Strikeforce Challengers 16 Fight Card: Fodor vs. Terry

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Strikeforce Challengers 16 fight card features Caros Fodor vs. James Terry.The Strikeforce Challengers 16 fight card will be headlined by prospects Caros Fodor vs. James Terry at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash. on June 24.

AMC Pankration's Fodor (8-2), who will have the hometown support, is 3-0 in Strikeforce Challenger events. Terry (10-2) trains under Cung Le and has won five of six of his Strikeforce bouts.

Ryan Couture (2-0), the son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy, will also be in action in the co-headliner.

The current lineup is below.

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/16/strikeforce-challengers-16-fight-card-fodor-vs-terry/

Akihiro Gono Gabriel Gonzaga Lyman Good Gary Goodridge

Bellator 44: Chandler the latest Mizzou wrestling product to emerge

The transition from wrestler to mixed martial artist isn't an easy one. Plenty of grapplers wilt along the way once the start getting popped in the face. Michael Chandler looked like he enjoyed taking a beat so he could dole one out. The former Missouri wrestler took Patricky "Pitbull" Freire's best on Saturday using his grappling skills to slow the fight and win a unanimous decision, 29-27 on all cards, in the final of Bellator's Season 4 lightweight championship.

Chandler, 25, won $100,000 and gets an automatic title shot against Bellator 155-pound champion Eddie Alvarez.

He is the second straight fighter out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas to take home a 100k prize. Jay Hieron won the welterweight tourney last week at Bellator 43. Hieron will face Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren in the fall. One has to wonder if Chandler's loyalties will be tested.

Chandler, Askren and Strikeforce welterweight prospect Tyron Woodley all wrestled for Missouri.

Chandler, a walk on, was a big success story for the Tigers. He was the Big 12 runner-up in 2008 and 2009, and became just the 16th Tiger to win 100 matches.

Askren and Woodley helped paved the way for Chandler in MMA. When he saw how Woodley's MMA career was developing, Chandler decided to jump in the cage with little training. After an easy win in his debut back Aug. of 2009, Chandler (8-0) began training full-time.

The card also featured two nasty standup wars. Alexander Shlemenko brutalized Brett Cooper in taking a unanimous decision.  Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard scores an awesome KO with a big right on the chin of Falaniko Vitale.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Bellator-44-Chandler-the-latest-Mizzou-wrestlin?urn=mma-wp2265

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger 

Jon Jones foregoing hand surgery after second doctor's opinion, could still meet Rashad Evans in the fall

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jon_Jones_180_21.jpeg

Heat between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans has been building up for some time now after the 23-year-old Champion said he'd fight Evans if the UFC wanted them to fight, despite previously staying in line with Greg Jackson's policy of teammates not fighting teammates. The led to a fracture in Jackson's camp, and Evans' departure, and when Jones stepped in for the injured Evans against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128 in March and captured the belt himself, the organization targeted the two for a bout at UFC 133 in Philadelphia this August.

A nagging hand injury that Jones has battled since college took him out of that fight, however, as a number of doctors that he had seen suggested surgery on torn ligaments in his hand was the necessary next step.

Now, though, Jones is no longer getting that surgery after visiting with another specialist, and his manager Malki Kawa revealed on Twitter today that Jones will be able to return to action earlier than expected. However, he's not stepping back into the fight with Evans immediately, and the former Champion will still need to defeat Davis to get back into a fight with his former teammate.

In comments made to MMAJunkie.com, Kawa expanded upon his Twitter statements to give a clearer picture of the situation with Jones at the moment.

"He has a torn ligament, and the only way you can actually repair it is by surgery," he said. "If you're not a fighter or someone who uses his hand, you can just completely leave it alone, and the pain might go away, but you're always going to have that tear there, so the doctors asked us what we wanted to do. Initially, Jon didn't want to have surgery. But as we kept getting additional opinions from doctors we all trusted, they all recommended having surgery based on the initial report from the UFC's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Steven Sanders."

That was, however, until Jones saw Dr. Vahey and got the second opinion, giving him an option of of not needing to go under the knife just yet.

"The actual thumb itself, the actual ligaments that attach to the knuckles, are torn," Kawa said. "In between the forefinger in the thumb is some additional damage in those two areas, which is why that area gets so swollen... Based on the reports, Dr. Vahey also thought surgery was necessary. But when he had Jon in front of him and starting working with his thumb and doing the necessary tests, he determined Jon's range of motion was satisfactory despite the pain. He told Jon, 'Look, your thumb is not 100 percent, but it's close enough that I feel comfortable saying if you don't want surgery, you don't have to have it.'

"At that point, we were facing a decision as to whether we wanted to do the surgery or not. Jon went back to his initial feeling, which is to just gut it out. Jon was prepared to listen to the doctor's advice, but Dr. Sanders told us Dr. Vahey was the best in the business when it comes to hand injuries, and Dr. Vahey told us he thought surgery was a little bit invasive at this point and perhaps too much."

After getting the second opinion, Jones is now under medical advisement to not train until June 11, at which time he'll prepare for his return fight, which may or may not come against Evans depending on what happens on August 6 between Evans and Davis.

"We met with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and let them know we would like to set up a fight to get back in the cage as quickly as possible," Kawa said. "Because of the timing and everything, we don't know yet who that will be. It could very likely still be Rashad if he gets by Phil Davis, but we could fight sooner, maybe September, October or November depending on what the UFC wants to do."

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: The mistake from Jones' camp in all of this has been being public about every aspect of this. It was admitted that this would have been surgery to correct something that wasn't affecting his training, and that in turn has fueled Evans to state that Jones is faking things to get out of fighting him now. It's just given him ammunition where there didn't need to be any, and has made him look bad in this whole situation. I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see the UFC pull Evans from the Davis fight to make this one right away, but if they don't then it will be Jones fighting either Evans or Rampage Jackson if Rampage beats Matt Hamill later this month.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9323.shtml

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Joe Son Chael Sonnen Krzysztof Soszynski

Gus Johnson: Any MMA Fighter Would Kill Pacquiao In the Cage

by Michael David SmithGus Johnson, the broadcaster who called the blow-by-blow on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Shane Mosley and who also calls Strikeforce fights on Showtime, has weighed in on the frequently discussed subject of how a boxer would do in MMA. And he doesn't like any boxer's chances.

In a radio interview with Dan Patrick, Johnson was asked how Pacquiao would do in an MMA fight against an MMA fighter, and Johnson said it's ridiculous to even think Pacquiao could last.

"He'd get killed," Johnson said of Pacquiao in the cage. "No question. Tapped out, easily. In a minute."

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/13/gus-johnson-any-mma-fighter-would-kill-pacquiao-in-the-cage/

Jason Grace Crosley Gracie Gregor Gracie Ralek Gracie

Bellator 44 Promo Video

The Season 4 Lightweight Tournament winner will be determined this Saturday, May 14th as Patricky “Pitbull” Freire battles Michael Chandler in the finals. Also featured on the card is a middleweight super-fight with current champion Hector Lombard taking on Falaniko Vitale in a non-title bout. Bellator Bellator 44 Promo Video is a post from: MMA [...]

Bellator 44 Promo Video is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/bellator-news/bellator-44-promo-video-54535/

Aaron Simpson Wes Sims Rob Sinclair Rory Singer

Badr Hari Easily Beats Overmatched Gregory Tony

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Badr Hari, the bad boy of kickboxing who hadn't fought in a year, finally returned to the ring on Saturday and easily beat an overmatch and uninterested opponent, the French boxer Gregory Tony at an It's Showtime event in France.

Hari won by first-round TKO, knocking Tony down three times without ever really hitting him all that hard. Tony looked like he didn't really want to be in the ring with Hari, and the matchup of Hari and Tony seemed like a generally bad idea: Tony isn't in Hari's class as a kickboxer, and Tony was also fighting just a week after he had two boxing matches on the same day, winning one and losing the other. A fight like this wouldn't get sanctioned by an American state athletic commission.

Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/15/badr-hari-easily-beats-overmatched-gregory-tony/

Mark Hominick Choi Hong man Jeremy Horn Chris Horodecki

Jake Shields: Ready To Go To War With GSP at UFC 129 - UFC 129

*** Watch Complete 1/2hr HD Episodes on http://www.MMAheat.com ***MMA H.E.A.T.'s Karyn Bryant spends a few minutes with Jake Shields at Xtreme Couture in Toronto, and gets his thoughts on the upcoming title fight against Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre. Jake talks about his preparation and training regimen, why he's wanted to fight Georges for so long, and he let's us know his reaction to Georges' statement that he is the toughest challenger the champ has ever faced. Jake also discusses the "Skrap Pack," his team that includes Strikeforce champs Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz, as well as UFC fighters Nate Diaz and Daniel Roberts. And he also let's us know how he feels about the media attention he's been receiving in the days leading up to the fight.Be sure to visit http://www.MMAheat.com for more interviews and archived episodes of our 1/2 hour TV show. Nós falamos Português! * We're on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MMAheat * Follow MMAheat on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MMAheat * Follow Karyn on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KarynBryant

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-129/jake-shields-ready-to-go-to-war-with-gsp-at-ufc-129-video_078abd3a6.html

Kyle Bradley  Jai Bradney  Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan