Top 5 Opponents For BJ Penn Now That Jon Fitch Is Injured

It?s recently been announced that Jon Fitch has been forced to pull out of his upcoming rematch with BJ Penn. The two first met at UFC 127 in February, and fought to a very close Draw. The rematch would?ve taken place at UFC 132 in July. Instead, Penn is now sitting on the sidelines waiting [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/03/31/top-5-opponents-for-bj-penn-now-that-jon-fitch-is-injured

Sherman Pendergarst B J Penn Anthony Perosh Seth Petruzelli

Big smile, cool nickname not enough for ‘Bruce Leroy’; Semerzier cruises at UFN 24

The cute stuff may work on reality television, but Alex "Bruce Leroy" Cacares was badly outclassed by WEC veteran Mackens Semerzier. In what was probably a must-win situation, Semerzier steamrolled Bruce Leroy winning via rear-naked choke in just 3:18 at Ultimate Fight Night 24.

Semerzier (6-3, 1-0 UFC) scored three powerful takedowns. He got the first just 57 seconds into the fight. Cacares got up with 3:30 left in the first and hit the deck again with 3:18 left. The final time he went down with 2:40 left, started the beginning of the end.

Semerzier fell right into the mount position and starting pounding away. Bruce Leroy turned away from the strikes and gave his back. Semerzier flattened him and even when Cacares threatened to slip out the backdoor, the Marine was able to get him back down and finally apply the finishing choke.

Cacares, who came up with the "Bruce Leroy" moniker himself, was a villain of sorts during Season 12 of TUF. He ruffled the feathers of eventual finalist Michael Johnson and several other fights from the show.

Tonight, he walked to the cage with Taimak, the original "Bruce Leroy" from the 1985 movie "The Last Dragon."

Hathaway bests McCray at his own game

Kris McCray is a one-trick pony and tonight in Seattle he got schooled at his strength. John Hathaway outwrestled McCray, taking him down repeatedly throughout the fight. The young Brit got a split decision victory, 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28.

McCray never came close to threatening a finish. Hathaway did in the opening round with a nasty toe hold. The 23-year-old from Brighton, England worked and twisted McCray's foot for 45 seconds. McCray held out and fought on.

"I was real close. I heard a couple pops and creaks," said Hathaway.

With better cardio, Hathaway (15-1, 5-1 UFC) sealed the fight in the third. He simply did more, staying active when he had top control. It wasn't the most spectacular victory, but proved Hathaway, without much of a wrestling background, can grapple on a high level.

After posting a huge win over Diego Sanchez at UFC 114, Hathaway was upset by Mike Pyle back in October at UFC 120. Including the "TUF 11 Finale," McCray has now lost all three fights in his time with the UFC.

Busted up eye causes Madsen to lose his first to Russow

Mike Russow isn't the prettiest fighter, but the guy finds ways to win. The Chicago cop won another fight, this time by ending the unbeaten run of Jon Madsen. On the advice of the doctor, the referee stopped the fight before the beginning of the third round because Madsen's left eye was nearly closed. Russow (14-1, 3-0 UFC) got the victory via TKO.

That makes 2-of-3 fights with the promotion that he's won via KO or TKO. In his previous 11 wins, he scored nine of them by submission.

Russow said he caught Madsen (7-1, 3-1 UFC) with an overhand right in the second and that's what made the eye blow up.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Big-smile-cool-nickname-not-enough-for-Bruce-L?urn=mma-wp644

Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

QUOTABLES: UFC Bantamweight Champ Dominick Cruz discusses the origins of his feud with #1 contender Urijah Faber

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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"In the beginning it had nothing to do with him at all. In the very beginning, it had to do with the fact that I wasn't even on the event poster and I was fighting him for a world title. That really got under my skin. So, my way of getting on the poster was to sign where I signed (over Faber's picture), and it ended up pissing him off. Since then, he's been the one calling me out. He's done a million YouTube videos, went on like a media frenzy, and just done a bunch of YouTube videos running his mouth. After that, that's when everything started up. That's when I started talking because I'm not just going to let him keep running his mouth about me for no reason. Originally, it had nothing to do him, I felt like I deserved to be on that poster...

I feel like people just take what Faber says and go in stride with it and assume what he says is true ? because he tries to play this perfect identity. And, to be honest, I haven't been able to have quite the spotlight throughout my career that he's had ? just from the timeline and the things he's done and when I did it.

That being said, people are going to take the word of the person they know more than the person that is kind of coming out of nowhere, and I kind of came out of nowhere. So, that automatically makes me the bad guy. And if that's the guy he wants to make me out to be, go for it. But sooner or later people are going to know the truth about me, and they're going to know I'm here to fight. They're going to know I'm here to win. They're going to know I'm a good guy and a good champion."

-UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz talks to MMAJunkie.com about the origins of his feud with Urijah Faber following the announcement of their rematch for UFC 132 in July.

Penick's Analysis: Cruz will have a big chip on his shoulder and a lot to prove when he meets Faber in July. Coming in as the unknown despite being the champion, Cruz will be out to prove that he deserves the accolades of fans and writers, and that he's a better fighter than Faber in 2011. He'll have his chance to do that on July 2, and if he can beat Faber in the rematch he'll have done so against the largest audience to ever see him fight.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8893.shtml

Steve The Snake Claveau  Rich No Love Clementi  Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs 

MMA on TV

Welcome to ?MMA on TV?, Five Ounces of Pain?s weekly update on the upcoming MMA-broadcast schedule. Miss the latest episode of ?MMA Live? or ?UFC Unleashed?? Wondering when Strikeforce or HDNet are airing a replay of their latest offering or interested in finding out where to tune into live shows occurring over the next seven [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/04/04/mma-on-tv-31/

Sherman Pendergarst B J Penn Anthony Perosh Seth Petruzelli