Feb 282013
Dec 302012
Jim Miller’s (red gloves) and Joe Lauzon’s (blue gloves) bloody three-round battle earned every bit of the $65K “Fight of the Night” bonus awarded to both combatants. (Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
The following fight bonuses were awarded for UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II
Submission of the Night:
John Moraga (over Chris Cariaso) receives $65,000
Knockout of the Night:
Todd Duffee (over Phil De Fries) receives $65,000
Fight of the Night:
Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon each receive $65,000
Click here for the full list of UFC 155 results.
Mar 052012
It was an amazing weekend for MMA. The UFC kicked off its flyweight division with an entertaining, non-stop, action-packed scrap between Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson on Friday night. And Saturday night saw women’s MMA reinvigorated by two great fights between Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis and the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Title bout between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. However, it wasn’t all good…
Here on MMA Gospel, we do a column after fights called “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and I’m going to use that format with my own spin: The Epic and the WTF?! It was originally going to be “The Epic, the Shitty and the WTF?” but I found it hard to separate the shitty from the WTF. Continue reading »
Jan 302012
Is Joey Beltran’s mustache good for the sport? Does it make him look too Mexican? Does it alienate the non-Hispanic MMA fans? In case you haven’t picked up on it, I’m being sarcastic.
Back before I became an MMA journalist pundit …whatever the fuck it is I do, things were different. 98% of my Twitter followers didn’t know what MMA was or weren’t fans. Now, my Twitter feed is nothing but MMA fans. At first I enjoyed discussing upcoming fights and being in the loop on the latest news but coming up on two years since the birth of SBoI, I have to deal with the other side of it. The dark side… (cue over-dramatic music) A lot of MMA fans tend to over-analyze everything and make mountains out of molehills. Especially when it comes to what is or isn’t “good for the sport”. If some MMA fans obsessed over their children’s every action the way they do everything that happens in MMA, their kids would grow up to be neurotic freaks; possibly serial killers. MMA is gonna be fine. It’s time to cut the apron strings and let your baby grow up and you know, just try and enjoy it. Chael doing a Superstar Billy Graham isn’t going to ruin the sport. Relax. You have to realize that the so-called “casual” fans or potential future fans aren’t paying attention to all this minutia the way we sick bastards are. Anyway, feel free to continue being obsessed just try to do it with a sense of joy, passion, and humor rather than neurotic angst. If you can’t do that, try to keep it off my Twitter timeline. I’d appreciate it, you doughy wankers! (courtesy of @sonnench) Continue reading »
Jan 212011
The superior stand-up of Matt Mitrione (white trunks) will likely end "The Thrashing Machine" Tim Hague's night in short order. Mitrione is 3-0 in the UFC, with wins over Marcus Jones, "Kimbo Slice" (black trunks), and Joey Beltran. (Photo courtesy of Zuffa, LLC.)
Tomorrow night in Fort Hood, Texas, the UFC hosts its second Fight for the Troops event to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The night’s action includes performances from some of the UFC’s most exciting fighters including the sharp-tongued “The Young Assassin” Melvin Guillard (25-8-2), top lightweight prospect Evan Dunham (10-1), The Ultimate Fighter 8 alum George Roop (11-5), kickboxer “The Machine” Mark Hominick (18-7), American Top Team stand-out “Magrinho” Cole Miller (17-4), “Handsome” Matt Wiman (12-5), fan favorite “Hype or Die” Pat Barry (4-3), and boxer “The Mexicutioner” Joey Beltran (10-3). Also on the main card is a heavy-duty battle between The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 alum “Meathead” Matt Mitrione (3-0) and King of the Cage veteran “The Thrashing Machine” Tim Hague (10-4). Mitrione has won all three fights in his short UFC career starting with a knockout over fellow TUF 10 competitor “Big Baby” Marcus Jones (4-2), then deflating the hot air from “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson (4-2) then Joey Beltran at UFC 119. Tim Hague has fought four times under the UFC banner going 1-3 with his lone win coming over Pat Barry and his three losses coming by the hands of Joey Beltran, Todd Duffee (5-1) and Chris Tuchscherer (16-3). The bout is an important crossroads for both men, as a loss would likely cost Hague his place in the UFC and a win would send Mitrione into the fringes of the title picture. Continue reading »
Jan 032011
Happy New Year, kids. And here we are with the very first column of the new year. The pressure, man… the goddamn pressure! So, back last year we had the DREAM: Dynamite!! 2010 card that had about thirty-eight fights. Holy shit, just thinking about it makes me want to take a nap. Granted, most things make me want to take a nap and it may also be the fact that the card started at like 1am and was almost three days long. Luckily, the place I was staying in Vegas had Direct TV and HDNet so, I didn’t have to watch it hunched over a laptop for three days. I didn’t make it through the whole card in one sitting but I did make it to daybreak and I didn’t have to kill anything for food or drink my own urine but it did test my dedication to MMA. Continue reading »
Dec 312010
(Photo courtesy of DREAM)
—DREAM openweight bout—
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Hiroshi Izumi: Izumi via TKO (Punches), Round 3, 2:50
—DREAM featherweight bout—
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Caol Uno: Miyata via Unanimous Decision
—DREAM featherweight bout—
Hideo Tokoro vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe: Tokoro via Submission (Armbar), Round 3, 2:02
—DREAM Featherweight Championship Bout—
Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya: Takaya via Unanimous Decision*
—DREAM lightweight bout—
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Josh Thomson: Kawajiri via Unanimous Decision
—DREAM welterweight bout—
Andy Ologun vs. Katsuaki Furuki: Ologun via Unanimous Decision
—DREAM welterweight bout—
Hayato Sakurai vs. Jason High: High via Split Decision
—DREAM Welterweight Championship bout—
Marius Žaromskis vs. Kazushi Sakuraba: Zaromskis via TKO (Doctor Stoppage), Round 1, 2:16**
—DREAM heavyweight bout—
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Tatsuya Mizuno: Kharitonov via KO (Knee), Round 1, 1:25
—DREAM heavyweight bout—
Jérôme Le Banner vs. Satoshi Ishii: Ishii via Unanimous Decision
—DREAM Interim Heavyweight Championship bout—
Alistair Overeem vs. Todd Duffee: Overeem via KO (Knee and Punches), Round 1, 0:19***
—K-1 bout—
Gegard Mousasi vs. Kyotaro Fujimoto: Mousasi via Unanimous Decision
—K-1 MAX bout—
Akiyo Nishiura vs. Tetsuya Yamato: N/A, Majority Draw (30-30, 30-30, 29-30)
—DREAM/K-1 special rules bout—
Shinya Aoki vs. Yuichiro Nagashima: Nagashima via KO (Flying Knee and Punches), Round 2, 0:04
*Hiroyuki Takaya becomes the new DREAM Featherweight Champion.
**Marius Zaromskis retains his title as DREAM Welterweight Champion.
***Alistair Overeem earns the DREAM Interim Heavyweight Championship title.
Dec 012010
The 2010 World MMA Awards were held tonight at the Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The awards show annually honors all things MMA, from fighters, to referees, to equipment, to apparel, and much more. Here are the winners, as voted by fans: Continue reading »