Healy starts off Strikeforce main card with submission

CINCINNATI -- Pat Healy came from behind for a submission win over Maximo Blanco at Strikeforce on Saturday night.

Blanco quickly sent Healy to the canvas with a takedown. Healy was able to get back to his feet, but Blanco took over from there, knocking Healy around until with knees and punches until Healy was forced to shoot in for a takedown. It didn't work, as Blanco took top position. Healy grabbed Blanco's leg, which forced an odd position where he put his hands on the ground, and kicked back at Healy's head. Since Healy was a downed opponent, the move was illegal. A point was deducted, and Healy was given time to recover.

When the fight restarted, Blanco started with a quick flurry before Healy took over with a takedown and short strikes.

In  the second, Blanco's striking was worlds ahead of a much slower Healy's. He landed several strikes unanswered, but Healy was able to control the bout at times with wrestling. At one point, he was close to choking Blanco out, until he was able to maneuver out. Late in the round, Healy rolled into the same rear naked choke. This time, he held on for long enough for Blanco to tap at 4:24 in the second round.

This is Healy's third win in a row. His last two were decision wins, so this sort of come from behind victory was a nice change of pace. After a long career with Sengoku, this was Blanco's Strikeforce debut. His record falls to 8-3-1, while Healy's moves to 26-16.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Healy-starts-off-Strikeforce-main-card-with-subm?urn=mma-wp6783

Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi 

?King Mo? flashes the power with KO finish of Gracie at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal is back. A wrestler by trade, the flamboyant fighter returned from a serious knee injury to drop Roger Gracie late in the first round. After eating a big right behind the ear, Gracie hit the floor. Gracie's body was locked up on the ground before he took two more grazing shots as the fight was finished at the 4:37 mark of the first round.

Lawal (8-1) had been away from the cage for nearly 13 months after suffering a TKO loss at the hands of Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante in August of 2010. After that fight, Lawal admitted he'd fought on a badly injured knee. To no one's surprise tonight, he told Showtime's Mauro Ranallo he'd like a rematch against Feijao. Cavalcante won earlier in the night with a big knockout of Yoel Romero Palacio.

King Mo passed a big test tonight against another MMA fighter from the famed Gracie family. Gracie's jiu-jitsu is very dangerous and Lawal had the task of finding a way to get inside against the 6-foot-5 Brazilian. Lawal whiffed on most of his shots until the fighters came together trying attempt jabs.

Gracie (4-1) got the worst of a mild headbutt. With the distance closed, Lawal jumped into a big overhand right. It landed behind Gracie's left arm and he went down in a heap.

"The fight felt good," Lawal said. "I underestimated him cause. I didn't respect him. I had my hands down. He was catching me with a few shots. He caught with a couple of good knees, but man, I'm a fighter. I came here to fight."

The 33-year-old Lawal, a former elite wrestler on the world wrestling scene, has quickly picked up on the striking game. He creditied a big jump forwarded to his recent work at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Ca. AKA is the home of UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez along with Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Jon Fitch and dozens more elite fighters.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/-King-Mo-flashes-the-power-with-KO-finish-of-Gr?urn=mma-wp6790

José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez

With Cormier injured, Barnett suggests alternative for Grand Prix finals

Daniel Cormier scored the biggest win of his MMA career on Saturday night, but it came with a price. In his knockout win over Antonio Silva, Cormier broke his hand. Via Twitter, he said that he will be for six weeks with the injury.

Josh Barnett beat Sergei Kharitonov on Saturday for the chance to fight Cormier for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix title. When he heard about Cormier's injury, Barnett tweeted a fair alternative to fighting.

With Cormier injured, Barnett suggests alternative for Grand Prix finals

YES. Who wouldn't want to see Cormier and Barnett involved in a battle that resembled "West Side Story," where they would both yell, "MAMBO? MAMBO! GO!"

In reality, six weeks off for Cormier is not the worst thing. That means Cormier should be able to go sometime in November. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said that the final will take place sometime in the first quarter of 2012, so Cormier's injury shouldn't delay the fight. It also won't necessitate the really terrible idea that Coker floated: a replacement for Cormier in the finals.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/With-Cormier-injured-Barnett-suggests-alternati?urn=mma-wp6873

Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah 

Strikeforce?s Three Stars: Cormier, Lawal and Mein

Strikeforce?s Three Stars: Cormier, Lawal and Mein

Who stood out from the thrilling card delivered by Strikeforce on Saturday night in Cincinnati? Read Cagewriter's picks, then tell us your stars in the comments or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Daniel Cormier: When Strikeforce announced the heavyweight Grand Prix, did you ever expect that one of the finalists would be Cormier? The two-time Olympian was given a golden opportunity when Alistair Overeem left the tournament. Cormier seized the moment, knocking out the much larger Antonio Silva in the first round. Unfortunately, he injured his hand in the process. The timing of his finals bout against Josh Barnett will depend on the severity of the injury.

No. 2 star -- "King Mo" Lawal: After a layoff of more than a year, Lawal showed no signs of injury or ring rust, knocking out Roger Gracie in the first round. After the win, he said he is interested in going after the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt again, but not if it's a bout to win a vacant belt. Lawal and Cormier's wins were part of the 4-0 night by American Kickboxing Academy.

No. 3 star -- Jordan Mein: One of the best performances of the evening was on the preliminary card, as Bas Rutten-trained Mein took out Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. With his father in his corner, the 21-year-old Mein handled Santos' leg and body kicks before unloading a flurry of strikes on Santos' face in the third round and then finishing with five right elbows.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Strikeforce-s-Three-Stars-Cormier-Lawal-and-Me?urn=mma-wp6833

Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe

We know there?s at least one Diaz fan left; White gives him Penn fight at UFC 137

Just when you thought everyone was steaming mad at Nick Diaz, Dana White pulled off a shocker by re-booking the quirky fighter for another fight at UFC 137 against B.J. Penn.

Thursday evening, White announced the move via Twitter. This was less than 24 hours after he dropped Diaz from the main event title fight against Georges St-Pierre.

When it comes down it, White is willing to deal with all of  Diaz's drama to simply satisfy fight fans. Are you any less excited for the Diaz-Penn versus Diaz-GSP? That's been a dream fight for many fans, for years. White could've easily banished Diaz to the MMA minor leagues for life, but the recognizes the guy is a great fighter with some serious psychological issues.

The door opened for Diaz when a Penn-Jon Fitch rematch couldn't be made. Penn ripped Fitch on Twitter and said he had enough of waiting for Fitch to commit. Twitter is hilarious though. Penn went from nasty to nice in 42 minutes when he was offered the Diaz fight.

Why did Diaz get another chance? White spoke to him and got a basic understanding of what was going through his head when he missed two prefight conferences and missed three flights.

"To tell you the truth, the excuses he gave me made no sense," White told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole. "You've interviewed Nick Diaz before. You know what I'm talking about. But I started thinking about this: This kid is a real fighter and I love the B.J. Penn-Nick Diaz fight. He always does show up to fight. We have trouble with him doing p.r. We also sometimes have problems with [his brother] Nate, whom I have a great relationship with, in getting him to do his p.r."

"What basically happened is, Nick freaked out. He disappeared. He told me he couldn't handle the pressure of the main event. It wasn't that he couldn't fight it or wouldn't have fought it, but all the responsibilities that come with fighting in the main event, he said he couldn't deal with that. The fighting part is the easy part to him."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/We-know-there-8217-s-at-least-one-Diaz-fan-left?urn=mma-wp6716

John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves 

Koch takes UFN 25 decision over TUF winner Brookins

Koch takes UFN 25 decision over TUF winner Brookins

Erik Koch took a unanimous decision win at Ultimate Fight Night 25 over "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Jonathan Brookins. Koch won the fight 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 on the judges cards.

Koch was strong in the first round, landing more strikes and controlling Brookins against the fence. After Koch got the better of Brookins in striking in the second round, Brookins tried for a takedown. He had a hard time bringing the fight to the ground and when he did, Koch landed on top of him. They worked back to their feet, where Koch landed leg kicks. Brookins finally got the takedown in the final minute of the second, but was not able to do much with it except take knees from Koch as they returned to their feet.

Koch continued to win the striking game in the third round, as he stuck to the game plan of punch-punch-kick and using his speed to throw Brookins off. He also continued to be successful in holding off Brookins' takedown attempts.

A one-time WEC fighter, Koch has rattled off four straight wins. His record is now 13-1, with the lone loss coming to Chad Mendes. Brookins, who won the 12th season of TUF, falls to 12-4. His last previous loss was to featherweight champ Jose Aldo.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Koch-takes-UFN-25-decision-over-TUF-winner-Brook?urn=mma-wp6989

Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida 

?The Ultimate Fighter? gives you new reasons to tune in

?The Ultimate Fighter? gives you new reasons to tune inIn its last season on Spike, the people behind "The Ultimate Fighter" are making some big promises to viewers. Next season, when it moves to FX, it will feature live fights, which should help make it more interesting.

In the meantime, neither the UFC nor Spike wants to make it a throwaway season. Ratings have taken a nosedive in the past few seasons, and the show just isn't as compelling as it once was.  They've given us a few good reasons to tune in.

-- "Mayhem" Miller and Michael Bisping: Neither of the coaches will be boring, and both are comfortable with cameras. Bisping previously coached on TUF against Dan Henderson, and Miller hosts "Bully Beatdown" on MTV. Miller said that his first priority is coaching his fighters, but knows that his second priority is to make entertaining TV.

"The second [priority] was to make entertaining television," Miller admitted. "I noticed after the first week that I was a bit bored, so I immediately started cranking it up so that there would be some interaction between me and Mike. At the end of the day, we're doing television, and we need to make something happen so that the audience is engaged. Many things happened."

There two know how to trash talk. There's no telling if it will reach Quinton Jackson/Rashad Evans levels, but it should be fun.

-- Fight-in returns: Last season, the fighters under Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos did not have to fight for a spot in the house, unlike in seasons 7-12. Not only will the fight-in bouts return, but the show's premiere episode will show every full fight.

-- Big bonuses: One of the fun changes, both for fighters and fans, is the creation of bonuses for the fighters that fans can vote on. The UFC will award $25,000 bonuses for the season's best fight, submission and knockout, just like they do for every fight card. Fans will get to vote on the bonuses.

The show will premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 9 p.m. ET. Do you plan on tuning in? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/-The-Ultimate-Fighter-gives-you-new-reasons-to-?urn=mma-wp6917

Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo 

Barnett moves to Strikeforce GP finals with submission win

CINCINNATI -- Josh Barnett earned a berth in the finals of Strikeforce's Heavyweight Grand Prix with a first-round submission of Sergei Kharitonov on Saturday night.

The fight started with fireworks, as both fighters landed damaging jabs until Barnett took Kharitonov to the ground. He took full mount, and pressured Kharitonov with short elbows and hammer fists. Kharitonov tried to respond with strikes from the bottom and by rolling away, but Barnett continued to smother. In the final minute, he transitioned to an arm triangle, and Kharitonov had no choice but to tap at 4:28.

Now, Barnett will move on to face Daniel Cormier, who scored a massive upset over Antonio Silva tonight, in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finals. No date or location is set for that event. From there, the consequences of winning this tournament are less clear. Strikeforce's heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem signed with the UFC and will fight Brock Lesnar on Dec. 30. Strikeforce has not given many clear signals on what will happen next for the fighter who wins this once-prestigious tournament.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Barnett-moves-to-Strikeforce-GP-finals-with-subm?urn=mma-wp6750

Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott