Luke Rockhold mauls Keith Jardine then calls out UFC middleweights

During the lead up to his first title defense, Luke Rockhold oozed confidence all week. He had good reason. He was facing what turned out to be an overmatched fighter in Keith Jardine.

Rockhold took care of business easily, waiting out the wild style of Jardine to land a huge right and followed it up with 17 more unanswered shots to force the referee to stop the fight at 4:26 of the first round.

The champ was happy to win, but had little interest in calling out Strikeforce's No. 1 contender Tim Kennedy. Minutes after the victory, Showtime's Mauro Ranallo asked about Rockhold defending his title against the Strikeforce roster.

"I like fighting and I like getting paid," Rockhold said then hesitated. "Right now, all the best guys in the world at middleweight are in the UFC. Those are the guys I want. I want to fight the best in the world. I think they should bring over some top contenders. I believe I am one of top guys and I want to take on the best."

That's probably not what Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker wants to hear. Strikeforce, with the backing of its new owner Zuffa, recently re-signed with Showtime. The last thing it wants is to be viewed as a minor league with all of its champions looking to jump to the UFC.

Jardine (17-10-2) getting a title fight and then performing the way he did tonight doesn't help the cause. Jardine, 36, is now 3-7-1 since 2008.

Rockhold (9-1) has every reason to be confident about his chances against UFC middleweights. He trains at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Ca., one of the best gyms in the world. AKA houses a load of UFC fighters, including Cain Velasquez, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Mike Swick and Gray Maynard.

Rockhold diagnosed Jardine's style pretty easily.

"It played out like I thought it would. I thought I could time him with that right hook coming forward. I thought he was a little slow with that overhand right," Rockhold said. "I started connecting and I started getting confident."

That right hook is exactly what he landed to begin the finishing scenario.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/luke-rockhold-mauls-keith-jardine-then-calls-ufc-051719689.html

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez

Strikeforce gallery from Rockhold?s win, Lawler?s KO and more

Check out images from Strikeforce's first event of the year by Tracy Lee, with three knockouts at the end of the card, Tarec Saffiedine's exciting decision over up-and-comer Tyler Stinson, and all of the undercard action.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/strikeforce-gallery-rockhold-win-lawler-ko-more-185011290.html

Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi 

Anthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort Is On for UFC 142 Co-Main Event

Anthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort is officially on for tonight's UFC 142 co-main event after Johnson weighed in at 204.2 pounds earlier today, just under the 205 pound requirement made after he missed the middleweight limit by 11 pounds on Friday.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27209/anthony-johnson-vs-vitor-belfort-is-on-for-ufc-142-co-main-event/

Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama 

UFC 142 Live Blog: Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes Updates

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Jose Aldo faces Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Brazil.This is the UFC 142 live blog for Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes, the main event of tonight's UFC pay-per-view from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Aldo (20-1) aims to make his third successful UFC featherweight title defense, having already defeated Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian last year via decisions. Mendes (11-0) is a wrestler out of Urijah Faber's team Alpha Male who holds UFC wins over Michihiro Omigawa and Rani Yahya.

The live blog is below.




Mendes is all smiles as he makes his way to the cage to "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses. A focused Aldo walks out to what has become his entrance song "Run This Town" by Jay-Z.

Mario Yamasaki will referee this UFC featherweight title fight.

Round 1: Mendes initiates with several inside leg kicks. Mendes lands a leg kick that throws Aldo off. Aldo returns fire with a powerful leg kick. Mendes attempts his first takedown at 3:51 and Aldo stuffs it. Aldo walks forward and lands a jab. Aldo scores on a crushing leg kick. Mendes shoots again and Aldo stops it. Mendes has always overwhelmed his opponents with takedowns but so far his attempts have not been close whatsoever. Mendes misses on his third takedown attempt. Mendes catches Aldo coming in and controls Aldo's back. Mendes tries to dump Aldo, and would have gotten the take down, but Aldo grabs the fence. Mendes tries again and Aldo is able to stay on his feet. Aldo spins out and follows with a knee that drops Mendes. Aldo adds three more right punches and knocks out Mendes. Aldo then runs into the crowd and it's quite the scene. A fitting scene to cap off a wild UFC in Brazil.

Aldo wins via KO - Round 1, 4:59

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2012/01/14/ufc-142-live-blog-jose-aldo-vs-chad-mendes-updates/

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo 

Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver Not Slated for UFC on Fuel TV 2

Featherweight Ross Pearson hasn't been offered a rematch with Dennis Siver for UFC on Fuel TV 2, but The Ultimate Fighter 9 winner still hopes to fight at the April 14 event in Stockhold, Sweden. "To put it straight iv not signed a fight with Siver, I know nothing about it, but I would love to fight in Sweden whoever it will be!!," Pearson wrote on Twitter.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/27188/ross-pearson-vs-dennis-siver-not-slated-for-ufc-on-fuel-tv-2/

Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen 

Dana White says Brock Lesnar?s run was a positive for MMA

With its two biggest pay-per-view draws (Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre) disappearing in the last month, Dana White could be in a sour mood. But he's not, especially over the sudden retirement of Lesnar last week at UFC 141.

"The way I look at the Brock Lesnar thing is we were lucky to have him around for as long as we did. Look at what he did. It was fun to have him in the UFC while we did. He made the heavyweight division, some exciting fights," White said on "The MMA Insiders" on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas (10:09 mark).

White often tells the story of laughing at Lesnar when he first asked to fight in the UFC. He eventually went on to win the UFC heavyweight title and defend it successfully against Shane Carwin.

"I give him all the credit in the world in what he was able to accomplish, inside the Octagon, in this sport and as a draw for the UFC," White said.

The UFC boss is confident he has plenty of options to fill the void left by Lesnar's retirement and the ACL injury to GSP.

"I think we have a lot of guys. It's not like boxing where everything depends on one guy or two guys. The great thing about us is we got 10 or 15 guys," White said.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-says-brock-lesnar-run-positive-mma-220731104.html

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez