Nick Diaz is unquestionably the most gangster fighter in MMA history. This Saturday at UFC 143, Diaz will face Carlos Condit for the UFC’s interim welterweight title. It’s safe to assume that Condit will be body-shotted and called a “bitch” at least once. Here’s a tribute to some of Diaz’s most gangsterish moments, in animated GIF form. Enjoy.
If Strikeforce gave out performance bonuses like their big brothers at the UFC, the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov“ prelim match between Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and rising Canadian star Jordan Mein would be a front-runner for Fight of the Night. After two entertaining rounds of stand-up, Mein ended the match in the third frame with the nastiest display of standing elbows in MMA history. Seriously, that’s not an exaggeration. Skip to about the 1:45 mark and tell me I’m wrong — this might even give Anderson Silva vs. Tony Fryklund a run for its money. To see the first two rounds of the fight (and everything else from the prelims), swing by IronForgesIron.
Mein’s victory upped his career record to 23-7, and lengthened a win streak that includes victories over Joe Riggs, Josh Burkman, and Marius Zaromskis. He’s been fighting professionally since 2006, and he’s 21 years old. You do the math on that one.
After the jump: Another highly satisfying knockout from the Strikeforce prelims, this one involving former light-heavyweight champ Rafael Cavalcante and Olympic freestyle wrestling silver medalist (and Strikeforce first-timer) Yoel Romero. We set up the video to skip past the first ten minutes of Romero avoiding the fight and taunting Feijao at every opportunity; trust us, we’re doing you a favor. When Cavalcante finally catches up with his dick-headed opponent, it is so, so good.
Neither fighter knows who their next opponent will be in Strikeforce, but they’re both training hard just in case an offer comes along. In a perfect world, Evangelista would get rematches with Gegard Mousasi and Melvin Manhoef. Cris doesn’t care who she fights because she doesn’t have anything personal against anybody — even Erin Toughill, who keeps calling her out. ("Even a bird can talk," Cris says.) Though she would be happy to go up in weight in fight Erin’s big ass, if it came to that.
As for their domestic life, Evangelista claims to do most of the cooking at home, and all of the cleaning. "Never clean!" Cris admits. In a fight between them, Cris would win because Evangelista would never hit a woman. On their iPods, Evangelista jams out to an audiobook of the Bible. Cris prefers "Waka Waka."
Remember when ESPN: The Magazine featured a semi-nude Gina Carano in their inaugural "Body Issue" last year? (Answer:Sureyoudo.) Well, they’re at it again this year, with a new pack of pro athletes stripping down for your amusement. Representing MMA this time around are Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos, her husband Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, and Herschel Walker. What the hell? Was Miesha Tate unavailable? Since that Playboy rumor never came to fruition, these pictures of Cristiane and Evangelista are the closest you’ll get to seeing Cris Cyborg naked in a magazine, if you’re into that sort of thing. The rear-view is after the jump. If you want to see Herschel Walker naked, you’re on your own.
Q: Why are we watching a Strikeforce event on Showtime, in the middle of the damn week, ten days before a bigger Strikeforce event on Showtime?
A: Why the hell not?
The stakes are relatively low, but the matchups are promising. In the main event, Renato Sobral and Robbie Lawler slug it out in a moneyweight battle for a potential title shot down the road. Welterweights Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Marius "The Whitemare" Zaromskis meet in a guaranteed basher. Plus, Army Staff Sergeant Tim Kennedy defends his country’s honor against South African veteran Trevor Prangley, and KJ Noons returns to the cage against Conor Heun. Round-by-round results await you after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and let’s hope these fights end early so I can go to bed.
(Cristiane and Evangelista’s high school class voted them "Most Likely to Push Your Shit In." Photo courtesy of Showtime Sports.)
No rest for the hardcore MMA fan: Strikeforce’s second "Challengers" event goes down this Friday at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington — a day before the TUF 9 finale in Las Vegas. Headlining the Strikeforce card will be a middleweight matchup between two exciting strikers: Team Jackson product “Smokin’” Joey Villasenor and Chute Boxe veteran Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Both guys are coming off extended layoffs; Villasenor hasn’t competed since his first-round TKO win over Phil Baronilast May, and Santos is coming back from an elbow injury suffered in a Sengoku fight against Siyar Bahadurzada in September.
Maybe Strikeforce‘s roster isn’t so thin after all. According to a new press release sent out by the fight league, Strikeforce will hold its second "Challengers" event at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington on Friday, June 19th — just two weeks after "Lawler vs. Shields" goes down in St. Louis — and a host of prominent names are already booked.
(Jorge Masvidal vs. Ryan Schulz; more videos here.)
From today’s Sengoku show at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan…
Middleweight GP 1st Round:
Yuki Sasaki def. Yuki Kondo via submission (rear-naked choke), round 2
Siyar Bahadurzada def. Evangelista Santos via TKO (injury), round 1
Jorge Santiago def. Logan Clark via submission (arm triangle choke), round 1
Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Paul Cahoon via unanimous decision
Lightweights:
Jorge Masvidal def. Ryan Schultz via TKO, round 1
Kiuma Kunioku def. Sol Kwon via unanimous decision
Heavyweights:
Muhammed Lawal def. Travis Wiuff via TKO, round 1
Light-Heavyweights:
Xande Ribeiro def. Takashi Sugiura via TKO, round 3
Helloooooooo! Anybody still alive out there? It seems like the entire MMA world has clocked out early to get a jump on their Good Friday parties. Here’s the news we were too disinterested to mention up until now, when we really have no choice:
— Due to visa problems in Brasil, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos has been forced to pull out of his match against Joey Villasenor at next Saturday’s Strikeforce/EliteXC event. Said Strikeforce veep Mike Afromowitz, “The delay in his arrival would jeopardize him getting licensed in time for the fight..we’re still looking to finalize a replacement.”
— Unrelated to the Santos drop-out, a match between welterweights Tiki Ghosn (9-7) and Luke Stewart (5-0) has been added to the undercard of the Strikeforce/EliteXC show. Ghosn has lost his last four matches; though he’s done well in smaller promotions, he went 0-4 in the UFC and 1-3 in WEC fights.
— Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has been added to DREAM’s middleweight tournament — which will kick off April 29th in Japan — and has been working out at Xtreme Couture with Wanderlei Silva and Robert Drysdale. Souza has been undefeated since losing his professional debut at Jungle Fight 1 in 2003, and has never been out of the first round.
— And why isn’t Kazushi Sakuraba participating in the DREAM middleweight tournament? “I got a small scab on my leg which was [s]till bleeding.” Aw come on man, you gotta fight through that!
— The new EliteXC/CBS TV spots, starring Kimbo Slice, can be seen here.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Graham — Their pre-fight-beef gets squashed quickly in the ring as Fujita takes Graham down and chokes him out in 83 seconds.
Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Makoto Takimoto — ‘Borg comes out swinging in his usual style, but is even more dominant on the ground and gets the better of Takimoto in a heel-hook war.
Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada — Bahadurzada dishonors his Shooto belt by succumbing to a guillotine choke in the second round.
Our earlier mentions of Chute Boxe and rope-a-dope reminded us of this light heavyweight match from Cage Rage 15 (2/4/06), which could easily earn a place in our greatest fights of all-time list. The first round features as much slugging as you’d expect from these two, but it’s the second round that makes the fight legendary. Cyborg and Melvin become so exhausted from whaling on each other that at one point they can do little more than stand with their hands down and suck air. Luckily, Manhoef has a little extra in the tank. Watch Cyborg baby-punch Melvin’s lifeless body at the end — totally adorable. (Fight starts at the 2:26 mark.)
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