‘Sapo’ Replaces Goncalves, Meets Sakara at UFC Live 3

Rafael “Sapo” Natal (Pictured) will step in for an injured Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves and face Alessio Sakara in a middleweight duel at UFC Live 3 “Sanchez vs. Kampmann.”

The bout has yet to be officially announced by the promotion. MMAWeekly.com first reported the change on Friday, and Sherdog confirmed the news shortly thereafter with sources close to the contest. The event, which will go down March 3 from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., will be headlined by a welterweight tilt between Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann and will air live on Versus.

A student of Renzo Gracie, Natal is still searching for his first UFC win. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt’s first trip inside the Octagon ended in defeat, as he was outpointed by Rich Attonito at UFC Fight Night 22 in September. In his sophomore effort, “Sapo” fought Canadian Jesse Bongfeldt to a majority draw at UFC 124 in Montreal. The middleweight holds seven of his 12 career victories by submission and has never been submitted himself.

Sakara has won his last three bouts in the UFC, but he has struggled with injuries in the last year. After besting Joe Vedepo, Thales Leites and James Irvin, “Legionarius” was supposed to meet Jorge Rivera at UFC 118. When injuries forced both men off the card, the pair was scheduled to rematch at UFC 122 in November. Suffering a nasty bout of gastritis just hours before the fight was to start, a vomiting Sakara was forced to again withdraw from his bout with Rivera.

UFC Live 3 will also feature a middleweight scrap between C.B. Dollaway and Mark Munoz, as well as a bantamweight tilt between former WEC champion Brian Bowles and Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts product Damacio Page.

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Tweets of the Week - 1/21

Hairy Issues
Real men cut their own hair cause they don't have time to go to the barber shop.  -Miguel Angel Torres

The more trailers and mullets I see let's me know I'm getting close to home!!   -Dustin Poirier

@tim_hague the stache means bidneth. Thats right pushin a minivan and rollin DURTAY. Stache contest? http://yfrog.com/h5wwyuj  -Matt Mitrione

@mattmitrione I've got a pretty healthy beard started  - Tim Hague

BFFs
Well everything good has to end sometime I'm getting ready to drive my best friend to the train station by for now @kennyflorian I miss u :(    -Kurt Pellegrino

Hey guys follow my idiot friend @kurtpellegrino. He may not be a great fighter but as far as humor goes, he also isn't that great.   -Kenny Florian

BESTIES!!! http://moby.to/ro71qj   -Pat Barry

pat Barry and matt Mitrione #TwitPict http://twitpic.com/3ruwow   -Anthony Pettis

Zhang Hates that List
I'm ranked 4th at 170 in the UFC...alphabetically anyway.   -Charlie Brenneman

Downes of the Dead
Just had a lamb brains taco and craving some more. If I turn into a weird sheep zombie, remember - aim for the head to take me out.   -Daniel Downes

No Problem, Coach
Thanks for your support guys, I really Appreciated, you are awsome./ obrigado pelo apoio galera vcs sao demais  -Junior Dos Santos

Just Give Him the Canoli!
It took 6 soldiers to take down Serra! Beast http://twitpic.com/3rrgcu  -Brian Stann

Landing Strikes
At hallmark lanes with @meeenbean about to burn off dinner bowling!   -Joey Beltran

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Pat Barry – The Real Deal

“We all know that he can get hit. But who’s really been hitting him? I punch and kick a little bit different, at a different pace, a different beat, and with a different accuracy. So it’s really hard to prepare for the striking that I’m bringing." 2010 was shaping up to be the best year of Pat Barry’s life. He had a fight scheduled with one of his idols, Mirko Cro Cop, and with a win he would propel himself up the crowded heavyweight ranks in the UFC, add the word “contender” to his name, and probably get another big fight before the year ended.

It didn’t work out quite like that.

Barry lost to Cro Cop at UFC 115 in June, but more devastating than the defeat were the broken hand and foot he suffered during the nearly three round bout, injuries which put him on the shelf for the rest of the year.

He returns to active duty this Saturday night in a Fight For The Troops 2 bout against fellow slugger Joey Beltran, and it’s the perfect time to ask him about 2011 and how he hopes it turns out. He doesn’t hesitate in his response to the question.

“By the end of 2011, Anthony Pettis will be the UFC lightweight champion, Dan Downes goes undefeated in two fights in the UFC, and I get at least two submission wins.”

In a ‘me, me, me’ world, that answer is telling, as Barry’s instinct is to put his teammates - lightweight contender Pettis and 155-pound prospect Downes – first. It’s no accident either, but it’s not a trait Barry takes credit for.

“That’s one hundred percent from my mother,” said Barry of his mom, Laverne Barry Fleming. “That is my mother’s trait and her entire life was dedicated to just giving. My father also, but I definitely get this from my mother. She just gives to the world. We were raised that if you give to the world, the world will give back to you. She would roll over in the mud just to make sure you wouldn’t have to walk in it. Her entire life, she’s just taken care of everybody.”

And the heavyweight dubbed “HD” is doing his job to pay it forward in Milwaukee’s Roufusport Academy. It’s a tight-knit crew in the Midwest gym, and while lead trainer Duke Roufus is the father or uncle figure, Barry can definitely be described as the big brother. So when Pettis and Downes had career-defining wins over Ben Henderson and Tiequan Zhang in last December’s final WEC show in December, no one was prouder than their big bro.

“You compare it to a parent watching their kid succeed at something that they really tried hard to do,” said Barry. “I am not his parent, but being a figure in the gym who’s there like a part-mentor, we all grow from each other and learn from each other. It’s just that I’ve got  a little bit more life than they do, so they’re able to grow from me and I’m able to pass on mature adult things and knowledge here and there. And to watch them grow as athletes, while watching them grow and succeed as a man, it makes you feel good to know that you were a part of that.”

December 16th was a good night for the team, but the final result doesn’t make getting through the previous minute and rounds any easier to watch for Barry.

“It’s always gonna be harder to watch your teammates fight than it is to fight yourself,” he said. “It’s like a parent with a kid who fell into a bear cage and you’re on the outside and you can’t get in and help. If you care for your teammates, you don’t want them to get hit or to feel pain or the anguish of losing. If I could, I would take that pain out of your heart and absorb it just so you could have a nice life. That’s the role of anybody who cares about anybody. You don’t want harm to come to anybody you care about.”

The feeling is mutual from Barry’s younger teammates, so it must have been tough for them to watch the 31-year old New Orleans native come up short in the biggest fight of career last June, especially since there were extenuating circumstances (the hand and foot injuries) that kept him from fighting his best. But one thing that Barry wants to make clear is that his high level of respect for the former PRIDE star ended as soon as the bell rang that night in Vancouver.

“That fight was a fight just like anyone else,” he said. “It didn’t matter that he was the legendary Cro Cop with all these different highlights. The fight was just like fighting any other man until I was standing there with only one hand and still had 12 minutes left of fighting to go. (Laughs) Then all of a sudden he became the superhuman, highlight reel Cro Cop who I was just waiting to kick me in the head.”

That kick never came, and despite scoring two early knockdowns, Barry wound up on the wrong end of a rear naked choke at 4:30 of the final round. The loss, which dropped his pro MMA record to 5-2, hurt, but he was able to gleam some positives from it.

“As long as I was able to test myself against a guy like that, that was awesome,” he said. “I was given the opportunity to put myself to the test against a guy with that type of status, that type of resume. And I think that was great.”

But now with the injuries behind him and Joey Beltran in front of him, it’s back to business, and if there’s one thing ‘The Mexicutioner’ does, it’s get down to business. Barry’s ready for what should be an all-out assault from the Californian, and you would think that his more technical attack should easily nullify Beltran’s brawling style, but as he points out, sometimes it’s more difficult fighting someone unorthodox than one that will follow a 1-2 with a clean up left hook.

“It’s definitely a lot harder to fight a guy who is a brawler who has no pattern,” explains Barry, a former K-1 kickboxer. “If you had a choice to fight Ernesto Hoost or Bob Sapp, you would definitely choose Bob Sapp if you’re a technical striker the way I am. My hardest fights are against guys like Joey Beltran and Tim Hague, who just come at you flailing. There are no patterns to pick up on and they’re never where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. Because it’s such an odd style and there’s no real technique to it, they just come at you like a zombie, and their body parts aren’t where they’re supposed to be, and that’s how myself and a lot of people end up getting hurt. We end up hurting ourselves because we might throw punches and kicks where we’re supposed to, but the wrong body part is always there.”

Barry is on another level when it comes to striking though, with his technique and power among the best in the heavyweight division. In response, Beltran owns a world-class chin, begging the question, who will break first on Saturday?

“He’s taken a lot of punches and a lot of kicks from a lot of big guys, so his ability to take a punch and to take a kick is not unknown,” said Barry of Beltran. “We all know that he can get hit. But who’s really been hitting him? I punch and kick a little bit different, at a different pace, a different beat, and with a different accuracy. So it’s really hard to prepare for the striking that I’m bringing. But I’ve already found out that if I punch or kick you, I tend to break myself, so if that happened on Cro Cop’s face, then I’m expecting to come out with a body cast after the Beltran fight. (Laughs) That guy can take a hit and he doesn’t seem to ever fall down or back up, he just keeps walking forward. He’s not the fastest guy in the world, but he just doesn’t seem to stop.”

It’s another sharp dose of honesty from the Big Easy big man, and a refreshing one at that. Maybe that’s why if you asked hardcore fight fans who their favorite heavyweight fighter is, win or lose, Pat Barry’s going to rank pretty high. Why? It’s not because of knockout power that can turn your lights out with one kick or punch, but because he’s the genuine article.

“Deep down inside, something can tell you when someone is lying or acting,” he said. “You can tell that you’re watching a movie, versus in real life, when someone is pouring their heart out to you, you can feel that and sense that. Like going to an opera, there are women and men who stand on stage and they sing and they can command tears from the crowd watching. I never understood that growing up as a kid. How can people go to an opera and watch someone singing and start crying – that just doesn’t make sense. Or you can listen to someone who plays the trumpet or plays the saxophone in a way that can actually pull tears out of your head. I think that it’s definitely my honesty and my realism that connects to people because I’m not a superhuman. I’m just like everybody else. I think people can relate to me and it makes them feel special because if that guy over there can do this, then I can do it too because he goes what we go through every day and he sounds very familiar to me. I’m your average, everyday guy. I just happen to have an odd job.”

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FFTT Main Card: Mitrione, Hominick Leave No Doubts

Click below for main card results from Saturday night's UFC Fight For The Troops 2 event... KILLEEN, TX, January 22 – Looking more confident than ever, rising heavyweight star Matt Mitrione scored his fourth pro win without a loss Saturday night, knocking out Tim Hague in the first round of the Fight For The Troops 2 co-main event at Fort Hood.

Mitrione vs. Hague
“I wanted to be a 265 pound Dominick Cruz,” said Mitrione, referring to the UFC bantamweight champion. See post-fight interview

The heavyweights traded leg kicks to open the bout, with each shot making an audible thud. Hague went on to shoot in and lock Mitrione up, but the former pro football player broke loose and got his offense back in gear immediately. A couple more rangefinders hit their mark, and then a straight left dropped Hague. Mitrione immediately pounced, and the follow-up barrage forced referee Dan Miragliotta to halt the bout at the 2:59 mark.

Now Mitrione wants more.

“I want to get tested,” he said. “I’m here to fight.”

With the loss, Hague falls to 12-5.

Hominick vs. Roop
Mark Hominick guaranteed himself a title shot at UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, stopping former teammate George Roop in emphatic fashion in the first round. See post-fight interview

“You have to make statements with your performances, and I think I did that tonight,” said Hominick, who improves to 20-8.

Hominick didn’t look like “The Machine” in this fight, it was more like “The Terminator” as he walked Roop (11-8-1) down with a determined look that made it clear that he meant business. After tagging his foe with practically everything he threw, he dropped Roop with a left hook. Another left followed while Roop sat on the seat of his pants, and while he kicked at Hominick to break loose, referee Don Turnage halted the bout at the 1:28 mark. Roop protested the stoppage, but as he rose, he staggered on wobbly legs, making it clear that Turnage made the right call.

Barry vs. Beltran
Heavyweight prospect Pat Barry got off to a slow start against Joey Beltran, but his trademark kicks started paying dividends as the bout progressed, allowing him to pound out a three round unanimous decision win. See post-fight interview

Scores were 30-27 and 29-28 twice for Barry, who improves to 6-2; Beltran falls to 12-5.

After a tentative opening, the two engaged 45 seconds in, locking up against the cage. A stalemate ensued, with referee Mario Yamasaki breaking the two just before the midway point of the round. Beltran began to kick his offense into gear, throwing sporadic punches as Barry tried to let his kicks go. In response, Beltran rushed Barry with a flurry of punches and pushed him into the fence. A low knee by Beltran brought a stoppage and a warning, and it was the last significant action of the round.

Barry opened the second on the offensive, drilling Beltran with a right kick to the leg. “HD” kept the pressure on with his kicks, but Beltran responded with another flurry and a lock-up. The takedown attempts of “The Mexicutioner” were coming up short though, and another stall brought a restart from Yamasaki. In response, the two began exchanging with a little more urgency, and Beltran was starting to favor his left leg, the target of Barry’s kicks. Barry then switched things upstairs, drawing a roar from the crowd with a left kick to the head. Beltran gamely trudged forward, and though his punches had no steam on them due to a lack of leverage, he kept throwing them, finishing the round with a strong flurry.

Beltran, showing no fear, went right at Barry in round three, but he was starting to catch more kicks for his trouble. Nothing stopped the Californian’s forward march though, and his flurries against allowed him to catch Barry against the fence. With a little more than two minutes left, Yamasaki restarted the slowing action, and moments later, an inadvertent eye poke from Barry halted the bout for a look from the Octagonside physician. Allowed to continue, Beltran went forward and Barry went for the finish, getting Beltran to the canvas with a kick to the leg. The two rose moments later, and Barry fired off a right kick to the head. Beltran remained upright, but almost hit the deck at the bell as Barry scored with a series of flush leg kicks, ending the bout with a bang.

Miller vs. Wiman
Following a rough 2010 plagued by injuries, lightweight Matt Wiman got 2011 off to a stellar start with an impressive three round unanimous decision win over his Ultimate Fighter 5 castmate Cole Miller. See post-fight interview

Scores for Wiman were 30-27 twice and 29-28.

Wiman was the aggressor as the bout opened, but Miller gave as good as he got as the two traded punches at a fast clip. Wiman, his nose bloodied, was the busier fighter, but as soon as he would get a combination off, Miller would fire back. With two minutes left, Miller tried to pull guard but fell to his back, and Wiman followed with strikes. Miller, no slouch from his back, worked to lock Wiman up, but the Colorado native’s offense proved to be a good defense as the seconds ticked away on the round.

There was no let-up to the fast pace in round two, with Wiman able to start things off with more ground strikes on Miller once they hit that mat. After standing, The two continued to trade, with Wiman eventually getting matters back to the canvas, where his ground and pound attack started to open things up for him on the scorecards.

Wiman continued pressing the action in the third, using his strikes to get the bout to the canvas again. Miller had few answers for Wiman’s striking attack, and whatever questions he posed were answered with punches to the face. And while Miller blocked the majority of the shots, the busier Wiman was pushing the pace and getting enough through to make an impact. With 30 seconds left, Wiman got Miller’s back in a scramble, but “Magrinho” got free, only to have the clock run out on him.

With the win, Wiman improves to 13-5; Miller falls to 17-5.

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10 Great Fights Just 99 Cents Each

Now through February 5th, ten of the best fights featuring UFC 126 warriors are only 99 cents each in the UFC Vault.

As always, past fights are free with a subscription to the Vault.

Anderson Silva vs Chris Leben, UFC Fight Night
Anderson Silva's Octagon debut stuns the crowd... not to mention his heavy-handed opponent.

Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt, UFC 73
Anderson Silva puts his title on the line against Nate The Great.

Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva, Ultimate Brazil
Two feared warriors squared off in this 1998 event.

Vitor Belfort vs. Tank Abbott, UFC 13
See why The Phenom is a UFC legend.

Rich Franklin vs. Ken Shamrock, TUF 1 Finale
It was Ace's first fight against a UFC name like Shamrock, and Franklin showed why he belonged.

Rich Franklin vs. Edwin Dewees, UFC 44
Striker Franklin proves he can stave off a submission expert.

Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar, TUF 1 Finale
Called the most important fight in the UFC's history, it was also one of the most entertaining.

Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, UFC 76
Griffin went from reality star to major player in PRIDE star Shogun's first UFC bout.

Ryan Bader vs. Vinicius Magalhaes, TUF 8 Finale
After an exciting season of TUF, the two light heavyweights fought for a contract.

Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera, UFC on Versus 2
Jones rode a seemingly-unstoppable wave of hype to this bout against Vera, who'd been through the same thing.

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Mark Hominick's Patience

“My goal is to make a statement as to why I deserve this title shot in this division, and that’s what I’m going into this fight to do." An unbeaten UFC record. It’s the goal of any mixed martial artist, but it’s a feat few can claim for any length of time. Even fewer will walk away from the organization without tasting the bitter pill of defeat.

Mark Hominick is one of those select few, having left the UFC after 2006 victories over Yves Edwards and Jorge Gurgel. Nearly five years later, the Thamesford, Ontario native has no regrets.

“I was a 145-pound fighter, and that’s what I looked at,” he said when asked about his mindset at the time. “I thought Yves Edwards was a great matchup, the same with Gurgel, and I knew I could beat those guys, but my goal in this sport is to be the best in the world, and my opportunity to do that was at 145.”

So he walked away, despite the momentum that he built in the world’s largest MMA organization. He returned to Canada, fighting in the TKO organization while mixing in Stateside bouts for the WEC, Affliction, and Ring of Fire organizations. He won more often than not, and kept his name alive in MMA circles, but there were no action figures, trading cards, or video game appearances for “The Machine”, only the determination to fulfill a dream on his terms.

“I was training with (trainer) Shawn Tompkins and (UFC fighter) Sam Stout, and Sam was a 155er, and we’re like okay, Sam can fight at ’55 in the UFC and I can go to the WEC or wherever the best fights were for me at the time,” he recalled. “But at times, people hadn’t heard my name in a few years and they would be like ‘I remember you bursting onto the scene and then going off the radar.’ So it was frustrating on that end, but I had long-term goals that I wanted to be the best at my weight.”

And as the years progressed, Hominick’s initial instincts proved to be correct, as frustrating losses to Rani Yahya and Josh Grispi began translating into victories over Savant Young, Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin, and Leonard Garcia, all but one of which took place in the Zuffa-era WEC, which reintroduced Hominick to fight fans on a consistent basis.

“It was cool to be a part of the WEC because it kind of had that almost cult following,” said Hominick, 19-8 as a pro. “The fans really understood that when you watched WEC you were really gonna get a good show every time. It didn’t matter what part of the card you were watching, you’re gonna get a great fight. So I was proud to be a part of that, but now I’m at the point in my career where you want that exposure and you want to be fighting on the biggest stage possible and that’s with UFC.”

Yet his return to the Octagon didn’t come without a price, and for Hominick that price was that his first fight back would be against former training partner George Roop this Saturday night. But as one of the truest pros in the game, Hominick is able to put his relationship with Roop to the side for 15 minutes or less this weekend.

“It was difficult at the start, but once I got into camp I put that aside,” he said. “It’s part of the game really. If you’re in the same weight class with some of the top guys, sometimes you’re put against a teammate. The thing with George, we’re teammates, but we’re not the best of friends like I am with someone like Sam Stout or Chris Horodecki. I own a gym together with them, and there’s a difference between training partners and best friends.”

The Three Musketeers of Team Tompkins, Hominick, Stout, and Horodecki have been nearly attached at the hip for years, and most expected that the reunion of all three in the Octagon following the merge of the WEC into the UFC would be one of the ‘feel good’ stories of the New Year. But after posting a 2-2 record in the WEC, Horodecki was released, postponing what Hominick hopes will be an eventual reuniting of the Ontario trio.

“We’re a family, and sometimes those things happen,” said Hominick. “We were all really frustrated because we know Chris’ potential, but on the other end of it, he’s got the potential to get a string of wins and come back to the top. He belongs amongst the guys in the UFC, so he’s just gonna have to go back to the grind and win his way back up. When you’re with a team that’s always fighting and that’s been together for so long, you’re gonna get ups and downs, and this is just a little wave in the ride right now.”

Impressively, the bond between the three remains tight, and to see the fighters grow up in public and still stay together is a testament to the job done by their longtime coach, Tompkins.

“He’s the reason why we’re here, we know that, and we’re always going to be together because of that unity he’s created,” said Hominick of Tompkins. “You kinda look at the guys who gym jump a lot, and it frustrates me because loyalty is a big thing, it’s a big thing in our camp, and it’s a big thing in a lot of our victories. There are always things you can improve on, like bringing in different coaches, like Keebo Robinson for us, or different wrestling or jiu-jitsu coaches to add to the game, but we’re still a unit.”

And this MMA version of Team Canada will be bringing it on Saturday night, when Hominick collides with a familiar face in Roop.

“It’s a good matchup,” he said. “We’re both gonna get in there and we’re gonna bang, and we’re both coming off big wins, and those are the kinda fights I want. He knocked out “The Korean Zombie” and kinda woke up everybody to realize who George Roop was, so now I’ve got to take that momentum from him and run with it for myself.”

A win for Hominick secures a title shot against UFC featherweight boss Jose Aldo later this year, and the 28-year old knows what’s at stake. Yet having said that, he is using the Roop fight not as a distraction on the way to bigger things, but to prove in his UFC return that he is worthy of a championship fight.

“My goal is to make a statement as to why I deserve this title shot in this division, and that’s what I’m going into this fight to do,” he said.

Looks like that decision to walk away in 2006 was a pretty smart one.

“I’m five times the fighter that I was back then,” said Hominick. “Maybe if I had a couple of bad matchups right after Gurgel, like a strong wrestler like Sean Sherk, at that point in my career, it might have been devastating for it. So I look at the past and I’m glad I made those decisions.”

View the original article here

FFTT Post-Fight Presser

After the UFC Fight for the Troops on January 22, $30,000 bonuses for the event were announced. Fight of the Night honors went to Yves Edwards and Cody McKenzie. Edwards also took home a Submission of the Night bonus for his RNC of McKenzie. Knockout of the Night went to Melvin Guillard for the devastating combo that took out Evan Dunham.

The following videos are available from the press conference:
Melvin Guillard and Mark Hominick highlights
Matt Mitrione and Pat Barry highlights

View the original article here

UFC 126 Officially Sold Out

UFC® 126: SILVA vs. BELFORT IS A SELLOUT
Tickets Still Remain for Official Closed Circuit Viewing Party in the Mandalay Bay Islander Ballroom Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced today that tickets to UFC® 126: SILVA vs. BELFORT at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas are sold out.

Headlined by a middleweight title bout pitting champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva against “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort, the Feb. 5 event also features a light heavyweight bout between former UFC champions Rich “Ace” Franklin and Forrest Griffin and a pivotal 205-pound contest between rising stars Ryan Bader and Jon Jones.

“Fans have been telling me how excited they are for this card ever since we announced the event,” UFC President Dana White said. “This is a stacked card from top to bottom and fans responded by making UFC 126 a sellout.”

Although tickets for UFC 126 are sold out, UFC fans can still take part in the fight night festivities at Mandalay Bay. Tickets for the official UFC 126 Closed Circuit viewing party in the Islander Ballroom at Mandalay Bay are still available and priced at $50.

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at http://www.ticketmaster.com/,  www.mandalaybay.com or the Mandalay Bay box office.  Doors for the viewing party will open at 5 p.m. PT and the event will be shown live on big-screen monitors starting at 7 p.m. PT.

Select seats are still available for UFC 126 via StubHub.

View the original article here

George Roop - This Underdog Bites

"I’m gonna play the underdog role and there’s no pressure on me. I’m gonna go in there, take it to him, and give the troops what they deserve.” When it comes to gutsy pre-fight gamesmanship, you’ll have a tough time topping George Roop’s decision to wear his opponent’s t-shirt to the weigh-in. But that’s just what the Arizona featherweight did before his bout last September against Chan Sung Jung.

For a little context, remember that Jung, more familiarly known as “The Korean Zombie”, was the talk of the MMA world after his stirring three round war with Leonard Garcia earlier in 2010 that prompted commentator Joe Rogan to declare it “Fight of The Decade.” Roop, a former member of The Ultimate Fighter season eight cast, was seen by some as the sacrificial lamb for Jung, who seemingly couldn’t be hurt in the prize ring.

So Roop, no one’s stepping stone, decided to make a statement.

“There was all this hype around, him saying he was “The Korean Zombie” and he can just walk through punches, and that was me saying, look, everybody’s human and everybody can be knocked out,” said Roop. “I don’t sell t-shirts, I’m a mixed martial arts fighter.”

It was a move that could have easily backfired, but Roop had no doubts about what he was going to do in that cage on fight night.

“I knew that I could win the fight in any way possible. I knew I could win the fight by knocking him out, by TKO or submission, and I knew I could decision him if I had to.”

Roop went right to option number one, drilling Jung with a head kick in the second round that knocked him out as soon as it landed. It was a defining moment in his four year career, and the perfect end to what was a tumultuous year that began with Roop still coping with the tragic death of his seven-year old son Julian that previous October.

Add in that Roop was in professional limbo as well, and 2010 didn’t look that promising at first. After going 1-2 as a lightweight in the UFC before being released after a loss to George Sotiropoulos at UFC 101, Roop returned to his natural weight class before the year was out, decisioning Matt Dell at featherweight in November of 2009. Then, as the WEC beckoned, he decided he was going to drop another 10 pounds and compete at bantamweight. It was a good idea at the time.

“My initial thought was I’m gonna be the biggest bantamweight on the planet,” he laughs. It wasn’t a joking matter once the cut began for the 6 foot 1 fighter, who quickly realized he was making a mistake.

“It’s definitely the hardest thing I ever had to do,” he said and you can almost hear him re-living the weight cut as he speaks. “At the weigh-in my eyeballs were poking out like that ‘Machinist’ movie. (Laughs) My cheekbones were sticking out real bad, I looked terrible and it was very unhealthy. My fight was cutting to 135 pounds. When I made it, I thought okay I’m done.”

He wasn’t. He still had to fight, and against former WEC bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland no less. Roop lost a three round decision to Wineland in January of last year, a feat which was impressive in and of itself considering the drain it took to get to 135.

“I was thinking that I was gonna be the bigger, stronger guy, but in all reality, the speed at 135 pounds was hard for somebody my size to deal with, especially with Eddie Wineland,” he said. “And I felt okay the day of the fight, but Eddie’s tough. I just wasn’t able to approach that fight with the right gameplan. I really didn’t have a gameplan, my gameplan was to make 135 pounds.”

It wasn’t the way he wanted to begin the year, yet slowly, but surely, things started to click for Roop. He moved back to featherweight, and in March he engaged in an entertaining three round draw with Leonard Garcia that earned Fight of the Night honors. September saw not only the win over Jung, but a new arrival to the family, as Roop and his fiancé welcomed a son, Payden. All in all, not a bad 12 months, and as 2011 gets underway, Roop has the opportunity to make a statement to the featherweight division on national television when he takes on former teammate Mark Hominick on Saturday night in Texas.

And while fighting someone he’s trained with for so long is a first for Roop, he’s ready for it and unafraid to pull the trigger on Hominick should he get him in trouble.

“I’ve never been in that situation with somebody as close as Hominick,” he admits. “We’ve worked a lot together in the gym, so he definitely knows what I bring to the table and I know what he brings to the table as well. And I’m not saying we’re best friends, but for the most part, I like almost everybody I’ve fought, so I’ve really had no ill feelings toward anybody and it’s going to be easy to put the hurting on him. It’s what I do, it’s what I enjoy doing, and afterwards, it’s gonna make us respect each other even that much more.”

Roop, a pro since 2006, has a quiet confidence about him, something that probably served him well back when he was a high school quarterback, and which fits him nicely these days. He’s not a braggart, won’t make a lot of noise, but it’s clear that when it’s time to train or fight, he’s there on business and eager to show just what he can do. And that doesn’t come overnight. It’s taken an ability to navigate plenty of potholes, detours, and bumps in the road, and he doesn’t regret one step of the journey.

“If you look at my record, I don’t have one of those 12-1 records or just a couple losses, and I haven’t trained MMA since I was a little kid either,” he said. “I started training a couple years before The Ultimate Fighter show, so I’m evolving every day as a fighter. I learn new stuff and I pick up stuff from everybody and those losses on my record are big learning experiences for me and that’s the way I look at it. It might sound silly, but I’m happy for those losses and they’ve made me the fighter that I am. I truly believe that I match up with (UFC featherweight champion) Jose Aldo better than almost anybody else at 145 pounds. I’m big, I’m strong, my technique has definitely come very, very far, and my wrestling is improving every day, as well as my striking and jiu-jitsu. I’m an evolving fighter and I’m changing it up every fight. You’re just gonna see me getting better and better.”

Having said that, Mark Hominick is the man in the spotlight, the one who will receive a shot at Aldo’s crown should he win on Saturday night. George Roop likes that feeling of being the underdog, and he embraces the role. He won’t wear a Hominick t-shirt to the weigh-in, but his fight night intentions remain the same as they did last September – to show that this underdog can bite.

“I feel like I’ve gotten the underdog role in my last three fights and it’s the best role they can give me,” he said. “I wasn’t supposed to beat Leonard Garcia, I wasn’t supposed to beat Chan Sung Jung, I’m not supposed to beat Mark Hominick, and I understand this, but I’m gonna play the underdog role and there’s no pressure on me. I’m gonna go in there, take it to him, and give the troops what they deserve.”

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Milwaukee Mayor Honors Pettis

UFC® LIGHTWEIGHT STAR ANTHONY PETTIS TO RECEIVE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION FROM CITY OF MILWAUKEE TOMORROW

‘SHOWTIME’ HONORED FOR WINNING WEC LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE
AND COMMITMENT TO HIS HOMETOWN

Pettis to Receive Official Proclamation Tomorrow, Jan. 13, at 3:45 p.m. CT

Las Vegas, NV– It was a whirlwind year for UFC® lightweight star Anthony Pettis in 2010. Unbeaten in four fights last year, Pettis added the WEC® lightweight title to his resume, as well as a nationally-televised appearance on MTV’s hit show “World of Jenks.”

Those accomplishments, plus his work in the community, have earned the 23-year-old an official proclamation from his hometown of the city of Milwaukee, Wisc. Pettis will receive the proclamation during a meeting with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Thursday, Jan. 13 at 3:45pm CT at the Mayor’s Office.

Pettis, whose “Showtime” kick landed against Ben Henderson on Dec. 16 was named one of the top 10 plays of the year by ESPN’s SportsCenter, expressed his sincere gratitude to Mayor Barrett and the city of Milwaukee for such an honor.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Pettis said. “It’s been a crazy year. I’ve won a world title, been featured on MTV and SportsCenter and threw out the first pitch at the Milwaukee Brewers game. I never imagined myself being in this position. I’m really thankful that Mayor Tom Barrett and the city of Milwaukee have chosen to honor me. Milwaukee means so much to me and I’m proud to represent it every time I compete.”

WHO:
•    ANTHONY PETTIS, UFC lightweight contender, WEC Lightweight Champion
•    TOM BARRETT, Mayor of Milwaukee
WHAT:          Pettis to receive official proclamation from City of Milwaukee

WHEN:          Thursday, Jan. 13 at 3:45 p.m. CT

WHERE:       Office of Mayor Tom Barrett
200 E. Wells Street
City Hall Rm.201
Milwaukee, WI 53202

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Matt Mitrione - No Luck Necessary

“Anybody that knows me knows that I’m very, very serious about my job and I dedicate myself very much. But I’m at the point in my athletic career where I can relax in the face of competition, and that speaks volumes about where I’ve been and what I expect from myself and the way I handle stress." Don’t worry, Matt Mitrione isn’t getting misty. He isn’t missing his former job as an NFL lineman with the conference championship games coming up this weekend, and in fact, he needed to be told a couple of days after the fact that his former team, the New York Giants, had been eliminated from making the playoffs.

Out of the NFL? He’s cool with it.

“I’m good with being out of the NFL,” said Mitrione. “As a matter of fact I actually haven’t paid too much attention to it lately. I’m far removed brother.”

It’s not what you think you would hear from an athlete who has made it to the pinnacle of his sport only to see injuries take a toll and eventually shorten his career. But Mitrione is honest in his assessment of the end of his football life.

“In 2005, I thought that I still had a year or two to make an impact and make a team better,” said the former defensive tackle who ended his career with the Minnesota Vikings. “When I got brought back in 2008 (for the All American Football League), I sucked. But in that same breath, I sucked because I was at a desk job driving 4,000 miles a month. I wasn’t prepared to go back in, but it showed me that it was time to give it up.”

In 2008, Mitrione was drafted to play in the aforementioned AAFL, a startup that suspended its inaugural season the day players were supposed to report for training camp (the league has yet to play a game but has announced that they will kick off in the spring of 2011), and the dream was over. Or so he thought.

“I started running a gym and by the time I started running a gym, that’s when I started fighting, so it all worked out really well together,” said Mitrione, who was able to nab a spot on season ten of The Ultimate Fighter and eventually work his way into the UFC. For the Illinois native, it’s been a whirlwind ride since then, and if you see him with a smile on his face all the time, now you know why.

“I actually get criticized at times because people say I look like I’m having too much fun, so they think I’m not taking my job as seriously as I need to, which I find hysterical,” he said. “Anybody that knows me knows that I’m very, very serious about my job and I dedicate myself very much. But I’m at the point in my athletic career where I can relax in the face of competition, and that speaks volumes about where I’ve been and what I expect from myself and the way I handle stress. I love my job.”

“I know what it’s like to have a job and a paycheck that you just hate earning,” he continues. “This right here, I can get kicked in the mouth, shatter my jaw, but I would be happier feeling that kind of pain to let me know I’m alive still, versus earning a six figure paycheck pushing a bunch of paper and being on the phone negotiating with an underwriter. That would drive me nuts. So I’m grateful that the UFC has given me a chance and that Spike TV took a chance on me in the first place.”

Getting a chance and making the most of it are two different things though, and Mitrione has turned a long shot into a promising fight career, complete with three wins, two knockouts, and a Fight of the Night bonus. Not bad for a green 32-year old novice to the world of mixed martial arts. But as Mitrione stated himself, when you enjoy what you’re doing, the daily grind in the gym isn’t necessarily a grind, and he looks at each day as an opportunity to add more weapons to his MMA arsenal.

“I really enjoy the mixed martial arts form, learning wrestling, learning positions and techniques and where not to put your foot because this is at the wrong angle, and all those variations,” he said. “I enjoy that, and as far as jiu-jitsu goes, I like the angles, the sweeps, the positioning, top control, and all that stuff, so it’s not pressure to learn it and to be good at it. It’s fun to learn it and try to become an expert at it.”

When you add those new tools to the punching power that knocked out Marcus Jones and Kimbo Slice and rocked the seemingly unrockable Joey Beltran, Mitrione is picking up the hardest game at an astounding rate of speed. But it’s not all athleticism that’s getting the job done for the heavyweight prospect; he’s putting the work in and making the necessary sacrifices, and as he points out, being an MMA fighter can be a lot different than being an NFL player.

“It’s different in a lot of ways,” he said. “It’s different because you don’t have somebody standing over you, making you get up, making you get out of bed, fining you money if you’re late, so it’s a very independent grind as far as MMA goes. In that same breath, you’ve got to be a very self-motivated person in order to be an MMA fighter because you have to push yourself to go to the gym on cold days, days you don’t want to do it, days you’re already tired. But other than having to be a self-starter and a self-motivator, the amount of work and effort you have to put forth is very similar. It’s different types of training obviously, but the muscle soreness, the achy joints, and the fatigue is very similar.”

Yet as the training camps pile up, Mitrione is starting to not just act, but react, making it clear that his education as a fighter is starting to stick.

“My last fight, I felt that,” he said. “Halfway through the second round and in the third round, it was just automatic. My spacing, everything I wanted to do was exactly the way I wanted to do it, and I never had to think about it. I’m starting to get there, but I can’t put the cart ahead of the horse because this is only going to be my fourth pro fight. I’ve got to keep myself as honest as possible and self-critique as honest as possible because this is only where I’m at, and the fact that I’ve been lucky so far, don’t count that as me being good; count that as me being new and people couldn’t critique my style as much.”

At this level of the game, there’s no such thing as luck, though you can appreciate Mitrione’s self-effacing assessment of his fight game, which will be tested again this Saturday night as he looks to make it four in a row against Canada’s Tim Hague. It’s another high-profile bout for the Indiana resident, but being in the spotlight isn’t about to get old for him, especially when he has a hungry opponent in front of him looking to put a “1” in his loss column.

“He (Hague) is a guy that’s much better than his UFC record,” said Mitrione. “He’s an all-around tough kid, he loves the grind, he’s got a good chin, and everybody’s got that one fight where he gets his ass kicked or gets knocked out, so I don’t think it’s right to judge him on that Todd Duffee fight (where Hague got stopped in the first round). He’s a good fighter, and ideally against me, he’s gonna want to rush me and get me down on the ground, because I don’t think there’s any chance that he wants to stand with me. He might be able to take my punches, but I don’t think he’ll be able to stay with me as an athlete and I think I’ll confuse him with my footwork and my head movement and the angles where my hands are coming from. So I think he’s gonna try to get me to the ground and maul me there. He’s capable of doing that because he’s such a big body, but I think he knows that this is gonna be his last chance in the UFC, so I expect the fight of Tim’s life. I understand that and I’m preparing for that.”

Forget football, this is Mitrione’s Super Bowl.

View the original article here

Fight Flashback: The First Event

January 11, 2011 marked the ten-year anniversary of Zuffa's purchase of the UFC. Read below for a look at the company's first event, UFC 30. On January 11, 2001, a company named Zuffa, manned by brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and their friend Dana White, purchased the struggling Ultimate Fighting Championship, and over the next ten years turned it into a juggernaut in the sporting world that has exceeded all early expectations.

Now, you mention the UFC to anyone on the street and you will get a reaction; back in 2001, you were lucky if you got a puzzled stare. It’s been a spectacular decade for the organization to say the least, but every success story had to begin somewhere, and for Zuffa, the first test would be its first event, at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The names on the UFC 30 card that winter night are household ones to mixed martial arts fans today: Tito Ortiz, the late Evan Tanner, Jens Pulver, Caol (then known as Kaoru) Uno, Sean Sherk, Phil Baroni, Jeremy Horn, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo, but back then, they were fighters looking to find a place in a sport the mainstream didn’t understand, and in many cases didn’t want to understand.

That perception was about to change, and things really kicked into gear in 2005 when a little show called “The Ultimate Fighter” brought the sport into everyone’s living room. Now there are sold-out arenas both here and around the world, DVDs, action figures, trading cards, a magazine, and the UFC is everywhere.

And February 23, 2001 started it all. Here’s the way I saw things from the Auxiliary Press section that night…

UFC XXX - There's A New Sheriff in Town, and Ortiz is Packing The Guns
By Thomas Gerbasi

ATLANTIC CITY, Feb. 23 - It has gone from spectacle to sport; from "human cock fighting" to an art practiced by superior athletes. And as Zuffa undertook its maiden voyage into the Octagon tonight at the Trump Taj Mahal, the future looks brighter than it ever has for the fledgling sport of mixed martial arts.

Put the glitz aside. Forget that the royalty of the UFC (Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Mark Kerr, Ken Shamrock, Marco Ruas) was in attendance. And disregard the superior production values that marked the coming of the new sheriff in town. It has to be about the fighters and the fights. All the other 'stuff', which is necessary to appeal to the mainstream, means nothing to the hardcore fan. And it is doubtful if any fan left disappointed after last night's superior card.

Every sport needs a star. For the UFC, Huntington Beach, California's Tito Ortiz is that star. And like a main event fighter, the middleweight champion knows how to close the show. In 30 seconds, Ortiz grabbed number one contender Evan Tanner in a bearhug, picked him up and slammed him to the mat, knocking him unconscious in the process. Follow-up punches to the prone Tanner were just window dressing before referee Big John McCarthy was able to push Ortiz off his opponent and end the bout.

"Keep bringing the middleweights, and I'll keep stompin 'em," said the champion after a post-fight grave digging display. Ortiz has undoubtedly risen to the top of the UFC in a short time, and as his ritual T-shirt read after the bout, "If you can read this, I just stomped his ass".

Nuff said.

In the co-feature, Iowa's Jens Pulver won the UFC's first bantamweight title bout, taking a close majority decision over Japan's Kaoru Uno. "I'm just so excited, I can't believe it," said Pulver after the bout. And then, turning to his vanquished foe, Pulver said, "Uno, you are my idol. I respect you forever. If you ever want a rematch, I will give it to you." The fans at the Taj Mahal would probably not want a rematch, after booing throughout the five round match. But what the bout lacked in sustained action, it made up in strategy, as Pulver continually stalked, looking to land his power strikes, and Uno looked for openings to use his speed to lock up and submit 'Little Evil'.

In the end, Pulver's striking attacks, and his utter disregard for Uno's power and strength, proved to be the difference. See Uno vs. Pulver

The fight of the night was staged between the big boys, heavyweights Josh Barnett and Pedro Rizzo. In 9:21 of some of the best striking attacks seen in a while in the UFC, the two combatants slugged it out on even terms until a vicious right hand by the Brazilian stunned Barnett. A follow-up right by Rizzo on his defenseless opponent left Barnett KO'ed at the 4:21 mark of Round Two. "I'm sorry to the fans, I fought really bad," said Rizzo after the match. "But I brought my power." One person not disappointed with the performance was Rizzo's ecstatic cornerman, Marco Ruas. See Rizzo vs. Barnett

"To be honest, I really don't know what hit me," said Barnett, who lost for the first time in 25 mixed martial arts bouts. The Seattle resident, who is one of the few to stand and trade with Rizzo for any length of time, will definitely be heard from again. As for 'The Rock', Rizzo will get his chance at heavyweight champion Randy Couture in UFC XXXI, also at Atlantic City's Taj Mahal.

In other undercard action:

Fabiano Iha made short work of Paul Johns, submitting him with an armbar in 1:47

'The King of Rock and Rumble', Australia's Elvis Sinosic, made a huge splash in his UFC debut, submitting highly regarded Jeremy Horn with a triangle armbar at 2:59 of the first round.

Iowa's Bobby Hoffman was able to free himself from the clutches of 285 pound South African Mark Robinson long enough to land a brutal right elbow, ending the heavyweight match in 3:27. "People thought it was gonna be a close match, so I wanted to thump his ass," said Hoffman after the bout.

Preliminary bouts:

Sean Sherk defeated Tiki via verbal submission (4:47), lightweights

Phil Baroni defeated Curtis Stout via unanimous decision, middleweights

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Wandering Wiman Keeps Moving Forward

"Sometimes you run into these fighters that are so good that you can’t finish them in 15 minutes. I’ll be trying my hardest to knock him out or submit him, but I’ll be happy with a decision win too. If you can beat someone, it’s all the same.” It’s a life most can only dream of – young, in love, traveling the country and staying wherever your next whim takes you. It’s brought UFC lightweight Matt Wiman and his wife Courtney to Colorado, the latest stop on their personal magical mystery tour.

“My wife and I wanted to enjoy the mountains a little bit and see what Colorado has to offer,” said Wiman. “We were on the west coast for a while and we decided while we were young and don’t have kids, let’s travel a little bit and live in all the different places that we want to live.”

Their stay in Colorado follows a stint in San Francisco, where Wiman trained with Gilbert Melendez’ Skrap Pack, but when a broken arm sidelined him and forced him from a September bout against Efrain Escudero, he decided to pack his bags and hit the road again to maximize his down time.

“I was very happy with my training in San Francisco, but when I got hurt I was looking down the pipe of a three month recovery and I said you know what? Rather than just sitting here and spending a bunch of money sulking, let’s try something new, let’s try something fun and exciting. We were thinking about Colorado, so we said why not do it now while we’ve got some down time.”

Ironically, it was a bit of a homecoming for Wiman, who was born in Denver and lived there before moving with his family as a child. But once the Wimans were settled in and Matt healed up, it was time to find some training partners in his new hometown, which isn’t always the easiest part of a move for a professional fighter.

“It is very tough,” he said. “I want to put my family first and our lives first, and my job is my passion, but I don’t want my entire life to revolve around it because you can get burned out. Denver’s a huge area and I had heard there was good training out there, so I knew I’d find training partners out there. I’m not the biggest jerk in the world and I’m pretty easy going, so I figured I could start a few relationships out here with no problem. A couple gyms took me in, I found some good training partners, and anything that I lack, I’ve been importing some talent from a few different states, as well as some of my old training partners, and they’ve been helping me out a lot.”

Working mainly with the Easton Jiu-Jitsu team in Arvada, Wiman has had to turn away from the picturesque views and mountain hikes in order to train for this Saturday’s bout against his castmate from The Ultimate Fighter 5, Cole Miller. It’s a pivotal matchup for both men, who know that a win will elevate them from prospects to contenders. For Wiman, it may mean even more, because a victory will help him erase the memory of a year that saw him win his lone fight against Mac Danzig in controversial fashion in between bouts with injuries.

“I think I had a rough go at things,” he said. “I hurt my knee and then I hurt my arm, and it’s hard. It’s not one of those things where you can just push through it, and it does get you. I got kinda depressed when I got hurt, and you think it’s the end of the world. You say I can’t put up with another injury. And what happens is, time goes by, and you just forget about it. I’m fine, I’m alive, fighters get hurt, that’s what happens, and you get over it. But at the time, it feels like the end of the world. It feels like everything’s falling apart, your body’s falling apart. I was ready for Danzig, I was in great shape, I had a great training camp and I was very confident, and then the outcome you want you don’t get. I was so ready for that pot at the end of the rainbow, you work your hardest to get there, and then you don’t get it and you feel so unfulfilled. I was depressed about that for a little while, then you just get over it – crazy stuff happens in the fight game, let’s just put it behind us. When you win a bunch of fights and do some good things in the future, it all goes away.”

Against Danzig at UFC 115 last June, Wiman started strong, and when the bout hit the mat, he sunk in a tight guillotine choke. It was so tight that after a few seconds, referee Yves Lavigne erroneously stopped the fight, believing that Danzig was unconscious. He wasn’t, but the ruling stood and Wiman was awarded the victory. He agreed to an immediate rematch, but an injury to Danzig scrapped the UFC Fight Night bout. Escudero stepped in to face Wiman, but then it was Wiman getting bit by the injury bug when he broke his arm in training. In short, it was a mess, and one of those times when you have to wonder ‘do I really need all this?’

“Sometimes when life gets pretty hectic you think man, I could definitely settle down and slow down,” said Wiman. “But then you get there and you’re like ‘what’s next?’ I haven’t got to the point where I want to settle down yet. I want to do things and travel and have new experiences and live a life a little less predictable. But I do think I definitely will get to the point where I’m like ‘enough with the rollercoaster.’”

That point isn’t anywhere in the foreseeable future, especially since he will get an immediate boost to his career by beating Miller, who Wiman would have faced in the semifinals of TUF5 had both fighters won their quarterfinal matches on the show. It didn’t happen then, back in 2007, but it will this weekend. It’s a possibility that was always in the back of Wiman’s mind.

“It’s one of those things that you accept a long time ago and assume that everybody’s an option,” he said. “A lot of those guys (from TUF5), I like them as friends, I like them as acquaintances, and I like them as fighters. Then you get to thinking, what if I’ve got to fight ‘em? You’ve got to accept that fact.”

When approached with the fight, Wiman wasn’t too sure about it given their friendship, but after speaking with Miller, he signed on the dotted line.

“I didn’t think he’d want to fight me, so I called Cole and said ‘you really want to do it?’ He told me he didn’t really have many options of big name opponents, and that I was the biggest name that they offered, so he didn’t want to fight a guy that didn’t have anything going for him. I said ‘If you’re down, I’m in. Good luck.’”

On paper, the Wiman-Miller fight is the perfect opener for the Fight For The Troops 2 card at Fort Hood. Both fighters have a lot to gain (and lose), and both bring it from start to finish. Wiman’s excited to see how it all plays out.

“He’s a very talented, very technical fighter,” said Wiman of Miller. “He’s young and he’s got a momentum now after that big win over Ross (Pearson), so I see a great fight ahead of me. You don’t want to fight a guy that doesn’t have things going for him, you don’t want to fight a guy who’s coming off a bunch of losses, you don’t want to fight a guy who’s on a downhill slope. I think fighting Cole, you get the fight you want because you get to fight a guy with momentum and he’s got a bright future, and that’s the guy you want to beat. I’m excited about fighting him, and I think I’ll have a good style matchup and gameplan against him.”

And as far as any pressure to be exciting on fight night goes, Wiman doesn’t even concern himself with such matters.

“I definitely think my style can’t be boring, and I don’t think Cole’s style can be boring either, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is to win, whatever it takes. Sometimes you run into these fighters that are so good that you can’t finish them in 15 minutes. I’ll be trying my hardest to knock him out or submit him, but I’ll be happy with a decision win too. If you can beat someone, it’s all the same.”

That’s why the win over Danzig is just as valuable as his Fight of the Night victory over Thiago Tavares in 2008. In this game, you keep winning, you keep moving forward. That’s all Matt Wiman wants to do in 2011.

“I’m not really much of a planner because plans always can change,” he said. “I just want to keep stepping forward. Let the cards fall where they may, but I think beating Cole would be a huge step forward.”

View the original article here

Zuffa Files Suit Against Justin.TV

Las Vegas, Nevada – Zuffa, LLC (“Zuffa”), owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (“UFC®”) brand announced today that it filed a lawsuit against Justin.tv, Inc. (“Justin.tv”) for copyright and trademark infringement in United States District Court for the District of Nevada arising from Justin.tv’s repeated and ongoing failure to meaningfully address the rampant and illegal uploading of video of live Pay-Per-View UFC® events by members and users of the Justin.tv website.  

The Justin.tv website enables anyone with an internet connection to broadcast live streaming video to an unlimited audience.  Although purportedly developed to bring user-generated content to a large live audience, the Justin.tv website is routinely exploited by users to broadcast illegally uploaded content, including UFC® events.  

For example, on October 23, 2010, over 50,000 people watched live streaming feeds of the UFC 121 Pay-Per-View event.  Indeed, third-party contractors hired and paid for by Zuffa, removed more than 200 infringing live streams of UFC 121 from the Justin.tv website.  This piracy represents a significant loss of revenue to Zuffa and its mobile, online, cable and satellite distribution partners each year.

“Zuffa has attempted to work on numerous occasions with Justin.tv over nearly a two-year period to encourage it to prevent or limit its infringing activities,” Zuffa’s Las Vegas attorney, Donald J. Campbell said. “Regrettably, Justin.tv has not only turned a blind eye to the massive online piracy occurring on its website, we believe it has actually induced its users to commit copyright infringement thus leaving Zuffa no alternative but to take this fight to the courts.”

Zuffa is the largest provider of Pay-Per-View content in the world, and delivers exciting matches to fans in over 354 million households across 145 countries and territories. Zuffa encourages the development of new technology to deliver UFC® content to licensed online platforms, mobile devices, and gaming systems.  However, Zuffa does not condone the use of streaming video or other new technologies to violate intellectual property laws, and it will vigorously protect its copyrighted content against piracy in any medium.   

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DaMarques is All Smiles

"I view the UFC as my home. That’s where I wanted to get to, that’s where I’ve gotten to, and that’s where I’d like to stay. Now it’s up to me to stay here, and I plan on doing everything in my power to stay here.” DaMarques Johnson hasn’t had that conversation with his five-year old son Maxton, yet. No, not that one, but the one where he explains what it’s like to be a professional prizefighter and what it takes to have a job none of the other fathers at parent-teacher night have.

“I’m sure it’s coming,” chuckles Johnson, “but he’s always asking those tough questions that only kids can ask like ‘why’d you let him punch you in the face, dad?’ I’m sure we’ll have a talk sooner or later once a fight makes it on TV that he actually sees, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

When they do, you can bet that Johnson will give it straight to his son, not glossing over the lows with the highs. And once Maxton gets older and learns to use the internet, he can go to the blog section of his father’s website to get a look at just what has been going on in the world of the fighter he knows as dad. It’s compelling, no nonsense stuff, far beyond the 130 character tweets we’ve come to expect from pro athletes, and Johnson has no problem opening the door into his life to strangers.

“Honestly, getting all that stuff out makes more room,” said Johnson of his blogging. “You can’t fill up a cup that’s already full, right? You gotta constantly get rid of stuff, and as you’re getting rid of thoughts and feelings and stuff like that, it helps process incoming information that much more clearly. I’ve always found it kind of easy, and humorous in a way.”

And with a mix of humor, insight, and honesty, Johnson navigates everyday life. In that sense, he’s like a lot of people; Johnson would say he’s like anybody else, with the exception that he’s a professional fighter. But the one stark difference between Johnson’s day job and everybody else’s is that when he has a bad day, the world is watching – and commenting.

“I think people don’t realize how personal fighting is,” he said. “Fighting is an extremely personal endeavor, especially at our level of the game. Whether it’s a guy who kinda caught a lucky break and is in the UFC or a guy who’s been grinding away for years to be in the UFC, once you’re there, everybody feels like you owe them to be in there, and it’s kind of a weird double standard. Everybody’s perfectly fine with having the microscope on us, but then if you turn it around on any person in their regular everyday life, I’m sure they would feel a little differently.”

Last August, Johnson had one of those bad days on the job, as he saw a two fight winning streak snapped by Matt Riddle via second round TKO. Johnson, who didn’t make weight for the bout, didn’t look like the same fighter who earned KO and Submission of the Night awards for his wins against Brad Blackburn and Edgar Garcia, respectively, and Riddle took full advantage.

“It was me because I took the ass whippin’, but it wasn’t me,” said Johnson, who dropped to 16-8 with the defeat. “I got beat up and it was really just one of those things where life is going on and taking precedence over training, which kinda sucks. But that kinda stuff happens and you have to just go with the fight and see what happens. It’s sad to say, but Riddle kicked my ass because mentally I wasn’t in the right mindset to be getting in there. And everybody in the 170-pound class - whether it’s a guy making his debut, or a guy like Riddle, or myself, who’s been there for a little bit – is way too good to have an off day. And then you have an off day and everybody thinks you’re the bottom of the totem pole, and you suck, and the UFC should get rid of you. I have to keep things in perspective and say, ‘I had a bad day.’ And for me, when you have a bad day at work, it sucks because you get your ass whipped.”

It may be the most compelling part of being a fighter and the worst. All the weeks of training come down to one night and you’ve got to make sure you’re on. But if you’re not, you’re not a baseball pitcher coming back in five days to pitch again or a football quarterback getting another shot next week. For Johnson, the loss has been sitting with him through the end of the summer, all of the fall, and through the holidays. But he hasn’t stood idle since the Riddle bout. Instead, he took a week off and got right back into the gym.

“I would like to thank Riddle for whipping my ass because it made me grind away a little bit harder,” he said. “As far as learning anything, I learned not to take punches off of my eyeballs. (Laughs) But it’s fuel to the fire. Nobody likes getting beat up, nobody, and if you do get beat up, you at least want to beat the other guy up and I don’t think I got a chance to do that, which double sucks. It’s fired me up to not take a break and not dwell on it. I took a week off and I was right back at it, grinding and doing whatever I could to get in better shape and fill the holes that were so completely exposed by him. It made me a better fighter.”

This Saturday, Johnson gets to show off what he’s learned over the last five and a half months when he takes on Mike Guymon at The Fight For The Troops 2 event in Texas. It’s not your typical show, and it has even more meaning for Johnson, a veteran of the United States Army and National Guard.

“It’s a thank you,” he said. “Yes, I’m a vet, and it’s one of those things where the kids can’t go home because they have things they have to do, and it’s just a little slice of something to take their minds off ‘I miss my family’, ‘I miss my girlfriend’, ‘I miss my wife’, ‘I miss my kids’. If I made them forget about how much they were missing home for even 15 minutes, hey, I’ll take it.”

But this fight is about more than entertainment. With the influx of WEC fighters into the UFC and roster trimming a necessity of life these days, a couple consecutive losses could mean a release from the organization. Johnson, a finalist on season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, is 2-2 in UFC. Guymon is 1-2. When Johnson was asked for his thoughts on the fight for his UFC bio, the telling line was “It should a skilled and fun fight to be in, not to mention the loser gets his pink slip.”

Asked a couple weeks later about the quote, Johnson didn’t waver in that belief, but he’s not letting it cripple him with stress either.

“How much time and effort would you put into writing a story if you knew your job depended on it?” he asked. “You’d make sure your resources were correct, your grammar was right, your spelling was good, and that’s kind of how I approached this fight. It’s rubber meets the road now. I view the UFC as my home. That’s where I wanted to get to, that’s where I’ve gotten to, and that’s where I’d like to stay. Now it’s up to me to stay here, and I plan on doing everything in my power to stay here.”

And after January 22nd?

“All smiles and sunshine.”

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Toronto On-Sale Dates Released

UFC® ANNOUNCES ON-SALE DATES FOR UFC® 129: ST-PIERRE vs. SHIELDS AT ROGERS CENTRE IN TORONTO

Tickets Go on Sale on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. ET

UFC® Fight Club™ Members Get First Shot at Tickets on Thursday, Feb. 10

Toronto, Ontario, Canada – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced today that tickets for UFC® 129: ST-PIERRE vs. SHIELDS will go on sale to the public on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. ET. UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the first chance to buy tickets on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 10 a.m. ET, followed by UFC newsletter subscribers on Friday, Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. ET.

UFC® 129: ST-PIERRE vs. SHIELDS will be held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Saturday, April 30. Headlined by a UFC welterweight title bout between Montreal native and reigning champion Georges St-Pierre and the highly-touted Jake Shields, UFC 129 is the first major mixed martial arts event to ever be held in Ontario.

“The fans in Ontario have been asking for UFC events for a long time and on April 30, we have the chance to deliver,” UFC Director of Canadian Operations Tom Wright said. “We’ve secured the Rogers Centre and plan on putting together a tremendous event. With GSP vs. Shields and other great fights, fans are in for a real treat.”

With the buzz surrounding UFC 129 growing, UFC fans are encouraged to sign up for the UFC® Fight Club™ at www.ufcfightclub.com to receive first access to tickets for the event. In addition to the first chance to buy UFC tickets, UFC® Fight Club™ members receive a 10 percent year-round discount at UFCstore.com, access to exclusive Q&A sessions with top UFC stars, the chance to win backstage tours and much more.

Prices for UFC 129, as well as information on an upcoming opportunity to meet UFC stars in Toronto, will be made available on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

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Brenneman and The Importance of Patience

“The biggest thing about teaching is the importance of patience and realizing that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another person,” Charlie Brenneman doesn’t go around advertising that he’s an MMA fighter. In fact, just the opposite is true.

“I was just telling my fiancé this the other day -- I have to figure out exactly what I’m going to say when someone asks me what I do because I normally stumble over my words,” said the 29-year-old Pennsylvania native. “I mumble over ‘MMA’ and ‘fighter.’ I never really know what to say. So if I can avoid it, I avoid it.”

That kind of bashfulness is a shame because the daring welterweight, who has trained with UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar, Ricardo Almeida and the Miller brothers, excels at his craft. Brenneman, at 12-2, shares a similar record with his next opponent Amilcar Alves, who brings an 11-2 record into their Saturday night scrap at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 in Fort Hood, Tex. Yet what makes Brenneman a compelling character goes beyond his accomplishments inside of the cage. If there is a Forrest Gump or jack-of-all-trades of the UFC, he might be it. Brenneman has been on a football field and tried tackling Herschel Walker. He’s stood in a batter’s box and tried to hit a 90-plus mph fastball from former Major League Baseball pitcher John Rocker. He’s taught high schoolers Spanish, coached collegiate wrestlers, and even earned a master’s degree.

“It was tough to get through my master’s because my passion was elsewhere,” he said. “I’m consumed with fighting and training to get better. At this point I’ve taken my education as far as I can take it.”

Did any lessons learned in your teaching background carry over to MMA?

“The biggest thing about teaching is the importance of patience and realizing that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another person,” said Brenneman, 1-1 in his UFC career. “I learned that as a wrestling coach and a fighter, too. It’s not always black and white, there is a gray area.”

Brenneman holds the distinction of having competed on the very first season of Spike TV’s Pros vs. Joes – and winning. He went head-to-head with the likes of former NFL player Kevin Greene, former NBA All-Star Dominique Wilkins, Major League Baseball standout Darren Daulton and retired NFL great Walker.

“I attempted to tackle him but that did not work,” Brenneman said of Walker. “The first two times he ran against me I didn’t even touch him. Another time I tried to tackle him and he bounced off me. Yeah, he hasn’t lost a step.”
Judging by Brenneman’s busy schedule, he hasn’t either. By his estimation, he often logs 150 miles or more a day traveling to training sessions at gyms in three different states. His home base is at AMA Fight Club in Whippany, N.J. He trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu at Renzo Gracie’s school in New York City, boxing in south Jersey with Mark Henry, and sometimes trains at Ricardo Almeida’s school even further south.

“And then on top of that, I still coach wrestling at East Stroudsburg University so I make the commute over there for practice,” he said.

In the week leading up to his next fight, Brenneman was the subject of 10 or so media interviews. While some fighters view media interviews as a chore, Brenneman welcomes the questions.

“I definitely enjoy it. I l enjoy being in the spotlight as much as possible,” he said. “I like to soak it in. It gets a little tedious here and there but overall I’m a big fan of it.”

I ask “The Spaniard” his impressions of Alves, a Brazilian who holds a black belt in judo and trains under world renowned instructor Andre Pederneiras.

“I know that he’s very well-rounded … probably his striking is most dangerous,” Brenneman said. “I know people say that he’s a ground guy but he’s got really, really heavy kicks and dangerous knees and those are some attributes that I’m definitely aware of. I definitely think I’m going to win. I wouldn’t be surprised if I submit him.”

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FFTT Prelims: Yves Subs McKenzie, Gets 40th Win

Click below for prelim results from Saturday's Fight For The Troops 2 event... KILLEEN, TX, January 22 – Veteran contender Yves Edwards showed that there is plenty of gas left in his tank Saturday night at Fort Hood, as he submitted young gun Cody McKenzie in the second round, handing the Ultimate Fighter 12 alum his first pro loss in Fight For The Troops 2 prelim action.

McKenzie vs. Edwards
With the win, Edwards improves to 40-16-1; McKenzie falls to 12-1. See post-fight interview

“It’s always nice when you get someone with their favorite move," said Edwards. "He’s tough and had me on my back but I wanted to show him that I could do some damage too.”

The bout was named Fight of the Night at the post-fight press conference, and Edwards garnered Submission of the Night honors as well. End of night bonuses were $30,000 each.

McKenzie shot across the Octagon at the bell, looking for the takedown. Edwards resisted the attempt, calmly pushing his foe off. After some quick strikes, Edwards threw off another takedown try, and the pace then settled down, with Edwards calmly picking away at the Alaska native. With less than two minutes left, McKenzie tried to pull Edwards to the mat, but again, the Texan fought loose with little effort. To his credit, McKenzie kept throwing punches in order to set up a takedown attempt, but Edwards was showing his veteran experience at every turn.

Edwards went on the offensive to start round two, and his accurate shots rocked McKenzie, who merely smiled in response at each barrage. After clearing his head, McKenzie fired off a couple spinning back elbows before finally getting the takedown. Taking Edwards’ back, McKenzie fired away with punches, quickly turning the round in his favor. Edwards didn’t seem hurt by the shots, but the points were piling up in his opponent’s favor. But in an instant with under a minute left, Edwards got into the mount position, took McKenzie’s back and sunk in a rear naked choke. The end came seconds later, with referee Jon Schorle halting the bout at 4:33 of the second round.

Johnson vs. Guymon
Welterweight prospect DaMarques Johnson rebounded from his loss to Matt Riddle last August, scoring a first round verbal submission win over Mike Guymon. See post-fight interview

“I didn’t really finish the way I wanted to finish but a win is a win and I’m happy to get the finish,” said Johnson.

Guymon shot for the takedown to kick off the bout, but it was Johnson who put his foe on his back with a nice throw. Johnson went on to work Guymon over with ground strikes until getting the mount position and then taking the back of ‘The Joker.’ After a brief struggle, Johnson straightened Guymon out with a body triangle, and, trapped by the sequence, Guymon verbally tapped out at the 3:22 mark.

With the win, Johnson improves to 17-8; Guymon, who falls to 13-5-1, hinted at retirement after the bout.

"My back popped bad, I can't even sit down," he said. "I'm just so happy, it's been such a long road, it's so hard to explain. It's so many years fighting, I'm so happy to be done.I just accomplished everything I wanted to with fighting."

Brown vs. Yahya
Returning to the featherweight division for his UFC debut, Brazil’s Rani Yahya outlasted former WEC champ Mike Brown, winning a three round unanimous decision. See post-fight interview

Scores were 30-27 and 29-28 twice for Yahya, who improves to 16-6; Brown falls to 24-8.

“It was a very tough fight," said Yahya. "Mike is a winner, he’s a warrior. He’s a 35-year-old warrior that took a fight on two-week’s notice and fought at the last UFC, so he should get credit for that.”

Brown looked to be in control early on, as he chased Yahya around the Octagon while looking to land his strikes. Yahya was patient though, and once he found an opening, he was relentless in pursuing the takedown. And while Brown’s defense was solid, he was unable to break free and get back to his feet.

Yahya’s plan of attack in round two was to pull guard and catch Brown in a guillotine choke. Brown yanked his head free though, scoring a takedown of his own. After a brief stalemate, the two rose, with Brown bulling the Brazilian into the fence. Following a break, the cat and mouse game continued, with Brown - the aggressor – keeping Yahya clearly on the defensive.

Getting the bout to the mat immediately to start the third, Yahya worked hard to get his hooks in and take Brown’s back. Once he did, the Brazilian used his strikes to open up Brown’s defenses, eventually drawing a restart and a warning from referee Mario Yamasaki for punching to the back of the head. With one last chance to turn things around, Brown went for the takedown, but was unable to mount any significant offense before the final bell.

Lowe vs. Freire
Waylon Lowe made it two in a row in lightweight action, spoiling the debut of highly-touted Willamy Freire via unanimous decision. See post-fight interview

All three judges saw the bout 29-28 for Lowe, who was coming off a win over Steve Lopez at UFC 119 last September.

Lowe got off to a strong start, keeping Freire on the mat for much of the first round. And when the Brazilian did get a brief respite thanks to a restart from referee Dan Miragliotta, Lowe used his standup to set up another trip to the canvas.  Round two was more of the same, with Freire’s brief bright moment – an attempt at a triangle choke - being forcibly ended by a Lowe slam.

Freire finally got on the board in the third round, landing some hard strikes as he tossed aside Lowe’s takedown attempts. With three minutes left, Lowe got the fight to the mat, but Freire wound up in the top position, where he fired away with elbows and punches. Moments later, Lowe was able to get back to his feet, only to score another takedown. This time, Freire worked for a kimura from the bottom, but he ran out of time.

With the win, Lowe improves to 10-3; Freire falls to 17-4.

Brenneman vs. Alves
Welterweight prospect Charlie Brenneman left no doubts in his bout against Amilcar Alves, dominating on the mat from start to finish en route to a shutout three round unanimous decision win. See post-fight interview

All three judges saw the bout 30-27.

“It was a one-sided decision, but until that clock struck zero in the third round I wasn’t out of danger," said Brenneman. "He’s a crafty fighter.”

Brenneman dominated the opening five minutes, taking Alves to the canvas in the first 30 seconds and keeping him there until the bell sounded, all the while landing strikes from all angles on his downed foe. Rounds two and three were no better for Alves, whose night was made miserable by the smothering and dominant attack of “The Spaniard”.

With the win, Brenneman improves to 13-2; Alves falls to 11-3.

Campuzano vs. Cariaso
Bantamweight Chris Cariaso made his UFC debut a successful one, scoring a close three round unanimous decision win over Will Campuzano. See post-fight interview

Scores were 29-28 across the board for Cariaso, who improves to 11-2; Campuzano falls to 8-4.

The first round was a tactical one, with Campuzano using his height and reach advantage to keep Cariaso at bay for the majority of the frame, though the Californian made his presence known with quick timing shots. The second was all Campuzano, who peppered Cariaso from long range and also made him pay with shots to the head and body at close range, reddening his face. “The Kamikaze” finally saw some daylight in the final frame, tagging Campuzano with a number of shots and scoring the bout’s lone takedown, and this late surge was enough for him to pull out the victory.

“I got a bit more comfortable in the third round," said Cariaso. "I was able to pull out the win. I’m happy with my performance and I’m looking to improve on that.”

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Fight For The Troops 2 Weigh-In

Below are the official weigh-in results for Saturday night’s Fight For The Troops 2 event. Fight For The Troops 2, which is headlined by the lightweight bout between Evan Dunham and Melvin Guillard and the heavyweight battle between Matt Mitrione and Tim Hague, airs live and free on Spike TV from Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas at 9pm ET / 6pm PT. Fans who “like” the UFC on Facebook can also view two live prelim bouts beginning at 7pm ET / 4pm PT.

Main Event
Evan Dunham (156) VS Melvin Guillard (155)

Main Card
Tim Hague (256.5) VS Matt Mitrione (260)
George Roop (145) VS Mark Hominick (144.5)
Joey Beltran (230) VS Pat Barry (240)
Matt Wiman (155.5) VS Cole Miller (155.5)

Facebook Prelims
Yves Edwards (155) VS Cody McKenzie (155)
Mike Guymon (170.5) VS DaMarques Johnson (170)
Rani Yahya (145) VS Mike Brown (146)
Wilamy "Chiquerim" Freire (155) VS Waylon Lowe (156)

Prelims
Chris Cariaso (135) VS Will Campuzano (135)
Amilcar Alves (171) VS Charlie Brenneman (171)

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10 Fights Signed for UFC 126

Chad Mendes | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Unbeaten Team Alpha Male prospect Chad Mendes will toe the line against the world-ranked Michihiro Omigawa in a pivotal featherweight matchup at UFC 126 “Silva vs. Belfort” on Feb. 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Ten fights are now official for the event, which will air live on pay-per-view.

Mendes last appeared at WEC 52 in November, when he earned a unanimous decision over respected Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Javier Vazquez at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. A two-time collegiate All-American wrestler at California Polytechnic State University, the 25-year-old Hanford, Calif., native has gone the distance in five of his nine career victories. Mendes trains under former WEC featherweight king Urijah Faber.

Spawned by the Yoshida Dojo, Omigawa has not competed since he submitted Cole Escovedo with an inverted armbar at Dream 16 in September. The 35-year-old judo black belt will carry a five-fight winning streak into his first Octagon appearance in more than three years. Omigawa has enjoyed a career renaissance following a move to 145 pounds, with wins over Nova Uniao’s Marlon Sandro, current Sengoku Raiden Championship featherweight titleholder Hatsu Hioki and reigning Dream featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya.

Meanwhile, former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres will make his Octagon debut in a featured 135-pound matchup against The Pit’s Antonio Banuelos.

Torres submitted Charlie Valencia with a second-round rear-naked choke at WEC 51 in September, halting the first two-fight losing streak of his career. The 29-year-old East Chicago, Ind., native holds notable victories over Japanese stalwart Takeya Mizugaki, Dream veteran Yoshiro Maeda and former WEC bantamweight champion Chase Beebe. A Carlson Gracie protégé, Torres has delivered 32 of his 38 career wins by knockout, technical knockout or submission.

A longtime training partner of UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell, Banuelos last fought at WEC 51 four months ago, when he scored a unanimous decision over Chad George at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo. The 31-year-old Californian has posted four wins in his past five appearances, losing only to one-time WEC bantamweight title contender Scott Jorgensen. Banuelos has not been submitted in more than eight years.

Finally, Japanese dynamo Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto will enter the UFC cage for the first time in his stellar career when he locks horns with Demetrious Johnson in a preliminary bantamweight tilt.

Yamamoto has not competed since he knocked out Team Quest’s Federico Lopez at Dream 14 in May. The 2005 K-1 Hero’s middleweight grand prix champion owns 10 first-round finishes among his 18 career victories. Wins against 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships winner Rani Yahya, former Dream featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes and 2000 Olympian Kazuyuki Miyata anchor Yamamoto’s resume. In 22 professional MMA appearances, the 33-year-old has been finished only once.

A Matt Hume understudy, Johnson will carry a two-fight winning streak into the bout. The 24-year-old Madisonville, Ky., native submitted Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts representative Damacio Page with a third-round guillotine choke at WEC 52 in November. Despite his success at 135 pounds, most believe the 5-foot-3 Johnson is best suited to compete as a flyweight.

A five-round middleweight title match pairing longtime champion Anderson Silva with Vitor Belfort will headline UFC 126, along with a hotly anticipated light heavyweight showdown between former champions Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin. In addition, Jon Jones will lock horns with “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner Ryan Bader in a high-stakes duel at 205 pounds.

Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort

Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin
Jake Ellenberger vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha
Ryan Bader vs. Jon Jones
Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos
Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa
Paul Taylor vs. Gabe Ruediger
Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Demetrious Johnson
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Ricardo Romero
Mike Pierce vs. Kenny Robertson
* Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly

* Not Official

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Two Bouts Added to Facebook Prelims

Four bouts total will now air live on Facebook starting at 7 pm ET/4 pm PT
DaMarques Johnson vs. Mike Guymon
Cody McKenzie vs. Yves Edwards
Waylon Lowe vs. Willamy Freire
Mike Brown vs. Rani Yahya Fans excited to watch two live prelims for free now have double the action to look forward to. The Ultimate Fighting Championship® had added two more UFC contests to the roster of undercard bouts to be aired live.

The action starts Saturday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT by simply clicking the “Like” button on the official UFC Facebook page.

Former WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown will take on Rani Yahya, and Waylon Lowe welcomes undefeated Brazilian Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire to the Octagon. Then TUF 12's Cody McKenzie faces veteran Yves Edwards and welterweights DaMarques Johnson and Mike “The Joker” Guymon go to battle.

Fans that do not have a Facebook account are encouraged to sign up at http://www.facebook.com/.

Following these bouts, fans can tune in to Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT to watch the live broadcast of the Fight For The Troops 2 main card from Fort Hood, Texas. 

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Spike to Air UFC 126 Prelims

Spike TV will telecast 12 live “UFC Prelims” in 2011, featuring many of the best mixed martial arts fighters competing on undercard bouts prior to live UFC® Pay-Per-View events.  Spike has aired 13 “UFC Prelims,” beginning with UFC 103 in September 2009, with an average viewership of 1.5 million.

The first “UFC Prelims” in 2011 on Spike will air live on Saturday, February 5 at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas with undercard bouts from UFC® 126: SILVA VS. BELFORT. An explosive lightweight bout between Paul Kelly (12-3) vs. Donald Cerrone (13-3, 1 NC) will be featured, as well as a featherweight clashing pitting Chad Mendes (9-0) against Michihiro Omigawa (12-8-1).

Fighting out of Liverpool, England, Paul Kelly burst onto the scene in 2008 with a hard-fought decision victory over Paul Taylor at UFC 80 in a bout that received “Fight of the Night” honors.  In June 2009, Kelly moved to the lightweight division, where he has won three of his last five bouts, most recently defeating TJ O’Brien at UFC 123 in November.

WEC veteran Donald Cerrone is riding a two-fight winning streak and defeated Chris Horodecki via triangle choke at WEC: Henderson vs. Pettis in December in his last outing. Training with the renowned Jackson’s MMA team in Albuquerque, N.M., the 27-year-old is widely known for a brutal five-round war with Ben Henderson for the WEC lightweight crown in October 2009, considered by many the “Fight of the Year.”

Featherweight Chad Mendes, who trains with bantamweight superstar Urijah Faber in Sacramento, Calif., is making his UFC debut against Michihiro Omigawa.  Mendes was a two-time All-American wrestler at California Polytechnic State University and has won his first nine professional fights, including the last four in the WEC.

Omigawa, a native of Ibaraki, Japan, made his UFC debut at UFC 76 in September 2007, battling it out for three hard rounds against Matt Wiman.  After returning to Japan and dropping to featherweight in 2008, Omigawa made an instant impact as a 145-pound fighter. The 35-year-old has won eight of his last nine fights and has his sights set on a shot at the UFC featherweight title.

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