Voelker recovers from bad start, TKOs Bowling in second

Book Bobby Voelker-Roger Bowling fights every month! What fan is going to complain? They've fought three times and each bout has been a barnburner. Friday night at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Voelker scored a nice comeback win by landing a nasty knee in the second round that Bowling never recovered from. Voelker wobbled Bowling with a right knee, saw his opponent's legs fail him, and then finished with nine unanswered shots on the ground at 2:15 of the second round at Strikeforce Challengers 17 .

"It was pretty suspenseful," Voelker told Showtime's Mauro Ranallo. "He was winning the whole way."

Voelker's now won two straight against Bowling, but the loser has nothing to be ashamed about. Bowling outclassed Voelker (24-8) throughout the first round. He dominated the stand up with nasty legs kicks and a great left hook. He actually had Voelker on shaky legs in the final minute of the first, but didn't pour it on.

For some reason in the second, Bowling tried to wrestle and work the clinch game. At 5-foot-8, against the 6-1 Voelker, that proved to be a horrible move. With his back on the cage, Voelker got a thai clinch on Bowling's head and pulled his noggin down into that big  knee. Bowling stumbled backwards and his legs were gone.

Voelker deserves a lot of credit. Some of Bowling's shots in the first would've broken a weaker fighter. The 32-year-old said it was part of the plan against the less-experienced Bowling.

"I just knew he was coming in hard. He always does, that's the way he fights. It's just balls to the wall, ready to take your head off," Voelker said. "I knew I had to wait a little bit, weather the storm and he'd lower his hands a little bit or fade, and I'd catch him with something like I did."

Voelker's won 4-of-5 with Strikeforce and may set for a jump to Strikeforce's bigger shows. According to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is considering giving Voelker the winner of the Scott Smith-Tarec Saffiedine fight.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Voelker-recovers-from-bad-start-TKOs-Bowling-in?urn=mma-wp4984

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Fedor Emelianenko Vs Yuji Nagata Fight Video Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003

Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003- Inoki Festival MMA fight videos of Fedor Emelianenko Vs Yuji Nagata. The bout took place on December 31, 2003 in Kobe Wing Stadium in Kobe, Japan. This text will be replaced var so = new SWFObject('http://www.mmatko.com/player.swf','mpl','495','360','9'); so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true'); so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always'); so.addParam('wmode','opaque'); so.addVariable('file','http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN-MZUUU1tU'); so.write('mediaspace');

Source: http://www.mmatko.com/fedor-emelianenko-vs-yuji-nagata-fight-video-inoki-bom-ba-ye-2003/

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Carlo Prater makes it three straight with submission win at Legacy FC 7

BJJer Carlo Prater entertained his fellow Texans last night, and those watching at home on HDNet, with a Kimura finish of Ultimate Fighter 9 alumnus Cameron Dollar in the main event at Legacy FC 7. However, it was the submission-savvy Prater?s striking that opened things up in the opening round before his widely respected grappling [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/07/23/carlo-prater-makes-it-three-straight-with-submission-win-at-legacy-fc-7/

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Marquardt signs with the U.K.?s Bamma

Nate Marquardt isn't waiting around for the UFC to change its mind. The elite middleweight has decided to fight for one of the biggest international promotions, Bamma in England.

Bamma is highly successful promotion in the U.K. The next scheduled card comes in early September. That includes 185-pound title fight with Frank Trigg challenging Tom Watson. Paul Daley has been a big draw in the past as well for Bamma.

Through BAMMA P.R., Marquardt had this to say:

"Offers came in from several fight promotions, but we felt that BAMMA was definitely the best fit. They put on high-quality shows, stack their cards with top-level fighters, and sign those fighters to multi-fight deals.  They are also the only fight organization in the UK that implements PED testing," Marquardt said. "To be honest, that is one of the main reasons that we chose BAMMA. I want to prove to my fans and to the world that I'm the real deal and that I belong on top."

Liam Fisher from Bamma jumped at the chance to sign Marquardt.

"As soon as we received word that the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission lifted Marquardt's suspension we jumped at the chance to sign him. He is a top ranked contender and an asset to any promotion. Words cannot express how excited we are that Marquardt is now fighting under the BAMMA banner," said Fisher.

Marquardt is expected to speak at length about the signing tonight on ESPN's MMA Live.

Marquardt and his management team spoke with U.S.-basedBellator, arguably the No. 1 non-Zuffa owned MMA promotion in the country, but nothing officially materialized.

Bellator was hoping to set up a fight between Marquardt and the promotion's unstoppable champion Hector Lombard. Lombard lashed out again at Marquardt on a local Miami-area radio station.

"He's getting offered more money than me, more money than anybody and he doesn't want to take the fight," Lombard told 790 the Ticket in Miami. "They offered him a one-fight deal. They didn't offer him any contract, a one-fight deal. Way more money than he was making in UFC."

It was previously thought that Marquardt may have turned down the deal because he was asked to enter a Bellator middleweight tournament and work his way up the ladder to get Lombard.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Marquardt-signs-with-the-U-K-s-Bamma?urn=mma-wp4948

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HANSEN: Transparency in MMA Rankings - My Top 15 Bantamweights in North America

By Rich Hansen, MMA Torch Columnist

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I know this is a few days late. Real life gets in the way, and that. But had I been able to publish this on Tuesday, it would have been run before the UFC announced Cruz vs. Johnson and Faber vs. Bowles, so there's that, right?

Also, I just wasn't able to find enough fight footage to do a worldwide top 25 in this division. so many of the fights I needed to watch I just wasn't able to find. So rather than scrapping a fun and developing division entirely, I'm doing the top 15 bantamweights in North America. that in itself is less daunting, but still a challenge. It's really hard to find a lot of guys who have won more than two fights in a row, so a lot of this is just gut feel.

Check out the divisions we've covered so far and the schedule for upcoming divisions:

Week 1: Lightweights
Week 2: Featherweights
Week 3: Heavyweights
Week 4: Welterweights
Week 5: Light Heavyweights
Week 6: Middleweights

July 26: Pound for Pound
August 2: We start all over again

Bantamweight Rankings as of July 23, 2011

1.) Dominick Cruz - UFC champion has beaten Faber, Benavidez (twice), Jorgensen, Bowles. Yeah, he's the best bantamweight in the world. Next fight: Demetrious Johnson, October 1

2.) Urijah Faber - Was the best featherweight in the world when nobody was watching. Back at bantamweight once the featherweight division caught up to him. He's great, but needs a huge win to get a shot to complete the Cruz trilogy. Being 0-4 in his last four Zuffa title fights might be a problem, though. Next fight: Brian Bowles, November 19

3.) Joseph Benavidez - He has to be praying for a UFC flyweight division, because he's 0-2 against Cruz, and won't fight Faber. He's the Jon Fitch of this division, but even worse since he's had two shots at the sitting champion. UFC can't put him up against anyone they want to see succeed, because he's likely to derail future contenders. Next fight: Eddie Wineland, August 14

4.) Brian Bowles - Was in line for the next title shot, but his win over Takeya Mizugaki was very uninspiring. He's very well rounded, but a fragile right-hand seems to be in his head now. Next fight: Urijah Faber, November 19

5.) Demetrious Johnson - Hard to imagine anyone at 135 being faster than Mighty Mouse. We'll know for sure on October 1 when he fights Dominick Cruz. Hard to see how he wins this fight if it is revealed that he can't keep up with the pace Cruz sets. Next fight: Dominick Cruz, October 1

6.) Scott Jorgensen - Another top guy who is hoping to get a second shot at the champion. It's hard to get a huge public groundswell of support when your fights are never on the main card. I miss the WEC. Next fight - TBA

7.) Joe Warren - his last fight was fought at a 137 pound catchweight, and he's scheduled to fight in the Bellator bantamweight tournament, so I'm ranking him as a bantamweight too. Warren is a badass, what can I say? Winning ugly is a lot better to than losing pretty. Next fight: Alexis Vila, September 24

8.) Miguel Torres - Best bantamweight in North American history (so far), Torres started 5-0 in the WEC and 37-1 overall, dominating his local Chicagoland MMA scene. He hasn't seemed to be the same fighter since Brian Bowles knocked him out for the WEC title two long years ago, but Greg Jackson might be shaping him into a better overall fighter. Like when Tiger Woods re-engineered his swing while he was dominating in the late 90's. But while Torres might improve, the competition level has definitely improved. Next fight: TBA

9.) Brad Pickett - Picket might be the best English mixed martial artist going today, not that you'd know it by the amount of attention the division receives. Pickett has a signature victory, defeating Demetrious Johnson at the WEC 48 PPV last year. Unfortunately, that momentum was stifled by losing his next fight, dropping a WEC 50 scrap to Scott Jorgensen. "One Punch" hasn't dropped anyone since he was in Cage Rage in 2008. Lots of potential here, but lots to prove as well. Next fight: Renan Barao, November 5

10.) Renan Barao - Lost his first fight, and has then rattled off 26 victories in a row. Of course, the first 23 of those wins are against the elite of the division. Or the gatekeepers of the division. Or against anyone with any sort of future in the division. He's now 3-0 in the WEC and will be facing a huge test in his next fight. Next fight: Brad Pickett, November 5

11.) Zach Makovsky - It's hard to know how good the Bellator champion is, but the same can be said about most of the other Bellator champions as well. Makovsky was extremely impressive en route to winning the belt, but there is a glass ceiling hovering over the head of anyone who hasn't fought the elite competition that Zuffa has to offer. Next fight: TBA

12.) Michael McDonald - It's hard for anyone who saw his fight with Edwin Figueroa to not be a fan of the well rounded 20 year old fighter. Yes, I said 20. Damn kids. Next fight: TBA

13.) Takeya Mizugaki - Mizugaki has gone 3-4 in his seven WEC/UFC fights, alternating wins with losses. The losses are to the elite of the division (Torres, Jorgensen, Faber, Bowles), and the wins are against some good names (Curran, Yahya, Duran). It's hard to hold those losses against him too heavily, but it is clear that he's never going to be a contender. Gives good fight, though, so he's always going to be around if he can hang around .500. Next fight: Cole Escovedo, September 24

14.) Eddie Wineland - Well, at least he can say he was in the co-main event of a UFC PPV. and in his UFC debut, no less. Next fight: Joseph Benavidez, August 14

15.) Wagnney Fabiano - Fabiano reminds me of Takeya Mizugaki in that everyone expects each of these two fighters to become an elite bantamweight, but the results just aren't there. Fabiano was being groomed for a featherweight title shot when Mackens Semerzier triangled him in barely two minutes at WEC 43. After winning a couple of tune up fights at 135, Joseph Benavidez schooled him at WEC 52 and he hasn't been heard from since. Next fight: TBA

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/richhansen/article_9988.shtml

Vagam Bodjukyan Kotetsu Boku  Tony Bonello Stephan Bonnar