Local products highlight finalized Strikeforce Challengers 14 card

Two men living a stone?s throw from the Cedar Park Center will have the rare opportunity to fight in front of a hometown crowd live on Showtime this Friday night when Strikeforce rolls into Cedar Park, Texas for Strikeforce Challengers 14. The promotion officially announced the addition of bouts featuring Austin fighters Nick Gonzalez and [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/02/15/local-products-highlight-finalized-strikeforce-challengers-14-card/

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Dana White 'Blown Away' by Response to UFC 129 in Toronto

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Dana WhiteUFC president Dana White said Tuesday he was "blown away" by fan response to the promotion's April show in Toronto.

UFC 129, scheduled for April 30 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, reportedly sold 42,000 tickets from its UFC Fight Club and newsletter presales alone last week - which led the UFC and Rogers Centre officials to reconfigure the seating setup to add more tickets for Saturday's public on-sale.

Within minutes, the additional ticket allotment was gone, and the UFC had a new personal best - and North American record - 55,000 tickets sold with a record $11 million gate. White said the company took a risk putting that many tickets on sale for its first stadium show - but was banking on previous successes in Canada, in Montreal and Vancouver.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/02/15/dana-white-blown-away-by-response-to-ufc-129-in-toronto/

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Anderson Silva Almost Quit Fighting To Start A Car-Wash Before Teaming Up With The Nogueira Brothers

Every hardcore mixed martial arts fan knows Anderson Silva left Chute Boxe many moons ago before eventually teaming up the Nogueira brothers, but most of you probably don’t know how it happened. Well, as Big Nog tells it in a MMA column he’s penning for a Brazilian publication called Jornal Extra, Silva actually approached him [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/9WUBtJBHHAY/

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ROUNDTABLE (pt. 2 of 2): Is UFC 128 shot at Shogun too soon for Jon Jones, and how will he fare? Carter, Park, Bacior, Perez, Williams and Penick

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Is this too soon for Jon Jones to receive a title shot, and how do you think he'll fare against Shogun at UFC 128?

ALVIN CARTER, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

Was it too soon for Brock Lesnar? Or Cain Velasquez for that matter? It is a great time for Jon Jones. Not only because he can win this fight, but he is still very young if he does not. Win, lose, or draw this fight gives Jones a marquee fight and a whole other level of exposure. I am sure KSWISS/FORM Athletics are happy about their latest investment going for the title.

CHRIS PARK, MMATORCH UK SPECIALIST

If you're good enough, you're old enough, and what Jon Jones did to a man (Ryan Bader) who is also considered one of the biggest stars of the future, removed any shred of doubt that this man is ready.

I'm going go out on a limb on this one and not only say Jones is ready, but Jones will win and il even go as far to say as he will make it look relatively easy.

Shogun is one of the best; but my gut instinct here is that he is about to suffer a very heavy, albeit shocking, defeat at the hands of a man who will dominate the division for a long time to come.

MIKE BACIOR, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

No, absolutely not. He has done nothing but win in impressive fashion, and is incredibly physically gifted. I feel that even if he loses to Shogun, which is very possible, he will only learn from it and be better from it; he is that kind of fighter. We may see a situation like the one GSP faced after he lost to Matt Hughes for the first time, where he learned from the loss and was better for it in the long run.

ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Jon Jones struck the opportunity of a lifetime when he was offered the fight against Shogun Rua at UFC 128.  Was it too soon?  Not really.  The only other contender besides the injured Rashad Evans would have been Rampage Jackson, and he was offered the fight, but due to it being too soon (4 weeks to prep), he declined.  I think that Jones is in a perfect spot, as he is coming off of a quick victory against Ryan Bader and is still in "battle-ready" mode.  I think he can fare well against Shogun.  We'll see if close fights back to back will hamper Jones, or if he is in peak conditioning to claim what many people say will end up in his hands anyways.  Though, I won't go as far as jumping on the bandwagon about declaring Jon Jones or his victory the "era" of anything.

ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I don't think it's too soon for Bones Jones to receive a title shot.  It's the most intriguing fight at the UFC has at 205 pounds.  I expect he'll defeat Shogun, which would be terribly impressive.

JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

It's absolutely not too early for Jones to get this title shot. At 23-years-old he appears ready to tackle any challenge ahead of him, and whether he loses this fight or captures the title, he's going to learn and grow from the experience. He's got a very good chance of beating Shogun in this fight. Shogun is coming off of yet another long layoff due to knee injury, and there's no telling which version of him will show up on March 19. For Jones, he's in fight shape, came out of the Bader fight uninjured and ready to get right back into action, and athletically, he's ready to take on this challenge. This is a highly intriguing fight, and I can't wait to see it this March.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_8414.shtml

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UFC NEWS: Dana White says Rashad Evans has too many friends, says he's insane for sitting out while waiting for Shogun

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Reports yesterday that Quinton Jackson would be facing Matt Hamill at UFC 130 came as a bit of a shock after initial reports that Rashad Evans would take Thiago Silva's place at the May event. But, according to a report from Heavy.com, Evans is awaiting the outcome of the Jon Jones vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua bout before determining his next move, taking him out of the running for the rematch with Rampage.

That decision, and his public comments that he wouldn't fight Jones because they are friends, has brought him under fire from UFC President Dana White. In an interview with MMADigest.com, White began by criticizing Evans for waiting for Shogun in the first place.

"When [Rashad] said he was going to sit out and wait for Shogun, I said 'You're insane. This guy is injured and has to sit out, has to overcome all these things, rust and you're just going to sit out?'" White said. "If you truly believe that you're the best in the world, you should be ready to fight anybody because whoever you fight on the way up are guys, if you win the title, these are the guys that are coming at you anyway."

"You might as well stay active; you might as well make money. Fighters have a very small window of opportunity and this kid is just letting the window close."

But White really targeted Evans for not wanting to fight "friends," and said he's got too many of these so-called friends that he's unwilling to fight.

"Now [Rashad is] in this situation [with Jones] where 'this guy is my friend and that guy is my friend,'" White said. "Dude you have way too many friends. You need to keep the friends thing down and stop training with people."

"Now he's talking 'maybe I'll go to heavyweight, maybe I'll go to middleweight,'" White continued. "Well if he goes to middleweight, Nate Marquardt is one of the top middleweights in the world, one of his friends. Shane Carwin is one of the best heavyweights in the world, that's one of his friends. He's got too many friends. Rashad at middleweight is one or two fights away [from a title shot]. If we did a [Yushin] Okami vs. Rashad Evans fight and the winner fights [Anderson] Silva or Georges St. Pierre... oh, but he won't fight Georges St. Pierre because they're friends."

Penick's Analysis: White has a good point here on Evans. He's working with so many people that are at a high level in multiple divisions that he's limiting the opponents he's apparently willing to face. Whether he's hiding behind the "friends" excuse to avoid fighting some high competition is up for debate, but it's certainly a convenient way for him to get out of some tough fights. And when you consider that Evans and Jones haven't trained together for that long of a time, it doesn't make a ton of sense for why they'd be so unwilling to fight each other already, especially if a title was on the line. That said, if they've developed a close relationship, which they claim to have done, it makes more sense, and they're not the only teammates to not want to fight one another. But Evans isn't doing himself any favors with the UFC by sitting out longer and waiting to see what happens in that fight in March.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8443.shtml

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