Current Featherweight Title holder, Mike Brown defends his title on March 1st against Leonard Garcia, LIVE on Versus

KRIS-TV News:
Feb. 28, 2009

CORPUS CHRISTI – Mike brown isn’t used to the term ‘title defense’, because he’s only been a World MMA Champion for a little more than three months.

However, he’s happy he has a title to fight for at all.

Brown will defend his WEC Featherweight Belt Sunday against Plainview native Leonard Garcia at the American Bank Center. The 33-year-old caught the started fighting in the mid-90s, but thought about giving it up as a career because there wasn’t much opportunity or cash for 145 pounders. That is, until the WEC came along and made lighter classes a specialty.

“I had a lot of injuries. I had a lot of surgeries. After a couple of them, you’re like, ‘what am I doing this for?’ I do it for the love, but I’m going to be 45-years-old, broke and crippled. I’m glad I stuck with it and it’s all paid off. No matter what happens, it would be worth it,” Brown said.

He carries an eight-match winning streak into his fight with Garcia, which will be on national television.

Junior Dos Santos knocks out another dude in the first minute of the first round at UFC 95. The last time we saw him was when he knocked former contender Fabricio Werdum out of the UFC. When is Dos Santos going to get a title shot? The UFC’s Heavyweight Division is looking better and better all the time.

Watch the Fight Video here

Chael Sonnen battles undefeated ground specialist Demian Maia at UFC 95 from London England.

Damian Maia is fast becoming a top contender in the UFC’s middleweight division after another thrilling takedown and submission in the first round over veteran Chael Sonnen. Maia is also reportedly training on his striking with the legendary Wanderlei Silva, however his most devastating weapon is his Brazilian Jujitsu. Maia is a two-time world BJJ Champion and his prowess was on display again in UFC 95 in another submission victory (Triangle Choke).

The guy has skillz!!! Below I added a video of Damian teaching how to do the Triangle Choke that he uses so effectively.

From Yahoo Sports UFC 95 Coverage:

Damian Maia will be hoping UFC president Dana White holds true to his word of a title shot after submitting Chael Sonnen in the first round of their middleweight contest.

Maia, twice a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, is considered a fighter with the calibre of skills to cause a problem for middleweight champion Anderson Silva, with White now expected to pair the two sometime later in the year. More UFC 95 Results…

Other Notes: I predicted Joe Stevenson to win his fight against Diego Sanchez, but I was disappointed he never used his takedown and submission abilities and was predictable in standing up over the entire 3 round fight. I think Joe needs to reevaluate his game after bad consecutive losses.

Is Deigo Sanchez going to be too big and too strong for Joe “Daddy” Stevenson? This fight will be at 155 pounds, which will be tough for Sanchez to get down to. Stevenson’s most recent loss was against BJ Penn. Watching the above video, I get the feeling Stevenson is more realistic about cutting weight and understands that he seriously needs a win.

Joe Daddy Stevenson will face Diego Sanchez at UFC 95. Joe’s preparation for this fight begins in his new gym in Victorville, California. This should be one of the most action packed fights that the 155 weight-class has ever seen!

UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson
http://95.ufc.com/

Mark’s Predictions: Winners in Blue

MAIN CARD
-Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson
-Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham
-Wilson Gouveia vs. Nate Marquardt
-Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen
-Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago

PRELIMINARY CARD
-Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve
-Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim
-Shannon Gugerty vs. Tom Lawson
-Paul Kelly vs. Troy Mandaloniz
-Neil Grove vs. Justin McCully

UFC 94 Post-Fight Coverage from ESPN

Georges St Pierre (GSP) thoroughly beat BJ Penn over 4 rounds of action at UFC 94. GSP was able to take Penn down several times and used his wrestling skills to keep Penn down and control the fight constantly beating Penn’s head with strikes.

The referee called a stop to the fight after the 4th round. BJ Penn looked like he had taken enough punishment and ref made the decision and Penn did not dispute it.

This fight was one of the most heavily promoted fights in MMA history. This was fight that BJ Penn wanted after losing to GSP via decision earlier in his career.

During the pre-fight hype including UFC Primetime, a televised series of episodes showing the training of the fighters, BJ Penn called GSP a quiter and told GSP trainer to go “F” himself.

I think GSP showed that his training and discipline was superior. GSP looked bigger and stronger and GSP was skilled enough to use that advantage and not make any mistakes.