Month: August 2013

UFC signs TUF 16 contestant Igor Araujo

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC News

The UFC continues it’s rapid acquisition of fighters, having signed 12 fighters in the last month alone. UOL Esporte reported the most recent signing; Brazilian welterweight, and former TUF 16 competitor, Igor Araujo. The Ultimate Fighter 16: Team Carwin vs. Team Nelson was among the worst rated seasons in the show’s long history. The poor ratings were reflected in the incredibly low number of fighters retained by the UFC of which only Colton Smith, Neil Magny, and Mike Ricci remain. Araujo made it to the quarterfinals of the season where he lost a unanimous decision to eventual tournament champion Smith. Since his time on the show he’s only fought once, winning a unanimous five-round decision over Nic Herron-Webb (who he defeated by majority decision in the opening round of TUF 16).

If his TUF performances were underwhelming however, the rest of his MMA career has been anything but. At 32 he’s a 30 fight veteran with a record of 23-6 (1 NC). His only loss in the past 5 years is to current M-1 welterweight champ Rashid Magomedov back in 2010. He’s currently riding a 4 fight win streak with three of those victories coming by submission. Unfortunately, despite his many successes his resume is short on big name wins with his most notable victories being over Vener Galiev and Michele Verginelli. Every time Araujo has stepped up to face top level competition he’s struggled.

It will be interesting then, to see how he does against Ildemar Alcantara. Some had high hopes for Alcantara after he submitted Wagner Prado at light heavyweight and then made the drop to welterweight. He has a huge frame for his current division, but has yet to put any real polish on his skills. His fight against Leandro Silva was a disappointment which resulted in the two fighters engaging in a poor kickboxing match to give Alcantara the decision victory. Honestly, given Alcantara’s size and strength, and Araujo’s fairly one-dimensional skill set, I expect this fight to be much the same. Alcantara should be able to shuck takedown attempts and keep Araujo at range. If Araujo wants to win he’ll have to be incredibly aggressive.

UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Shields takes place on October 9th in Barueri, Brazil. Here’s a look at the card:

Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Erick Silva
Rony Jason vs. Jeremy Stephens
Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva
Joey Beltran vs. Fabio Maldonado
Raphael Assuncao vs. T.J. Dillashaw
Rodrigo Damm vs. Hacran Dias
Chris Cariaso vs. Iliarde Santos
Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Pierce
Allan Patrick vs. Garett Whiteley
Ildemar Alcantara vs. Igor Araujo
Yan Cabral vs. David Mitchell

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UFC Fight Night 27 results: Dana White paying Abel Trujillo a win bonus

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Interview, UFC Results

While many people were calling for a disqualification that would have seen Abel Trujillo exit his UFC Fight Night 27 battle against Roger Bowling with a loss, Dana White is saying just the opposite. He spoke to the fight in the night’s post-fight presser saying that he would be paying Trujillo his win bonus as he felt that the knee clearly landed on Bowling’s shoulder and was not illegal at all. The UFC’s official Twitter account tweeted the announcement.

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Multiple replays showed the strike appeared to skip up Bowling’s body and into his face. Whether the intention was there or not the result appeared to be an illegal blow. Dana’s reaction provides a strange message all around. Perhaps it speaks towards the drive towards changing the rules towards knees to a downed opponent. What do you think? Was it legal or illegal? Should the UFC be encouraging fighters to throw these questionable strikes? Or was this really a case where the referee got it wrong?

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UFC Fight Night 27 results: Thatch dominates Edwards, Andrews mounts big comeback

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Results

UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann 2 was a bit uneven with it’s broadcast schedule. The first three fights were over in the first hour, leaving a full hour to for the remaining prelim fight.

Brandon Thatch announced publicly what many media members had been whispering, that he may be the next big prospect in the welterweight division. He came on strong at range and when Edwards changed levels to take the fight to the ground cracked him with a brutal high kick. From there he locked Edwards into the clinch and used his massive size and technical Muay Thai game to brutalize the smaller fighter.

UFC Fight Night 27 results: Brandon Thatch def. Justin Edwards via TKO (Knees and Punches) at 1:23 of Round 1.

Dylan Andrews put a stamp on the Fox Sports 2 card with a massive comeback performance against Abedi. Abedi looked fantastic in his return to middleweight with slick striking, great clinch work and solid top control. He did however have trouble letting Andrews up off his back and, combined with his long standing problems with running out of gas late in fights, it came back to cost him. Andrews came into the third after two rounds of being effectively stifled in all areas of the fight. Abedi didn’t have the energy to continue with his early dominance and when he and Andrews locked up Andrews hit him with a series of hard uppercuts that dropped Abedi to the canvas. From there Andrews swarmed and dribbled Abedi’s head off the mat for a deserved TKO stoppage.

UFC Fight Night 27 results: Dylan Andrews def. Papy Abedi via TKO (Punches) at 1:32 of Round 3.

UFC Fight Night 27 results: High subs head early, Elkins survives first for decision

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC Results

UFC Fight Night 27: Condit vs. Kampmann kicked off the UFC’s first card on Fox Sports 2 with a dominating performance from Jason High as he looked to recover from a quick submission loss in his UFC debut.

High came out fast and got in on James Head’s neck off a takedown and from there he was relentless in pursuit of the submission. His first attempt failed as the fighters were too close to the fence and High couldn’t get position. High let go of the sub, but stayed on Head and as they moved away from the cage locked in a nasty guillotine from mount that had Head tapping in seconds.

UFC Fight Night 27 results: Jason High def. James Head via Submission (Guillotine) at 1:41 of Round 1.

In the Fox Sports 2 second fight of the card perennial featherweight hopeful Hatsu Hioki took on Darren Elkins. Hioki came out strong early, switching stances and throwing body kicks out of a right lead. Elkins looked badly hurt and appeared to be struggling with Hioki’s striking. Hioki tried to take the fight to the mat at the end of round one however, and in the long run it proved his undoing. After surviving the first round Elkins came out strong and pushed Hioki with boxing into the clinch. From there he was able to stifle much of Hioki’s guard work and submission offense with constant ground and pound. He took the second half of the second round and all of the third for a clear unanimous decision victory.

UFC Fight Night 27 results: Darren Elkins def. Hatsu Hioki via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Update: Details revealed from Miller’s court appearance

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, Latest News, MMA News

UPDATE: SciFighting.com was at Miller’s court day and gave their account of events. Miller declared himself not guilty through his lawyers to charges of assault filed by the alleged victim Ana Priscilla, a woman Miller knew as Ana Stable. Photgraphs of Miller’s hands were taken, including places where it was alleged he had been bitten by Priscilla. He told the court and those in attendance “I need to get out tonight, it’s imperative.” Several social media posts were brought in as evidence of his threatening attitude towards the alleged victim including “SOME PEOPLE PREFER PRISONERS OVER PARTNERS. IF THEY CAN’T HAVE YOU, NO ONE CAN. CAN’T KILL MAYBE”

SciFighting also gave an account of the second alleged assault that lead to Miller’s arrest:

Mayhem Millers alleged victim, known to the court as Ana Pricilla (but known to Mayhem as Anna Stable), says that during the second assault case she was urinated on and choked until she fell on the floor, where she was punched and kicked viciously. In defense, Mayhem’s attorney stated that the victim was asked to leave the house, and Jason’s father witnessed her attacking Jason. At this point in the hearing, Judge Manssourian scolded Mayhem because he was making faces and nodding his head in every direction. The fighter apologized, explaining he is “an expressive person” and that he’s “an artist”. The judge dismissed his statements, and advised him he is best served to be silent and allow his attorney to speak on his behalf. The hearing continued and the People then suggested that the judge take into account the bruises and lacerations that the victim allegedly had. Mayhem’s defense replied that “the victim trains (in) MMA” as well, and would probably have those anyway. She did not go to the hospital or report these injuries the night of the conflict, instead opting to sleep at Jason’s house and report the event weeks later. It is also pointed out that not only does Jason have a restraining order against this woman, so do a few of her past boyfriends.

After appearing in court today a new booking report was issued on Jason Miller. Bail bondsman and Bloody Elbow reader TheDreadedMarco provided the details:

Inmate Name: JASON NICHOLAS MILLER
Booking No: 2781766
Next Court Appearance Date: 8/30/2013
Next Court Appearance Location: HARBOR JUSTICE CENTER

Case: Booking Case
Case Name:
Booked on: 082213 at 1828 Warrant/Case Number: 13HF2576
Bail Amount: 100000.00 Jurisdiction: HARBOR JUSTICE CENTER
Arresting Agency: MISSION VIEJO PD Number of Charges: 1
Count Degree Code Section Description
2 Felony PC 273.5(A) CORPORAL INJURY OF SPO

It would appear that because Miller had not yet appeared in court for his previous charges his two arrests have now been wrapped into one case. His bail has been re-set at $100,000 (he was facing a $50,000 bail for each previous charge) and he will now be facing two felony counts of corporal injury of spouse, or domestic abuse. As stated in a previous update, the specific charges he’s facing are the result of physical evidence of abuse on his alleged victim, removing the chance for a lower misdemeanor charge. His next court date is set for Friday, and we’ll be sure to have an update then on the proceedings.

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UFC signs Alan Patrick and Garett Whiteley to face off at UFC Fight Night 29

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Event, UFC News

I think it’s safe to say at this point that the UFC’s proclamation that it would be cutting 100 fighters this year was all smoke and no fire. In fact the UFC roster is 18 fighters larger than it was just 3 months ago. While the UFC has indeed cut a few large groups of fighters this year (I’d estimate maybe 40 people in total) it hasn’t come anywhere close to the mass releases that were promised. In fact I’d say it’s been a year more about roster growth than anything else, with the majority of Strikeforce signees still on the roster and a host of TUF contestants and fresh prospects added as well.

In that vein Combate reports that the UFC has now added another two young fighters to its lightweight ranks. Alan Patrick and Garett Whiteley have been signed and are set to face off at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Shields on October 9 in Barueri, Brazil. Patrick or “Nuguette” as he is known in Brazil is the current Bitetti Combat lightweight champion. At somewhere between 27-30 years old (depending on what fight you watch) and undeafeated at 10-0 he appears to be a very solid athletic prospect. His size, at 5’11” means that he should be well suited to the athletes he’ll face in the UFC and won’t be forced down a division like many promotional newcomers. Unfortunately while his size and athleticism are great he’s fairly underpolished as a fighter. He’s primarily a wrestler and while not a bad one seems to rely more on brute strength than practiced technique. His striking is wild and aggressive and while he has some submission grappling experience he doesn’t appear to be a dominant finisher.

While Nuguette is something of a grinder, Garett Whiteley has shown himself to be a dynamic finisher on the regional scene. A large lightweight, at 6′ 0″ he sports 7-0 record (from what I can tell) with his biggest wins being over Evan DeLong (12-7) and Jason Gilliam (14-5). All of his wins are by stoppage with six inside the first round. Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to get a bead on where Whiteley is at this point in his development as his fights are all at the extreme regional level. He looks like a strong, big lightweight and trains under Pat McPherson alongside former UFC standout Chris Lytle. He’s a Carlson Gracie blue belt under Alan Stockman so it should be interesting to see the mix of skills he brings with him to the UFC.

Essentially both of these fighters appear to be incredibly raw talents. Nuguette has experienced a bit more of the spotlight fighting under Jungle Fight and Bitetti Combat and earning a belt under the latter. Given his wrestling top game I would expect him to have an advantage here, but his striking is raw enough that this is really anyone’s fight. UFC fight Night 29 takes place on October 9th in Barueri, Brazil. Here’s a look at the card so far:

Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields
Dong Hyun Kim vs. Erick Silva
Rony Jason vs. Jeremy Stephens
Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva
Joey Beltran vs. Fabio Maldonado
Raphael Assuncao vs. T.J. Dillashaw
Rodrigo Damm vs. Hacran Dias
Chris Cariaso vs. Iliarde Santos
Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Pierce
Allan Patrick vs. Garett Whiteley

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UFC Fight Night 32 adds Ponzinibbio vs. LaFlare

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC News

Tatame reports that a new fight has been added to November 9th’s UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson. Injury sidelined TUF Brazil 2 finalist Santiago Ponzinibbio will make his debut against former Ring of Combat champion and rising welterweight prospect Ryan LaFlare.

Ponzinibbio entered the TUF Brazil 2 house as one of the shows most exciting prospects and his performances on the show did little to diminish that hype. Unfortunately for the UFC’s first Argentinian, he broke his hand in a three round semi-final victory over eventual tournament winner Leonardo Santos. At only 26 Ponzinibbio sports an 18-1 record with only two of those victories coming by way of decision and only 5 of his stoppages outside the first round. His only career loss is to fellow prospect and TUF Brazil 1 competitor Leonardo Mafra.

Across from him will be the much less hyped, but equally talented Ryan LaFlare. LaFlare came up through the Ring of Combat ranks, one of the most intense regional proving grounds in MMA. He’s undefeated at 8-0 and brings a wrestle centric offense rounded out with a slick submission game. He will be making his return to the UFC after a seven month layoff, following a unanimous decision victory over Benny Alloway back in April. LaFlare is a few years older, but has a lot fewer fights under his belt as well, stemming from a two and a half year layoff due to injuries and the fallout of the Strikeforce merger. After missing most of 2011 due to wrist surgery he tore his ACL shortly after signing with Strikeforce and missed most of 2012. By the time he was healthy Strikeforce was cancelling all of it’s planned shows which meant it wasn’t until the full transfer of fighters to the UFC and early this year until he could fight again. Seven months may not be a quick turnaround but it’s practically light speed compared to his past few years.

This truly promises to be an interesting competitive fight. Both men are reasonably well rounded with a record split by KO and submission victories. LaFlare truly appears to have some standout skills with his grappling so it will be interesting to see if he tries to test Ponzinibbio there immediately. UFC Fight Night 32 takes place on November 9th in Goiana, Brazil and is headlined by Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson. Stay tuned for more news and fight announcements as the card approaches.

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UFC signs two new flyweights, immediately scratches fight between them

Posted on by Zane Simon in UFC News

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the UFC is starting to build it’s flyweight division in earnest and now has a full twenty 125 lb. fighters signed to their ranks. The bad news is that fans will have to wait a bit longer to see the two newest signees square off.

MMAJunkie announced on August 20th that the UFC had signed Dustin Ortiz and Justin Scoggins as a last minute addition to their UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann 2 card later this month. However, later that same day, the MMAJunkie also learned that the UFC had been forced to scrap the bout. No news as to why yet, or whether it will affect the signing of either fighter, but reports indicate that at least one of the two will be making his promotional debut soon.

For a brief look at these two prospects: Dustin Ortiz is a fairly seasoned prospect fighting out of Roufus Sport on the flyweight circuit. After three years as a professional he’s run up a 11-2 record competing for Strikeforce, Tachi Palace Fights, and RFA. The biggest fight of his career so far was against Ian McCall under TPF, where he dropped a unanimous decision to the top ranked flyweight.

As a fighter Ortiz is definitely still developing. His athleticism is on par with any of the top fighters in the division, but his striking and ground game are a work in process. In some ways he reminds me of Melvin Guillard in that there’s obviously a lot of talent there, but he sometimes takes foolish risks.

Justin Scoggins in countrast to Ortiz is something of an unknown. At only 21 with a 7-0 record, he’s yet to fight either a well known opponent or on a high profile card. His past opponents have a combined record of 16-29. He has a background in amateur kickboxing and watching his recent fight against Jacob Hebeisen the first thing that comes to mind is Stephen Thompson.

Scoggins fights out of a low karate-esque stance and throws a lot of side kicks. His boxing and sprawl both appear solid, but somewhat flawed. Given his level of competition, minor liabilities in lower level fight could easily translate to huge liabilities at the highest level. He started training out of a fairly unknown camp, but apparently has moved American Top Team recently.

No word at the moment if this fight will simply be rescheduled or if both fights will even remain with the promotion. Stay tuned for more news, fight announcements, and technical breakdowns as UFC Fight Night 27 approaches.

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Watch Miesha Tate live on Google Hangout today at 4PM Eastern/1 Pacific

Posted on by Zane Simon in Front Page, UFC Interview, UFC News, Videos

Current UFC women’s Bantamweight top contender Miesha Tate is going live today on Google Hangouts with Gareth A. Davies and Mike Chiappetta, to talk about The Ultimate Fighter 18, her feud with Ronda Rousey, and a whatever else may spring to mind. No doubt spoilers will be teased, news will be broken and a few good quotes will be tossed around for good measure. Check it out, live and streaming on Bloody Elbow at 4PM Eastern/1PM Pacific.

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Report: Tara LaRosa not getting UFC contract after TUF 18, fighting in Pancrase September 29th

Posted on by Zane Simon in Asian MMA, Front Page, UFC News

Spoiler Alert! Looks like Tara LaRosa didn’t make it to the UFC after her appearance on this season’s Ultimate Fighter. The show will feature men and women’s bantamweight competitors under the coaching guidance of Ronda Rousey and Meisha Tate. Here’s a look at the full cast revealed just last week. LaRosa was one of the most experienced fighters in either division with a record of 21-3 and 11 years of pro-MMA experience. Her most recent fight came under the Invicta banner, a unanimous decision loss to Vanessa Porto; some tabbed her as the odds-on favorite to win the whole show. Considering the current lack of depth in the UFC’s women’s division the idea that she might not even get a contract is particularly surprising, as MMARising.com reports that an agreement is in place for LaRosa to fight Rin Nakai at Pancrase 252 on September 29th.

That’s not to say that this is set in stone, Pancrase has notoriously jumped the gun on announcing upcoming fights. So until we get word from LaRosa herself I’d take this with some caution. If the fight does go down, LaRosa may find herself in something of a compromising position against the Japanese promotion’s golden goose. LaRosa has failed to make weight in each of her last two fights, if she fails to do so against Nakai Pancrase may waste little time in using it to stack the deck against her. When Nakai’s last opponent (Danielle West) came in 2.5 lbs over the limit, Pancrase made her do a second full weight cut the day of the fight, changed the match rules to include no chokes or knees (which West found out mid-fight only applied to her) and informed her after the fight that, had she won, it would have been changed to a draw. Pancrase also supposedly tried to levy additional fines post fight for a poor performance and missed weight cut.

All of which is a shame, because Rin Nakai isn’t a terrible fighter. She’s not terribly exciting as a wrestling heavy wrestle boxer, but she certainly doesn’t need the rules bent around her to make her legitimate. Hopefully LaRosa enters her Pancrase contract aware of all this and doesn’t get burned by it. We’ll be sure to update as more information comes, so stay tuned.

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