Wanderlei Silva meets Chris Leben at UFC 132 in Las Vegas

They wanted it, and now they have it.

Following a long campaign on Twitter and in the media, middleweights Chris Leben and Wanderlei Silva have hooked up a meeting at UFC 132.

UFC 132 takes place July 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and features a long-awaited rematch between UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, and the only man to ever beat him, former WEC champ Urijah Faber.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/o7Vk1IvsvJI/wanderlei-silva-meets-chris-leben-at-ufc-132-in-las-vegas.mma

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Bellator 39 Predictions

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Eddie Alvarez after a win at Bellator.Bellator's picked a good time for its best fight card of the year so far, with Bellator 39 taking place during an otherwise slow week for mixed martial arts, and a Saturday night without any UFC or Strikeforce competition. The Bellator card should be a highly entertaining one, headlined by a lightweight title fight featuring Bellator's top star, Eddie Alvarez.

What: Bellator XXXIX

When: Saturday, the MTV2 televised card starts at 9 PM ET

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut

Predictions on the four televised fights below.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/02/bellator-39-preview-and-predictions/

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Fabricio Werdum looking to win Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, rematch Junior Dos Santos in the UFC

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Fabricio_Werdum_180.jpeg

Fabricio Werdum picked up the biggest win of his career last June, submitting Fedor Emelianenko on Showtime to snap "The Last Emperor's" decade-long unbeaten streak. Now prepping to return in June in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Werdum's looking ahead to another goal now that the UFC has purchased Strikeforce: a rematch with Junior Dos Santos.

Werdum was knocked out by "Cigano" at UFC 90 in Dos Santos' debut, a loss that derailed Werdum's hopes at gaining a title shot in the UFC and led to his release after a contract dispute. The UFC didn't want to pay him what he had been making after the knockout loss, and Werdum admits he wasn't in a great state of mind at the time, and the release came about due to that.

"That time Cigano defeated me it was the first time I was knocked out, I wasn't [accepting] it," Werdum said in an interview with Tatame.com. "Then I had that [contract] discussion with UFC, it wasn't that we argued, but I was upset for losing the way it happened. I had been defeated before, but on a judge's decision, this was the only time I was knocked out. So I wasn?t on a good state of mind because I had been defeated, I was far from my family.

"I'm not saying Cigano didn't deserve it, because then he went there and kept winning. I'd be surprised if he had beaten me down and then lost. He went there and proved himself to be pretty good. I want to win this GP, to earn a belt, because I've never won one, and fight UFC's champion. If it's Cigano, [it would] be a dream coming true. To do this unifier fight and against Cigano, a rematch, it'd be perfect."

First thing's first, and Werdum returns in June to meet Alistair Overeem. But with Strikeforce delaying the quarterfinal bouts from April to June, Werdum's not entirely happy about that aspect of it, and with the UFC purchasing Strikeforce, he's not entirely sure if the tournament will be played out to completion.

"I don't like [the delay]," Werdum said. "If it was up to me, I'd like to fight four times a year, that's the ideal by me, but it happened that they postponed the fight and I'll get there being off for a year, because I had my elbow surgery and I'm fully recovered from it... It's too much, it's too much not to fight for an entire year. It'll be an exact year since I last fought, and in my mind June is the months on which I've beaten Fedor, so it's my month, it's a special month, so that's my thought.

"I guess [the Grand Prix] will go on until the end, but as Strikeforce has been [purchased] by UFC, I don't know if it'll actually happen, if there'll be a next round or if they'll cancel it... I don't know what will happen, I don't know what's on their mind. I said it a while ago: I intend to win this GP, then challenge the top guy form UFC. I actually said that in some interviews, but people said I couldn't do that since it's two separate organizations, the events are each other contender, but now it's possible because the events belong to the same organization. UFC purchased Strikeforce, so it's possible they match this GP's champion with UFC's champion.

For Werdum to get his rematch, he'll need to get past this Grand Prix field, and Dos Santos needs to defeat both Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez in consecutive fights, a feat Werdum believes his fellow Brazilian will accomplish.

"UFC is the best event on earth, Strikeforce was growing a lot too, so it's the two greatest events and my goal is that: my main goal is to beat Overeem, get to the next phase, and I've beaten Overeem in 2006 in Pride's GP on the first phase of the event, so things seems to be conspiring in my favor," said Werdum. "It'll be in June, my month, so things are good for me. So, I want to win this GP and then do this super fight against whoever UFC champion is. I don't know if it'll be Velasquez, Dos Santos, or other guy... Whoever is the UFC champion is the one I want to fight, that's what I want to do. I want to unify the titles, like it happens [in] boxing."

"Cigano's coming from a great sequence of wins. He proved he's really good in what he does, so I think if he strikes with Brock Lesnar, he beats the guy up. And about him fighting [Cain] Velasquez I guess it's the same thing: if he sticks to striking, defend the takedowns, which will be a hard task, because Velasquez will manage to take Cigano down at least once, so Cigano has to work his guard, work his feet on the groin, and knows when to stand-up and do it quickly, I think he'll win. I believe Cigano wins it standing up, and he'll do also a great work on the ground and pound. I'm Brazilian so sure, I cheer for him to win."

Link to Full Interview

Penick's Analysis: Werdum has a very good chance of getting himself back into the UFC, but it may not be in the scenario he'd like to see play out. He's got a very tough test in Alistair Overeem, despite the fact that he's beaten him once before. And after that, Bigfoot Silva remains a tough test, again despite the fact that he holds a win over him. If the Grand Prix finishes out, he could be there at the end, but even if he's not he could get back into the UFC fold. As for Dos Santos, he certainly could get past Lesnar and Velasquez, but that's no easy task either. Ultimately, I think he'll have a chance to rematch Dos Santos down the line, but they'll each have lost a fight by the time they meet again.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_8954.shtml

Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao  Josh Barnett 

Video: TUF 13 Aftermath with Dana White

Dana White joins host Stephan Bonnar to discuss the new season of The Ultimate Fighter including the coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos. The Aftermath: Something to ProveTags: “>Watch The Ultimate Fighter Video: TUF 13 Aftermath with Dana White is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Video: TUF 13 Aftermath with Dana White is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/ufc-news/video-tuf-13-aftermath-with-dana-white-54042/

Justin Eilers  Jon Olav Einemo Per Eklund Jason Ellis

Hale Wins by Inverted Triangle, Bellator Light Heavyweights Advance

by Michael David Smith

In 2009, Toby Imada put Bellator Fighting Championships on the map by defeating Jorge Masvidal with an incredible inverted triangle choke submission, a highlight that became a viral video and was widely regarded as the best submission of the year in mixed martial arts.

Now lightning has struck twice for Bellator.

On Saturday night's Bellator card, Richard Hale used the same move -- the inverted triangle -- to choke Nik Fekete into unconsciousness. It was a sensational highlight, and exactly the kind of thing Bellator needs to attract attention on its new television home, MTV2.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/26/hale-wins-by-inverted-triangle-bellator-light-heavyweights-adva/

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What you need to know from the TUF debut

"I ain't here to make friends. I ain't here to win new fans. This is strictly business for me."

The first words out of Brock Lesnar's mouth in the debut of the 13th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" were in form of the most cliche of reality TV cliches. This bodes well for the season. Read on for a recap and spoilers from the first episode of ... "The Ultimate Fighter."

Good news of the day: The fighters were pleased to find out that they did not have to win a fight to make it into the house, as was the custom in the past few seasons. What has returned is the wildcard. Less than two minutes into the show, Dana White drops his first f-bomb, saying that the UFC wants guys who are bleepin' fighters.

Instead of the fights, the fighters are put through workouts to show off their skills for Lesnar and Junior dos Santos. Lesnar has his strength and conditioning guru check on the cardio of each fighter, while dos Santos explores the "international language of fight." Dos Santos points out that he is more concerned about the fight style of each competitor, while Lesnar is more concerned about cardio.

Standouts of the day: Brock is most impressed with Len Bentley, while Shamar Bailey and Ryan McGillivray catch Junior's eye.

Ugh, that sucks of the day: Myles Jury, who also stood out, hurt his knee in practice. While he says it's fine, I've been watching this show long enough to realize that this is a bad sign.

Picks of the day: Lesnar and dos Santos head to the office to make their picks, meaning that it won't be like gym class, where each fighter will go and stand with their team. I hope it's more like cheerleading tryouts, where you read from a list that's posted outside the gym. Some cry with happiness, some cry with sadness.

Nah, Dana White just reads the fighters name from a list. Lesnar gets first pick by virtue of a coin toss. In order of how they were picked, the teams are:

Lesnar:
Len Bentley
Charles Rader
Tony Ferguson
Clay Harvison
Myles Jury
Chris Cope
Nordin Asrih

Dos Santos:
Shamar Bailey
Ryan McGillivray
Javier Torres
Ramsey Nijem
Zach Davis
Mick Bowman
Keon Caldwell

Second biggest reality TV show cliche of the day: Let's explore the house and claim rooms! The teams break up by floor, with Lesnar's team upstairs and Team dos Santos downstairs. Somehow, I still have faith that hijinx will ensue.

Saw that coming from a mile away of the day: Myles Jury has a torn ACL, and the doctor won't let him fight. Lesnar is surprisingly supportive. Jury thinks he's going to stay around and learn from the coaches while he heals. Dana White bursts that bubble and sends him home, to be replaced by Chuck O'Neil and his fantastic Boston accent.

Fight pick of the week: Dos Santos gets first fight pick, and he puts his first pick, Shemar Bailey, against Lesnar's last, Nordin Asrih.

Finding religion of the day: In an interesting oddity of matchmaking, both fighters are deeply religious. Bailey is a preacher's son, while Asrih is a German Muslim who adheres to his religion's pillar of praying five times daily. Asrih says that he feels more focused after prayer.

Fight of the Day: Nordin Asrih (Team Lesnar) vs. Shamar Bailey (Team dos Santos)

Round 1: Bailey quickly uses his strength, wrestling. He takes Asrih down and moves to side control. Asrih gets back to his feet for a second, but Bailey brings it right back down. Bailey's wrestling is fantastic, but he seems content to get the pin. It takes him much too long to figure out that it's OK. He can throw punches. Near the end of the round, he lands some big elbows, but for as long as he had control, Bailey should have done much more damage.

Round 2: Asrih starts the round with a kick, slips and falls on the ground. Bailey jumps on top of him, gets full mount and pins Asrih. However, this not being a wrestling match, no one slaps the mat and he has to continue fighting. Asrih shows some flashes when he reverses Bailey and tries for a guillotine. But the round was Bailey's. In the final minute, he gets full mount and throws strikes.

All three judges score it for Bailey, and he says after the fight that his strategy worked because he didn't want to show off everything that he could do in his first bout on the show. In his parting shot to his team, Lesnar says, "Wrestling is powerful in this sport."

Darn straight, Brock. What did you think of the first episode?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/What-you-need-to-know-from-the-TUF-debut?urn=mma-wp795

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