The 11 things MMA fans want to see in 2011

Looking ahead to the new year, Cagewriter is turning it up to eleven. In no particular order, here are the 11 things MMA needs for 2011.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Alistair Overeem: Despite his loss to Fabricio Werdum, the negotiations just to get Fedor fighting in the U.S. again have been treacherous, and now it seems that he will fight Antonio Silva. Meanwhile, Overeem has kept busy making history in K-1. Strikeforce has two of the best heavyweights in the world on their roster. It should not be difficult to get them to fight.

Improved judging: How many fighters need to get screwed by judges before changes are made in MMA's judging system? As the sport continues to grow and improve, parity will follow and more fights will require a judges' call. These fighters deserve competent judges.

A challenge for Jose Aldo: The featherweight champ looked head and shoulders above Faber and Manny Gamburyan in 2010. As fun as it is to watch Aldo beat up on his opponents, someone who challenges him could be much more fun. 

Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber coaching on "The Ultimate Fighter": This match-up is full of win. Bantamweights Cruz and Faber are top-flight fighters, already dislike each other, and both come from camps that would provide excellent coaches and training partner cameos. Going with smaller fighters would not only invigorate the TUF franchise, it would also introduce a larger MMA audience to the WEC fighters joining the UFC.

Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Nick Diaz: Enough with the trash talk, the viral videos and the catchphrases. Strikeforce needs to make this fight happen.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva: The two have been at the top of pound-for-pound rankings for years, and are just one weight class apart. GSP has asked for time to put on weight to fight Silva, who walks around at more than 200 lbs. UFC, give him time, and then let's make this fight happen.

Legal MMA in New York: Seriously, Empire State. Get your act together and legalize MMA. It's ludicrous for a state with a rich history of boxing and wrestling not to allow mixed martial arts.

A rejuvenated Brock Lesnar: Losing his title to Cain Velasquez exposed Lesnar's distaste for getting punched in the face, a liability for someone whose job involves getting punched in the face. It will be fascinating to see how Lesnar reacts to being an underdog, and watching to see if he has the resolve to come back should be an interesting storyline. 

More pre and post-fight shows: Here at Yahoo! Sports, there was a pre-fight show for UFC 121. ESPN's "MMA Live" did pre and post-fight shows for UFC 116 and 121, and Versus had shows for the final two WEC events. Every one of these shows added to the MMA viewing experience. 

Gilbert Melendez vs. Eddie Alvarez: To compete with the UFC juggernaut, the smart thing for Strikeforce and Bellator would be to team up to make the best fights. This should start with a bout between their two lightweight champions. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney probably ended any hopes for this bout with overzealous negotiation tactics, but it still would be a fun fight for fans to watch.

More Pat Miletich on the microphone: The man is both a legendary coach and fighter, and now he uses his talents as a commentator for Strikeforce. Inexplicably, he isn't always included on their broadcast team. Please, give us more Pat.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/The-11-things-MMA-fans-want-to-see-in-2011?urn=mma-297708

Andre Gusmao Alexander Gustafsson Jaime Gutierrez Dave Gomez

All I Want for Christmas: Top 5 Things I?m Looking Forward to For Strikeforce in 2011

Hello once more fans and friends and welcome to Part 3 of my special Christmas Day mini-series ?All I want for Christmas?. The first half of the second part of my four-part special features some thoughts on what I think the immediate future holds for the surging Strikeforce promotion, which had an up-and-down 2010 but [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/25/all-i-want-for-christmas-top-5-things-i%e2%80%99m-looking-forward-to-for-strikeforce-in-2011

Marcelo Brito  Rob Broughton  Mike Brown  Junie Browning

UFC NEWS: Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira headlining UFC Fight Night 24 on March 26 in Seattle

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Ortiz_WK150_32.jpg

UFC Fight Night 24 has a headliner, as MMAJunkie.com reports that the Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira bout, originally thought to be taking place at UFC 128, will main event the March 26 card.

In addition to the headliner, the MMAJunkie report states that the event is expected to take place from Seattle, Wash.

The card will be the UFC's first event in the state, and though no venue has been determined, it is likely to take place at the KeyArena. The venue has a capacity of 17,000 spectators.

Ortiz is getting one final shot to pick up a win in the UFC, as he has posted a 0-4-1 mark since 2006. Most recently he lost a decision to Matt Hamill at UFC 121 in October.

Nogueira is looking to bounce back from a loss himself, as he was defeated by Ryan Bader by decision at UFC 119 in September. That loss snapped a seven fight win streak.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: With Ortiz's current contract, having him headline this event brings down their overall payroll for the UFC 128 card in New Jersey, and still puts a bigger name on free television. With his 0-4-1 record over the last four years, it was probably best not to make people pay for this fight. For Nogueira, a win will keep him near the top of the heap in the light heavyweight division, although it will just be treading water. But this fight is huge for Ortiz, as a loss likely puts an end to his UFC tenure for good. Meanwhile, a win will snap a four year winless streak and allow him to continue fighting in the organization and continue to make the money he's commanding with his current contract.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7909.shtml

Luiz Cane  Dos Caras Jr   Phil Cardella Roan Jucao Carneiro

Jake Shields thinks he's the man to dethrone GSP in their upcoming title fight - Jake Shields

Jake Shields goes one on one with MMACanada.net in Montreal following Georges St-Pierre's successful defeat of Josh Koscheck. Shields is the next man in line for the title shot and thinks his wrestling and Jiu Jitsu skills are superior enough to dethrone GSP in their upcoming title fight. Don't miss this one on one with former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields

Source: http://mmalice.com/jake-shields/jake-shields-thinks-hes-the-man-to-dethrone-gsp-in-their-upcoming-title-fight-video_f47534cba.html

Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè 

Video Evidence: Maynard Trains, 'The Reem' Finale, Thomson Talks, Bas Shows Off Holiday Beard

(Propers: YouTube/UFC)

Would it surprise you much if we told you Gray Maynard’s UFC 125 video blog wasn’t – how do we put this – the most exciting thing in the world? Nope, the No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title just kind of grinds this one out. Give Maynard some credit for tooling around Vegas in a black-on-black Caddy with dark tinted windows and retiring to what appears to be his very sweet condo to play with his dogs, but that’s about as exhilarating as this one gets. At one point, dude makes a sandwich. Open-face. Peanut butter and banana on a rice cake. In a four-minute video, it takes about a minute. And that’s sort of a metaphor for the whole thing.

Anyway, we know it’s still officially the holiday weekend and you’re still trying to ease back into this thing, so after the jump you’ll find a smattering of weekend videos to keep you entertained. Think of it as like our Xmas gift to you. Our Xmas gift for you that we stole from other places without so much as a tremor of good conscience. Hey, we never said we were nice guys.

read more

Source: http://www.cagepotato.com/video-evidence-maynard-trains-reem-finale-thomson-talks-bas-shows-holiday-beard

Ronaldo de Souza Ron The Monster Sparks Patrick Speight Mario Sperry

Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort keep it civil in Rio

Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort have a history. Current UFC middleweight champion Silva is all too familiar with his Brazilian countryman. The two were training partners as part of Team Blackhouse for sometime, before Vitor decided the best fit for his mixed martial arts career would be with Xtreme Couture and Team Tompkins in Las [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/12/26/anderson-silva-and-vitor-belfort-keep-it-civil-in-rio

Seth Petruzelli Anthony Pettis Nam Phan Mike Pierce

St. Pierre shuts Koscheck's eye and big mouth at UFC 124

Georges St. Pierre is a true mixed martial artist. If you have a hole in your game, he'll exploit it.

The UFC's welterweight champ has wrestled in many of his recent victories. Tonight, when he faced a right-hand dominant wrestler, GSP went back to his boxing.

The French-Canadian rolled to unanimous decision victory, 50-45 on all cards, leaving the American looking grotesque after the main event at UFC 124 in Montreal.

St. Pierre (21-2, 16-2 UFC) hasn't lost a fight since 2007, winning 14-of-15. He successfully defended his UFC title belt for the fifth time. This was his second win over Koscheck (15-5, 13-5 UFC).  

"My first fight with him, I wanted to beat him with the wrestling," St. Pierre said at the UFC 124 postfight press conference. "This fight I wanted to beat him with the boxing."

"I wanted to switch the strategy. Do something unexpected, so the opponent doesn't know what's coming at him. Mixed martial arts is like a chess game. You want to play strategy."  

Using his spot as a coach on Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter," Koscheck whipped Canadian and MMA fans into a frenzy in anticipation of the fight. He embraced the heel role by talking trash throughout the reality show, and during the lead up to the fight.

The super polite St. Pierre held his tongue until the last two days, when he finally said he was going to kick Koscheck's ass and never wanted to hear from him again. 

At the end of the scrap, the fighter's embraced and spoke for a few seconds.

One would assume, Koscheck gave St. Pierre his due. When St. Pierre spoke with UFC analyst Joe Rogan in the Octagon, he asked the crowd to give Koscheck credit for his toughness. He also explained that Koscheck was only hyping up the fight with all the smack talk. 

GSP set the tone early by using a piston-like jab. He landed 58-of-140 (40 percent) jabs.

"I don't know if I've ever seen someone take that much damage from a jab in the first round of a fight in MMA," said UFC president Dana White.

The approach was very reminiscent of how boxing heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko dominates his opponents. The fight also possessed a gross similarity to what Manny Pacquiao did to Antonio Margarito last month.

Margarito had his orbital bone broken by "Pac-Man" in the fourth round of that fight.

There's no official word, but it appeared that Koscheck suffered a similar injury in the first round. After just five minutes of fighting, Koscheck's right eye was almost completely shut.

St. Pierre tried for nine takedowns, but was only good on three. And in those cases, Koscheck got to his feet quickly. He may have been better off staying down.

With his vision clearly diminished, St. Pierre used his face as target practice. In rounds four and five, St. Pierre landed pretty much any left jab or hook he attempted. GSP outlanded Koscheck 21-1 in the fourth and by the end of the fight, the punch stats bordered on unbelievable for a fight that went the distance.

Koscheck got outlanded 136-30, and FightMetric counted significant strikes as 110 to 16 for St. Pierre. Compustrike said it was GSP 143-30 overall. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/St-Pierre-shuts-Koscheck-s-eye-and-big-mouth-at?urn=mma-294725

Roman Webber Mark Weir Fabricio Werdum Vernon White