This comes as a big of a shock to me for a few reasons, one being the fact that Rosholt was 1-1 in the UFC going into the fight with Kendall, and coming off an awesome submission victory over TUF alumni Chris Leben.  During the bout with Leben, color commentator Joe Rogan was talking up and down about this kid, his wrestling credentials and all that other shit, making it seem like Jake was possibly the next big thing at 185lbs.  Even going into the fight with Grove, both Goldberg and Joe were still talking the kid up.  Yeah, he did get submitted via a triangle choke, buy a guy notoriously known for his triangle submissions, but c’mon….sending him away already?

Rosholt has HUGE potential as a fighter, he’s still relatively green in the sport of MMA, but nonetheless he’s got some credentials that lots of fighters wish they were able to obtain. He’s a hardworking guy, and although scary ala Rocky Dennis, he would have been a good fighter to have in the middleweight division.  Bad call in my opinion by Dana and Joe Silva, they shouldn’t be cutting anyone right now considering the recent case of injuries/flesh-eating staph infections plaguing a shit load of UFC fighters.  Sucks for Jake, sorry that it happened, but I’m sure that he’ll be able to find a spot in Strikeforce, or any of the other smaller organizations MMA is blessed with.  Best of luck Rock…err, I mean Rosholt.

BTW, what’s the deal with the pink twitter shit?  You trying to tell us something, or are you one of those “you’re not a man unless you sport pink” type of guys?

After rumors of a potential partnership were mixed in with reports of the organization’s potential demise, officials from World Victory Road’s Sengoku event series today announced they’ll join DREAM for a joint event on New Year’s Eve.

Originally, the Japanese-based organizations planned to hold competing shows.

The Dec. 31 event includes WVR’s would-be headliner of Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida, as well as the finale of DREAM’s Super Hulk tournament, and other MMA and K-1 bouts.

The event takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

NICE! As a huge follower of the Japanese MMA scene, I can’t begin to tell you how pumped I am for this event.  The Japanese always go out with a bang on New Years Eve, last year FEG’s Dynamite!! event was amazing, and now with Sengoku on board, it can only get even more fucking awesome.  I don’t know the details on the full fight card, alls I know is that only six fights have been confirmed:

• Minowaman vs. Sokoudjou (Super-Hulk Final)
• Masato vs. Andy Souwer (K-1)
• Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida (Battle of Judoka’s, MMA rules)
• Hiroya vs. Japan Masaaki Noiri (K-1 KOSHIEN semifinal)
• Katsuki Ishida vs. Shota Shimada (K-1 KOSHIEN semifinal)
• Tsukasa Fuji vs. Ryuya Kusakabe (K-1 KOSHIEN semifinal reserve)

I can only hope for some epic freakshow fights, hopefully a bunch of lightweight battles between DREAM and Sengoku, and maybe a couple of title defenses from both organization’s champions.  Needless to say, if you’re a fan of MMA and you don’t watch this, you’re wrong!

Tito @ UFC 84...where he got dominated by Machida

MAIN CARD

• Forrest Griffin (205) vs. Tito Ortiz (204)
• Anthony Johnson (170) vs. Josh Koscheck (170)
• Phil Baroni (170) vs. Amir Sadollah (170)
• Luiz Cane (205) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (205)
• Paulo Thiago (169) vs. Jacob Volkmann (170)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• Marcus Davis (170) vs. Ben Saunders (170)
• Kendall Grove (186) vs. Jake Rosholt (185.5)

PRELIMINARY CARD (un-aired)

• Brian Foster (171) vs. Brock Larson (171)
• Fabricio Camoes (155.5) vs. Caol Uno (155.5)
• Jason Dent (155) vs. George Sotiropoulos (155)

Nah, that's not me, just some fat, obsessed gamer.

The little theme behind this blog says “MMA and other shit”, so today I’m going to post about the shit portion of Hard-BoiledMMA.  I’m one of the millions of people who like videogames, in fact, I love them.  They’re fun as fuck and they make me feel better about myself.  As a former US Marine, I can’t help but be attracted to war games, especially the Call of Duty series.  I played the shit out of Modern Warfare, as well as World at War, and now….it’s onto Modern Warfare TWO, which was recently released on the Marine Corps birthday (Yut!).  This game kicks fucking ass, everything that was wrong with World at War and the first Modern Warfare seems to be fixed, the weapons are cooler, the animations and more fluid, and the maps are much better.  I can’t recommend this game enough to someone who loves the following:

• Killing people
• Shooting guns
• Having fun
• Online

If you’ve got the $60 to spare, and are looking for a new game, get either this or Borderlands, both are worth the cash and should appeal to any gaming dork like myself.

Hopefully Piroz will put up the Koscheck/Johnson fight, as well as the main event between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin later today…enjoy.

This is easily the best fight on the card. Nogueira has the edge on the ground, and the edge in experience against quality competition. Cane has the edge on the feet, simply due to his more versatile striking game and iron chin. Nogueira has been in there with some of the best fighters in the world; Vladimir Matyushenko, Kazushi Sakuraba, Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Shogun, and plenty more, and only has 3 losses to show for it. Since his stunning knockout loss to Sokoudjou he has won all of his fights, but this will be his biggest test since that loss. Cane will look to have the breakthrough performance of his career, and this is the perfect fight to have this kind of performance.

I don’t see this fight getting finished. Both guys are extremely tough and durable. Nogueira does not have the power in his hands to hurt Cane on the feet, but he does have the skill on the ground to get a submission. Does he have the wrestling to get it there though? Nogueira is the favorite in this fight, and he should be. He’s had a great career and has fought the better competition. He won’t be as lucky as his brother was in his UFC debut though, and he will be coming up with a loss here. Cane wins this fight on the feet, dropping Nogueira several times and refusing to engage him on the ground, using great body kicks and a strong clinch, as he walks away with a unanimous decision victory.

This one should be great.

And for the record, I completely agree with this prediction.  Cane gets put on the MMAp with this victory, people need to know that the UFC has another badass Brazilian light-heavyweight making a run for the title.  WAR BANHA!!!

]]> http://hardboiledmma.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/pirozzis-ufc-106-predictions-luiz-cane-vs-lil-nog/feed/ 0 HardBoiled http://hardboiledmma.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/ufc-106-pre-fight-press-conference-notes/ http://hardboiledmma.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/ufc-106-pre-fight-press-conference-notes/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:42:04 +0000 HardBoiled http://hardboiledmma.wordpress.com/?p=201 ]]>

• Dana wasn’t at the conference, probably punching and kicking holes in his office because of the recent Karo debacle.
• Keith Kizer, director of the NSAC, mentions how much we have to thank Tito and Forrest for their contributions to MMA.
• Anthony Johnson has the most knockdowns per minute in the UFC, pretty fucking impressive.  Johnson rules, and talks about being nervous talking in front of people, and that he and Koscheck will bring it come Saturday night.
• Koscheck is happy fighting again at Mandalay Bay, he said his fight won’t go the distance, and that he expects to come out with a victory Saturday night, “plain and simple”.
• Forrest is pumped, calls out the crowd for looking dull, talks about Tito’s ass (and that people always come up to him asking him to whoop it).  Tito chimes in and says “I’ve got a nice ass”.  Pretty amusing, should be a good rematch.
• Tito’s got a nice suit on, some dark shades, and talks about Las Vegas being his home away from home, a battle of “turf” so-to-say.  Tito also mentions how he was supposed to fight Coleman (a wrestler), and that he’s in great wrestling shape.  Also said his back is good to go, and that he’s at 100%.  Tito tells Forrest that he’ll be lucky to make it two rounds with him tomorrow, Forrest just smiles and nods.
• Cain Velazquez gets called up as the 8th recipient for a Cazadores Tequila award for being a good sportsman, role model and all that other good stuff.
• Rumble gets asked how nervous he’ll be come tomorrow, fighting in the co-main event.  Rumble said that when it’s time to get down, he’ll get down, and that
• Tito gets asked what’s left for him besides the UFC light-heavyweight title, Tito responds saying that he wants to help spread MMA across the world, hit the younger market, and help make the sport grow bigger than it already it.  He said he strives to be a role model, and wants to show what MMA is really about.  Tito compares MMA and boxing to checkers and chess, but doesn’t specify which one is which ( I assume he means MMA = chess, boxing = checkers, but it’s Tito so you never know).
• Tito also gets asked if he can compete at the highest level of the sport, Tito obviously says yes and that although he hasn’t won since destroying Ken Shamrock, he went to a draw with Rashad in a fight he should have won, and that he almost submitted Machida during their fight.  He said that he’s going to take his return one fight at a time, and also mentions that the only time he was “dominated” was against Chuck……TWICE!
• Koscheck gets asked how big MMA can get, he responds saying that within the next five years, it will be up there with the NFL, NBA, and professional soccer.  He says the sport will break lots of records, and once the UFC gets a television deal, it will take the sport to the next level.   Tito jumps in and emphasizes the “martial arts” in MMA, breaking into Latin America, and furthermore into Europe.  Tito hopes to see the UFC help keep wrestling in high-school sports.
• Forrest talks about how the next crop of fighters coming into the sport will take MMA to the next level.  Anthony Johnson says that MMA will surpass all other sports, and that one day, men women and children will be screaming for the UFC.
• Nobody knows why Karo pulled out of the fight, but that Dustin Hazelett will get his full purse (FUCK, NO REPLACEMENT!!!!).
• Koscheck talks about trying to not go the distance, and that he hates leaving it to the hands of the judges.  Tito chimes in and says that the judges more or less suck, and that former fighters should be judging the sport, not boxing judges.  Tito also said that he felt that Shogun won his fight against Lyoto Machida, go figure.  Tito also calls out Cecil Peoples for being a fucking idiot judge (my words not his).
• Forrest says he’s glad he doesn’t have to be a judge, and Rumble more or less agrees with Tito that former fighters should judge.  He also adds that that’s why he goes for the NOKOUT!
• Tito says that he would have loved to have a tune-up fight, but considers his rematch with Forrest a “blessing in disguise”.
• Forrest gets asked if he is expecting Tito to have some new tricks up his sleeve, he responds, mentioning Tito’s recent training with boxing coach Freddie Roach, but also says he knows that his wrestling will be present.

That’s pretty much it, the fighters briefly square off, and then it’s done.  Sorry for the jumbled mess that this post was, I’m still new to this shit so give me the benefit of the doubt.

Props: Dana White’s Twitter by way of Dan Piroz via AIM.

Oh SNAP! Karo once again pulls out of a high-priority fight, this time giving a few days notice though instead of a few minutes prior to the weigh-ins.  I obviously don’t know the circumstances surrounding his decision to cancel, but hopefully it’s a good one (i.e. death in the family), and not a case of having sand in his vagina like he did last time when he was supposed to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88.  Needless to say, I think Dana’s got a lot of justification in reacting the way he is, and if he’s true to his words and is giving Karo the boot from the UFC, it looks like Strikeforce might have a new welterweight to add to their division.

I feel bad for his opponent though, badass submission ace Dustin “I’m not Jon Fitch” Hazelett, I don’t know if the UFC can find a replacement in time, I mean…if Dana called and asked me to fill in, I’d do it of course for the sake of the sport.  But finding a serious fighter with just a few days notice, who the hell knows! I really wanted to see this fight too, because Hazelett’s skills are a sight to behold, and seeing Karo get owned is always a plus.

Damn you Karo, and I though the Armenian MMA fighters were going to have a strong week of MMA, considering your boys Karen and Manny won their WEC fights last night.

WEC 44 is in the record books, and it definitely aimed to please the fans.  The main event, as you can tell if you’ve followed the sport for more than a month, was between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo.  Definitely a #1 vs. #2 match-up prior to the event, and it was a great fight! After the jump you’ll find the quick results, as well as my awesome post-event thoughts that are naturally better than every other legit MMA news site/blog out on the interweb….no seriously, my thoughts rule.

Jose Aldo def. Mike Brown via TKO (strikes) – Round, 1:20 (to become new WEC featherweight champion)

Manny Gamburyan def. Leonard Garcia by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Karen Darabedyan def. Rob McCullough via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)

Shane Roller def. Danny Castillo via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:32

Kamal Shalorus def. Will Kerr via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:26

L.C. Davis def. Diego Nunes via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

Cub Swanson def. John Franchi via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:50

Antonio Banuelos def. Kenji Osawa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Ricardo Lamas def. James Krause via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Frank Gomez def. Seth Dikun via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

This fight can really only go down a few ways. Either Baroni is going to knock Amir out early, or Amir is going to survive “First Round Phil” and get a late submission or a decision. Baroni will be hell early on, and Amir couldn’t survive hell in the early going against Johny Hendricks. I’m among the believers that Baroni’s power isn’t as good as it used to be. Any man who wants to be considered a power puncher should be able to finish Olaf Alonso quickly, and Baroni needed three rounds to win a decision against Alonso. Phil will definitely want to make a point in this fight, and he will try to do that at all costs. The man always looks for the highlight reel finish early, and this fight won’t be any different.

But this fight won’t be ending in early. Amir is much smarter than Phil Baroni. What am I basing that on? Watch any interview with Phil Baroni and compare it to any interview with Amir and tell me who you think was more likely to eat some lead based paint as a child. Unless you’re from the same group that I just mentioned, you would most likely say Baroni. Amir knows what to look out for early in the fight, and he will play it smart and clinch any time Phil gets close. He’ll look to pull off some sort of hip toss or trip and get it to the ground, but that won’t happen until Phil is completely gassed, which should be around the 3:15 mark of the 2nd round.

At that point expect Amir to start picking Phil apart on the feet, as Phil just keeps trying to throw that miracle haymaker shot. Rocked and tired, Baroni will shoot in for a double leg, and put Amir on his back. He’ll do everything he can to try and catch his second wind, but Amir will lock on an armbar, forcing the tapout near the end of the 2nd round.

Baroni will be gone from the UFC at this point. No one wants to see a fighter with a record of 13-12. As exciting as Baroni is, the UFC is all about a “what have you done for me lately” kind of thing, and 13-12 just doesn’t cut it. Amir should get back on track with a win here, but this is why these guys fight the fights instead of having guys like me break it down and make predictions, anything can happen!

Either way, this should be a good scrap.

It could be one for the ages … literally.

Former UFC heavyweight champions and hall of famers, Randy Couture and Mark Coleman, are penciled in to collide in a 205-pound showdown at UFC 109 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Feb. 6, according to Sherdog.com.

The report indicates that bout agreements have been distributed to both fighters; however, nothing is official at this time.

Couture, 46, most recently earned a unanimous decision over Brandon Vera in the UFC 105 main event just this past weekend. It wasn’t a thrilling or performance from “The Natural,” but it was good enough to earn him the nod from all three judges sitting ringside who scored the fight.

It marked Couture’s first fight in the 205-pound division since his short-lived retirement back in 2006.

Coleman’s also coming off a pretty solid win at 205, decisioning Ultimate Fighter runner-up Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 last July.  It was considered a pretty big upset, considering how fucking shitty Mark looked when he made his return to the octagon against Shogun Rua at UFC 93 (he lost via TKO in the third).  As the blurb from MMAMania said, Couture recently beat Vera at UFC 105, and as much as that fight fucking sucked, it was a pretty clear win for the multiple UFC champion.

Regardless of their lackluster performances, I’m stoked to see this fight happen.  Not too often will fans get to see two timeless veterans competing against one another (unless you caught the abortion that was YAMMA Pit Fighting), especially in an organization like the UFC.  I personally think that this fight will kick ass for a few reasons:

• Neither fighter needs to really worry about fighting a young, up and comer, who is looking to make a name for himself by wrecking a veteran.
• Both are great wrestlers, which means we might see a solid stand-up battle.
• This is a SUPERFIGHT, and both fighters should be equally motivated to go out and perform at their absolute best.

This also means that Coleman, who currently trains at Randy’s gym, will have to see training elsewhere for this fight.  My hope is that he reunites with his former Hammer House fighters, because who doesn’t love Wes Sims, the NYBA, and Kevin Randleplex?  I’m sure Couture will be the heavy favorite, but I’ll be pulling for Coleman, hard to not love the dude who wrecked a prime Igor Vovchancyn! This fight fucking rules!