(Fight starts at the 5:50 mark. Props: MMAVideosPL)
Polish Anderson Silva? Not quite yet, but Maciej Jewtuszko is well on his way to making his name in the U.S. Closing out the preliminary portion of WEC 50 against Anthony Njokuani, things started out shaky the WEC newcomer. Jewtuszko got punched out of the air and onto his ass when Njokuani caught and countered his double-kick attempt. Njokuani made Jewtuszko pay with some hard punches from the top, but eventually decided to let Maciej to his feet. It was a decision that Njokuani would immediately regret.
Watch as Jewtuszko finds the right moment to land a spinning backfist/elbow to Njokuani’s chin. The follow-up guillotine choke attempt doesn’t pan out, but the finishing uppercuts certainly do. The win netted Jewtuszko his eighth consecutive stoppage victory, and his first WEC knockout bonus. Expect to see this guy again in the near future.
Related: Njokuani’s nickname on Wikipedia is currently listed as "The Nigerian Money Offer."
ix3623 is a ridiculously prolific editor of MMA/sports videos that are unmatched in their ability to waste large blocks of your time. While checking out ix’s new two-part "compilation of interesting mix martial arts facts" series today, we noticed the above tribute to sick knockouts at local shows, and it might be his most important work yet. First, a point of clarification: "amateur" here means "shot with a shitty camera." (We definitely recognized a few smaller pro leagues in the mix.) But that’s just a minor detail, because my goodness is this stuff hardcore. These are not TKO stoppages. This is nine and a half minutes of guys getting knocked dead-asleep in horrible fashion. Enjoy! We also recommend ix3623′s unsportsmanlike behavior megamix, the 30-part (!) funniest moments in MMA series, and this unrelated but compelling highlight reel.
He did it again: Between rounds in his fight against Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 117, Clay Guida unleashed his trademark Carpenter Burp. Notice how Guida does his best to ensure that the cutman is spared the rancid yogurt-and-Red Bull scent that is surely blasting out of his g.i. tract. That’s a courteous man right there. The definitive compilation of Clay’s UFC-era burps is above; if you enjoy this sort of thing, then enjoy. It’s definitely more fun than watching Kendall Grovepull strips of flesh out of a staph wound, Cabin Fever-style.
After the jump:Jenny Yum ruins Lindsay "Amazon Barbie" Jones’s night with a spinning backfist, at a Tuff-N-Uff event on Friday.
(Carano and Cyborg: Godmothers of the game. / Photo courtesy of SI.com)
By CagePotato.com contributor Jim Genia
First there was the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which empowered the women of the United States with the right to vote. The Sexual Revolution of the 1960s followed, providing them with birth control and shifting values, and liberating them from the social constraints of a rigid society. Then came Gina Carano vs. Cris “Cyborg” Santos, which showed that when you put two well-trained ladies in a cage and pay them to fight, they can really beat the crap out of each other (or at least one can thoroughly whoop the other).
Yes, great strides have been made in equality for the fairer sex, and thanks to the likes of Carano and Cyborg, this equality has stretched into the realm of mixed martial arts. Now, there are impending all-female tournaments scheduled for Strikeforce and Bellator, and Sarah Kaufman’s recent violent KO over Roxanne Modafferimade ESPN’s “SportCenter”. Whether you love it or hate it, the female version of limited-rules combat is here to stay. So here’s a look back at some of the greatest moments in MMA herstory. (Get it? “His-story”, “her-story”? Yuk-yuk.)
On May 31, 2008, EliteXC broke the live network-television seal with “Primetime”, a CBS-broadcast event that saw Kimbo Slice smash James Thompson’s ear, Robbie Lawler poke Scott Smith in the eye, and an overweight Carano batter a smaller Kaitlin Young. Overweight? That’s right, for the first-ever female bout on free TV, ultra-popular fighter and former American Gladiator Carano failed to make the contracted 140-pound weight limit, coming in instead at 144.5 pounds. This wasn’t the first time the “Face of Women’s MMA” had failed to make weight. In fact, EliteXC had tailor-made the 140-pound division for her because making the standard 135-pound limit would’ve required too much cardio and crystal meth. To ensure that she didn’t miss weight at her next fight, which was a pairing in Miami against Kelly Kobold, Carano stepped on the scale buck naked. Thankfully, the towel held up by her father to conceal her nude form from the crowd only slipped once.
Because it’s Monday morning and you’re all still half-asleep and three-quarters hungover, we’d like to present the latest epic highlight reel from Caposa, which presents 2010′s best MMA knockouts from around the world. It’s been a damn good year for head trauma, apparently. But wait, there’s more…
October 2002, Montreal. With first-round stoppages against Ivan Menjivar and Justin Bruckmann under his belt, Georges St. Pierre (2-0) was already the welterweight champion of the Canada-based Universal Combat Challenge when he stepped into the ring against Edmonton native Travis Galbraith, who was a slightly-more-seasoned 5-1 at the time. It took St. Pierre all of four seconds to score the double-leg takedown — Rush was already a natural at age 21 — and aside from an armlock attempt, Galbraith didn’t have much to offer on the ground.
The real reason to check out this fight if you’ve never seen it before is the unique finish, which starts around 3:23. With Galbriath’s arms locked around GSP’s arm and neck, St. Pierre pulls up and drives Galbriath’s head against the mat a couple times. After throwing in a couple of conventional strikes, GSP goes back to the brutal short-slams until his opponent is dazed and the ref stops the fight. After two more wins in Canada, St. Pierre earned his ticket to the UFC. And hopefully we’ll see this finishing move again someday…
Barnett is on a five-fight win streak, and most recently submitted Mighty Mo at DREAM.13. Dos Santos snapped a two-fight losing skid in May when he knocked out Fabio Jamantha at a Combat Fight event in Brazil. This weekend’s Impact event marks the first time that Mondragon will compete outside of his home country. The current lineup of "Impact FC: The Uprising – Brisbane" is below:
Josh Barnett vs. Geronimo Dos Santos Karo Parisyan vs. Luis "Besouro" Dutra Jr Carlos Newton vs. Brian Ebersole Joaquim Ferreira vs. Sokoudjou Jeff Monson vs. Brad Morris Bira Lima vs. Felise Leniu Jai Bradney vs. Thiago "Minu" Meller
After the jump: Three videos of Geronimo Dos Santos in action, including his beat-down of Zuluzinho…
Like summer vacations, dorm parties, and that time you dated the sex-crazed stripper, all good things must come to an end. It was the final show for Bellator’s second season last night, and if you weren’t watching, it was your own damn fault. Louisville, Kentucky plays host for the finals in two weight classes, a women’s division superfight, and a bantamweight tourney qualifier, plus some regional action and (I assume) some horse races and bourbon tastings out of sheer habit. What surprises are in store? Who will turn in a stellar performance and make a name for themselves, as Ben Askren did just last week? Who will claim the poster-sized check and grin goofily as they hold it aloft for all to see, as Ben Askren also did last week? Will Alexander “The Dreidel” Shlemenko manage to keep his fight on the feet? Will we finally make up our minds about whether Joe Warren is a pretty cool guy who isn’t afraid of anything, or is he, after all, just a turbo douche? That’s a lot of questions — what are you, a preschooler? Seriously, if you start just asking “why?” every time I say something, I’ll turn this car around, and we won’t even go to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory Tour. Follow me past the jump, and all will be revealed. If you’re good, maybe I’ll talk your mother into seeing the zoo. If not, I’m taking us to see the World’s Largest Bottle of Booze.
While American MMA fans were focused on the TUF 11 Finale and WEC 49 last weekend, Sengoku Raiden Championships 13 went down Sunday in Tokyo, featuring Masanori Kanehara‘s first featherweight title defense against Marlon Sandro. Or should we say attempted title defense — Sandro needed just 38 seconds to blast Kanehara with a right uppercut and send him down to the canvas face-first, stiff as a board. Already the reigning featherweight King of Pancrase, Sandro now adds the Sengoku featherweight belt to his trophy case.
After an early career that was marked by more decisions than stoppages, Sandro (17-1) has scored three straight first-round knockouts since his controversial split-decision loss to Michihiro Omigawa last August; Sandro’s win over Kanehara follows his nine-second KO of Tomonari Kanomata at Sengoku 12. Sengoku 13 will be broadcast on HDNet this Friday at 10 p.m. ET. Full results from the event are after the jump…
Bellator XXII returned to the Kansas City Power and Light District last night, in the penultimate show of the second season. The welterweight tournament finals were the main event, but “Boring”“Funky” Ben Askren was part of that matchup, so those nice folks at Bellator tried to put on a good ol’ fashioned, bread and circuses, action packed kind of card. Most of the fighters had an invite to one of next season’s tournaments — conditional upon their performance in KC, MO. What we got was one KTFO, one technical submission, one tap to strikes like a pussy, and…wait, wait, wait, let me start from the beginning. After the jump, allow me to thrill you with my account of the action. And maybe apologize for my can’t miss predictions…
Along with the six TUF 11 castmembers getting a shot on the preliminary card of this Saturday’s Finale show, two Octagon first-timers will also be trying to make a big impression. Get to know them below, and tell us how you think they’ll fare in the comments section…
TRAVIS BROWNE (HW) Experience: 9-0 record with appearances in Bellator, King of the Cage, and Gladiator Challenge. Five of his wins came within the first minute of the fight. Most recently scored a 35-second knockout of Aaron Brink at a GC event in February, which followed an eight-second knockout of Abe Wagner two weeks earlier and a nine-second knockout of Brian Campbell last November. Will be facing:James McSweeney (4-4, 1-0 UFC) Lowdown: At 6’6", 250 pounds, and with a Carwin-like habit of ending fights early, Travis Browne could make a very nice addition to the UFC’s heavyweight roster. Based out of the Alliance Training Center in San Diego, "Hapa" works as a professional dog trainer when he’s not knocking people unconscious. Browne was exposed to drug and gang culture in his native Hawaii at an early age, but escaped his rough upbringing and found a positive outlet for his aggression in jiu-jitsu. He was not selected to appear on Bully Beatdown, which really bothered him.
What better way to start your week than a ten-minute lowlight video of MMA fighters getting blasted in the testicles, eye-gouged, and kicked in the head while they’re down? All your favorite fouls are here, including: Gabriel Gonzaga’s infamous nut-punt on Chris Tuchscherer, Frank Mir getting curb-stomped by Wes Sims, and the impressive moment when Brandon Vera was able to kick Randy Couture in the groin and poke him in the eye at the same time. Brandon, if you’re remembered for nothing else — and let’s be honest, you probably won’t be — may you be remembered for that.
After the jump: Some squirrelly-lookin’ kid from Boston named "Dana" (LOL, that’s a girl’s name!) shows up at UFC 30 and tells James Werme how he’s going to turn the organization around. Lots of luck, buddy. Also, two quick knockouts just because we love you.
As you might have heard, MMA fighter/frequent assault suspect War Machine (11-3) was back in action a couple weekends ago at BAMMA 3 in England, where he finished Zach Light (6-10) by first-round rear-naked choke; the video is above. Yes, Light has a losing record, so maybe it’s not the most impressive victory for War. Still, Light is a former two-time All American wrestler and works as a coach at Wolfslair — where he assists in the training of fighters like Quinton Jackson, Michael Bisping, and Cheick Kongo — so at least he’s a well-qualified pushover.
The match was particularly special for War Machine because it marked his first fight after giving up the porn biz and becoming a Christian. As he tweeted: "I had planned on doing what I ALWAYS use to make fun of…thank God after the fight on the mic but in the excitement of things I forgot! Makes me feel bad. So I’m gonna thank him now for protecting me both physically and mentally while both preparing and fighting." To which God tweeted back. "I had nothing to do with that, now leave me alone you psycho."
Just a month after he scored a first-round TKO over Eddy Bengtsson via mind-bullets, nomadic heavyweight Aleksander Emelianenko was back in the ring this weekend at an Azerbaijan Pankration Federation event, proving absolutely nothing against another middle-of-the-food-chain European opponent. This time it was Miodrag Petkovic (29-12-1), a 40-year-old Serbian who holds wins over Igor Pokrajac, Tim Hague, and Travis Fulton. I wish we had a better video of this — perhaps, one that shows how Petkovic originally ended up on his back, and didn’t include another fight tacked onto the end of it, and didn’t look like it was edited together by Azamat Bagatov — but the basic gist is, Aleks spent the majority of the fight smashing Petkovic from the top until the ref stopped the fight at the 3:00 mark. It was Emelianenko’s eighth consecutive first-round victory. But of course, quantity is no replacement for quality. Did he forget about his plan to come to America and beat everyone in the UFC?
(Hector Lombard produces the fastest K.O. in Bellator history. What, you thought Jay Silva was going to shock the world? Props: YouTube.com/BellatorMMA.)
By DL “Potential Sociopath” Richardson
Say you live in Louisiana. Not the cool part where people party their asses off every day. I’m talking about inland, where you still get the humidity, but no one dresses up before Ash Wednesday, and you can never find a place to sell you a to-go alcoholic beverage. Say you live in Monroe. What do you do for fun? Well, you could go hang out at the Pecanland Mall and hit on that cute girl at Yummy Japan, but if you have any damn sense, you catch the Bellator Fighting Championships whenever they come into town. Last night, Bellator visited the Monroe Civic Center for the semifinal round of this season’s featherweight tournament, and as usual, they put on a show. Full results and recap after the jump…
Related: In an interview with Sherdog before UFC 113, Rua gave his thoughts on another 205-pound star who he might have to tangle with at some point — Jon Jones. "He is a great young fighter, too damn good, and he’s coming with everything in our division," Rua said. "He is very good in wrestling. I think he and Cain Velasquez are the two guys with the best wrestling in MMA today, together with Georges St. Pierre. He’s a very good wrestler, very dangerous. He’s a guy who will give a lot of people trouble." Will Rua be able to avoid the Light-Heavyweight Title Hot Potato Curse™ long enough to battle Bones for the belt one day?
(How Sakuraba earned his nickname. Props: Jermac2009)
It looks like DREAM will try to borrow some heat from an old Pride-era rivalry to build up its next show. The leading Japanese fight club held a press conference earlier today at Kazushi Sakuraba‘s Laughter7 gym in Tokyo, where it was announced that Sakuraba would return later this month at DREAM.14 (May 29th, Saitama), against Ralek Gracie. The son of UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie and third-eldest grandson of Helio Gracie, Ralek is an instructor at the Gracie Academy Headquarters in Torrance, and is 2-0 as an MMA competitor; he holds wins over Katsuyori Shibata and Alavutdin Gadzhiyev, both by first-round armbar.
In Sakuraba, Ralek will be facing his family’s most well-known nemesis. During his legendary run in Pride, Saku went 4-0 against the Gracie clan, submitting Royler and Renzo, scoring a decision over Ryan, and making Royce quit after 90 minutes of fighting at the 2000 Grand Prix Finals. (Sakuraba lost a 2007 rematch with Royce at K-1 Dynamite!! USA by decision, though the UFC pioneer tested positive for steroids after the match.) Sakuraba has won his last two fights in DREAM — a first-round kimura over boxer Rubin Williams, and a first-round kneebar against Zelg Galesic, which he secured after taking an ungodly amount of punishment.
DREAM.14′s current lineup and videos of Ralek’s two MMA fights are after the jump…
Now that the Korean Zombie has made his name in the U.S., we figured we’d take a break from the Tito vs. Jenna saga and bring you this fantastic Chan Sung Jung highlight compilation. The 23-year-old Korean Top Team product comes from a hapkido and kickboxing background, and is one of the most dynamic MMA strikers to come out of Asia in years. As we’ve mentioned before, Jung’s split-decision loss to Leonard Garcia at WEC 48 wasn’t the first time he’s been screwed by judges. His only other MMA loss came in a decision against Masanori Kanehara at Sengoku’s featherweight grand prix quarterfinals last year. Check out the video of that fight after the jump, and let us know if you can find any justification for the decision other than blatant racism.
Believe it or not, Jose Aldo was as dominant in the beginning of his career as he’s been during his current reign in the WEC. Before suffering his first (and to date, only) loss to Luciano Azevedo in November 2005, Aldo racked up seven straight victories via brutal stoppage. The video above shows his very first vale tudo appearance against Mario Bigola at Eco Fight 1 in August 2004; Aldo was just 17 years old at the time. As you’ll see, the future featherweight champ needed just 18 seconds to land a fight-ending head-kick on Bigola, who never competed again. As for the chaos that erupts at the end, don’t be alarmed. Throwing chairs and bottles is simply how Brazilians show their appreciation. Seriously, invite one to dinner and see if I’m lying.
Ben Askren‘s technical submission win over UFC vet Ryan Thomas at Bellator XIV drew some controversy last week, as referee Dave Smith called a halt to the welterweight quarterfinal when it appeared that Thomas had been put out by a guillotine choke — then caught an earful from Thomas who didn’t seem to be unconscious after all. In the ref’s defense, when a guy is caught in a nasty choke and isn’t moving his arms and legs around, and isn’t responding to your questions, you have to assume that he might be sleeping. But regardless of what would have happened if the fight was allowed to continue, Ryan Thomas was bounced out of Bellator’s 170-pound tournament just as quickly as he arrived.
And this Thursday, he’ll get a chance to redeem himself. Bellator sent out a press release last night announcing that due to the apocalyptic ash cloud floating above Europe, welterweight GP participant "Judo" Jim Wallhead will be unable to travel from England to the Bellator XV show in Uncasville, Connecticut. Said Bjorn Rebney:
(Just look at how much fun Jeremy Shockey and Mickey Rourke had last week, then try and tell us you don’t want to be a part of that.)
It’s another Thursday night in April, which means everyone’s favorite tournament-based MMA promotion is back in action. Bellator XIV is coming to us from the historic Chicago Theatre tonight, featuring a welterweight tournament bout between Olympic wrestler Ben Askren and Ryan Thomas, as well as a lightweight scrap between inverted triangle choker Toby Imada and James Krause, and a featherweight bout between Wilson Reis and Shad Lierley. The TV portion of the card kicks off at 7 pm local time and airs live-ish, depending on where you live, on Fox Sports Net, so check your local schedule for details.
While you wait, why not check out last week’s fight between Roger Huerta and Chad Hinton after the jump.
Somehow this escaped our notice, but Bob Sapp got back into action at the end of March in a Croatian event that saw him notch his first MMA victory since his win over that cartoon character at the Dynamite!! New Year’s Eve show in 2008. The big man didn’t exactly win this one with his graceful movements or superior technique. Instead he just charged after poor Sascha Weinpolter like a delivery truck that somebody forgot to apply the parking brake on.
Sapp clearly wants to get the action to the mat, which he does, but it’s not clear if he shoves Weinpolter over or if the smaller man decided to just pull guard for some reason. Ordinarily, pulling guard is something done by people with excellent jiu-jitsu and not much else. Since Weinpolter taps to a forearm on the throat that any blue belt would be ashamed to succumb to, it doesn’t seem like he was ever going to win this with his grappling ability.
The finish may not have thrilled the crowd, but a win’s a win. Sapp hasn’t had many of them in the last few years. Watching him in action now, it really puts all the recent hand-wringing about freak show fights into perspective. If Sapp can hang around in the sport for so long, it’s unlikely that James Toney is going to bring the MMA world crashing down by competing in the UFC.
If you didn’t stay up until 4 a.m. to watch some K-1 action on Saturday, then you missed the chance to see Alistair Overeem face off against yet another overmatched opponent. Dzevad Poturak turned out to have no real weapons to threaten Overeem with, and after getting dropped with a right hand early on he never got his legs back under him. Watching him sling harmless punches in the general direction of Overeem’s guard and then eat counter-punches for his trouble, you get the sense that this isn’t going to end well for him.
The good news is that Overeem managed to slaughter Poturak without injuring himself, so he plans to be back in the gym on Monday to prepare for that Strikeforce heavyweight title defense in a few weeks. Something tells me Brett Rogers might put up more of a fight.
(Josh Barnett vs. Mighty Mo. Skip to the 6:28 mark to see Barnett accept a knee to the groin as repayment for the one that happened during the fight. Video courtesy of 19054771 via Bloody Elbow.)
Full results from today’s seven-bout card in Yokohama are below; more videos after the jump.
– Bibiano Fernandes (champion) def. Joachim Hansen via split decision – Josh Barnett def. Siala-Mou "Mighty Mo" Siligia via submission (kimura), 4:41 of round 1 – K.J. Noons def. Andre "Dida" Amade via unanimous decision – Ryo Chonan def. Andrews Nakahara via unanimous decision – Cole Escovedo def. Yoshiro Maeda via KO (head kick), 2:29 of round 1 – Katsunori Kikuno def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka via KO (strikes), 1:26 of round 1 – Ikuhisa Minowa def. Jimmy Ambriz via submission (toe hold), 2:42 of round 2
At Shark Fights 2 in December 2008, Shannon Ritch ended John Wood’s night in 15 seconds with a technique that pro-wrestling fans will immediately recognize as a "superkick." Apparently it works in real life, too. This was the last in a four-fight win streak that Shannon had going in 2008, and if you know anything about The Cannon’s career, you know what a big deal that is. Fun fact: Ritch’s last 26 fights have ended in the first round; he won 10 of those fights.
(Maximo Blanco vs. Chang Hyun Kim; brutal finish @ 1:33. Props to WatchKalibRun)
From yesterday’s Sengoku Raiden Championships show in Tokyo…
– Jorge Santiago def. Mamed Khalidov via unanimous decision – Akihiro Gono def. Diego Gonzalez via unanimous decision – Maximo Blanco def. Chang Hyun Kim via KO, 1:10 of round 1 – Marlon Sandro def. Tomonari Kanomata via KO, 0:09 of round 1 – Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao def. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller via TKO, 3:27 of round 2 – Yuji Hoshino def. Nick Denis via submission (guillotine choke), 0:47 of round 2 – Leonardo Santos def. Kiuma Kunioku via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:06 of round 1 – Shigeki Osawa def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision
Here at the Potato, we realize that many of our readers are longtime boxing fans, while others among you still haven’t gotten around to watching “Rocky IV” yet (spoiler alert: it’s awesome). With that in mind we realized that some of you might be wondering, what’s this James Toney dude all about? Is he good or something?
The short answer to that question is, he used to be. He also used to be much leaner and quicker, but hell, so did Kirstie Alley. It still doesn’t do her any good in the present day. The things about Toney that have endured into his early forties are his ability to take a punch (in 83 pro fights, he’s never been knocked out), and his complete willingness to say outrageous stuff. The big difference now is that the outrageous stuff is a lot harder to understand, and he makes up for his slower hand speed by being harder to hit.
How will that translate into MMA? Well, if he tries to slip punches by bending over at the waist all the time, not good. That’s great for boxing, but just begging for a kick or knee to the dome in MMA. He’ll also have to learn all new footwork if he wants to stay upright against a decent grappler. Of course, there’s also the issue of conditioning, which is impossible not to mention once you’ve seen what the guy’s physique has looked like at times. Check out some Toney highlights after the jump and ask yourself, when we factor in the stopping power of his side check kick, could I see this man counter-punching his way to victories over experienced MMA fighters?
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