Posts Tagged ‘UFC’

Georges St-Pierre was born May 19, 1981 in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, to Jim and Louise St-Pierre. St-Pierre had a difficult childhood, attending a school where others would steal his clothes and money. He started learning Kyokushin karate at age seven by his father and later by a Kyokushin Karate Master to defend himself against a school bully, Nikolas Mavrikos.

He took up wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after his karate teacher died and also trained in boxing. Before turning pro as a mixed-martial artist, St-Pierre worked as a bouncer at a Montreal night club in the South Shore called Fuzzy Brossard and as a garbageman for six months to pay for his school fees.

St-Pierre has trained with a number of groups in a large variety of gyms throughout his fighting career. Prior to his fight with B.J. Penn at UFC 58, he trained at the Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York City. St-Pierre received his brown belt in BJJ from Renzo Gracie on July 21, 2006. In September 2008, St-Pierre earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Bruno Fernandes.

St-Pierre began training with Rashad Evans, Nathan Marquardt, Keith Jardine, Donald Cerrone, and other skilled MMA fighters at Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu school in New Mexico. Some of Jackson’s students accompanied St-Pierre to Montreal to help prepare him for his fight at UFC 94 against B.J. Penn at the Tristar Gym, including Keith Jardine, Nathan Marquardt, Donald Cerrone and Rashad Evans. Georges’ strength and conditioning coach is Jonathan Chaimberg of Adrenaline Performance Centre in Montral. Georges’ Head Trainer is Firas Zahabi of Zahabi MMA, out of the Tristar gym. The two have cornered all of St-Pierre’s most recent bouts and remain as his close friends. Currently, St-Pierre trains in Muay Thai under Phil Nurse at the Wat in New York City.

St-Pierre had dreamed of becoming a UFC champion since watching Royce Gracie fight in 1993 at UFC 1. St-Pierre had his first amateur bout when he was only 16 years old. He said, “When I won my first amateur (MMA) fight, I was 16 years old and I beat a guy that was 25. I was only a Kyokushin karate fighter and the guy I fought was a boxer. At the time my ground skills were very poor, I didn’t know anything on the ground.” St-Pierre won his fight by knockout, going low with several leg kicks and then going high with a kick to the head.

St-Pierre’s pro debut was against Branden Macfadden and the fight ended in a first round to-knockout win by St-Pierre. In only his second fight, St-Pierre’s challenge for the UCC belt against Justin Bruckmann. He won by an arm bar in the first round. He then went on to defend his title twice. The UCC aka Universal Combat Challenge was then converted to TKO Major League MMA and he was named the champion. He fought on November 29, 2003 against Pete Spratt in a non-title bout at TKO 14. St-Pierre defeated Spratt with a rear naked choke in the first round. Following his second win in the UFC, he faced Matt Hughes at UFC 50 for the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship. Despite a competitive performance against the much more experienced fighter, St-Pierre tapped out to an armbar with only 1 second remaining in the first round. The loss was the first of St-Pierre’s career and he has since admitted that he was in awe of Hughes going into the title bout.

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10 Things you may not know about the UFC.

1. Original promoters of a Ultimate Fighting Championship longed for to embody such marvellous side shows as alligator moats as well as electric fences surrounding a ring. UFC Doctors of march warned opposite them due to a dangers a fighters could face.

2. The UFC was founded by Rorian Gracie as well as Arthur Davie. It was combined to foster a Gracie family’s armed forces humanities school. Before a UFC a Gracie’s were well known for mouth-watering fighters of any character to contest opposite a part of of a family or a singular of their students to infer which Gracie jiu-jitsu reigned supreme.

3. Originally Semaphore Entertainment Group, a association which purchased a UFC, was usually starting to reason a singular UFC event. The eventuality was so successful they rught away began to devise some-more tournaments. Good thing it was so successful.

4. With a difference of UFC 9, each UFC up until UFC eighteen used a contest character format. UFC twenty-three additionally used this format. Eight fighters would contest to begin out a tournament. The 4 winners would afterwards contest in semi-final matches. The dual semi-final winners would contest for a championship belt. If a warrior could not go on at any indicate an swap was brought in to take his place.

5. Early on a UFC would reason events in states but jaunty commissions to equivocate regulations. In a commencement there were no judges either. When judges were combined in a future there were no transparent parameters on how to decider a fight.

6. For a initial integrate UFC events, a referees had really small power. They could not even stop a fight. There usually role was to have certain which a couple of manners which existed were enforced. The usually manners at which time were no biting, fish hooking, eye gouging or twist grip strikes. Fortunately after a initial couple of events refs were authorised to stop fights.

7. In 2000 SEG as well as a UFC roughly went under. The face which SEG marketed a competition as heartless as well as full of blood roughly led to a UFC’s demise. Luckily an pledge fighter as well as upholder declared Dana White assured a Fertitta brothers to buy a unwell organization. The UFC has given flourished to unimaginable heights.

8. Dana White managed Chuck Liddell as well as Tito Ortiz in a early days of a UFC. He additionally owned 3 gyms in a Las Vegas area.

9. After most years of “bad blood” Dana White as well as Tito Ortiz were starting to solve things in a ring with a 3 turn fighting compare on Mar 24, 2007. Surprise, warn a quarrel never happened as Tito Ortiz was a no uncover at a import ins.

10. In 2006 a UFC generated $222,766,000 in revenue, braking a PPV industry’s all time jot down for a singular year of sales, leading wrestling as well as boxing. The largest events reached scarcely 800,000 viewers.

I gamble we didn’t know a little of those facts!

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From poor ticket sales to a downright hostile German media, UFC 99 was one headache after another for Dana White and company. That was all forgotten thanks to an entertaining fight card highlighted by a main event between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva. Franklin would ultimately win the unanimous decision victory, but the fight itself far exceeded the expectations of most fans.

For the most part, Franklin picked Silva apart throughout the course of the fight (to quote UFC color commentator Joe Rogan) and deserved the unanimous decision verdict. What made the fight exceptional were the occasional glimpses of the old Axe Murderer. Late in the second and third rounds, Silva tagged Franklin with hard punches that left him clearly stunned. He did well to weather the storm and maintain control of the fight, but the uncertainty was enough to make the main event a very entertaining and exciting fight. Silva demurred on talk of retirement afterwards, though his tone gave some indication that hes leaning in that direction.

In the co-main event, heavyweight phenom Cain Velasquez survived a few nervous moments to put in a wall to wall domination of Cheick Kongo. Velasquez was rocked by Kongos punches early in rounds one and two, but quickly recovered to take the fight to the ground where he mauled the Frenchman. The result was an impressive victory for Velasquez over a top level opponent, but his struggles against Kongos standup game left several unanswered questions. The most compelling concern, of course, is that Velesquez might have a weak chin and simply not be able to take a punch particularly well. His problems could also be tactical or simply a case of not having enough patience”rushing his takedown attempts and eating punches rather than work for a less risky opportunity. In any case, his stand up defense needs to be upgraded significantly before he can think about competing against the likes of Brock Lesnar or Frank Mir.

The event also featured the UFC return of former PRIDE open weight GP champion Mirko Cro Cop. Cro Cop was making his return to action from knee surgery, and the Croatian striking machine got off to a slow start against overmatched Mostapha Al-Turk as he clearly sought to protect his rebuilt wheels. Of particular note was the fact that Cro Cop didnt throw a kick the entire fight”his bread and butter during his PRIDE dominance, which evoked the mantra right leg hospital, left leg cemetery. Once he let his hands go, however, he demonstrated emphatically that hes still got serious power. He ended the fight late in the first round by flooring Al-Turk with an overhand left followed up with some hammer fists on the ground. Al-Turk survived this onslaught, but when the referee returned the fight to standup he caught a poke in the eye (similar to the one suffered by Josh Barnett in his PRIDE OWGP Final matchup against Cro Cop). This caused him severe difficulty, but likely only hastened the inevitable Cro Cop TKO victory.

Perennial contender Mike Swick looked impressive as he defeated Ben Saunders via 2nd round TKO. After an uneventful first five minutes, Swick let his hands go and his impressive handspeed proved no match for his adversary. In the opening match of the live PPV, Dan Hardy won a hard fought split decision over Marcus Davis. The two men had feuded back and forth in the UK media, and while the fight may not have settled their differences in a decisive manner it did provide a solid opener to the evenings fight card.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Rashad Evans didn’t scream about demanding respect in his prefight interviews because hes smart enough to know that respect must be earned. He earned it and then some with a devastating 2nd round TKO of Chuck Liddell in the main event of UFC 88.

If Evans needed any more validation of how little respect he was getting, he could have taken a look at the UFCs text message prediction poll of the main event which favored The Iceman by a whopping 81% to 19% margin. Or he could have listened to the UFC announcers, who had all but penciled Liddell in for a return to light heavyweight title contention after his inevitable victory. Still, Evans never whined about being disrespected as is commonplace among professional athletes in the stick and ball sports. He let his fists do the talking and with a perfectly placed overhand right will likely never have to worry about a lack of respect again.

From the opening horn, Evans showed no fear of Liddells once legendary power. Instead, he danced and moved (which was dumbly criticized as showboating by the UFC announce team), using his slick footwork and speed to dart in and out of range of Liddells punches. In the process, he was able to use his superior handspeed to get off first. His punches werent exactly highlight reel power shots at this point, but were nonetheless effective as evidenced by a cut opened under Liddells eye.

Evans highlight reel power shot was to come in the 2nd round. Liddell backed Evans up near the cage wall and went to throw an uppercut. Simultaneously, Evans responded with an overhand right that landed quicker, harder and more accurately. The perfectly placed punch knocked Liddell out cold. Evans’ KO was one of the most devastating in the history of the sport, and made all the more so by the status of the man on the receiving end.

Rashad Evans raised his record to 17-0-1, with the lone blemish a draw against Tito Ortiz at UFC 73. Liddell, meanwhile, saw his record drop to 21-6″with three of those six losses coming in his last 4 fights.

Liddells loss notwithstanding, it was a good night for UFC veterans as Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson won their fights in impressive fashion. Franklin looked particularly sharp in dismantling tough Matt Hamill, eventually prevailing by 3rd round TKO. Hamill had trouble getting inside for the takedown he needed to compete in the bout, and every time he closed the distance he was met with a barrage of Franklin punches and kicks. Franklin employed leg kicks early on, which obviously hurt Hamills ability to shoot for takedowns and ended the bout with a perfectly placed body kick that had Hamill doubled up and tapping out even as Mario Yamasaki covered the prone fighter.

This was the UFCs first trip to Atlanta and despite a good attendance the crowd itself was somewhat disappointing. In a marked contrast to the knowledgeable and enthusiastic fans at the Target Center in Minneapolis for UFC 87″arguably the best MMA crowd ever at a US venue”the live crowd at Phillips Arena often acted as if they were at a taping of Georgia Championship Wrestling. Every foreign fighter was booed mercilessly”including South Korean Kim. Perhaps the audience didnt realize that South Korea has been a US ally since its establishment after WW II.

More problematic was the crowds utter lack of respect for the fighters postfight. Poor Dong Hyun Kim was booed during his postfight interview–not quite the respect that a 4th degree judo black belt whod just won a very tough fight deserves. Kims treatment by the fans cant be written off as a reaction to a close split decision victory; Rashad Evans was booed after his victory over Liddell, and short of decapitating The Iceman there was no way his win could have been more decisive.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on World Cup soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The UFC is of borderline relevance in “The Land of the Rising Sun”. This isn’t to disparage the UFC, which has done a great job growing MMA in North America and parts of Europe. Simply stated, the UFC is well below at least a dozen MMA, kickboxing, boxing, sumo and pro wrestling promotions in terms of importance to Japanese fight fans.

Here are the three essential qualities for doing business in Japan, along with an analysis of what they mean to Zuffa’s efforts to build the UFC brand there:

Group Orientation/Collaboration: Japanese businessmen are notorious for sublimating their individual talents and personalities to the greater good of the group. Furthermore, Japanese business places a great emphasis on teamwork and collaboration. For US businesses seeking to enter the market, a certain degree of partnership with existing Japanese firms is almost de rigueur. MMA fans can see the biggest problem Zuffa may face from a mile away–their reticence to enter into co-promotional agreements. While their public disdain for co-promotion was a major sticking point in their negotiations with Fedor Emelianenko, it may very well be a case that they didn’t want to do business with M-1 Global. To a certain extent, its difficult to blame them. On the other hand, the UFC worked with Germany’s largest concert promoter (MLK) to enter that market with a fair degree of success. Even if the UFC didn’t want to go promote with one of the major players in Japanese fight sports, they’d be well advised to seek some sort of a partnership similar to their German initiative to help smooth their way.

Hierarchy: Japanese business and, for that matter, Japanese culture, is almost ridiculously hierarchical. The societal reverence for age, experience and accomplishment in Japan is well known, and that’s often a difficult concept for American companies and businessmen to grasp. Much of the reason for this is the relative openness of US culture, particularly as it relates to business. US businesses love mavericks and Horatio Alger stories. That accounts for much of the business media’s fascination with Dana White and they’re quick to celebrate how a former aerobics instructor is now the most powerful man in MMA and the driving force of a billion dollar company. That storyline doesn’t play as well in Japan, however. One approach would be for White to take a back seat in UFC efforts to promote in Japan in favor of Lorenzo Fertitta–who has much more conventional business experience from his time in the casino industry–and perhaps Marc Ratner, widely respected for his time at the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Respect: Even among seedy elements like fight promoters–and even the underworld–respect in business dealings is essential in Japan. In a typical Japanese business deal, the first few meetings aren’t intended for any substantive decision making to take place. Instead, they’re used for evaluation of your professionalism or, as the Japanese like to put it, “to determine your suitability for conducting business with”. Considering that Dana Whites first introduction to the PRIDE staff and to the Japanese fight public was a press conference where he made the statement–more in reference to the proposed bouts between UFC and PRIDE fighters than anything else–”We’re going to kick your ass”. At that moment, PRIDE as a promotion died. The people that worked for PRIDE had no interest in helping White profit from the promotion. More significantly, he became little more than a clown to the Japanese public–like “Money From Government Grants” shill Mathew Lesko without the funny suit. To succeed in Japan, the UFC must realize that they’re not considered a major fight promotion in that country. They must understand that they’ve got to win over a skeptical public, but before that they have to win over a skeptical Japanese business community. They might be able to run their company like Tony Soprano ran the garbage collection business in the US, but that approach applied to Japan will leave them exactly where they are now–on the outside looking in at the huge, fight crazy economy.

Dana White’s fanciful stories about Yakzua gangsters out of Quentin Tarantino movies might amuse his sycophants in the MMA media, but countless US companies including fight promotions have done business successfully and profitably in Japan. Properly promoting stars like Yoshihiro Akiyama will help, but the only way that Zuffa will be able to become a factor in the worlds #2 MMA market is to do what every other company has done to be successful there–learn how to understand the Japanese approach to doing business, and play by their rules.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Portland, Oregon has long been considered a hotbed of mixed martial arts. The area is home to numerous MMA gyms, the most famous being Gresham’s Team Quest. Regional MMA promotions like Matt Lindland’s SportFight and amateur MMA draws good crowds, and there’s few markets in the country that have such a strong mainstream acceptance and understanding of mixed martial arts.

The UFC originally planned to hold an event in Portland last year, but when Randy Couture resigned with the promotion and agreed to fight Brock Lesnar UFC 91 was moved to Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena. The UFC rescheduled their Rose City debut for August 29th, headlined by a matchup between local hero Couture and tough PRIDE vet Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. They anticipated a fever pitch for Coutures homecoming and the UFCs first ever trip to the Pacific Northwest.

What they received instead was an outpouring of apathy from the community. As of early this week, there had been as few as 8,500 tickets sold in the 21,000 seat Rose Garden Arena. Even media sources like Yahoo Sports, who invariably put a positive spin on everything the UFC, does are reporting just over 10,000 tickets sold.

Earlier in the week Zuffa announced the postponement of a WEC event scheduled for Youngstown, Ohio. The official reason given was an injury to main event fighter Ben Henderson, and while thats not been confirmed several sources have indicated that he did suffer a minor setback during training. More curiously, the WEC announced that the show would no longer be held in Youngstown despite what they insisted were strong ticket sales.

While Youngstown could have been a bad choice for a MMA event all along, the UFC will probably blame the economy for the poor showing of live ticket sales in Portland. While the high unemployment rate nationally and regionally doesnt help things, it doesnt appear to be a major factor in the UFCs struggles to sell tickets in the Rose City. Many people who self identify as casual or serious fans of the UFC had no idea that an event was being held in Portland at all. The local media hasnt helped either, with Portlands largest newspaper providing little print coverage of UFC 102 claiming that its not a major sport.

Even among fans who *did* know that UFC 102 was coming to Portland, theres no buzz whatsoever. Theres a variety of reasons for this”many fans have suggested that the high ticket prices werent justified by a relatively weak card. With the exception of the main event, there arent any fighters on the UFC 102 card that are exactly household names outside of hardcore MMA circles. Others have suggested that they would be interested in attending the event, but theres a whole slew of competing events this weekend including the Oregon State Fair.

The UFC has a misguided notion that they can simply put their name on an arena marquee and local fans will pay top dollar for tickets regardless of who is fighting on the card or what else is going on that night. The reality has demonstrated otherwise with poor ticket sales in Portland and other markets. While the promotions PPV business is doing fine and is their real source of revenue, the weakness of the demand for their live product outside of a select number of markets like Las Vegas and Montreal should be a source of concern.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and highly respected authority on World Cup soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Brian Bowles used a counter right hook late in the first round to defeat Miguel Angel Torres by TKO and win the WEC Bantamweight title in the main event of another exciting fight card from Zuffas MMA promotion showcasing the lighter weight classes.

One day after a UFC 101 card that was lackluster at best and disappointing at worst, MMA fans were hoping that the WEC would deliver an exciting event as they almost inevitably do. They werent disappointed, and there really wasnt a bad fight on the card which featured several brutal knockouts along with tightly contested decisions. The event will be remembered for the main event and the shocking upset of Torres, whom commentator Frank Mir had been championing as the pound for pound best fighter in the sport of late. Torres certainly had the credentials”a fighter equally as dangerous on his feet as on the ground, hed compiled a 37-1 record entering the fight against Bowles. Since a 2003 decision loss to Ryan Ackerman, Torres had run off 17 straight victories including his most recent triumph by decision over a tough challenge from Japanese striking machine Takeya Mizugaki.

Bowles entered the cage accompanied by the music of Johnny Cash. This prompted WEC commentator Todd Harris to quip “It takes a special man to walk in to Johnny Cash”. He wasnt kidding, and Bowles quickly announced his presence with authority rocking Torres with an overhand right and scoring a takedown within the first minute. After a groundfighting sequence, the two fighters exchanged punches again and initially it looked like Torres was getting the best of things as he landed a multiple punch combination that sent Bowles backing up. Almost out of nowhere, however, Bowles countered with a perfectly placed short right hook that sent the champion to the canvas. He followed up with some nasty ground and pound punches including a big left hand that knocked his opponent unconscious and forced the referee to wave off the fight.

In his postfight interview, Bowles was clearly pleased but not exactly surprised by the result. His comments indicated that hed been very well prepared for Torres considerable skills and though he conceded that hed been stung by the punching barrage waited for the opening to throw the right hook that ended the fight. Bowles displayed considerable class in victory, and Torres conducted himself in a matter befitting a champion as he accepted the defeat.

A rematch between Bowles and Torres is almost inevitable, but theres plenty of talent in the WEC bantamweight division. The semifinal bout on the card pitted two of these competitors in what may have been an elimination match for #1 contender status as Dominick Cruz handed feisty Joseph Benavidez his first professional loss via unanimous decision.

Further muddling the picture in the bantamweight division was an earlier fight on the card, in which Takeya Mizugaki outlasted Jeff Curran to win a split decision victory. Mizugaki scored takedowns in all three rounds and did enough from the top position while fending off submission attempts to earn the verdict and make his claim for #1 contender status.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Ever since he burst onto the MMA scene with a shocking first round KO upset of Jens Pulver at UFC 63, Joe Lauzon has been working to earn respect. Hes lost only once since then–to top contender Kenny Florian in a bout that earned fight of the night honors–but for some reason hes had trouble being taken seriously as a top contender in the UFCs lightweight division. He may not fit the classical profile of a fighter, looking more like a fresh faced kid and is often referred to as a geek due to his educational background in computer science. When the fight starts, however, hes all business. In the main event at the UFC Ultimate Fight Night in Tampa, Lauzon withstood a game challenge from late replacement Jeremy Stephens to earn a 2nd round submission victory.

Lauzon was in control of the fight throughout, but Stephens gave a good account of himself despite his opponents obvious technical superiority on the ground. Stephens wasn’t able to match up with Lauzon’s ever improving BJJ skills, but he used good old fashioned tenacity and some powerful punching to keep the fight competitive throughout. Lauzon appeared to be on the verge of ending the fight midway through the second with a ground and pound assault that he attempted to transition into a rear naked choke. Stephens fought back with a vengeance despite his disadvantageous position and opened a nasty cut on Lauzon’s forehead with an elbow strike.

Lauzon gained a new sense of urgency not wanting to lose on a stoppage due to the cut. He regained control on the ground and from full mount twisted into a nasty arm bar. Stephens tried to extricate himself, but was eventually forced to tap giving the bloody Lauzon a hard fought triumph.

The semifinal matchup featured another impressive effort from Cain Velasquez, who many have pegged as the heavyweight superstar of the future. He trains with the American Kickboxing Academy, and has a reputation as the hardest worker and most dominant sparring partner in a gym who includes among its membership superstars such as Bobby Southworth, Cung Le and Josh Thompson.

Velasquez had some difficulty finishing off tough UFC newcomer Dennis Stojnic. Stojnic displayed impressive toughness and a chin of granite, which is less surprising given his training home at Amsterdam’s Golden Glory gym where he works alongside such fighters as K-1s Semmy Schilt and DREAMs Alistair Overeem. Stojnic did become the first of Velasquez’s opponents to make it into the second round as he withstood a brutal beating near the end of the first to make it to the bell.

In the second round, Velasquez quickly caught his opponent and sent him to the canvas with a nice combination which he followed up with another ground and pound attack. Stojnic again kept trying to defend himself despite a hellacious beating, though the referee finally jumped in and stopped the contest awarding Velasquez the TKO verdict. While Velasquez continues to show all of the qualities of a future top heavyweight, he needs to improve his stopping power and ability to finish a fight.

On the undercard, Josh The Dentist Neer earned a tapout victory over the sports best known (and perhaps only) vegan, Mac Danzig. Danzig looked decent in the first round but in the second he looked listless and quickly fell victim to a nasty triangle choke.

In the opening bout of the evening, up-and-coming welterweight Anthony Rumble Johnson used his significant height and reach advantage to dispatch tough Luigi Fioravanti. After the fight he was very critical of himself in his postfight interview calling his performance sloppy.

The live crowd in Tampa gave a very poor account of themselves, at times booing fighters mercilessly for no apparent reason whatsoever. Their behavior reached a nadir in Cain Velasquez’s post fight interview, where he was booed mercilessly despite an impressive victory and informing Joe Rogan that he was about to become a father for the first time.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and scuba diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Here’s a word of advice to future opponents of Bobby Lashley–don’t make fun of his background in professional wrestling. Mike Cook found that out the hard way in the co-main event of the Maximum Fighting Championships MFC 21: Hard Knocks event. After spending the run up to fight week making fun of Lashley’s tenure in the WWE, Cook lasted a mere :24 seconds before being choked unconscious via a guillotine choke.

Perhaps Cook felt he was creating some sort of self doubt in the former WWE superstar by suggesting that he was out of his element in a real fight, but he turned it up a notch at the weigh in and in his ring entrance by donning a Mexican Lucha Libre mask. In prefight interviews, Cook had suggested that Lashley would soil himself once he entered the ring (though in not so erudite terms). That clearly incensed the massive 64 250 pound Lashley, who despite his inexperience in MMA is hardly the sort of individual prone to losing bowel control at the prospect of a fight.

A smirking Cook attempted to tap gloves with Lashley before the fight, but his obviously insulted opponent would have none of it. Even after the opening bell rang, Cooks arrogant approach to the fight continued as he immediately clinched with his opponent as if he had no regard whatsoever for Lashleys strength. Lashley immediately locked in a guillotine choke and basically yanked Cook down to the mat by his head. Once on the canvas, Lashley cinched it in deeper as Cook flopped around”partially in an effort to escape, partially in an involuntary muscle reaction as he sunk into unconsciousness. Cook didn’t even get the chance to tap out as veteran referee Big John McCarthy recognized he was out cold and pulled Lashley off of him.

After the fight Lashley gave his opponent a hug and flashed his trademark megawatt smile as if to say I told you so. In his postfight interview, however, he did slip in a final verbal jab toward his vanquished opponent saying that he didn’t come to play and that he is all business before quipping that now Cook can go put the mask back on and have fun with himself’.

Despite the fact that mixed martial arts and professional wrestling have been interwoven from the beginning, the American Top Team trained Lashley has been singled out by less knowledgeable fans. Against his next opponent, Bob Sapp, hell be facing a foe that has also spent some time in the worked environment of professional wrestling. In addition to his legit fighting experience in K-1 and PRIDE, Sapp has worked for several Japanese pro wrestling organizations and briefly held the prestigious IWGP Championship. The IWGP title has been held by pro wrestling legends such as Keiji The Great Muta Mutoh, Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami, as well as reigning UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.

Even though Sapp’s days as a serious fighter are long past and he likely spends less time in the gym during a given year than Lashley does in a month, he does present an element of danger. Hes still got decent punching power, and his sheer bulk will be a challenge for Lashley who could give up as much as 100 pounds come fight night. Still, Sapp’s only victories in several years have been against overmatched and/or outsized opponents.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and World Cup betting sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

When golf legend Jack Nicklaus was still a young upstart in the sport and only starting to tear up PGA courses, legend Bobby Jones commented following ‘The Golden Bear’s’ 65 Masters win that “he plays a game with which I am not familiar”. Following his absolute destruction of Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 98, there’s likely a few MMA fighters saying the same thing about the new light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Machida completely befuddled Evans en route to a 2nd round TKO victory after which ‘The Dragon’ looked as if hed barely worked up a sweat.

The fight started slowly, with each man trying to get a feel for his opponent and wait him out to see who blinked first. Late in the first round, Machida went on offense with frightening suddenness, flooring Evans with a nice straight right hand. Evans was able to recover and survive, but it only delayed the inevitable as Machida used another right hand to send his opponent down again. Evans gamely tried to fight back, but a final right hand from the Shotokan Karate master left him out cold.

After the fight UFC announcer Joe Rogan proclaimed the start of the Machida era and this is not just mere hyperbole. Machida is unlike any fighter before him, rooted in mastery of traditional martial arts but with the versatility of a modern MMA competitor. He’s essentially a Mortal Kombat character come to life–in a more realistic cross disciplinary comparison he shares many of the same characteristics as boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr. as he combines insane handspeed, underrated stopping power and nearly impenetrable defense into an unorthodox and extremely lethal package. Like Mayweather, hes a tough opponent to prepare for as there’s simply no way to replicate his skill set in sparring.

The comparisons with the insanely talented but equally insanely arrogant Mayweather end when the final bell sounds. Outside of the cage, Machida is a modest and respectful gentleman who is quick to give credit to his father and his karate teachers for his MMA success. He spent most of his UFC 98 postfight interview not singing his own praises, but imploring others to strive to realize their dreams.

An odd trivia note about Machida serves as further repudiation for MMA neophytes who think that the sports kinship with pro wrestling began with Brock Lesnar: Machida was discovered by Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, and became something of his protege. He trained for some time at the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in Tokyo and made his MMA debut on a NJPW card in 2003, defeating Pancrase veteran Kengo Watanabe.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about Machida is that hes only now reaching his full potential as an MMA fighter. In other words, hes only going to get better which is a scary prospect for opponents given the fact that hes never lost in MMA competition. Early in his UFC career he had a reputation as a boring fighter, but in his recent bouts hes shown a downright lethal ability to end fights. He stopped Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at UFC 79 with an arm triangle choke, and blitzed Evans and previous foe Thiago Alves with punishing punching combinations en route to TKO victories. The so called boring fighter has in the process earned two UFC knockout of the night bonuses by virtue of his evolving power punching skills.

Machida will very likely face Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in a future light heavyweight title defense and, with all due respect to the PRIDE/UFC veteran, its difficult to see him faring much differently than Evans did. One thing working in ‘Rampage’s’ favor is his greater experience and a resume filled with high level opponents of various fighting styles. Still, everyone comes back to the fundamental reality that no one has ever really seen a fighter quite like Machida before.

In the co-main event of the evening, Matt Hughes defeated Matt Serra by unanimous decision to gain the upperhand in their long running feud. It was a surprisingly entertaining fight, with Serra taking the first round with his power punching before Hughes used his takedown and ground control abilities to win rounds two and three.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer specializing in travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.