Aaron Simpson wears No. 42 on shorts to honor Pat Tillman (PHOTO)

As Cagewriter wrote previously, Aaron Simpson wore a 42 on his shorts to honor former NFL player and fallen Army Ranger Pat Tillman during Simpson's UFC on Fuel 4 decision win over Kenny Robertson. Learn more about the Pat Tillman Foundation here.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/aaron-simpson-wears-no-42-shorts-honor-pat-033046014--mma.html

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez

Quinton Jackson draws Glover Teixeira in Brazil

To call the UFC's relationship with former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson rocky is an understatement. With just one fight left on his contract, the UFC wanted to give him one last fight to remember.

What Bon Voyage gift did they give Jackson? A fight with phenom Glover Teixeira in Brazil in October at UFC 153. Teixeira, you may remember, is the fighter who blew through Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 146. His winning streak dates back to 2006, and his last six wins were by submission or decision.

Jackson, on the other hand, is 2-3 in his last five fights. His last win by stoppage was against Wanderlei Silva in 2008.

The UFC is also doing Jackson no favors by sending him to fight Teixeira in Brazil. Though Jackson spent much of his career in Japan with Pride, few non-Brazilian fighters have found success in the UFC's three cards there in the past year. Brazilians are 13-3 against foreigners across UFC 134, 142 and 147.

The two questions about this fight are will Jackson be able to stop the Teixeria hype train, and will he keep fighting after the bout is over? He has made it clear he doesn't want to stick with the UFC, but will Jackson fight elsewhere, or move on from MMA? Tell us what you think his next move should be.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/quinton-jackson-draws-glover-teixeira-brazil-164250014--mma.html

Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama 

Matthew Riddle posts submission win with pregnant wife on his mind

With family matters on his mind, Matthew Riddle earned a win at UFC 149 with an arm triangle choke of Chris Clements.

After a bruising two and a half rounds, Clements tried a spinning back fist. Riddle grabbed Clements' arm, and maneuvered him into an arm triangle while the pair was still standing. They fell to the ground, but Riddle held on. Clements tapped at 2:02 in the third round, giving Riddle the win.

After telling UFC commentator Joe Rogan he loved him, Riddle turned his focus to his wife and kids.

"I wanna say I love my wife Lisa. We have a kid on the way, and we already have twins. I love you all," Riddle said after his win.

[Related: Ronda Rousey calls out Michael Phelps for behavior in Beijing]

Riddle's devotion went beyond mentioning his wife to the crowd in Calgary and the pay-per-view audience. Instead of flying from Texas to Calgary for the fights, Dave Farra reports Riddle drove 20 hours because he wanted her at the fights with him. Pregnant women are often advised not to fly during certain parts of their pregnancies, so he made the sacrifice so she could be there to support him.

Riddle won a $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus, which should help with the baby on the way.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/matthew-riddle-posts-submission-win-pregnant-wife-mind-051150079--mma.html

Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander

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

Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard AckahÂ