Jul 282012
 

(Photo courtesy of Invicta Fighting Championships)

—MAIN CARD (on InvictaFC.com)—

Shayna Baszler vs. Sara McMann: McMann via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28), Round 3, 5:00

Hitomi Akano vs. Alexis Davis: Davis via Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 2, 3:41

Liz Carmouche vs. Kaitlin Young: Carmouche via Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 2, 3:34

Ayaka Hamasaki vs. Lacey Schuckman: Hamasaki via Submission (Armbar), Round 3, 4:45

Raquel Pa’aluhi vs. Amanda Nunes: Nunes via Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 1, 2:24

Sarah D’Alelio vs. Vanessa Porto: D’Alelio via Submission (Armbar), Round 1, 3:16

Barb Honchak vs. Bethany Marshall: Honchak via TKO (Punches), Round 2, 1:22

Julia Budd vs. Elina Nilsson: Budd via TKO (Strikes), Round 1, 3:49

Carla Esparza vs. Sarah Schneider: Esparza via TKO (Punches), Round 2, 4:28 Continue reading »

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Jul 272012
 

Shayna Baszler (black top) is just one of the big FMMA names that Invicta FC has managed to bring to their cage. (Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

The first and second cards of a burgeoning MMA promotion are always fun and games when a gimmick pays off. For Invicta Fighting Championship, the “gimmick” is the FMMA focus, and it is paying off well. Though Invicta isn’t the first FMMA focused North American promotion, it is the first to successfully market itself as such on a national level. Don’t misconstrue – “gimmick” is not a pejorative, it simply describes what FMMA is to Invicta in business terms, most particularly sales terms. The product they sell is MMA, the reason to buy theirs over others’ is that it’s all women. Much like a car lot offering a chance to win a free car after a test drive on Saturday, the real trick is turning the traffic that shows up for the gimmick into real customers. Invicta has the FMMA crowd, but that isn’t enough to sustain the brand. They also have hordes (relatively speaking) of casual fans who have logged into the free stream and locals who picked up a ticket that are there to take the test drive. Those people will need a quality product from the ground up if Invicta wants them to stick around.

Continue reading »

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Sep 102011
 

(Photo courtesy of Strikeforce and Zuffa, LLC.)

—MAIN CARD (Showtime)—

Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov: Barnett via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke), Round 1, 4:28

Daniel Cormier vs. Antonio Silva: Cormier via KO (Punches), Round 1, 3:56

Ronaldo Souza vs. Luke Rockhold: Rockhold via Unanimous Decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47), Round 5, 5:00

Roger Gracie vs. Muhammed Lawal: Lawal via KO (Punch), Round 1, 4:33

Maximo Blanco vs. Pat Healy: Healy via Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 2, 4:27

Continue reading »

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Jun 232011
 

Germaine De Randamie (white shorts) will seek to continue her success in Strikeforce as she takes on Julia Budd, a woman who she once defeated in the Thai boxing ring. (Photo courtesy of Esther Lin and Zuffa, LLC.)

This Friday night marks the return of Strikeforce’s flagship farm organization, Strikeforce Challengers, as the red hot Caros Fodor (6-1) continues his blitz for a promotion to the Strikeforce main card against Cung Le (7-1) disciple James Terry (9-2).  Also slated for action is Ryan Couture (2-0) as he faces Matt Ricehouse (4-0) in an attempt to lay further ground word to build a legacy for himself separate from that of his famed father “The Natural” Randy Couture (19-11). Lorenz Larkin (9-0) will seek to continue his undefeated attack on the heavyweight division as he takes on the Bellmore Kickboxing Academy KO machine Gian Villante (7-2) and kicking off the main card will be “The Jewel” Julia Budd (2-1) and “Iron Lady” Germaine De Randamie (2-1) as the ladies take the cage in an attempt to make waves in the burgeoning Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight division as the first two women to ever fight under a Zuffa banner. Continue reading »

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Jan 102011
 

Okay, Spilled Bag of Fights… here we go… Aesop Rock on the iTunes, coffee, vanilla cream cookie. Wait. Looks like we could use a refill on the coffee – hold on… Okay. Spilled Bag of Fights. Here we go… I’m writing this fucking thing on Notepad. I’m in exile, you see. No, not exile… I’m a refugee. Did I spell that right? I dunno. Fucking Notepad doesn’t have spell-check. I should just write this in e-mail…

Okay, here we are in e-mail. So, anyway, I’ve very specifically avoided writing much about me, the guy behind the bag, and try to keep it pretty focused on MMA. And since this is ostensibly an MMA wrap-up column, what better time or platform to ramble on about things that have nothing to do with MMA? Such as the fact that my room in my apartment in LA is uninhabitable due to a combination of a leaking roof and a week-and-a-half of straight rain. So, I’m in Las Vegas visiting Moms and unsure what to do next since the landlord seems to think I should pay the same amount of rent for an uninhabitable apartment as one that fulfills one of the basic requirements of a shelter – i.e.: fucking SHELTER! My contention is that if I wanted a leaky, moldy shelter, I could probably fashion one from some plastic and a cardboard box behind the auto parts store. Sure, I’d miss some of my favorite TV shows and MMA but no one would expect rent for it. So, as I wait in Vegas to find out what the response is to my “How about I don’t pay for what I’m not getting?” offer, I sit down nonetheless and write a Spilled Bag of Fights, for you, loyal readers. For you. Now, when I call the column “Phoning It In”, it’s partially because I don’t have much to write about but also a clever play on words since I asked you guys on Twitter what to write about and I put your suggestions and my responses at the end of the column… like you were phoning in… heh?! See what I did there?? eh? Continue reading »

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Jan 082011
 

Amanda Nunes (top) assailed opponent Julia Budd (purple shorts) with a flurry of strikes, TKOing "The Jewel" just 14 seconds into the opening stanza. (Photo courtesy of Strikeforce)

Strikeforce lugged its cage across the country, landing in Nashville, Tennessee for what looked on paper to be one of their superior “Challenger Series” events in Strikeforce Challengers 13. The card was headlined by a star making match-up at welterweight where “T-Wood” Tyron Woodley (10-0) met “The Sponge” Tarec Saffiedine (9-2) in what looked to be a fantastic collision of up -and-coming stars.  Add to that fight its supporting acts on the main card in Rhadi Ferguson (3-0) against John Richards (3-2), Daniel Cormier (5-0) facing Devin Cole (13-9-1) and “Abongo” Ron Humphrey (6-3) meeting with “OSP” Ovince Saint Preux (9-4), not to mention the exciting Amanda Nunes (4-1) taking on “The Jewel” Julia Budd (2-1), and it was lights, camera and heaps of action in the Strikeforce cage.  Here’s how the fights played out. Continue reading »

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Jan 072011
 

(Photo courtesy of tyronwoodley.com)

—MAIN CARD—

Tyron Woodley vs. Tarec Saffiedine: Woodley via Unanimous Decision, Round 3, 5:00

Daniel Cormier vs. Devin Cole: Cormier via Unanimous Decision, Round 3, 5:00

Ovince St. Preux vs. Abongo Humphrey: St. Preux via Unanimous Decision, Round 3, 5:00

Julia Budd vs. Amanda Nunes: Nunes via TKO (Strikes), Round 1, 0:14

Rhadi Ferguson vs. John Richards: Ferguson via Submission (Kneebar), Round 2, 2:00

—UNDERCARD—

Thomas Campbell vs. Jeremy Wallace: Campbell via Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 1, 1:26

John Salter vs. Casey Huffman: Slater via TKO (Strikes), Round 1, 2:59

Dustin Ortiz vs. Matt Horning: Ortiz via TKO (Strikes), Round 3, 2:10

Dustin West vs. Daniel Schmitt: West via KO, Round 1, 0:09

Charles McTorry vs. Krishaun Gilmore: McTorry via Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 2, 3:46

Chris Barnhize vs. Karl Willis: Barnhize via Submission (Armbar), Round 1, 2:35

Jeremy Boczulak vs. Jason Blackford:  Blackford via Submission (Heelhook), Round 2, 1:54

Luke Sanders vs. Josh Jarvis: Sanders via TKO (Strikes), Round 1, 3:15

Gerric Hayes vs. Stoney Hale: Hale via Split Decision, Round 3, 5:00

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Jan 072011
 

(Photo courtesy of Strikeforce)

Stuck at home tonight with no exciting plans? Think again!

Tonight at 11pm ET/PT, Strikeforce and Showtime MMA brings its fans Strikeforce Challengers 13 from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The electrifying evening of fights is headlined by Tyron Woodley (9-0) facing Team Quest standout Tarrec Saffiedine (9-1). This fight should be tremendously exciting as Tarrec Saffiedine utilizes a unique stand-up style that has resulted in a three fight win streak going into this bout.  Woodley has looked phenomenal since debuting with Strikeforce.  He’s a perfect nine wins against zero losses with six of those wins inside the Strikeforce cage.  Woodley made Andre Galvao (5-2) look very ordinary in their October showdown in San Jose, California, even knocking him out only 1:48 into the first stanza.  This will unquestionably be the biggest test for Tyron; in fact, it is well within reason to say that Tarec Saffiedine could pull the upset and get the win. Either way, the winner of this fight makes some noise in the welterweight division. Continue reading »

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