THE WEEK THAT WAS
Fighters of the Week:
1. Dan Hornbuckle (Bellator) WAR HORNBUCKLE! Another first-round stoppage, another step closer. Now meets Ben Askren in the finals. Buckle is absolutely a house of fire and destroyer of men lately.
2. Ben Askren (Bellator) Defeated Ryan Thomas for the second time, but this time it was in dominanting decision form. Now has the biggest fight of his life against the one-man army of Dan Hornbuckle.
3. Matt Lindland (Strikeforce) Got his first TKO in four years, and did it in the main event of a show in his hometown. Not too shabby a week from The Law.
4. Roxanne Modaferri (Moosin) Gets the nod here for the FANTASTIC fight she put on with Tara LaRosa. Just a battle between two of the best in the world. Decision could have gone either way, but Roxy got the W.
5. Tim Sylvia (Moosin) Yeah, sure. Why not? Showed who has actual MMA training and who's a freakshow in his fight against Mariusz Pudzianowski. Tim worked his jab, counterpunched every time Pudz threw a leg kick, and dominated the ground game with ease. I'm not going to agree with Mauro's ridiculous "Tim Sylvia is back!" comment, but this was a nice win that hopefully gets him back on track.
6. Joe Soto (Bellator) Bellator champs go 3/3 in their superfights thus far. Soto forced a doctor TKO by opening up a nasty cut on Diego Saraiva.
7. Tyron Woodley (Strikeforce) T-....Wood? Not the greatest performance turned in from my guy, and you could make a valid argument that Coy, who I told you all was legit, won the fight. As it were, Woodley picked up the W, and hopefully gained some experience and knowledge from this fight.
8. Roger Bowling (Strikeforce) Goddamn was that a fun fight to watch. The eye-injury was weird and the ending of the fight was kinda strange, but leading up to that, it was a fucking BATTLE. The Portland fans are atrocious, booing him. Both him and Voelker deserve accolades for putting on fireworks. Between this fight and Roxy-LaRosa, there may have been some legit FOTY candidates tonight.
9. Rafael Natal (Moosin) First-round TKO over "The Michael Jordan of jiu-jitsu" - Mike Goldberg.
10. Mike Cambell (Moosin) Tarec's vicious knockout just missed the cut because he was fighting another can, and Wiuff was fighting a last-minute replacement. Lame. Campbell really did defeat a true big-timer in Yves Edwards. I didn't think he won it, but he put up a good enough fight that it was in the judges' hands. Good for him for putting himself on the map.
Quote of the Week:
"Here we have one of the most over-hyped fighters going against one of the most underrated in the heavyweight division. I am highly hyped. Am I overrated? I don’t think so. But I’ve been over-hyped by that seven-second knockout." - Todd Duffee
Upset of the Week:
Mike Campbell def. Yves Edwards
Event of the Week:
Moosin: God of Martial Arts
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May 25-June 1
THE WEEK THAT WILL BE
[:: Bellator 20 ::]
May 27
Majestic Theatre
San Antonio, Texas
8:00
TV: FSN
Notable Fights:
Bryan Baker (MW #42) vs. Eric Schambari (MW #94)
Alexander Shlemenko (MW #43) vs. Jared Hess (MW #54)
Eddie Sanchez (HW #64) vs. Ralph Kelly
Aaron Rosa (LHW #83) vs. Robert Villegas
[:: Bitetti Combat 7 ::]
May 28
Fundicao Progresso
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Notable Fights:
Glover Teixeira (LHW #50) vs. Jeff Monson (HW #34)
Fabio Maldonado (HW #98) vs. Jessie Gibbs (HW #60)
Carina Damm (#19) vs. Shaayane Costa
Milton Vieira (WW #187) vs. Sebastian La Torre
[:: Dream 14 ::]
May 29
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
Notable Fights:
Kazushi Sakuraba (MW #67) vs. Ralek Gracie
Hayato Sakurai (WW #36) vs. Nick Diaz (WW #5)
Hiroyuki Takaya (FW #19) vs. Joachim Hansen (FW #4)
Federico Lopez vs. Kid Yamamoto (FW #59)
[:: UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans ::]
May 29
MGM Grand Arena
Las Vegas, Nevada
9:00 Spike
10:00 PPV
Notable Fights:
Quinton Jackson (LHW #4) vs. Rashad Evans (LHW #3)
Dan Miller (MW # 32) vs. Michael Bisping (MW #15)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (LHW #9) vs. Jason Brilz (LHW #41)
Diego Sanchez (LW #8) vs. John Hathaway (WW #52)
[:: Shooto: The Way of Shooto 3 ::]
May 30
JCB Hall
Tokyo, Japan
Notable Fights:
Hatsu Hioki (FW #12) vs. Takeshi Inoue (FW #23)
Ryuichi Miki (FLW #8) vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani (FLW #5)
Willamy Freire (WW #55) vs. Yusuke Endo (LW #72)
Akitoshi Tamura (BW #12) vs. Masakatsu Ueda (BW #18)
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Fighters I'm Rooting For This Week:
1. Rashad Evans (Rampage is a whiny malcontent. He's never happy anywhere. Everyone loved Pride...except Rampage. He hates Pride, he hates UFC, he hates fighting, he hates NOT fighting. He needs to have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up. I hope Rashad, who I'm a pretty big fan of, destroys him.)
2. Hayato Sakurai (Not a huge fan, just haaaate Nick Diaz so much, I'll root for his systematic destruction.)
3. Dan Miller (See #2, replace with "Michael Bisping")
4. Kazushi Sakuraba (See #2, replace "Not a huge" with "Pretty big" and "Nick Diaz" with "The entire Gracie family")
t5. Amir Sadollah (There's nothing about this kid that isn't extremely likeable. He's one of the funniest dudes in MMA.)
t5. Joachim Hansen (Huge Hellboy fan going back to Pride.)
Best Cards:
1. UFC 114
2. Dream 14
3. Shooto: The Way of Shooto 3
4. Bellator 20
5. Bitetti Combat 7
Fights I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans (Cage rust, Quinton? I hope so. Hope you get knocked into retirement. If Rashad sticks to his wrestling, he should take this. If he tries to prove his manhood by standing and banging, this could be bad.)
2. Mike Russow vs. Todd Duffee (Like everyone else, I wanna see if Duffee is for real, and he has a hell of a test in front of him in Russow.)
3. Hayato Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz (The Dream vs. Strikeforce rivalry continues and it's been ALL Strikeforce so far. But in a Nick Diaz fight, anything can happen. If Sakurai wins, he's definitely on tap for a Strikeforce Welterweight Title shot.)
4. Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway (Diego's probably better suited for welterweight, and Hathaway has been fantastic so far. Who doesn't like watching a Nick Diaz fight?)
t5. Hatsu Hioki vs. Takeshi Inoue (I've heard so much about Hioki, I'm excited to finally see him in action.)
t5. Amir Sadollah vs. Dong Hyun Kim (Love both of these guys, especially Sadollah. Gonna be a fantastic tilt.)
In Closing:
Well last week was a pleasent surprise, especially Moosin, which put on the Women's Fight of the Year and a good night of fights. Strikeforce Challengers was good and Bellator kept on keeping on, setting up the most attractive Welterweight final they could. This week is a huge week for MMA, lots of big events. Enjoy!)
