pay-per-view. Join us after the jump as the Total-MMA staff offer their tuppence on the card. Read the rest of this entry »

After a rather long layoff caused by internet problems, graduation, and a two week trip to South America, I’m back spouting MMA related nonsense once again.

This week, I’ll be examining what I feel is a common double standard amongst MMA fans and media. It seems to me that Josh Barnett gets an undue amount of hate from all corners of the MMA world. The majority of this negative emotion supposedly stems from the fact that Barnett has been caught using steroids. But the truth is, there is a laundry list of MMA fighters who have been caught - and not one of those guys is the target of such scorn as Mr. Barnett.

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Pictured:14 OZ Combat Sport Intl Muay Thai gloves from www.mmahq.com.

I was fortunate enough to get a pair of Combat Sport Intl Muay Thai gloves from www.mmahq.com to write a review for. After using them for 3 days, I could not be happier with these gloves. As a background, I used these gloves for 2 hours every night for sparring, hitting a heavy bag, and hitting Thai pads. For me with medium sized hands, the gloves fit very well, there is no extra room and not overly tight around your hands. The fit of the gloves allows for more precise striking. There is padding all around the glove that protects your hands on every strike, even near the palms. I was also able to test out the gloves on the other side and received a few strikes with them on. The padding was stiff, but had enough give as the strikes landed. There was also great wrist support, although I would still recommend wrapping your hands if you were to use these heavily. The Velcro strap that secures the glove is thick so you can grab it and tighten/release it even with your other hand gloved, and the Velcro is very secure and stays in the position you strap it to.

One slight drawback to these gloves is that they felt slightly lighter than 14 OZ. Usually I use 14 OZ gloves, and by comparison these gloves felt slightly lighter.

After 3 days of use, the gloves held up well and felt brand new every time I put them on. They seem to have enough ventilation as I left them in my garage after using them, and by the next day they were dry and ready to go again. Overall I would highly recommend these gloves to anyone who needed training/sparring gloves. They are sturdy, fit well, and seem like they will hold up well for a long period of time, allowing you to get your money’s worth.

Be sure to check out www.mmahq.com for great daily deals, and their newest venture, www.bjjhq.com for daily deals on Jiu-Jitsu gear.

Pictured: Junior dos Santos and Shane Carwin staredown at last night’s weigh ins in Vancouver, Canada.

Zuffa’s summer deluge continues tonight as two top 5 heavyweights clash for the honour of facing Cain Velasquez in the autumn. And that’s just the main event, as this is one of the strongest cards of the summer, despite the best efforts of an injury bugbear that saw changes to no less than 8 of the 11 fights presented tonight. And every single one of the fights will be available live, on Facebook from 5:50 ET, Spike and Rogers Sportsnet from 8 ET with the PPV taking over at 9. This is probably the second best card we’ve seen thus far this year, with fireworks up and down the order and stars like Michihiro Omigawa and Yves Edwards relegated to the prelims, plus Kenny Florian making his debut at Featherweight on the main card. Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured: Gina Carano will not be making her MMA return next weekend at Strikeforce: Overeem vs Werdum.

Strikeforce’s 2 month layoff is almost up, and they are putting on some great events over the next few months. There have been some changes and possible changes, so read on to find out more about these updates.

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Pictured: The Strikeforce WW Champ Nick Diaz will be facing GSP in a superfight this October.
There has been much speculation, and rumors have been thrown around quite a bit now. But it’s confirmed now: Nick Diaz vs GSP will face off in a superfight this October at UFC 137.

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Pictured: Many rumors have circulated about a possible bout between Nick Diaz vs GSP.

Nick Diaz’s future is very uncertain, from a possible boxing match with Vargas, to a boxing match with Lacy, and rumors of him fighting GSP being thrown in between these boxing rumors. Since Diaz defended his Strikeforce title against Daley and GSP defended his UFC title against Shields, the rumors of a Strikeforce vs UFC championship bout have grown stronger.

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Pictured: The Strikeforce commentating team may soon be replaced.

We all knew it was bound to happen: Zuffa has been cutting back on Strikeforce’s staff and is slowly phasing out the current Strikeforce set up. Based on a recent rumor posted on the UG, it appears as if Strikeforce is slowly losing it’s star power and employees.

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Pictured: Dana White plans on keeping Diaz in MMA.

Still more than 1 month until Strikeforce puts on another card, and a little over three weeks until the next UFC card, there isn’t much to write about. Rumors are still circulating, and news updates continue to roll out, but we haven’t felt the excitement of a Strikeforce fight week for weeks now. However, there is one thing 209 fans can get pumped about…

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