Sonnen and Silva as comic book characters

Because there hasn't been enough written about Chael Sonnen and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva this week, here they are in comic book form.

The UFC is producing a comic book about the two leading up to their fight.Silva, unsurprisingly, resembles Spiderman while Sonnen has elements of Captain America and Wonder Woman. (Before any of you think this is a slam, Wonder Woman is the coolest. If anyone besides Diana of the Themyscira could handle the Lasso of Truth, it's Sonnen.) Check out their Facebook page every day before UFC 148 to read a new panel of the comic.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/chael-sonnen-anderson-silva-turned-comic-book-characters-113343101--mma.html

Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama 

Clay Guida says tenacity will be difference in key fight with Gray Maynard

The similarities between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard are striking: Each are elite wrestlers whose striking has come a long way. Each is coming off a loss to a lightweight champion, Guida to Benson Henderson and Maynard to Frankie Edgar. And each man believes he's destined to regain the belt.

The one difference, though, that Guida believes will carry him to victory over Maynard in their five-round lightweight fight Friday in Atlantic City, N.J., is his tenacity.

"Without a doubt, I think that's going to be in my favor," Guida told Cagewriter. "I've been in fights where I've been down and come back. I am never, ever, going to quit or concede in a fight and I think that's a major advantage for me."

Guida's movement and tenacity are two of his trademarks, but he's also at least as well known for his wild, flowing hairstyle. Maynard's new coaches at the American Kickboxing Academy, but not Maynard himself, complained to the New Jersey commission about it.

Guida agreed to put his hair in cornrows to end any controversy before it began and laughed it off as a non-issue.

"I'm not sure what they were trying to do by complaining about that, but whatever it was, it didn't work," Guida said. "I'm here to fight and not talk about my hair."

Guida knows a win over Maynard, who had a draw and a knockout loss to Edgar in back-to-back title fights last year, will go a long way toward getting him his coveted first title shot.

The UFC has promised Nate Diaz a championship shot against the winner of the rematch between Henderson and Edgar at UFC 150, but Guida told Sherdog Radio he believes an impressive win over Maynard could force the UFC brass to rethink its plans.

If I go out there and beat the brakes off of him and really put it on him, I think the UFC is going to have a hard time denying us. I know Nate Diaz is right up there. Yeah, he won three in a row, but look, Gray won six or seven in a row. He hadn't lost for how many years? ? [And] I went on a decent little run there. I won four over a couple of tough guys, former world champs, [Takanori] Gomi in Pride and [Anthony] Pettis in the WEC, and I lost a very, very close fight to Ben Henderson. So it's one of those, it all depends on the way of victory.

The five-round fight figures to work to Guida's advantage. One of the reasons for his popularity is his ability to fight at a frenetic pace pretty much all of the time. The pace often slows in the latter stages of a long fight, but Guida insists that will never happen to him.

He said he's better conditioned now, at 30 years old, than he's ever been.

"Five rounds is tailor-made for me," he said. "When I'm done with three rounds, really, I'm just getting loose and ready to go. I go through a grind every day to get to where I am and you haven't seen anything from me in terms of pace and stamina. The longer this fight goes, people are going to be shocked at the way I can go.

"It's a mindset. I refuse to be tired and I have always vowed to work harder than my opponents. I put myself in the worst possible situations in training and I go and go and go. It makes the fight seem easy by comparison."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/clay-guida-says-tenacity-difference-key-fight-gray-222945504--mma.html

Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah 

Sonnen and Silva as comic book characters

Because there hasn't been enough written about Chael Sonnen and UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva this week, here they are in comic book form.

The UFC is producing a comic book about the two leading up to their fight.Silva, unsurprisingly, resembles Spiderman while Sonnen has elements of Captain America and Wonder Woman. (Before any of you think this is a slam, Wonder Woman is the coolest. If anyone besides Diana of the Themyscira could handle the Lasso of Truth, it's Sonnen.) Check out their Facebook page every day before UFC 148 to read a new panel of the comic.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/chael-sonnen-anderson-silva-turned-comic-book-characters-113343101--mma.html

Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade 

BLVD, Etnies, Hernandez, Indy, DC, and Paradise Videos

BLVD has a team session at the syndrome park. Etnies has a quick video of Kyle Leeper in the park. Joe Krolick has some Classic Clips with Evan Hernandez. Independent Bearings has a sick team montage. Strange Notes has a Six Pack with Steve Alba. DC has video from the NVRBRKN pop-up shop opening. paradise has a best of montage from 2011.

Source: http://theskateboardmag.com/blogs/templeton-elliott/2011/12/15/blvd-etnies-hernandez-indy-dc-and-paradise-videos/

Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo 

Yahoo! Sports and Heavy present Fight Day Live at 6 p.m. ET

Fight Day is back, bigger and better than ever. Host Dave Farra will navigate you through all the news surrounding the UFC 148 card and MMA experts John Morgan (MMA Junkie) and Larry Pepe (ProMMA Radio) will provide insight and analysis to prepare you for the big event. Maggie Krol will take you on a tour of the UFC Fan Expo and check in with Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen to get their final thoughts headed into the most anticipated rematch in UFC history. And as always, our expert panel will break down each one of the fights on the main card and give your their predictions as to who will take home the victory. Be sure and tune in at 6PM ET / 3PM PT.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/yahoo-sports-heavy-present-fight-day-live-6-160534886--mma.html

Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe

?The Ultimate Fighter? makes changes, but will it be enough?

Usually, in the months before the UFC starts taping a season of "The Ultimate Fighter," the show holds open tryouts. Fighters from all over the country flock to hotel ballrooms to try to win the favor of the UFC execs watching their every move.

As the show heads into its 16th season, there were no tryouts. Instead, the UFC asked managers to bring welterweights to Las Vegas for auditions and personal interviews.

"I've never seen them skip the tryout process and fly guys straight in," one manager told MMAjunkie.com.

This isn't the only change coming to the UFC's long-running reality show. As Kevin Iole reported, the UFC is going back to a taped format after the 15th season aired fights live. FX has also decided to keep the show on Friday nights.

Though ratings are up for FX on Friday nights, the ratings for the show are down compared to previous seasons. Attendance and gate from the show's finale were also down.

TUF is first a television show, and two rules have always remained true about the modern television landscape. First, it's hard to keep any show fresh for 16 seasons. Secondly, Friday nights are where ratings go to die. There is not much the UFC can do to get around those truisms.

What other changes should "The Ultimate Fighter" make to get you to tune in? Tell us in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ultimate-fighter-makes-changes-enough-171446219--mma.html

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo