Video – Junior dos Santos vs. Fabricio Werdum

The Brazilian heavyweight fighter Junior dos Santos (January 30, 1984) gained notoriety for a first round knock-out of Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90 (See video above). He has a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Purple belt and is the current Brazilian heavyweight kickboxing champion with a record of 18-0. He faces the Croatian Heavyweight kickboxer Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović at UFC 103.

Cro Cop is a living legend in Mixed Marital Arts, known especially for his amazing high leg kick strikes to opponents heads. Cro Cop fought for the PRIDE organization before it was bought out and fighters brought over to the UFC. Cro Cop is still looking for a big victory fighting in the UFC and I expect this fight to be a good one.

Former UFC champion Randy Couture (16-9-0) and ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira (31-5-1) will battle this Saturday night at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon (7pm PT).

Couture’s remarkable career keeps going and going. Even past 40 years of age, he is considered one of the top fighters in the UFC. Couture will be facing a tough veteran of many battles himself in ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira, as his 31-5-1 record facing some of the best competion in the PRIDE organization and the UFC speaks for itself. However, even at 33 years of age, Nogueira looked a little burnt out and beat up when he faced a pumped up Frank Mir recently and lost via a stoppage. A win against Couture would certainly improve his standings.

Randy Couture (aka “The Natural”) stands at 6′ 2″ (188 cm), 220 lbs (100 kg).
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (aka “Minotauro”) is 6′ 3″ (191 cm), 240 lbs (109 kg).

I have to say Randy looks in better shape than Nogueira, but Nogueira is famous for taking amazing amounts of punishment and finally sneaking in a nasty submission for a turn-around win.

Randy’s wrestling and dirty boxing skills are well known and he has experience fighting top-class BJJ experts like Nogueira. This author expects Nogueira to try to get Couture to the ground where he’ll have the best chance for a submission. Nogueira looked bad when he tried stand up boxing before and looked bad again when he got knocked around by Mir, so Nogueira’s best hope has to be on the ground.

After defeating Frank Mir at UFC 101, Brock Lesnar was livid. He had bested the only man to defeat him and had proven he belonged. Then after the biggest fight in the history of UFC, Lesner let himself go…

Lesnar flipping off the fans who still didn’t support him and screamed obscenities at a beaten Mir, yet Lesnar wasn’t finished. “I’m drinking a cooler full of Coors Light, Coors Light because Bud Light won’t pay me anything,” pointing toward a Bud Light ad that was in the middle of the ring at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, one of UFC’s top sponsors. “Hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight.”

If Brock wanted people to cheer for him, he wasn’t doing himself any favors. But after defeating the cream of the UFC’s Heavyweight division Frank Mir and Randy Couture, who will step up to the plate?

The flipping off of the fans that just lined your pocket with millions of dollars is just lame,” said Shane Carwin in the week after UFC 100. “He may be a champion, but he has a long ways to go before he earns the respect of a champion. The fans are why we do this, Brock. This sport is not about fat paychecks and drama. It is about hard work and sacrifice for a shot to do what you did [that] night. It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you can’t earn your peers’ respect and the respect and love of the greatest sporting fans in the world.”

Not to mention the your fellow fighters, your sponsors, and your boss.

Though Lesnar apologized later, there is no doubt he has become the guy that people love to hate, considered a champion for the come-and-go fans of the sport, but hated by many long-time fans who have seen the sport struggle so long and hard to gain respect.

Carwin went on to say “Every autograph I give, every hand I shake, I am thankful that you give me the opportunity to be a part of your world. This is the greatest sport in the world and most of the athletes in it deserve the love and respect they get,and some just don’t get it.”

Carwin believes the fans are in his corner. “From leaving the venue all the way to the airport, I have had fans of the sport ask me to take out Brock Lesnar for them.”

LESNAR VS. CARWIN – STATS

Lesnar (4 – 1 – 0) vs. Carwin (11 – 0) will be one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport, not only promotion wise, but in physical size. Lesnar is 6′ 3″ (1.91 m). Weight, 265 lb (120 kg). Carwin is also 6′ 3″ (1.91 m) and weighs 259.5 lb (117.7 kg). Carwin wears 5XL gloves in the cage (bigger than the 4XL ones worn by Lesnar). Both are massive specimens and train intensely. The fight is scheduled for November at UFC 106.

Brock Lesnar VS. Shane Carwin – Who will win?

MMA Honor is pleased to see Vitor Belfort back in the UFC. Belfort, known as the Phenom, first appeared at UFC 12 (1997) and was formerly the UFC’s light heavyweight champion. Belfort won several contests but lost a terrific battle against American Greco-Roman wrestler Randy Couture in UFC 15.

Later he crushed Wanderlei Silva in 44 seconds of the 1st round of UFC Brazil, but then moved to Japan’s PRIDE organization in 1999. He lost his opening contest to Kazushi Sakuraba, but go on to defeat Gilbert Yvel, Daijiro Matsui, Bobby Southworth, Yoshiki Takahashi, and Heath Herring.

Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei SilvaBelfort returned to the UFC in 2004 losing against Chuck Liddell. Belfort came back with vengence and crushed Tito Ortiz early on February 5, 2005, breaking Tito’s nose with punches in the first round and nearly stopped Ortiz in the second, but still lost via split decision.

At Pride 32: The Real Deal on October 21, 2006, Belfort lost a unanimous decision to Pride Welterweight Champion Dan Henderson. Unfortunately, Belfort tested positive for a steroid called 4-hydroxytestosterone and was suspended for nine months after the hearing in December and fined $10,000.

Belfort then joined the Cage Rage promotion and on April 21, 2007 Ivan Serati by TKO. Later, at Cage Rage 23, he won the Cage Rage light heavyweight title.

In 2008, Belfort trained at Randy Couture’s Xtreme Couture training center in preparation for a fight with Terry Martin in the new Affliction promotion. Randy Couture personally helped Belfort train for the fight, and Belfort beat Martin in the round 2 with flying knee and uppercut.

Belfort KO’s Lindland

In his next fight, Belfort destroyed Matt Lindland within seconds of the first round with devastating punches. Belfort looked as fast and strong as ever and most likely caught the attention of the UFC again. Belfort was a candidate to fight Fedor Emelianenko on August 1, 2009, substituting for a suspended Josh Barnett, however the event was canceled on July 24th.

Dana White announced Belfort would rejoin the UFC at a July 31st press conference and his first fight would be against Rich Franklin at catchweight of 195 lbs headlining UFC 103.

Belfort looked fast and powerful in his most recent fights and we expect him to preform well in the UFC where he belongs.

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August 16, 2009 · Filed under UFC

This is a great shot of Dan Henderson kissing the moneymaker after knocking out Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Dan threw in an elbow as a bonus.

Bobby Lashley is obviously an amazing physical specimen. Lashley looked good in his debut fight, beating his opponent in 41 seconds. 250 pounds of fast, lean and mean muscle, Lashley has the build for a MMA heavyweight champion. However, he is still new to the sport and needs a lot of work.

Lashley, 32, faces veteran Jason Guida on Saturday in a combined boxing/MMA pay-per-view card in Pensacola, Fla., in the second step of his professional journey.

Saturday, April 18 UFC 97 – Centre Bell, Montreal, PPV.

UFC 97 features the man many believe to be best fighter in the world, Anderson “The Spider” Silva against up and comer Thales Leites. Unfortunately many don’t understand why the UFC is tapping Leites for a title shot right now. Many people also believe Silva needs to be challenged more. In Silva’s last fight he danced around and didn’t need to show his world class skills to get a win.

Chuck Liddell certainly is a fan favorite, including this writer. However since losing to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Liddell has been on a career slide losing a handful of fights and injuries. Liddell hopefully will show he has plenty of fight left, and maybe some new moves against Rua. Rua is a big name, but needs to show he is still relevant and can at least put on a good fight. His performance against an old-looking Mark Coleman was just plain ugly to watch. And he also got his butt handed to him by Forrest Griffin a couple years ago before an injury. Rua needs to show he even belongs in the UFC. Liddell vs. Rua is a good matchup for both of them.

Definitely looking forward to seeing Cheick Kongo and Luiz Arthur Cane in action again. Kongo is a monster and is not far from getting a title shot if he keeps winning. Cane is also a strong contender as well with awesome striking power.

My Picks in red…

Middleweight Championship bout: Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites

Light Heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua

Light Heavyweight bout: Brian Stann vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (don’t know these guys)

Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs. Antoni Hardonk

Light Heavyweight bout: Luiz Arthur Cane vs. Steve Cantwell

Tapout Founder Charles “Mask” Lewis died in car crash recently. Tapout has been good for the sport of MMA because it promoted young and upcoming fighters across the country as well as provided sponsorship deals.

For more on the story, click here

I hope Tapout stays in business and may Charles rest in peace.

Columbus Ohio -

UFC 96 boasted some terrific fights, some shocking results, and some terrible refereeing. Jackson’s win over Jardine in the main event earned Jackson a title shot, but due to an injury, Jackson will need surgery and time to heal. Therefore, Rashad Evans (13-0-1) will face Lyoto Machida (14-0) at UFC 98 on May 23 in his first title defense.

As noted in the previous post, Shane Carwin upset Gabriel Gonzaga to become a serious contender in the heavyweight division.

Mark “The Hammer” Hammill shockingly defeated UFC newcomer Mark Munoz via a leg kick.