STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Fedor Emelianenko signs contract extension, set for February 12 bout with "Bigfoot" Silva

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Fedor Emelianenko has signed a contract extension with Strikeforce, according to a report from MMAFighting.com, and his participation in Strikeforce's heavyweight tournament is now set.

The multi-fight contract extension is expected to be announced shortly, and Emelianenko will meet Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva on February 12 as reported on Monday.

Emelianenko's M-1 Global have been negotiating with Strikeforce and Showtime since his loss to Fabricio Werdum in June. He had one fight left on his previous deal, and the two sides have now come to terms on a reported four fight extension.

There have been differing reports as to a second matchup on the February 12 event, as Sherdog reported that Andrei Arlovski would meet Josh Barnett and MMAJunkie reported it would be Arlovski against Sergei Kharitonov.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: Hopefully with this extension signed the tournament won't get held up by continued negotiations after each fight. This tournament could be a great thing for Strikeforce in 2011, and to have this deal finally done means they can move on and put fights together.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_8036.shtml

Dan Severn Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi 

UFC 125: Frankie Edgar displays heart of a champion, retains lightweight title with a draw

How did Frankie “The Answer” Edgar (13-1-1) survive the first round of his title fight against Gray “The Bully” Maynard (10-0-1)? Maynard came out blazing as he dropped Edgar with a left early in the round. Maynard then spent the rest of the round chasing and pummeling Edgar as the champion did everything he could [...]

UFC 125: Frankie Edgar displays heart of a champion, retains lightweight title with a draw is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/ufc-news/ufc-125-frankie-edgar-displays-heart-of-a-champion-retains-lightweight-title-with-a-draw-52855/

Nick Thompson Josh Thomson Din Thomas Gleison Tibau

Young Tavares too much for old-school Baroni at UFC 125

Phil Baroni's been around MMA for a long time. His brawling, attacking style was effective back 2002, but it just doesn't cut it anymore. Baroni dropped to .500 for his career as he lost to Brad Tavares, an "Ultimate Fighter" alum. Tavares took Baroni's biggest shots and scored a TKO finish at 4:20 of the first round in the opening fight of the UFC 125 telecast on ION television.

"I knew going in there against a veteran like Baroni I could come and show what I can do, and show the rest of the UFC that I'm here as a contender," Tavares told UFC.com. "Winning it over Baroni is good, and finishing him like that is just icing on the cake." 

Baroni (13-13, 3-7 UFC) usually comes out like gangbusters, but exhibited self-control early in this one. Trying to manage his stamina, he slowly stalked the much younger Tavares. Just over a minute into the fight, Baroni, 34, showed off that massive power when he caught Tavares with a left hook. The punch buckled Tavares' legs and he hit the ground near the cage. Baroni probably made a mistake by jumping on top of Tavares to ry and finish the fight.

The Hawaiian survived and got his wits about him as the fight got back to the feet. The two minutes were highlighted by clinch work along the cage. With 1:10 left in the round, Baroni drilled Tavares with a knee that landed low. After a short break, the fight was restarted in the middle of the cage. Baroni had a little trouble getting the engine revved up again.

Tavares followed a combination with a left high kick that stopped Baroni in his tracks. The "New York Bad Ass" backed up towards the cage and ate a huge right hook. That was followed by a knee and three more punches that dropped Baroni. Tavares held his head down with his left hand and blasted away with rights. Eight unanswered shots forced referee Josh Rosenthal to stop the fight.

Baroni rose to his feet with blood splattered on his nose and a small cut under his right eye. 

Tavares (7-0, 2-0 UFC) reached the semifinals on TUF 11, where he lost a close decision to the eventual champ Court McGee. He turned 23 just 10 days ago and may be the brightest prospect from that season. 

UFC 125 undercard (Courtesy MMAjunkie):

Jacob Volkmann def. Antonio McKee via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
Daniel Roberts def. Greg Soto via submission (kimura) - Round 1, 3:45.
Diego Nunes def. Mike Brown via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Young-Tavares-too-much-for-old-school-Baroni-at-?urn=mma-302358

Ryan Schultz Pete Sell Andrei Semenov Ivan Serati

You tell us: The best fighter in 2010

The days of dominant, nearly unbeatable champs may be gone. Or are they? Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva continued their rolls but Brock Lesnar, Urijah Faber, Lyoto Machida and B.J. Penn all tumbled down the ladder. The most shocking fall from dominance came when Fedor Emelianenko lost for the first time in 10 years against Fabricio Werdum.

The changing landscape in many weight classes allowed some new names to emerge for Fighter of the Year honors. Who was the best of the best in 2010? You tell us. Winners will be announced on Dec. 30. 

Cain Velasquez (Heavyweight) -- From his early days in the UFC, Velasquez, 28, was touted as the future of the division. Some doubt arose when several 265-pound behemoths began to smash through the division while Velasquez had some trouble finishing his opponents. Velasquez re-established himself as a huge prospect when he buried Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in February. Before UFC 121, he was dwarfed by Lesnar's persona outside the Octagon and even more so during the staredown at the weigh-ins. After three minutes of knocking heads, Lesnar was literally running for cover. Velasquez's mix of stamina, boxing, takedown defense and wrestling strength will make him tough to knock off. The kid is also a perfectionist. 

Jose Aldo (Featherweight) -- The Brazilian is the youngest guy on this list, but he may have the most potential to tear through 2011 in more dominant fashion than he did so this year. Aldo's striking, especially his kicks are scary. He left Faber's legs looking looking diseased after giving him the boot for 25 minutes. Aldo followed that up by toying with Manny Gamburyan. He may be the kind of champ who can dominate  multiple weight classes.

Alistair Overeem (Heavyweight) -- He may not be the best fighter outside the Zuffa family, but he's the guy who's generating the most excitement. The Dutch striker is massive, which constantly raises questions about how he's put on so much mass. There's no questions about what he's done in the cage and ring. Brett Rogers was a handful for Fedor. For Overeem, he was a horse-meat sandwich. That was Overeem's only MMA win in 2010, but he added to his resume by entering the strange world of K-1 and emerging as the winner of the heavyweight grand prix. He beat out a field with tons of veteran experience and opened up potentially massive revenue streams in Japan. His legend also made for the best MMA song of 2010.

Georges St. Pierre (Welterweight) -- You know you're good when fans and media rip you for not winning the right way. GSP continued his dominance by adding two more victories to his eight-fight win streak. He broke Josh Koscheck's face and nearly ripped off Dan Hardy's limbs. He didn't lose a round in two five-round fights. He also embarrassed Koscheck as a coach on "The Ultimate Fighter" and showed non-MMA fans that you can be a gentleman outside the cage and coldblooded inside.

Frank Edgar (Lightweight) -- Edgar compiled an 11-1 record before 2010 and all anyone could ask the kid was when he was going to drop down to 145 pounds. Few gave him a shot against B.J. Penn, who looked like he was ready for a two or three run as the man at 155. Edgar was the perfect matchup for Penn. His boxing was solid enough to avoid Penn's big shots and his constant movement threw the Hawaiian off his game. Edgar shocked Penn at UFC 112 and did it again in even more convincing fashion at UFC 118. He also proved not everyone from the Jersey Shore is a chemically enhanced animal with an orange spray-on tan.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/You-tell-us-The-best-fighter-in-2010?urn=mma-299729

Ryan Jensen DaMarques Johnson Jon Jones Nathan Jones 

LIVECAST UPDATE: Tonight's MMATorch Livecast Tuesday Conversation Canceled

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Tonight's MMATorch Livecast Tuesday Conversation at BlogTalkRadio.com/MMATorch has been canceled. We apologize for the late notice, but due to illnesses and other factors tonight's show will not be taking place. Make sure to tune in next Tuesday, however, for a special two-hour year end installment of the Tuesday Conversation with editor-in-chief Jamie Penick and columnists Matt Pelkey and Rich Hansen, running from 9-11PM ET.

Then starting again on January 4, tune in from 9-10:30 p.m. ET (6-7:30 p.m. PT) every Tuesday for the live call-in show. Set a reminder notice now or Tuesday visit the following URL to listen: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch. BlogTalkRadio is customized for both the web and your mobile phone.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/MMATorch_Podcast_45/article_7914.shtml

Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 125

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Between the free UFC 125 prelims and a power-packed pay-per-view card, MMA fans began 2011 with enough fighting action to choke a horse on Saturday night.

Plus, if you tuned in early to ION, as I did, you got to see the tail end of "Timecop," starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. If you haven't seen it, take my word for it, it's a great film to show if you want to give your audience a real sense of appreciation for whatever's coming next.

But after a great event in Las Vegas full of both rising and falling stars, it's time to get our Monday morning quarterback on and sort through the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between from UFC 125. Won't you join me below?

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/01/03/falling-action-best-and-worst-of-ufc-125/

Curtis Mostat Gegard Mousasi Mark Munoz Tom Murphy

Wanderlei Silva: "Vitor Belfort Is Psychologically Weak, And I'm Going to Knock Him Out!"

A lot of fans and fighters are once again talking about Wanderlei Silva after a drop down to Middleweight seems to have revitalized the career of ?The Axe Murderer?. Several fighters have called out Wanderlei in the past: no less than Alan Belcher, Nate Marquardt, and Chris Leben have all made it known that they?ve [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/29/wanderlei-silva-vitor-belfort-is-psychologically-weak-and-im-going-to-knock-him-out

Fabio Leopoldo Kimo Leopoldo Brock Lesnar John Lewis

The Walk Out ? UFC 125: Resolution

If you?re a sports fan on New Year?s Day, after you wake up from your hangover, let me plan your day for you. Start off with a little hockey as the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Washington Capitals in the annual Winter Classic, move on to a couple of meaningless college football bowl games, and [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2010/12/31/the-walk-out-ufc-125-resolution/

Frank Shamrock Tito Ortiz Randy Couture Vitor Belfort