New Jersey Athletic Commission counsel Nick Lembo responds to the NSAC’s TRT ban

Once Nevada came out with it’s hardline stance against TRT, it was inevitable that other commissions would be put in a position to respond. The Brazilian athletic governing body, after initially claiming that they would likely be honoring TRT exemptions for there short term, has now come forward with a statement of support of Nevada decision of an outright ban and has said they will adopt the same policy going forward. Now, Nick Lembo, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board counsel has released a statement to The MMA Journalist, reaffirming his state’s stance on TRT exemptions, a stance that it doesn’t appear will be changed in response to Nevada’s recent move.

Since January 1, 2008, NJ has had 4,930 MMA contestants compete in agency regulated bouts.

The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board has only granted one initial TRT therapeutic use exemption of those 4,930 MMA contestants. That one exemption was subsequently revoked when that individual failed an agency required random monitoring test several months subsequent to his NJ bout contest date.

The NJSACB has also honored exemptions to two of the 4,930 MMA contestants based on exemptions originally granted in multiple other jurisdictions and after additional testing and board certified endocrinologist documentation was supplied.

The NJSACB has refused TRT exemptions to over a dozen applicant contestants.

In addition, the NJSACB has never granted a TUE for TRT to any of the multitude of professional boxers, Thai fighters or kick boxers subject to its purview.

At this juncture, the NJSACB will continue to adhere to the very strict International Olympic Committee therapeutic use exemption standards.

Based on the IOC poilcy, the ABC medical committee set forth and published extremely rigorous guidelines for the consideration and granting of TUE’s during its presentation to the ABC membership at the July 2011 annual convention.

That being said, we will consider Nevada’s decision today and look forward to discussing how to handle the rare candidate who indeed has a true legitimate medical reason for usage. As examples, an individual returning from military duty who has suffered testicular malfunction from an IED explosion, those with pituitary giantism, testicular cancer survivors, and transgender contestants.

We hope that all MMA contestants are subject to repetitive and efficient drug testing protocols without regard to whether a TUE for TRT is at issue. I think we can all agree, regardless of positions on TUE’s, that performance enhancing drug testing needs to be analyzed, implemented and continually improved.

Interestingly, California recently took a step in the opposite direction when they looked to approve guidelines for athletes to get approved for therapeutic use exemptions after more than a year of banning new applicants. I wrote at the time that I believed it was a step in the right direction as their former guidelines didn’t ban it  outright (their ban on new applicants was temporary) and they were better served by having some regulation in place rather than failing to address it entirely. Following Nevada’s announcement of a TRT ban, Tim Kennedy spoke to MMA Fighting, saying that he expects California to follow suit and institute an outright ban on the treatment.

The strong stance taken by one of the world’s most influential athletic commissions will, without a doubt, continue to have rippling effects across the combat sports industry. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as athletes and officials continue to make themselves heard on Nevada’s new regulations. In the meantime, check out Luke Thomas’ take on TRT in MMA.

Results of Vitor Belfort’s random drug testing won’t be released without Vitor’s approval

Curiouser and curiouser. How does Vitor Belfort improve his muscled physique? While we know he’s been on TRT for quite some time now, we don’t know if he’s passed his drug tests in the run up to UFC 173. Belfort’s legal council apparently released a statement on Belfort’s behalf that the fighter would be voluntarily removing himself from the card, because he would not have time to meet Nevada’s new drug testing standards (although that raises serious questions as to his plans had they simply denied him an exemption independently). Belfort has since countered that he never authorized such a statement to be made, and that he was removed from the fight at the UFC’s bidding.

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Belfort bows out, Machida in at UFC 173

Chris Hall

Following the NAC’s decision to ban TRT, Vitor Belfort has removed himself from UFC 173. Machida stepped up to take his place challenging for the 185 lb. belt.

Belfort says UFC pulled him from title shot

Brent Brookhouse

Vitor Belfort released a statement to present his side of the story of his removal from the UFC 173 middleweight championship bout. In the statement he claims the UFC made the decision and it was not his.

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Belfort bows out, Machida in at UFC 173 Belfort says UFC pulled him from title shot

As though things weren’t complicated enough, MMA Fighting reveals that Belfort was randomly drug tested on February 7, while attending the World MMA Awards. The results of that test have recently been made known to Belfort, the UFC, and the NSAC. But, because Belfort had not yet applied for a TUE for UFC 173 and had not otherwise allowed the NSAC to disclose any testing results, they are going to remain sealed from the public, unless Belfort himself releases them.

MMA Fighting reports that they have contacted Francisco Aguilar, Chairman of the NSAC, with a public records request, but the request has been denied as Belfort’s drug screening was not a mandatory part of his licensing process. It does somewhat beg the question: why have non-mandatory drug screenings for fighters if you can’t make public decisions based on their results? It could be that their decision to stop giving TRT exemptions was brought about, in part, because of Belfort’s inability to adhere to “normal” testosterone levels while being treated. And it could be that the UFC pulled Belfort from their middleweight title fight because Belfort failed a drug test.

However, without public disclosure fans and media are left with mixed messages about a fighter’s lack of preparation and a promotion’s lack of faith in their fighter’s preparation. Eventually actions like this cast something of a pall over the process of drug testing in general as it’s a sign that not every potential positive steroid test is going to be made public, even in the case of athletes who are being tested regularly based off their current or past drug regimens. Whether he passed or failed, fans and media should be pressing Belfort to make his testing results public as a point of transparency in a time when MMA seems to need it most.

UFC teases Wanderlei vs. Chael Fight footage in TUF Brazil promo

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Sonnen looking past ‘bum’ Wanderlei Silva

Fernando Arbex

Sonnen has plans for another fight at 185 division after facing Wanderlei, who was called a “bum”. The “American Gangster” also gave his explanation of the change of his fight from Las Vegas to Brazil.

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Sonnen looking past ‘bum’ Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen’s personal beef has been the driving force behind any hype for the third season of the Ultimate Fighter Brazil. A reported scuffle between the two men has had many fans wondering if the UFC was turning up the kayfabe full blast in an attempt to draw more viewers and subscribers to their developing fight pass service. Whether or not that’s the case, the UFC is certainly not sleeping on the opportunity of using their fight to draw eyes. Their newest promo for the TUF season gives a brief glimpse into the confrontation.

It appears to start with Wanderlei sticking his finger in Sonnen’s face and talking about how much he doesn’t like Sonnen. He then proceeds to tell Sonnen “I know you’re scared.” And then challenges him to a fight then and there. What do you think? Now that you’ve caught a glimpse have you been swayed, are you more or less skeptical?

Bellator introducing new glove design at 110 event

It’s an idea that the UFC has been kicking around for at least the last half decade, a narrative fans have raised since the heyday of pride and their famous blue gloves (if not before that); how could you make MMA gloves better? Bellator isn’t the first to try and improve up on the MMA glove, but they may be the most recent. They announced the redesign in partnership with Everlast and their plan to debut the gloves at Bellator 110, via press release.

Newport Beach, Calif. (February 27, 2014) – Everlast Worldwide Inc. and Bellator MMA, have collaborated to produce the next-generation of MMA fight glove. The new glove will debut when Bellator’s 10th season kicks-off this Friday, February 28th, 2014.
Over the last year Everlast product designers have worked closely with Bellator’s team and its athletes to create the PowerLock MMA Fight glove. The new glove promotes proper hand form and technique, which can help to reduce the risk of face, hand and wrist injuries. The PowerLock displays a number of improvements over earlier generations of MMA gloves; these changes include a curved striking surface that aides proper hand form, redesigned foam to maximize hand protection on the impact zone and additional padding that shields the first and fifth metacarpals, two commonly injured bones of the hand.

From the looks of things it appears that the biggest change will be the curving of the glove to a more closed fist style. This has been a long talked of change by those fighters and fans concerned with eye pokes. Fighters are required to wear a brand new pair, provided by the promotion each time they fight, which means that their gloves tend to be fairly rigid. Some have argued that this promotes fighters to keep their hands open, fingers extended as they fight. The second, less obvious change is in the added padding to the inner and outer fingers, with the intention of preventing bone breaks.

It will obviously take some time to determine whether these new gloves are effective or not. Only after several years and hundreds of fights could any meaningful data hope to be gathered as to whether or not the gloves are helping to reduce injury. But, it will be interesting to see them in action tomorrow and hopefully hear from a few fighters regarding their experiences wearing them in the cage.

Anderson Silva looks to expand showbiz career with ICM Partners

Anderson Silva may no longer by UFC middleweight champion, but he’s still kind of a big deal. As one of the few fighters to break through the MMA cult appeal barrier and out into the broader public consciousness, Silva has an opportunity to take advantage of the celebrity he’s created for himself. And it looks like he’s jumping on it. Deadline Hollywood reports that Silva has signed on with the ICM Partners talent agency. It’s a name that won’t be terribly familiar to most readers, but hosts such talent as Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Samuel L. Jackson just to name a scant few.

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Aldo posts video mocking Pettis & Zombie

Nate Wilcox

The UFC’s Featherweight champ and his friends made a video of them singing a song disparaging the UFC Lightweight champ Anthony Pettis and former Featherweight challenger Chan Sung Jung.

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Aldo posts video mocking Pettis & Zombie

Aside from the award winning Like Water, the documentary centered around the buildup to his first fight with Chael Sonnen, Silva has already appeared in a handful of films. Initially starting with a couple of MMA themed projects, he’s since moved on to a few projects in Brazil, including some voice work for the stop motion film Worms. He’s had a few notable commercial appearances as well, including this awesome Burger King commercial and a hilarious Budwiser commercial (mostly because of Bruce Buffer). It will be interesting to see if ICM can offer him a bigger platform in the coming years. Who knows? We may soon be seeing Anderson Silva on movie posters instead of event posters.

Report: UFC signs Czech heavyweight Viktor Pesta

Will it ever stop? Only Joe Silva knows. The UFC’s talent acquisition seems to be continuing at dizzying speeds with the signing of another heavyweight fighter, the third this month, in 23 year old Viktor Pesta. Report of Pesta’s signing comes via Polish MMA site MyMMA.pl. No official announcement has been made and no debut date or opponent has been listed as of yet.

Assuming that all is above board, the young Czech will be making his way to the UFC on the back on a 9-0 record fighting largely out of Gladiator Championship Fighting in his native Czech Republic. His resume is pretty thin, with no notable and little worthy talent to be found on it. However, given his size (6′ 4″, 240 lbs) and his youth it’s very possible the UFC has picked up something of a rough diamond. He’s not with a big camp at the moment, training primarily out of Penta Gym Praha.

Watching Pesta fight, it’s obvious that he’s a work in progress. His range striking largely consists of swarming his opponent with wild punches, looking for an opportunity to clinch. Once he’s in the clinch however, his composure changes entirely and he goes from wild brawler to powerful dirty boxer with sharp knee strikes as well. Mostly however, he’s a top control grappler, using his superior size and athleticism to take fights to the ground where he looks for side control and the mounted crucifix. He’s got heavy hands and has won seven of his 9 fights by stoppage, but he needs to have his hands on his opponent to be effective.

Of interest, his recent bout against Yosef Ali Mohammad was initially scored for Mohammad, but after a protest was filed by Pesta’s camp the promotion overturned the victory and named Pesta the winner. There’s no talk of collusion as Mohammad was the hometown fighter, but it’s a strange side note to his unbeaten record.

To get us better acquainted with Pesta, here is his most recent bout against Lukas Tupa at GCF 26:

Cast revealed for TUF Brazil 3: Sonnen vs. Silva

The Ultimate Fighter Brazil is coming up for it’s television debut on March 9th on TV Globo in Brazil and Fight Pass for international viewers. That means it’s time to meet the cast of fighters who will be looking to populate the UFC’s middleweight and heavyweight divisions. The show is already getting plenty of hype from Sonnen and Silva’s personal feud, but it remains to be seen how much interest the competitors themselves can bring. The teams will be split between two tournaments, heavyweight and middleweight. And unlike more recent international seasons the UFC has cast a full 32 fighters for the show, meaning that fans should get to see opening round fights. globoesporte.com has the rosters.

• THE HEAVYWEIGHTS
• Alexandre Machado – 30 yrs, (6-1)
• Antonio Carlos Junior – 23 yrs, (3-0)
• Antonio Paulo Branjao – 25 yrs, (3-0)
• Bruno Silva – 24 yrs, (9-4)
• Edgard Castaldelli Filho – 34 yrs, (12-4)
• Ewerton Rocha – 31 yrs, (3-1)
• Felipe Diego Dantas de Oliveira – 31 yrs, (6-0)
• Fernando Camoles – 27 yrs, (4-1)
• Goncalo Salgado – 33 yrs, (7-2)
• Guilherme Viana – 27 yrs, (4-1)
• Job Kleber Melo – 34 yrs, (3-1)
• Jollyson Francisco Sosaleta – 30 yrs, (2-0-2)
• Marcos Rogerio Lima – 28 yrs, (11-2-1)
• Richardson Moreira – 29 yrs, (7-1)
• Thiago Santos – 26 yrs, (11-3-1)
• Vitor Miranda – 34 yrs, (9-3)

• THE MIDDLEWEIGHTS
• Cristiano Ribeiro Lopes Pontes – 34 yrs, (4-1)
• Douglas Moura Silva – 29 yrs, (4-1)
• Giuliano Brescianini Arantes – 29 yrs, (5-1)
• Guilherme Vasconcelos – 27 yrs, (3-1)
• Ismael de Jesus – 33 yrs, (9-4-1)
• Joilton Santos – 21 yrs, (9-2-1)
• Jose Roberto Rocha – 26 yrs, (5-0)
• Marcio Alexandre Junior – 24 yrs, (12-0)
• Markus Perez Echeimberg – 24 yrs, (3-0)
• Paulo Henrique Costa – 22 yrs, (3-0)
• Pedro Paulino – 29 yrs, (3-0)
• Ricardo Abreu – 29 yrs, (4-0)
• Wagner Silva Gomes – 26 yrs, (3-0)
• Warlley Alves Andrade – 22 yrs, (6-0)
• Wendell Oliveira Marques – 31 yrs, (23-7)
• Willian Steindorf – 26 yrs, (3-0)

Looking at the heavyweight ranks, the obvious favorite is Thiago “Big Monster” Santos. The former Bellator vet has a lot more high end experience than anyone else on the list. However, this season is also going to be something of a litmus test for Team Nogueira’s heavyweight talent in general as Santos, Branjao, Filho, Rocha, Moreira, and Miranda either have trained or are currently training with Team Nogueira. It could make for a weird vibe if these fighters are well acquainted. Other notable heavyweights include Antonio Carlos Junior who trains at Champion Team alongside Hugo Viana, Fernando Camoles out of Brazilian Top Team, and Guilherme Viana out of Ruas Vale Tudo.

On the middleweight side, the first name to jump off the list is Warlley Alves Andrade who just missed the top 25 cut in Patrick Wyman’s Search For Future Champions series. Also notable is Ismael de Jesus, who’s spent some time at Nova Uniao and is the current Shooto Brazil middleweight champion. Other fighters from bigger camps include Douglas Moura Silva training out of Team Nogueira, Marcio Alexandre Junior from Team Tavares, Echeimberg is from Gracie fusion where he trains alongside Rafael Natal, and Ricardo Abreu is a Wand Fight Team product.

It’s not the worst TUF cast I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely light on experience. There are a couple of fighters on each side who should be the big early favorites and a ton of guys from Team Nogueira or it’s affiliates, which should make things interesting. I doubt it’s the kind of group that will drive people to pick up fight pass, however. What do you think? Any fighters up there that you’re just itching to see in the TUF cage?

Nate Diaz asks for his release from the UFC

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Does swinging and missing score points?

Paul Gift

While striking your opponent is a good thing, MMA fighters can also get credit for missing. Bloody Elbow’s analytics expert Paul Gift reveals how judges are affected by missing with a look back at Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia 1.

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Does swinging and missing score points?

Maybe it’s something in the water, but Cesar Gracie fighters have had trouble getting what they want out of the UFC recently. First it was Nick Diaz who retired from competition last year and has since been a constant conversation topic with his desire to get a title shot again in the UFC. Then, of course there’s Gilbert Melendez who’s negotiations soured so poorly that Cesar Gracie was threatening to pull all of his fighters out of the Zuffa promotion. Melendez and the UFC are on much better terms now, since Melendez signed a big new contract, but that hasn’t stopped another Stockton based fighter from asking to be released. Nate Diaz took to Twitter with his contract request.

@ufc @danawhite I would like to request to be released from the @ufc Its time for me to be on my way .. ?

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) February 26, 2014

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This isn’t the first time the younger Diaz has been a bit cryptic on Twitter. He also caused something of a stir before his bout against Gray Maynard when he claimed he wouldn’t be able to make it due to a high school reunion. His manager, Mike Kogan later claimed that it was a misunderstanding and Diaz was actually lodging a complaint about the fight’s location rather than saying he wouldn’t be there. Perhaps this is merely a crossed signal too, or maybe the younger Diaz, like his brother, has just grown weary of spinning strikes, elbows on the ground, and fighters greasing with water. Only time will tell.

Rock out with your walkout: The February review

So last month’s article was a great success, at least in my eyes. Luke Rockhold started out in the lead with his entrance to Danzig’s Thirteen, but was pipped late in the race by a surging John Moraga and Thuggish, Ruggish Bone by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. February matches January with three events, so there should have been plenty of entrants this month (four in March will be killer). As many have noted, a lot of these entrances won’t have made US television. Commercial breaks and vociferous announcers mean that only a select few full entrances get from curtain to cage on your TV. But this piece isn’t really about the entrances so much (and it’s certainly not about the fighters), it’s about the songs. So, I’ll list what I thought were the best ones and leave it to you to vote on the winner. At the end of the year I’ll pick each months winner for a “Best Walkout of the Year Tourney,” but let’s get back to the hear and the now. As always, if you think I’ve criminally overlooked someone, feel free to say so in the comments and I’ll count recs as votes.

There’s no question that Ronda Rousey has to be the favorite going in. Her use of Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation suits her to a t. It doesn’t hurt that the song itself is awesome too. Also of note on UFC 170 was Patrick Cummins’ walkout to Long Tall Sally by Little Richard and Rory MacDonald with Metallica’s Seek and Destroy. While it’s not my favorite Tenacious D song, Stephen Thompson gets 10/10 for style for walking out to Wonderboy. Ernest Chavez made a strong entrace with DMX’s We Right Here and I’m giving Robert Whittaker a bit of a bump for being the Aussie walking out to AC/DC with Hell’s Bells. Those are the best, but you can see the rest right here.

This was the section where I was planning on talking about UFC Fight Night 36, but sadly the prelims had almost no walkouts due to the rushed schedule of having every fight go to decision and, unfortunately, fight pass doesn’t have the main card up. So, sadly there won’t be any entrants from Fight Night 36, unless someone has a better memory or a copy of the card lingering on their DVR and wants to post walkouts in the comments.

UFC 169 is probably most notable for what American fans didn’t see. Namely, Tom Watson walking out to I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meatloaf. Urijah Faber, as always, came out to 2Pac’s California Love and Ricardo Lamas went with his Latin roots walking out to De Mexico a la Habana by Sonora Santanera. Danny Martinez took one of the better Jay-Z tracks with You Don’t Know and Nick Catone went for a rock classic with Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones. Al Iaquinta and Clint Hester are both looking to establish their walkout cred; Iaquinta made his way to the ring with Ja Rule’s New York and Hester walked out to the sound of his nickname-sake Head Bussa by Lil Scrappy. There were other walkouts of course, but that’s the best of them. You can check out the rest of them right here.

There were a couple notable disqualifications this round as well. Varner gets an automatic fail for walking out to Forrest Griffin’s classic entrance song I’m Shipping Up To Boston. And Aljamain Sterling gets a veto because I have no idea what King Troy’s version of Bad Mamma Jamma is. Finally, Mike Pyle and Neil Magny both came out to Remember The Name, someone needs to pick a new song (both of them should). Because of a weak walkout event we have a much smaller field (and frankly a bit shallower too) this time around. I’ll be taking notes for future cards in hopes this doesn’t happen again, but I can’t make fighters pick better songs, so I can’t make any promises. Anyway, let the voting begin.

UFC signs Jim Alers and Alan Omer for Abu Dhabi card, books another four fights as well

UFC’s Fight Night in Abu Dhabi is filling up fast. The promotion announced another 5 fights for their April 11th card on Tuesday and most notable among them was the signing of two new 145 lb prospects in Cage Warriors featherweight champion Jim Alers who will make his debut against 25 year old Iraqi and former BAMMA title challenger Alan Omer. But before I take a more in-depth look at the newcomers let’s take a look at the other announced matchups for UFC Fight Night 39 on April 11.

Resurgent middleweight and former UFC title challenger Thales Leites has been tabbed to take on Strikeforce vet Trevor Smith in a middleweight bout. Leites is coming off his second straight UFC victory, a win over Ed Herman at UFC 167. Smith is coming off a win as well, over Brian Houston at Fight Night 35, but so far has gone to split decision in each of his two UFC fights. A win over Leites would be a pretty big notch on Smith’s belt thus far in his UFC career.

In a bout between recent flyweight signings “The Turkish Delight” Alptekin Ozkilic will take on Dustin Ortiz. Both Ortiz and Ozkilic are coming off a loss, with Ozkilic taking a bad upset in a unanimous decision loss to Louis Smolka in Smolka’s UFC debut. While Ortiz needs to get back on track as well, he’s got a little more positive karma coming off a split decision loss to former 125 lb title challenger John Moraga at Fight Night 35 in a bout many felt he won.

Also looking to jump back in the winner’s circle are Chris Camozzi and Andrew Craig. Camozzi is now on a two fight skid, the first of his career, after dropping a unanimous decision to Lorenz Larkin at Fight Night 31 and getting submitted by Ronaldo Jacare Souza at UFC on FX 8. Craig is now tasked with rebounding from the first stoppage loss of his career after getting submitted by Luke Barnatt at Fight Night 30 last October.

And finally, before I get to the two new fighters, Ramsey Nijem will meet Beneil Dariush with both men looking to add to their recent success. Nijem has had an exceptionally uneven UFC career after making it to the finals of the Ultimate Fighter. He had a three fight win streak snapped with back to back stoppage losses, but came back nicely to beat Justin Edwards at Fight Night 35. Dariush was the author of a big upset win when he made his debut against longtime vet Charlie Brenneman and choked out “The Spaniard” in under two minutes of the first round.

Now, the newcomers. Jim Alers has been on hardcore fan radars for some time now, most notably since capturing the CWFC featherweight title at CWFC 53 last April. He’s defended it twice since then, with strong performances over Graham Turner and Martin Svensson. The 27 year old is a bit at sea when it comes to training camps at the moment. He has done some work with Roufusport in the past, but recently split from his gym at Alliance Jiu Jitsu and is now with Tough as Nails MMA. He may need to move to a bigger camp to find long term success in the UFC, but just having a more stable home base is a good start.

Watching Alers fight, he’s something of specimen when it comes to raw power and fast twitch muscle. Grappling is his bread and butter, and he gets fights to the ground with a variety of powerful slams, trips, throws and takedowns. Once on the ground he transitions quickly between powerful submission attempts and has a deep bag of tricks to pull from. He can get a bit over aggressive and risks giving up position against other skilled grapplers, but his ability to scramble and get to his feet nullifies some of that risk. His striking, is both a point of improvement and a point of worry. His footwork isn’t great, but he moves his head well as he throws and his punches come with speed and power. As fights wear on, however, he can get a bit predictable and often looks to only enter with overhand rights and slip to his right. It’s a trend that more talented and physical strikers may be able to take advantage of.

Whether Alers’ opponent, Alan Omer, is the man to take advantage of those gaps in Alers’ talent remains to be seen. Omer, at just 25 years old, has racked up an impressive 18-3 record fighting on the northern European MMA circuit. He’s faced BAMMA champ Mark Adams, longtime regional vet Paul Reed, and rising prospect Anthony Durrell, among a host of other fighters. In general his level of competition has been solid, if not always exceptional. He trains out of Stallion Cage of which he is the most notable product.

Watching Omer fight, he in some ways is a mirror image of Alers, in terms of his fast twitch powerful, style. He throws punches and knees with authority, but generally shows better footwork and distance control than Alers in his striking. Also, he moves very well defensively at range, ducking and dodging around strikes rather than relying on a forearm shield or hand position for defense. He’s a lot less dependent on his power hand for punching and works behind the jab with a fair amount of ease. He doesn’t kick much, if at all, which would be a bigger deal if Alers were a more developed kicker and could become important in the future. While I would say Omer generally wants to keep the fight standing, he’s not a fish out of water on the ground. He has nine wins by submission and much like Alers seems to favor an agressive power submission game, often hunting for submissions with authority. I’m not sure he can match Alers on the ground. His takedown game certainly isn’t as polished and I’m not sure of the level of competition he’s gotten submissions over, but he’s got he’s got a lot of quality in his strikes and his groundwork and it looks like he’s improved his takedown defense somewhat from earlier poor performances. I expect this will be a tough fight for both men.

To get us better acquainted here are the most recent fights for Alers and Omer.

Jim Alers vs. Graham Turner at Cage Warriors 63:

Alan Omer vs. Dennis Tomzek at Fair FC: