Whoops! Ian McCall/Demetrious Johnson bout should have been a draw

In the first ever UFC 125-lb. match, an error by the athletic commission in Australia screwed up the result. Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson's bout should have been scored as a draw, and their fight should have gone to a fourth, sudden-death round.

After the fight, MMA Junkie's John Morgan reported that the score announced was not the score written on the judges cards he received. During the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White reported that the fight was actually scored as a majority draw. By the rules of the flyweight tournament, it should have gone to a fourth and decisive round, but the error was discovered too late.

[Also: Ronda Rousey can break out in Strikeforce title bout vs. Miesha Tate | Rousey photos]

"Controversy has stuck to us like glue. Human error happens. Johnson-McCall was a draw. Fight was supposed to go to a fourth round. The commission has taken responsibility," White said.

The two will rematch to decide who will take on Joseph Benavidez, the other flyweight tournament winner at UFC on FX 2 on Friday night. For McCall, it's another chance to give the fans a show.

"We get to fight again. I feel vindicated," McCall said.

Johnson was looking forward to fight Benavidez for the promotion's first flyweight title, but now the process will take longer.

"I thought I had the victory, and it sucks because it prolongs stuff," Johnson said.

One consolation for Johnson and McCall is that they won the $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, and they both received their win bonuses. They will now have to schedule another fight to see when they can get a step closer to the championship belt.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/whoops-ian-mccall-demetrious-johnson-bout-draw-052007070.html

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz

Anderson Silva and Dana White Debate Teammates Fighting

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was interviewed recently by Brazilian network SportTV. The network asked Silva what he thought of UFC president Dana White's stance on teammates and friends needing to fight. Silva made it clear that he disagreed with his Boss's stance, believing it is just something that White cannot understand as a non-fighter.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27894/anderson-silva-and-dana-white-debate-teammates-fighting/

Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade 

The more you climb, the better you?ll climb

I have had a few days away from climbing - in fact, my last session was 3 weekends ago at Froggatt - and so I got back to the gym this week. My local gym has an auto-belay setup so I was able to do some indoor routes without company. And I struggled! Struggled to get [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rock-climbing-blog/~3/m7EzE0aQ8xw/philsheard

Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade 

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

Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe

TUF and Bellator 61: Friday night fights talkback thread

Now that fighters have made it into "The Ultimate Fighter" house, they can start working towards their goal of winning TUF. Their journey starts tonight as the fights will be shown live on FX.

Bellator continues their season by starting the middleweight tournament on MTV2. Standouts to watch include UFC veteran Maiquel Falcao and the arm collector, Giva Santana.

Also tonight, the semifinals of the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament will air on ESPNU and ESPN3. With all of that going on, Cagereaders will have plenty to talk about. Use this post, Facebook or Twitter to discuss everything going on in a "slow" weekend for MMA.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/tuf-bellator-61-friday-night-fights-talkback-thread-010613530.html

Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger 

Reader rants: Cagereaders speak up on ?Rampage,? ranking weight classes and fighter excuses

Welcome to another edition of Reader Rants, where Cagereaders get their say. Readers weighed in on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, ranking the weight classes, and a little civil discourse. If you want to be included in a future Reader Rants, like Cagewriter on Facebook and share your opinion on our Facebook page.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's problems with the UFC and desire to leave the promotion brought out strong opinions. Two readers think the UFC should move on from him.

Letting him go would be best for both. When you get past being a Rampage fan and reality sets in, he just hasn't looked good in a while. He's using the excuse he's been injured, but really ... come on. None of these guys are 100% going into fights. He claims the UFC doesn't promote him right ... really? He's complaining they are only giving him fights with guys that want to hump his leg, but we all know that isn't true. If it really was a problem and he's such a great fighter he would finish them before they had the chance to hump his legs. -- Rocky Williams

The man abandoned his wrestling which is what made him great. He just needs to go ahead and make A-Team sequels and call it a day. -- Rayburn Wesley Mitchum

Cagewriter's ranking of weight classes was viewed as almost correct.

Your ranking of the weight classes in terms of strength was off only in one aspect. welterweights should definitely be higher than middleweights think about all the contenders. Yes, middleweight has Silva, Munoz, Sonnen but welterweight has GSP, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, Jake Ellenberger, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Johny Hendricks, Josh Koscheck and many more who I believe are easily top ten fighters if they choose to move up a division. -- Daniel Jeong

One reader wants to see fighters stop making excuses when they lose.

Your only excuse for losing a FAIR fight should be that you gave it all you had and it wasn't enough. Not that you stubbed your toe or you fought with an injury. There is no "You're bigger than me, controlled the octagon better and had my back against the cage", BJ. That's the name of the game. Your opponent was better than you that night. End of story. -- Amanda Allen

And another wants to see some civility in the comment section.

My one rant is the constant whining and crying from the internet commenters. Bash every article posted on Cagewriter and the other sites. They bash the UFC no matter what they do or don't do. Just non-stop foolishness. Very uninformed comments based on skewed views on various topics. -- Rocky Moore

Do you want to make your opinion known? Follow Cagewriter on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/reader-rants-cagereaders-speak-rampage-ranking-weight-classes-144205725.html

Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana 

Bouldering Burbage photos

Finally a little sun! Yesterday I went climbing in Burbage (specifically Burbage south boulders) in the Peak District near Sheffield. I’m really glad I’ve got these boulders within 15 minutes of my home. Although in a climbing wall / gym I’m happy on 6a/6b the techniques on grit boulders are a different world: lots of smearing [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rock-climbing-blog/~3/cezufJsw-4w/philsheard

Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe