Bellator fighter off Friday?s card, wanted by police

Eric Oria was supposed to show up at Bellator's weigh-ins on Thursday to officially weigh in for his first professional fight in Hammond, Ind. Instead, the Indiana State Police showed, looking to take Oria into custody.

The Northwest Indiana Times reported Oria missed Thursday's weigh-ins. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said Oria scratched from the card before weigh-ins because of "physical problems."

Oria had an outstanding warrant on a charge of criminal recklessness. He was scheduled to fight Lance Surma on the show's undercard. After two amateur fights in Hammond, he was set to make his pro debut in the same town as his other fights.

In an interview with the Times earlier in the week, he said the fight was "on the highlights of his life." According to MMA Recap, the fight was pulled because it was too late to find a replacement for Oria.

Oria's no-show was not the only shake-up to Friday's card. The featherweight tournament was shook up as Genair da Silva did not make weight and was replaced by Kenny Foster. Foster will now take on "PoPo" Bezerra.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/bellator-fighter-off-friday-card-wanted-police-045312605.html

John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves 

Five NCAA wrestling All-Americans we hope try MMA

MMA's ties with NCAA wrestling were evident on Saturday, as Randy Couture, Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley presented awards and several other fighters were in the stands cheering on the wrestlers. The mats were filled with future fighters. Not all have professed an interest in making the jump to MMA, but here are the ones I hope will make the jump at some point, whether it's as soon as they graduate or after making a run towards Olympic gold.

Kyle Dake, Cornell -- Because even though he already has three national titles under his belt, Dake is still growing and getting better. He has jumped a weight class every year, and dominated every new weight. Rumor has it that Dake is headed to medical school, so cagefighting probably isn't in his future. It's still fun to dream, right?

David Taylor, Penn State -- The sophomore pinned his way to the finals, then finished off his Most Outstanding Wrestler award-winning performance with a technical fall. His smooth takedowns had opponents on the ground before they knew what happened.

Tony Ramos, Iowa -- Another sophomore, Ramos won his third-place match by coming from out of nowhere to pin Minnesota's Chris Dardanes. At 133 lbs, his size and speed could find a home a fly or bantamweight.

Jordan Oliver, Oklahoma State -- He may have lost his final on a controversial call, but that doesn't take away the junior's accomplishments in the tournament. He pinned his way to the final with a nasty takedown that could wreak havoc in the cage.

Christopher Honeycutt, Edinboro -- The runner-up at 197 lbs. has already indicated his plans to go into MMA, and opponents will have a hard time dealing with his strength and size. He told reporters that he is fascinated by the challenge of mastering so many disciplines of MMA, and won't be the first Fighting Scot to try fighting. Josh Koscheck won a national championship for Edinboro.

Did I miss anybody? Disagree with these choices? Speak your mind in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/five-ncaa-wrestling-americans-hope-try-mma-235609717.html

Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

Matchmaker, matchmaker: Clay Guida and Rich Franklin get fights and a Bellator heavyweight final

The yentes at Bellator and the UFC spent their weekend putting together fights for your viewing pleasure. Here's a rundown of the latest:

-- Clay Guida and Gray Maynard will headline a UFC on FX event set for June 22. As the main event, the bout will be scheduled for five rounds. Guida's last fight was a loss to Benson Henderson in November, while Maynard lost a rematch with Frankie Edgar in October.

-- UFC 148 in July picked up a ton of fights. The Las Vegas card will now feature Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le, Renan Barao and his 31-fight winning streak against Jeff Hoaglund, and Michael Bisping vs. Tim Boetsch.

-- The Bellator heavyweight final between Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos will go down on Friday. It's a rematch of their November bout that ended in a no contest after Santos kicked Pringle in the groin. The winner will win a shot at Bellator heavyweight champ Cole Konrad and $100,000.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/matchmaker-matchmaker-clay-guida-rich-franklin-fights-bellator-205341665.html

Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen 

Bellator 61 Weigh-In Results: Middleweight Tournament Set

Bellator 61 takes place tomorrow night live from Bossier City, LA. Despite the main event being delayed, the card is still loaded with talent as the Season 6 middleweight tournament kicks off. Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy for full coverage of tomorrow night's MTV2 (EPIX for HD) aired card.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27915/bellator-61-weigh-in-results-falcao-misses-weight-on-first-attempt/

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz

Pat Curran gets the belt and four new featherweight challengers at Bellator

HAMMOND, Ind. -- Bellator's season six started with a new champ, a terrible stoppage, and four featherweights getting closer to challenging for the belt.

Joe Warren started with a nasty takedown, and from the start, his wrestling controlled most of the bout. Curran's one big moment in the first round came when he knocked Warren down with a head kick, and followed it up with several strikes on the ground, but Warren survived. When Curran tried a flying knee, Warren used it for a takedown. Warren had more takedowns and control in the first round. Action slowed in the second round, as Warren was able to get takedowns, but not hold Curran down.

After Curran's corner told him he was down two rounds, he came out in the third round with full intent to end the fight. Curran's bevy of strikes put Warren against the fence. The fence was the only thing holding Warren up as he withstood several shots from Curran. The fight went on much longer than it needed to, and was finally stopped at 1:25 in the third round.

Warren went to the hospital after the bout. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said he was complaining of nausea and also had a hand injury. Rebney also said he was surprised the stoppage wasn't sooner.

"Watching it live and again on tape, yeah, it could have been stopped earlier," Rebney said.

Curran agreed.

"I knew I had him hurt. I could see in it in his eyes. They could have stopped it a little sooner."

Warren's last fight was a quick knockout, which caused Curran to think Warren couldn't survive many strikes. Though Curran won, he was impressed with Warren's chin.

"I was impressed with his chin and his heart. I thought he was going to have a glass jaw after that."

In earlier action in the featherweight tournament, Daniel Straus and Jeremy Spoon had a back and forth battle that went the full three rounds. Straus showed good takedown defense on his way to a 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 decision win.

Hometown fighter Mike Corey stole the first round with a strong last thirty seconds, taking down Ronnie Mann and throwing several punches. Mann was saved by the bell. That turned the momentum in Corey's favor for the rest of the fight, as he used ground and pound to brutalize Mann on the way to a three-round decision win, 29-28 on all three judges' cards. Corey had taken the fight on short notice after Wagnney Fabiano was injured.

Marlon Sandro moved on n the featherweight tournament by landing punch combos and knees, then choking out Roberto Vargas at 3:35 in the first round. Afterwards, he celebrated by donning the centurion helmet and shield shown in Bellator's logo.

Alexandre "PoPo" Bezerra punched his ticket to the featherweight semifinals by making choking out Kenny Foster in the first round. After battering Foster for much of the round, Bezerra applied a rear naked choke with less than 10 seconds left in the round. Foster tapped as soon as it was applied, giving Bezerra the win at 4:57.

After the fights, Rebney announced the semifinals will pit Sandro vs. Bezerra and Straus vs. Corey.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/pat-curran-gets-belt-four-featherweight-challengers-bellator-141947060.html

Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen 

The latest from ?Rampage:? good-bye UFC, hello rap career

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson took to Twitter and HDNet's "Inside MMA" to make his case for the UFC to let him go so he can fight elsewhere, or not fight at all. Last week, Jackson called the UFC  "U fight cheap." Now he says it's not about the money. It's all about the love.

First, he spoke up on Twitter. "I'm not complaining about money, cause I'm about 2 make a lot less money now,but at least the people I fight 4 will appreciate what I do 4 mma."

See? He just wants someone to say thank you. He later added in the HDNet interview:

"The UFC talks about being in a billion homes. They're making all this money. Yet I'm making less money than I used to make with the UFC. The UFC is getting bigger, which means I'm getting bigger, but I'm making less money. Why?"

So it might be a little bit about money. He also is not happy with matchmaking, and wanted to throw some violence UFC matchmaker Joe Silva's way.

"I think (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva needs to be slapped in the face," he said. "I'm sorry, (but) you've got a fighter like me who likes to go out there and fight fights, so why do you keep giving me wrestlers who are going to take me down and hump me?"

Four of Jackson's last five opponents wrestled collegiately. He lost three of those fights.

But not all is bad in Jackson's world. He tweeted that he is going to put out some of his own music soon. Cage Potato found footage of him singing rapping in a Japanese nightclub. It's only 20 seconds long, but it does manage to have NSFW language.

It's no "SUPA FIGHT LEEEEEG." Perhaps fighting is the better career path for Jackson.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/latest-rampage-good-bye-ufc-hello-rap-career-125413285.html

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio 

Bellator fighter off Friday?s card, wanted by police

Eric Oria was supposed to show up at Bellator's weigh-ins on Thursday to officially weigh in for his first professional fight in Hammond, Ind. Instead, the Indiana State Police showed, looking to take Oria into custody.

The Northwest Indiana Times reported Oria missed Thursday's weigh-ins. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said Oria scratched from the card before weigh-ins because of "physical problems."

Oria had an outstanding warrant on a charge of criminal recklessness. He was scheduled to fight Lance Surma on the show's undercard. After two amateur fights in Hammond, he was set to make his pro debut in the same town as his other fights.

In an interview with the Times earlier in the week, he said the fight was "on the highlights of his life." According to MMA Recap, the fight was pulled because it was too late to find a replacement for Oria.

Oria's no-show was not the only shake-up to Friday's card. The featherweight tournament was shook up as Genair da Silva did not make weight and was replaced by Kenny Foster. Foster will now take on "PoPo" Bezerra.

Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
? Ranking the MMA weight classes
? Peyton Manning leaves huge tip ? and waiter gets fired
? Shine: Three-year-old forgotten at Chuck E. Cheese's

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/bellator-fighter-off-friday-card-wanted-police-045312605.html

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo 

Matchmaker, matchmaker: May is for heavyweights

The latest in fight bookings, starring tons of heavyweights fighting in May:

-- If Roy Nelson's Facebook followers get him to drop to light heavyweight, it will have to happen after UFC 146. He will face former Strikeforce heavyweight Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva there on May 26.

-- Also at UFC 146, Cain Velasquez will take on Frank Mir in a title-eliminator bout. This is Velasquez's first fight since losing the heavyweight belt to Junior dos Santos. Mir won his last three bouts, including a gruesome submission of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December.

-- During Saturday's fights, Strikeforce announced the final of the drawn-out heavyweight grand prix. With a healed hand, Daniel Cormier will take on Josh Barnett on May 19. Barnett received a conditional license from California on Monday, and the fight is expected to take place in San Jose.

-- In non-heavyweight action, Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler will take on UFC, Sengoku and Pride veteran Akihiro Gono at Bellator 67 on May 4 outside Toronto.

Who will win these bouts? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/matchmaker-matchmaker-may-heavyweights-145913461.html

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José AldoÂ