Vitor Belfort Plans to Beat Anderson Silva at His Own Game

Although Vitor Belfort has never had a middleweight scrap inside an Octagon, UFC brass haven’t been shy about crowning him the division’s top contender. Belfort officially earned his nod by slapping former champ Rich Franklin silly in a 195-pound catchweight bout at UFC 103 in September 2009. Prior to that, “The Phenom” posted back-to-back knockout [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/58287/vitor-belfort-plans-to-beat-anderson-silva-at-his-own-game/

Luiz Buscapé Firmino Spencer Fisher Jon Fitch Kenny Florian

MMA in NY update: Foe Bob Reilly in tight race for job

You might have noticed that we had a little election in the U.S. Tuesday. The key race of interest to MMA fans was that of Bob Reilly and Jennifer Whalen for the New York state assembly. Reilly, you may recall, is the New York assembly member who has spent considerable time blocking MMA from being legalized in the Empire State.

At the moment, Reilly has a razor-thin lead over Whalen that will likely be decided by absentee votes. Whalen needs 73 percent of the votes to break her way to unseat the incumbent Reilly. If Reilly stays in, legalizing MMA in New York is an uphill battle.

Does that still matter to fans? New York City is the epicenter of the media world, and the UFC has long-dreamed of staging a card at Madison Square Garden, but fans don't seem to mind driving to Newark for fights; 17,000 crammed into the Prudential Center for UFC 111. Though NYC is the largest market in the U.S. and the fourth-largest city in the world, the UFC has a foothold and has done events in Los Angeles, London, Chicago and Montreal. An event in Toronto is impending.

Granted, it's in MMA's best interests to be legal and regulated in every state of the union. But considerable time and effort has been spent on legalizing MMA in New York, and it's still not legal. Is it worth the fight?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/MMA-in-NY-update-Foe-Bob-Reilly-in-tight-race-f?urn=mma-282269

Lee Murray Gary Myers Chris The Pitbull Myra Jason MacDonald

Heath Receives New Opponent, Rodney Wallace, For MFC 27 Show

Due to ongoing issues regarding his travel visa from Brazil , Glover Teixeira has been deleted from the MFC 27: Breaking Point card and replaced by Rodney ?Sho Nuff the Master? Wallace for a light heavyweight showdown with David Heath. Wallace (9-3) will take on Heath (16-6) in one of the night?s featured bouts broadcast live on HDNet Fights. The event takes place Friday, Nov. 12 at the River Cree Resort and Casino, just outside Edmonton , Alberta . ?Our entire organization is extremely disappointed that Mr. Teixeira?s camp could not get ...

Source: http://www.ifight365.com/2010/11/heath-receives-new-opponent-rodney-wallace-for-mfc-27-show/

Jordan Radev Hector Ramirez Kevin Randleman Vitor Ribeiro

State of the UFC Lightweights

by Michael David SmithFrankie EdgarNovember is a month without any title fights, which makes it a good time to take a long view of the future title picture in each weight class. Today, we look at the lightweight division.

It feels a little strange that we're about to look at the UFC lightweight division and B.J. Penn won't even be part of the conversation, but that's the way it works after UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar beat Penn twice this year, the second time by an absolutely dominant unanimous decision. Penn's next fight is at welterweight and he's not really part of the lightweight picture anymore, and so we'll file Penn away as part of the lightweight division's past, and we'll look here at the division's future.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/11/07/state-of-the-ufc-lightweights/

Grant Campbell  Gesias JZ Calvancante  Luiz Cane  Dos Caras Jr  

UFC NEWS: UFC 122 headliner Nate Marquart says Chael Sonnen exposed Anderson Silva at UFC 117

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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When Chael Sonnen took on Anderson Silva in August, he shocked MMA fans everywhere with a dominant display of control over the Champion for 23 minutes, and appeared to be well on his way to a decision win before getting submitted with a triangle choke in the fifth and final round.

The performance seemed to have broken down the mystique of the "untouchable" champion, but UFC 122 headliner Nate Marquardt said it only opened the media's eyes to things he's known for some time.

"It's been known to me for a long time that Anderson had holes in his game," Marquardt said during a UFC 122 conference call on Friday. "If anything, [Chael's success against Anderson] was more of an eye-opening event for the media because they put him on this pedestal like he was unbeatable."

Marquardt has fought and lost to both men in his career, and now is a victory away from a rematch with Silva. But he said Chael's performance effectively proved that Silva is not unbeatable, and that there are things that can be done against him.

"Chael was able to expose, obviously, that he?s susceptible to takedowns, susceptible to ground and pound, and even that if someone lands a punch on him, he can get wobbled," Marquardt stated. "If anything, it was more eye-opening for the media, not for me."

If Marquardt is able to defeat Yushin Okami next Saturday in Germany, he'll get his second crack at the UFC Middleweight Championship. He's ready and willing to fight either Silva or Vitor Belfort, whomever leaves UFC 126 the Champ, but he said he would prefer the rematch with "The Spider."

"For me the most important thing is to get the title fight and fight the Champion," Marquardt said. "That's my dream, to become the Champion, and it doesn't really matter who it is. But at the same time, I'd prefer it to be Silva because he's been the Champion for so long, and he's proven himself to be the top of the division."

Penick's Analysis: I'm sure there are a lot of fighters who have felt like they've known what needs to be done to defeat Anderson Silva, but time and time again the Champion has won his fights. Marquardt may well have the ability to get Silva to the ground much like Sonnen did, but it doesn't matter if you can get Silva down and keep him there, because as he's shown in the past, you might need to finish him or he'll find a way to pull out the win. If Marquardt gets past Okami, we'll find out what he's improved upon since his first fight with Silva.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7445.shtml

Kit Cope  Wesley Cabbage Correira  Patrick The Predator Côté  Randy The Natural Couture 

MMATorch Staff and Contributor Rankings - November 2010

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MMATorch staff and contributor rankings for November, 2010

HEAVYWEIGHT

1. Cain Velasquez (90pts.)
2. Junior Dos Santos (69)
3. Brock Lesnar (64)
4. Shane Carwin (53)
5. Fabricio Werdum (51)
6. Fedor Emelianenko (46)
7. Alistair Overeem (44)
8. Frank Mir (33)
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (24)
10. Roy Nelson (12)

Others Receiving Votes: Antonio Silva (6), Mike Russow (3)


LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT

1. Mauricio Rua (89)
2. Lyoto Machida (77)
3. Rashad Evans (73)
4. Quinton Jackson (59)
5. Jon Jones (58)
6. Forrest Griffin (37)
7. Ryan Bader (34)
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (29)
9. Rich Franklin (20)
10. Thiago Silva (8)

Others Receiving Votes: Rafael Cavalcante (6), Muhammed Lawal (4), Randy Couture (1)


MIDDLEWEIGHT

1. Anderson Silva (90)
2. Nate Marquardt (71)
3. Chael Sonnen (70)
4. Yushin Okami (61)
5. Vitor Belfort (45)
6. Demian Maia (44)
7. Dan Henderson (32)
8. Ronaldo Souza (14)
9. (tie) Chris Leben (13)
9. (tie) Jorge Santiago (13)

Others Receiving Votes: Michael Bisping (12), Wanderlei Silva (8), Hector Lombard (7), Alan Belcher (5), Yoshihiro Akiyama (3), Rousimar Palhares (3), Robbie Lawler (2), Court McGee (2)


WELTERWEIGHT

1. Georges St. Pierre (90)
2. Jon Fitch (77)
3. (tie) Josh Koscheck (62)
3. (tie) Jake Shields (62)
5. (tie) Nick Diaz (43)
5. (tie) Carlos Condit (43)
7. Thiago Alves (41)
8. Martin Kampmann (29)
9. Matt Hughes (14)
10. Dan Hardy (12)

Others Receiving Votes: Paul Daley (8), Diego Sanchez (6), Chris Lytle (4), Mike Swick (2), Paulo Thiago (2)


LIGHTWEIGHT

1. Frankie Edgar (90)
2. B.J. Penn (76)
3. Gray Maynard (70)
4. Gilbert Melendez (60)
5. Kenny Florian (50)
6. Eddie Alvarez (46)
7. George Sotiropoulos (23)
8. Shinya Aoki (20)
9. Ben Henderson (18)
10. Sean Sherk (16)

Others Receiving Votes: Evan Dunham (12), Tatsuya Kawajiri (5), Jim Miller (4), Tyson Griffin (3), Clay Guida (2)


FEATHERWEIGHT

1. Jose Aldo (90)
2. Bibiano Fernandes (72)
3. Mike Brown (60)
4. Michihiro Omigawa (50)
5. Manny Gamburyan (48)
6. Marlon Sandro (45)
7. Joe Warren (42)
8. Urijah Faber (41)
9. Josh Grispi (28)
10. Mark Hominick (11)

Others Receiving Votes: Hatsu Hioki (7), Hiroyuki Takaya (1)


BANTAMWEIGHT

1. Dominick Cruz (90)
2. Brian Bowles (78)
3. Joseph Benavidez (71)
4. (tie) Miguel Torres (59)
4. (tie) Scott Jorgensen (59)
6. Takeya Mizugaki (41)
7. Damacio Page (38)
8. Wagnney Fabiano (27)
9. Rani Yahya (15)
10. Eddie Wineland (13)

Others Receiving Votes: Masakatsu Ueda (4)

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Champs_Rankings_30/article_7388.shtml

Assuerio Silva Paulo Silva Jay Silva Jean Silva

Former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver says no to retirement, returns to action in 2011

Where most 6-fight losing streaks would halt a fighter’s career, clearly that memo never reached Jens Pulver’s door step. The former UFC lightweight champion is scheduled to appear in the early going’s of 2011, under the CFX/Extreme Challenge co-promoted card in the Target Center. Pulver, who returned to the UFC in 2006 after leaving the organization [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/11/08/former-ufc-lightweight-champion-jens-pulver-says-no-to-retirement-returns-to-action-in-2011

Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam Hermes Franca Rich Franklin

Roy Nelson stuck between a Shane and hard place

After Shane Carwin pulled out of their UFC 125 bout with a back injury, Roy Nelson Jr. was left in a tough spot. He didn't have an opponent for a bout just over two months away. What's a big man to do? How about calling out a smaller opponent who made a throwaway comment about fighting at heavyweight?

Calling out Quinton "Rampage" Jackson may seem extreme, but Nelson doesn't have many choices on who will fight him. The UFC is nowhere near as deep at heavyweight as they are in other weight classes, meaning that they have a limited pool of fighters to pick a replacement from.

The pool gets smaller when you take a close look at the UFC heavyweight division, and see that most fighters fall into two groups: former title contenders or up-and-comers. Nelson is a winner of "The Ultimate Fighter," but at the same time, he is an incredibly experienced fighter. He is also coming off of a loss to Junior Dos Santos. 

Obviously, Jackson is a bit busy getting ready for his UFC 123 bout with Lyoto Machida. Medical suspensions, injuries and timing are also working against Nelson. Frank Mir fought in late September. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is still rehabbing a knee injury. Brendan Schaub, who has three wins since losing to Nelson in the TUF finale, is still on a medical suspension from his UFC 121 win over Gabriel Gonzaga. Who do you think should fight Nelson?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Roy-Nelson-stuck-between-a-Shane-and-hard-place?urn=mma-281740

Brian Stann Aaron Stark Kalib Starnes Joe Stevenson