Five fights to help you beat the winter blues

It's that time of year. The time when the holidays are over, the credit card bills are filling your mailbox and the snow has turned from a pretty white blanket to gray slush. What will help you through the long winter? People pummeling each other, of course! Here are five to savor before the vernal equinox on March 20.

Jan. 29, Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg -- Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Robbie Lawler: Brawler vs. grappler. Striking vs. submissions. Gritty vs. smooth. This match-up for the Strikeforce middleweight belt matches up different styles of MMA: the heavy hands of Lawler agains the submission genius of Souza. Though Jacare has showed improved stand-up in his last two fights

Feb. 5, UFC 126 -- Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos: After constantly bringing exciting fights to the WEC, Torres and Banuelos will bring the bantamweight brand to the UFC. There is about 0.0005% chance that this fight will not be exciting. Not to mention, does an epic mustache win out over an epic mullet? We'll find out.

Feb. 12, Strikeforce and M-1 Global -- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva: So many questions will be answered in this bout in New Jersey. How will Fedor rebound from his loss to Fabricio Werdum? Will the long layoff affect him? What will be Fedor's answer to Silva's size? Will the Russian guy who got away from Chrissie Moltisanti and Paulie "Walnuts" be there to cheer on Fedor? 

Mar. 5, Strikeforce -- Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum: He's made history fighting everywhere but Strikeforce, but will he Overeem able to get past the Fedor-slayer to get through the first round of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament, defending his belt along the way?

Mar. 19, UFC 128 -- Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani: My legs hurt just thinking about this bout. Barboza won his UFC debut by piling up leg kicks on Mike Lullo. Njokuani has elbows and head kicks that can end fights. Don't expect this bout to last long or to be boring.  

What fights are you looking forward to in the cold, winter months?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Five-fights-to-help-you-beat-the-winter-blues?urn=mma-304472

Daiki DJ taiki Hata He Peng David Heath Delson Heleno

Catching up with Bellator's latest moves: Riggs and welterweights

As we near the start of Bellator's fourth season in March, the promotion has had a busy start to 2011, making several announcements about the new season.

-- Season four will feature a welterweight tournament, with the winner earning $100,000 and a shot at Ben Askren and his championship belt. Askren has been busy coaching the Arizona State wrestling team and winning a wrestling "super match" with freestyle world silver medalist Jake Herbert. 

-- Dan Hornbuckle will return to Bellator and fight in the welterweight tournament. He will be joined by Olympic judo player Rick Hawn and Brent Weedman, who has fought on three Bellator cards.

-- They also announced the signing of Strikeforce and UFC veteran Joe Riggs. The last time the middleweight fought was with King of the Cage in Canada. Before that, he beat Louis Taylor at Strikeforce: Challengers and lost to Jay Hieron, another Bellator signee. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Catching-up-with-Bellator-s-latest-moves-Riggs-?urn=mma-305770

Dai Shuanghai  Mac Danzig  Karen Darabedyan Viacheslav Datsik

UFC lightweight contender Anthony Pettis to receive official proclamation from hometown

The WEC's final champion recently received the unsettling news that his UFC title shot is currently on hold, but that doesn't mean Anthony Pettis doesn't have a little reason to celebrate.

UFC brass today announced that Pettis will receive an official proclamation from his hometown of Milwaukee at a Thursday ceremony hosted by the city's mayor, Tom Barrett.

"This is an amazing feeling," Pettis stated "It's been a crazy year. I've won a world title, been featured on MTV and 'SportsCenter' and threw out the first pitch at the Milwaukee Brewers game. I never imagined myself being in this position."


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/69aS6DXB9cs/ufc-lightweight-contender-anthony-pettis-to-receive-official-proclamation-from-hometown.mma

Ricco Rodriguez Jason Reinhardt Eddy Rolon João Roque

UFC NEWS: Shane Carwin confirms UFC 131 booking, no opponent set

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

CarwinShane_CG150_30.jpg

On Monday, MMAJunkie.com reported that Shane Carwin would be a part of the UFC 131 event expected to come to Vancouver in June, and on Tuesday, Carwin confirmed that booking.

In a blog post on his official website, Carwin updated his status following his recent surgery, and revealed a potential return bout that didn't come to fruition.

"A couple of weeks ago [the UFC] requested that I fight in late may or early June," Carwin wrote. "I have subsequently 'tweeted' that those are my target return dates. I want to fight as much as possible this year.

"So last week we got the call from Joe Silva asking if we would consider fighting Nelson at UFC 130. We accepted the match up and UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva said that it was 90% a go. The next day we were informed that they went a different direction for Nelson and that they want me to fight someone at UFC 131 in Vancouver. I have once again rapidly accepted the date."

Carwin doesn't have an opponent yet set for the event, but he is getting excited about fighting in Canada for the first time.

"I am pumped to be [able] to fight in Canada," he said. "The international fans are so pumped for the shows and if you have never been to B.C. I am certain BC stands for Beautiful Country.

"I am training hard and working on fixing the issues I ran into during the Lesnar fight. I will be ready and I hope that I am indeed fighting in June in B.C."

Link to Carwin's blog

Penick's Analysis: The leading candidates for Carwin right now are probably Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos, though those two could be facing off against one another. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira might be a possibility as well, but after that the prospects get murky. Cheick Kongo's a possibility, but at this point until we hear more it's just speculation. But, whomever they go with, it will make for a good heavyweight fight for the Canadian fans in Vancouver.

[Shane Carwin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8125.shtml

Jake O Brien Naoya Ogawa Sean O Haire Yushin Okami

Main card announced for "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Silva"

A heavyweight Grand Prix is underway, and East Rutherford, N.J. will be in for a treat as they will be featured for an all-heavyweight cast at the IZOD Center. The main event of the evening will pit for PRIDE heavyweight champion and all around mixed martial arts legend Fedor Emelianenko as he takes on former [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/01/12/main-card-announced-for-strikeforce-and-m-1-global-fedor-vs-silva

Dos Caras Jr   Phil Cardella Roan Jucao Carneiro Shane The Engineer Carwin 

Shane Carwin Agrees To Fight At UFC 131 In Vancouver

Heavyweight contender Shane Carwin has been out with an injury since his last fight against Brock Lesnar but the big man looks to make his return early this summer as he makes the announcement on his blog that he will be returning at UFC 131:<br><br>"As you can imagine my management team has been in close contact with the UFC during my recovery... So last week we got the call from Joe Silva asking if we would consider fighting Nelson at UFC 130. We accepted the match up and UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva said that it was 90% a go. The next day we were informed that they went a different direction for Nelson and that they want me to fight someone at UFC 131 in Vancouver. I have once again rapidly accepted the date. As of this blog no opponent has been mentioned... I am pumped to be able to fight in Canada. The international fans are so pumped for the shows and if you have never been to B.C. I am certain BC stands for Beautiful Country. I am training hard and working on fixing the issues I ran into during the Lesnar fight. I will be ready and I hope that I am indeed fighting in June in B.C.. I will keep you all posted as soon as I hear something that I can announce."

Source: http://www.mmanews.com/home.php

Alex Karalexis Mark Kerr Mamed Khalidov Sergei Kharitonov

Heavy Wait Part 14: My Final Thoughts On The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix

It?s finally here, fans and friends. With this fourteenth entry into the ?maxi-series? called ?Heavy Wait: The Hunt for Strikeforce Gold?, the end is now upon us. With this final article, I?ll have ended my ultra-in-depth look into the upcoming Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. It?s been a taxing experience to examine something so closely from [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/01/11/heavy-wait-part-14-my-final-thoughts-on-the-strikeforce-heavyweight-grand-prix

Alexander Gustafsson Jaime Gutierrez Dave Gomez Keith Hackney

Strikeforce Challengers Series 13 Live Results

Strikeforce kicks off the year with one of their Challengers Series events, which are designed to highlight up and coming talent in the organization. The event comes to us live from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and as always, FiveOuncesofPain.com will provide live results including a round by round recap of all the live [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/01/07/strikeforce-challengers-series-13-live-results/

Kevin Kimbo Slice Ferguson Paulo Filho Mirko Cro Cop Filipović Luiz Buscapé Firmino