New Year's redux: Vegas photos, late Round of the Year candidate and 'Sexyata'

When it comes to MMA, not everything was in the Octagon or about the UFC on New Year's weekend. Japan had two outstanding fight cards and then there was all the partying around Las Vegas. 

Bruce Buffer hit the scene before UFC 125. The dude is 53 years old! What's in his drink? Get me some. He sent out this Sin City club photo (lower left) via Twitter asking for help from @rampage4real. He also snapped a fine of photo of Jake Shields who's not in training. 

Things aren't going as well for Jenna Jameson. While walking around Las Vegas on New Year's morning, we stumbled upon this clearance item at the Tito Ortiz's Punishment store inside Hooter's Casino. Make that all Jenna items on clearance. 

If you didn't sleep in on Saturday, you had a chance to meet one of the "stars" of Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Michael Johnson and Alex "Bruce Leeroy" Cacares were joined by none other than Brad Tate for an autograph signing. Who you ask? He was the medic for Georges St. Pierre's team. The medic that got choked by Josh Koscheck. The medic that mocked on Sevak Magakian for being multi-lingual. Good call by The Gun Store in Las Vegas, though, Tate probably was one of the five most recognizable figures from the show. That's got to make hardcore fans "who only want to see the fighting" on TUF real happy.  

Sexyata did it again. Kazuyuki "Sexyata" Miyata pulled off another awesome suplex at Dynamite!! 2010. He got UFC veteran Caol Uno this time. At Dream 16, he tossed Takeshi Inoue around in similar fashion. Miyata's upset of Uno was one of the biggest of the night at Dynamite!! Check out the Dynamite!! gallery at FanHouse. 

Update I - Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer (Audio - 11:00 mark) said Dynamite!! was a big failure on Japanese TV. He criticized the placement of the  matches and pointed out that the Kazushi Sakaraba fight never made it on television in Japan.

HDNet is going to show Sengoku's Soul of Fight over two weekends in January (Part 1 -- Jan. 14; Part 2 -- Jan. 21). Apparently, the Yoshiro Maeda-Masanori Kanehara fight (1:40 mark) was a mini-version of the Leonard Garcia-"Korean Zombie" match. Maeda stopped Kanehara at 1:27 of the first round. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/New-Year-s-redux-Vegas-photos-late-Round-of-th?urn=mma-303208

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UFC 125 weigh-ins: The top four showdowns emerge

UFC 125 is less than 24 hours away. After hitting the scales a few hours ago, the fighters are probably enjoying a wild and crazy night at the dinner table. Only the bravest souls will venture down to the Las Vegas strip.

All 22 fighters made weight without an issue. Main eventers, Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard, were men of few words.

The battle for the UFC lightweight title is an intriguing one stylistically, but hasn't generated a lot of heat. Some fans seem down on the fight based on the lack of an explosive storyline.

To whet your whistle, we found four good ones that emerged during today's weigh-in. 

Arianny Celeste vs. Brittney Palmer

Above, you see what could be a heated rivalry in 2011. Arianny is the mainstay with the UFC. She had a huge 2010, that included a spread in Playboy. But Palmer, the call up from the WEC, has a lot of fans on Twitter and the Internet. It should be interesting to see how the girls fight it out in 2011. The scrap starts tomorrow night in Las Vegas. 

Marcus Davis vs. food

Marcus Davis is making a last ditch effort to around his recent woes. He was torn apart at UFC 118 by Nate Diaz, to make it three losses in his last four fights at 170. The thickly muscled 37-year-old, dropped to lightweight for his fight against Jeremy Stephens. Davis, a former boxer generally walked around at roughly 200 pounds when he fought at welterweight. His battle versus food worked out well. He made the limit 155. You can see the difference in his physique. He shed a lot of bulk to get down with the little guys.  

Clay Guida vs. the clock and clothes

Guida cuts weight until the final seconds before he steps on the scale. "The Carpenter" is in constant motion, bouncing around and today, it took forever for him to get through multiple layers of clothing. Smart move though. A little extra time for his sponsors doesn't hurt anybody. 

Phil Baroni vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude

Baroni (13-12, 3-6 UFC) is back with what might be his last shot in the UFC. "The New York Badass" is fighting TUF 11 alum Brad Tavares. He showed up today with the sunglasses, jeans and a leather coat. He should've grabbed the microphone and told all of us fat, UFC sweathogs to be quiet while he took off his gear. Rude would've been proud. 

Check out the full weigh-in video here and highlights from Heavy.com below.

UFC 125 weigh-in (courtesy MMAjunkie):

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
Frankie Edgar (155) vs. Gray Maynard (155)
Chris Leben (186) vs. Brian Stann (186)
Nate Diaz (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (171)
Takanori Gomi (155) vs. Clay Guida (156)
Thiago Silva (206) vs. Brandon Vera (205)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Ion Television)
Marcus Davis (156) vs. Jeremy Stephens (156)
Josh Grispi (146) vs. Dustin Poirier (145)
Phil Baroni (186) vs. Brad Tavares (185)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Untelevised)
Mike Brown (146) vs. Diego Nunes (146)
Daniel Roberts (171) vs. Greg Soto (171)
Antonio McKee (156) vs. Jacob Volkmann (156)

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-125-weigh-ins-The-top-four-showdowns-emerge?urn=mma-302210

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UFC 125 weigh-ins: The top four showdowns emerge

UFC 125 is less than 24 hours away. After hitting the scales a few hours ago, the fighters are probably enjoying a wild and crazy night at the dinner table. Only the bravest souls will venture down to the Las Vegas strip.

All 22 fighters made weight without an issue. Main eventers, Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard, were men of few words.

The battle for the UFC lightweight title is an intriguing one stylistically, but hasn't generated a lot of heat. Some fans seem down on the fight based on the lack of an explosive storyline.

To whet your whistle, we found four good ones that emerged during today's weigh-in. 

Arianny Celeste vs. Brittney Palmer

Above, you see what could be a heated rivalry in 2011. Arianny is the mainstay with the UFC. She had a huge 2010, that included a spread in Playboy. But Palmer, the call up from the WEC, has a lot of fans on Twitter and the Internet. It should be interesting to see how the girls fight it out in 2011. The scrap starts tomorrow night in Las Vegas. 

Marcus Davis vs. food

Marcus Davis is making a last ditch effort to around his recent woes. He was torn apart at UFC 118 by Nate Diaz, to make it three losses in his last four fights at 170. The thickly muscled 37-year-old, dropped to lightweight for his fight against Jeremy Stephens. Davis, a former boxer generally walked around at roughly 200 pounds when he fought at welterweight. His battle versus food worked out well. He made the limit 155. You can see the difference in his physique. He shed a lot of bulk to get down with the little guys.  

Clay Guida vs. the clock and clothes

Guida cuts weight until the final seconds before he steps on the scale. "The Carpenter" is in constant motion, bouncing around and today, it took forever for him to get through multiple layers of clothing. Smart move though. A little extra time for his sponsors doesn't hurt anybody. 

Phil Baroni vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude

Baroni (13-12, 3-6 UFC) is back with what might be his last shot in the UFC. "The New York Badass" is fighting TUF 11 alum Brad Tavares. He showed up today with the sunglasses, jeans and a leather coat. He should've grabbed the microphone and told all of us fat, UFC sweathogs to be quiet while he took off his gear. Rude would've been proud. 

Check out the full weigh-in video here and highlights from Heavy.com below.

UFC 125 weigh-in (courtesy MMAjunkie):

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
Frankie Edgar (155) vs. Gray Maynard (155)
Chris Leben (186) vs. Brian Stann (186)
Nate Diaz (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (171)
Takanori Gomi (155) vs. Clay Guida (156)
Thiago Silva (206) vs. Brandon Vera (205)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Ion Television)
Marcus Davis (156) vs. Jeremy Stephens (156)
Josh Grispi (146) vs. Dustin Poirier (145)
Phil Baroni (186) vs. Brad Tavares (185)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Untelevised)
Mike Brown (146) vs. Diego Nunes (146)
Daniel Roberts (171) vs. Greg Soto (171)
Antonio McKee (156) vs. Jacob Volkmann (156)

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-125-weigh-ins-The-top-four-showdowns-emerge?urn=mma-302210

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Mark Hominick: Jose Aldo Hasn't Faced a Striker Like Me

Filed under: UFC

The news that Mark Hominick is one win away from a UFC featherweight title shot against Jose Aldo has been questioned by some MMA fans who wonder whether Hominick has really done enough to merit fighting for a belt.

But for his part, Hominick insists that he has exactly what it takes to beat Aldo, and that he's ready to throw things at Aldo in the cage that the champion has never seen before.

"Aldo has faced everybody -- he's faced top grapplers, top jiu jitsu guys, wrestlers," Hominick said on HDNet's Inside MMA. "But he hasn't faced a top elite striker like myself. I'm going to be in his face."

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/01/15/mark-hominick-jose-aldo-hasnt-faced-a-striker-like-me/

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After beating McKee, Volkmann has his sights set on Obama

Jacob Volkmann took a split-decision win over Antonio McKee, and was clearly frustrated by how the fight went. In an interview with FanHouse, he voiced his problems with his performance, then made a sharp right turn towards politics. Skip to the three-minute mark to hear Volkmann waffle about wanting to fight maybe Clay Guida, then switching to the president of the United States.

"Actually, Obama," Volkmann said. Interviewer Ariel Helwani gave Volkmann a chance to walk it back, but he continued. "He's not too bright ... Someone needs to knock some sense into that idiot. I just don't like what Barack is doing." 

Regardless of your political leanings, advocating an assault of the president of the United States isn't really a bright idea, either. No one wants a knock on the door from the Secret Service. For the record, Obama has a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a law degree from Harvard. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/After-beating-McKee-Volkmann-has-his-sights-set?urn=mma-302944

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Strikeforce Heavyweight GP Winner to Receive Title Shot

Filed under: Strikeforce, News

Alistair Overeem's Strikeforce heavyweight title will not be on the line until after the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced on a media call Thursday that Instead of Overeem having to defend his belt all through the tournament, he'll make his title defense at a later time against the Grand Prix winner instead.

'To make it simple just like they do in Japan or K-1," Coker said. "The tournament champion will stand on his own and we will have our heavyweight champion and the tournament champion."

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/01/13/strikeforce-heavyweight-gp-winner-to-receive-title-shot/

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Poirier cuts through the Grispi hype for a decision win at UFC 125

Dustin Poirier derailed the Josh Grispi hype train, beating him in a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three judges cards at UFC 125 on Saturday night. Grispi had no answer for Poirier's stand-up, and his lack of experience in later rounds showed.

Poirier surprised Grispi in the first round, landing several striking unanswered combinations. He used a front kick both to create distance and to knock Grispi on the ground. Twice, when Grispi tried for a takedown, Poirier ended up on top. Grispi tried for a Kimura near the end of the round, but couldn't finish.

In Grispi's first second round since the Spring of 2007, Grispi attempted to take Poirier down and maintain control. He couldn't do it. Poirier moved to the top, pinned Grispi's arm down and landed short punches before letting Grispi stand up. Back on the ground, Grispi tried for a triangle choke. Poirier slammed Grispi off of his neck and then followed up with a strike.

Poirier utilized the clinch for much of the third round, landing knee after knee on the exhausted Grispi. He was able to get a takedown with less than a minute left, but he wasn't able to do anything to Poirier from the top position.

Grispi had been scheduled to fight UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo on ths card, but an injury sideline the champ. Grispi wanted to still fight on the card, and was given Poirier. Given the beating that Poirier put down, it was clear that Grispi was not the fighter to end Aldo's run. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Poirier-cuts-through-the-Grispi-hype-for-a-decis?urn=mma-302357

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