MMA referee knocks out corner man at regional fight show (VIDEO)

Why just have one fight at a local MMA promotion when you can watch the referee knock out a cornerman after the fight ends? Seriously. The referee/cornerman altercation gets heated at the one-minute mark.

There's a lot of wrong in that video, like the referee continuing to pursue the cornerman when the best referees across sports try to diffuse heated situations, the cornerman confronting the ref in the first place, and the poor cornerman falling like a tree.

Can you imagine referee Herb Dean knocking out a coach? Or Greg Jackson, the respected coach to UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones going after a ref? Exactly. If you find yourself cornering or reffing in an MMA bout, remember: W.W.G.J.D, or, what would Greg Jackson do?

Thanks, Bloody Elbow.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/mma-referee-knocks-corner-man-regional-fight-show-195000557--mma.html

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz

Don?t expect to see Alistair Overeem fight on the UFC?s New Year?s Eve card

Suspended UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem tweeted on Monday he'll be back to fight in December.

I'll be fighting again in December and mark my words, I'll be back.. to get the belt, sooner rather later.

Per the terms of his suspension for having elevated testosterone levels, he could technically be available by the card the UFC traditionally holds near New Year's Eve. However, the UFC isn't known to book a fight with a still-suspended fighter with hopes that he would get a license for their fight.

Will they change things up to get Overeem on the big end-of-the-year card? Don't bet on it. UFC chairman Lorenzo Fertitta said he won't book Overeem until he has a license.

"That's speculation," Fertitta said in a text to ESPN.com. "It's in the NSAC's hands. (The UFC) can't be presumptuous."

Overeem isn't eligible to apply for a license until Dec. 27, and the card is expected to be on Dec. 29. They would have to take a huge risk to put him on such an important event when he wasn't able to get a license before. He burned them for UFC 146 and made the UFC scramble to completely reconfigure the card. It makes sense they don't want to go through it again.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/don-t-expect-see-alistair-overeem-fight-ufc-221227233--mma.html

Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz

With Vladimir Putin watching, Fedor Emelianenko knocks out Pedro Rizzo

MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko notched another win in St. Petersburg, Russia, knocking out former UFC heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo in the first round. With Russian president Vladimir Putin looking on, Emelianenko leveled Rizzo with a right hand then followed him to the ground to stop the fight.

Emelianenko now has three wins in a row after losing to Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Dan Henderson in Strikeforce. Before that, he was an unstoppable force, racking up 31 wins, one loss and one no contest.

Before this bout, Emelianenko told Russian television this fight would be his last, but he did not talk about retirement in his post-bout interview. It remains to be seen if "The Last Emperor" is truly done with MMA.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/vladimir-putin-watching-fedor-emelianenko-knocks-pedro-rizzo-195903717--mma.html

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

Alistair Overeem: ?I?m all natural?

UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem really wants the world to believe he is a clean fighter, even though he is currently suspended for having elevated testosterone levels before his planned fight with UFC champ Junior dos Santos.

Earlier this week, Overeem tweeted he will be back in December, but UFC executive Lorenzo Fertitta said not so fast. Overeem responded by tweeting about a drug test.

"I'm doing a drug test today to build confidence with the Nevada state athletic commission and because I respect and appreciate the UFC," Overeem wrote. "And to let junior know I am a clean fighter, I'm all natural Junior.. and I am coming for you."

Well, that's a nice gesture, Alistair, but guess what? You're supposed to be clean. You don't get any medals for testing clean on random date of your choosing. This is the equivalent of teenager cleaning the house after being grounded. Though the parents may be pleased to come home to a sparkling house, they're not going to forget about the raging party that happened there days before.

The NAC isn't going to forget about his suspension, and the UFC isn't going to forget how he derailed the main event of one of their biggest cards in 2012.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/alistair-overeem-m-natural-134150719--mma.html

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio 

Hatsu Hioki watches title hopes disappear as he drops fight to Ricardo Lamas

When asked by the UFC to fight Jose Aldo for the title, featherweight Hatsu Hioki said he wasn't quite ready for it yet. Now, a chance at the belt is much further away after he dropped a decision to Ricardo Lamas at UFC on FX 4.

Hioki started strong, twisting Lamas into an omoplata in the first round. But Lamas survived to get the best of Hioki on the ground and in stand-up. Every judge in Atlantic City saw it 29-28 for Lamas.

With this loss, Hioki showed the danger of passing on title shots. If he took a fight with Aldo before he was ready, he wouldn't have been confident in the cage. However, in taking a tune-up fight, he showed he wasn't ready for Aldo in the first place. Now, he'll have to work his way back to the top levels of the UFC's featherweight division to even get a whiff of the championship.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/hatsu-hioki-watches-title-hopes-disappear-drops-fight-011526410--mma.html

Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio

Fabricio Werdum, Cub Swanson and Rich Franklin: Three stars from a full weekend of MMA

After a UFC double-header, who stuck out as the best from UFC on FX 4 and UFC 147? Read on for Cagewriter's picks, and write yours in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.

No. 1 star -- Fabricio Werdum: The former Strikeforce heavyweight is 2-0 since rejoining the UFC. Though his jiu-jitsu is feared, he showed against Mike Russow he can strike with the best of the division, finishing a fighter who had never been knocked out before.

No. 2 star -- Cub Swanson: We've heard of the potential of Swanson for years, but injury often got in his way. Swanson showed he was more than just potential as he took out Ross Pearson with a punishing TKO, his second straight TKO win.

No. 3 star -- Rich Franklin: After proving his company man status once again, stepping in for the injured Vitor Belfort, Franklin won an exciting five-rounder against fellow legend Wanderlei Silva. Afterwards, he charmed the Brazilian crowd by speaking Portuguese to them. You can't ask for much more from a fighter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/fabricio-werdum-cub-swanson-rich-franklin-three-stars-145843402--mma.html

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio 

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

Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio  Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida