ONE FC 5 Update: Palelei Out, Sylvia in Against Arlovski

Despite experiencing disappointment after an apparent Zuffa homecoming was nixed, Tim Sylvia will jump back into action as he faces Andrei Arlovski for the fourth time at ONE FC "Pride of a Nation." Sylvia will be filling in for Soa Palelei, who tweeted about a contract issue with the company. Sources reported the switch in opponents late last night.

MMAFrenzy.com

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/29718/one-fc-5-update-palelei-out-sylvia-in-against-arlovski/

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

Mauricio ?Shogun? Rua jumps out of a plane (VIDEO)

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's first fight since his epic brawl with Dan Henderson will happen at UFC on Fox 4 on Aug. 4. What's the best way to prepare for the bout with Brandon Vera? Jumping out of an airplane, of course.

At no point does he look scared. Perhaps taking Jon Jones elbows and living to tell about it is a way to remove fear from jumping out of a plane. He made the jump on July 1, so he had plenty of time to recover before his bout next week in L.A.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/mauricio-shogun-rua-jumps-plane-video-193855376--mma.html

Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida 

UFC on FOX 4 Weigh-Ins Go Off Without a Hitch

Sometimes something interesting happens at the weigh-ins for a MMA event, like maybe there's a scuffle or someone misses weight badly or, as was the case with EliteXC's "Heat" show, Gina Carano has to strip down to nothing to get the scale where it needs to be.  But the weigh-ins for UFC on FOX 4, which took place earlier today at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, went off without a hitch.  There was no bad blood, so after their staredowns, every fighter shook hands and hugged.  No one stepped onto the scale sporting excess baggage.  And alas, no Carano.  It all went smoothly.  Now everything is set for Saturday night's event on FOX. 

If watching emaciated dudes doff their duds while Joe Rogan and Dana White stand idly by holds any interest to you, a vid of the weigh-ins can be found here.  Otherwise, see you tomorrow!

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-4-weigh-ins-off-without-hitch-011722633--mma.html

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo 

MMA oversight group makes scoring change recommendations

If you're one of the many, many MMA fans who have complained about the scoring of an MMA fight, you may have some recourse soon. The Association of Boxing Commissions, the national group all state commissions belong to, have made suggestions to changes in the scoring system.

While they don't advocate moving away from the 10-point must system, where the fighter who wins the round earns 10 points, they do offer clarification to what wins a round.

1. Effective defense is removed as a criteria.

This makes sense. There are few situations in sports where defense scores points without becoming the offense first. A safety in football is the only of the big four American sports. The inherent job of defense is to prevent the opponent from scoring points. Good defense should set up a good offense in MMA.

2. Striking and grappling are now given equal weight in scoring. From the ABC's suggestions:

The old scoring system rewarded striking (as a primary consideration) more than grappling. Mixed Martial Arts is based on two skill sets - striking and grappling. The committee felt that grappling should not be a secondary factor in determining the outcome of a match. Grappling has a definitive skill set and athleticism and offensive capabilities which when used correctly can effectively end a fight. As such grappling skills should be rewarded and given equal weight to striking.

Grapplers everywhere will dance with joy if this change is passed. Jeff Curran's loss to Takeya Mizugaki and Miguel Torres' loss to Demetrious Johnson might have turned out differently with this provision in place.

3. Replace "damage" with "effective." We can assume the committee meant effectiveness, because who wants to replace a noun with an adjective? In short, the committee wanted a term that didn't make them feel so icky.

1. The legal considerations surrounding the term "Damage" as a descriptor were given considerable weight and as such the committee felt that using the word "Damage" may contribute to the potential for liability in the event of any litigation that commissions may find themselves involved in.

2. The sport of MMA is still relatively new and has not received sanctioning in various jurisdictions.  The committee felt that "Damage" as a descriptor may play a factor in helping to determine future sanctioning if the term was taken out of context with many opposed to MMA as a sport.

This would also prevent the ineffective argument from fighters at post-fight press conferences who point to cuts and bruises on their opponent as proof of winning.

The ABC votes on the committee's recommendations next week. Do you like the recommendations? Should they add any more? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/mma-oversight-group-makes-scoring-change-recommendations-204211575--mma.html

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

Shogun, BJ Penn, Joe Lauzon: The Morning News Roundup ? 8.5.12

Man, what a show last night, huh?  After a string of events that had me questioning whether I should bother paying my cable bill, UFC on FOX 4 knocks it out of the park.  The UFC's resident karate man earned himself a shot at the light-heavyweight belt, Joe Lauzon did what Joe Lauzon does, and Mike Swick returned after a lengthy layoff to rack up a win via knockout.  All your morning news pertains to info gleaned from the post-fight presser, so let's get right to it.

  • UFC president Dana White didn't have nice things to say about Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at the post-fight press conference.  Well, he didn't exactly say anything that bad, but, you know, you kind of don't want your boss talking about you like this.

 

  • Rory MacDonald is injured and out of his UFC 152 fight with B.J. Penn.  Oh noes!

 

  • For putting on yet another exciting fight and finishing opponent Jamie Varner, UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon pocketed a cool 100 grand in bonus money last night.  For all you bean counters out there, that's $50,000 for Submission of the Night and $50,000 for Fight of the Night.  That's going to make for a pretty decent barbecue at Chez Lauzon in Massachusetts.

 

  • Mike Swick took home the Knockout of the Night bonus for sending DaMarques Johnson into La-La Land.  Nice comeback, no?

 

  • Brandon Vera's got nothing to be ashamed about.  He was the heavy underdog going into his fight with Shogun, and fought his heart out.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/shogun-bj-penn-joe-lauzon-morning-news-roundup-140152712--mma.html

Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger 

Rousey, Kaufman, Carano ? The World According to Munah

In case you were wondering, female mixed martial arts is still very much alive and kicking.  The latest installment of the Invicta Fighting Championships is this Saturday night, and in August, Strikeforce returns to Showtime with a main event that will feature champ Ronda Rousey attempting to remove challenger Sarah Kaufman's arm in the most painful, non-surgical way possible.  Yep.  Wimmins.  They be fightin'.  So in the spirit of all this impending violence perpetrated by the fairer sex, Cagewriter tracked down 125-pound female fighter Munah Holland, who knocked out Strikeforce veteran Carina Damm two weeks ago at Matrix Fights (a regional show in Philadelphia) to get her perspective on things.  She is, after all, on the front lines.

Things to know about Holland: she's a product of the Tiger Schulmann MMA system, and manages one of the organization's gyms in New Jersey.  In 2004, she won the prestigious Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament, transitioned to professional fighting with Chuck Norris' ill-fated kickboxing promotion the World Combat League, and now fights in the cage, shimmying out of the clutches of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts and feeding them knuckles until they fall.   In her MMA debut, Holland brutalized Kim Couture for three rounds; more recently, she's KO'd top New England fighter Marianna Kheyfets in Bellator and put away Damm.

That's Holland.  Here's what she had to say about some of her fellow fighters:

On Strikeforce bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey - "Ronda is, I would say, this deliciously deadly, amazing person.  She has something that, when I watch her fight, is incredibly contained, and at the same time, explosive.  It's really fun to watch, and her ground game is sick.  She is definitely a force to be reckoned with, no matter her opponent in front of her.  I can't wait for the upcoming fight between her and Sarah Kaufman ? I think that's going to be a great fight."

On top Strikeforce bantamweight challenger and former champ Sarah Kaufman - "I've watched Sarah for a long time, because as a female martial artist, she was one of the girls I knew about first.  She's got really, really powerful hands ? like, lead in her hands.  She's very dangerous.  She's constantly evolving? got a lot of heart, and like Ronda, she's a force to be reckoned with.  And Sarah has some very good wrestling, so it's going to be interesting, because if Sarah can maintain her wrestling defense and use her hands and use her range, it could be a really interesting fight.  If it stays standing, Sarah can do some damage with her hands.  We haven't really seen Ronda's chin, we don't know how much damage it can take."  Her prediction for the August 18 Strikeforce title fight?  "If it stays standing, Sarah's going to have the advantage.  If it goes to the ground, my gut says Ronda."

On former Strikeforce bantamweight champ Miesha Tate - "I love Miesha.  I once said this out loud and people heard me, but if you have a bum that looks like Miesha's, you've got to plaster it everywhere.  She's beautiful, she's tough as nails.  And that fight with Ronda, that was sick."

On former Strikeforce featherweight champ Gina Carano - "Gina, I think, has done a world of good for female fighting in general.  She's chosen her own path, and gone the way she feels where her future lies.  You have to do whatever it is you have to do in this world to have a life and a good living, but I thank her for exposing female martial artists to the world, and making it important for people to watch and making it exciting for people to watch, and proving that, regardless of whether it's females or males, it's just a great sport to watch.  She proved that the numbers can be there, that the seats can be filled for female mixed martial artists just as they can for men."

On former Strikeforce featherweight champ Cris "Cyborg" Santos ? "Cyborg would scare most grown men away in the cage.  The first time I saw Cris Cyborg, I was like, 'Uh, this woman is just frightening.'  And frightening in a good way.  What a beast.  What a beast of mass proportions.  This girl? frightening strength, amazing ability coming from Chute Boxe, can really take so much.  She's just like a pitbull.  She's just going to keep on coming and keep on coming."

On female MMA pioneer Tara LaRosa - "Long before Gina or Cyborg came into the picture, you'd hear about Tara just making her way through one person after another in the circuit ? especially in New Jersey, where she's got a lot of fans.  For me, she was definitely an inspiration.  We can do it, we can do it really well and with a lot of class."

On hoping to fight in the UFC one day - "Oh yeah.  Some little girls want to grow up and wear pink slippers, but for me, the thought of being in the UFC?  I hope it gets to that point for women, I hope it gets to that point in my MMA lifetime.  We can only hope for that.  Who wouldn't want to be in that arena?"

On Dana White reconsidering his stance on not allowing women in the UFC's Octagon - "I don't know any woman who wouldn't want to see women in the UFC, and I hope Dana White considers that at some point.  Because we'll bring the crowds, we'll fill the seats, and people really enjoy watching it."

Jim Genia tweets here and wrote this book.  So what?

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/rousey-kaufman-carano-world-according-munah-164618016--mma.html

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz