A very Happy Mother?s Day to MMA Moms

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms of fighters and the moms who fight. For a reminder of how cool MMA moms are, check out Urijah Faber's mom holding off a burglar, Rashad Evans getting pre-fight advice from his mother, and Diego Brandao buying his mom a house after winning "The Ultimate Fighter." Also read parts one and two about what it's like to be a fight mom, featuring the mothers of Joe Lauzon, Clay Guida, Evans and B.J. Penn.

Before heading to brunch with your mom, check out how these champs celebrated their special moment with the women who supported their children on the way to the belt.

UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson hugs his mother after winning the belt in February.

Ronda Rousey headed straight to the woman who supported her through Olympic judo and MMA careers after winning the Strikeforce bantamweight belt in March.

UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz took his mother to the World MMA Awards.

Jon Jones celebrates with his parents after defending the UFC light heavyweight belt.

A very Happy Mother's Day to all the Cagereading Moms out there, and to my own mother, for taking me for ice cream after I first threw a punch.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/very-happy-mother-day-mma-moms-215751574.html

Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana 

Junior dos Santos shares his thoughts on Frank Mir, why he sings, Chael Sonnen and more

UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos stopped by on Thursday to answer your questions. He shared his thoughts on his UFC 146 opponent Frank Mir, Jon Jones, music, Chael Sonnen, and much more.

On where Mir is most dangerous, but not the most dangerous in the UFC:

His biggest threat is if he can use his jiu-jitsu to take me to me to the ground. That's his big strength. I think he's good. Maybe among the best ground games in the heavyweight division, but there are plenty others in the other division that are better.

On Mir's trash talk:

I don't really like that style. When you prefer talk rather than fighting, it's not good. I'd rather let my fighting do the talking.

On Saturday's Strikeforce grand prix fighter Josh Barnett:

He's very experienced and has a great ground game. As far as whether I want to fight him, it's not up to me. If the UFC wants to make Josh Barnett my next opponent, then so be it. I think the fight with Daniel Cormier is an exciting matchup and I'm looking forward to it.

On the possibility of fighting UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones:

No, I don't think so. Jon Jones is a cool guy. Extremely talented. If one day he wants to fight as a heavyweight, then I'm sure he'd have a fight or two before he gets a shot at the title.

Mir's last win was against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a good friend of dos Santos. Will that play into this fight psychologically?

I'm a positive person and a confident fighter. What happened between them is just part of the sport. It's just a natural part of our sport. In my opinion, Big Nog was winning that fight and just made a mistake. Frank Mir took advantage of that as good fighter would do. It won't impact what I do.

On sticking with "Gonna Fly Now," a.k.a. the Rocky song, as his walkout song:

For sure I'll be walking out to the rocky song. It motivates me a lot so I agree with Christian. Back story: Dana White didn't want me to come out to that song and said it's overused. I told him 'Man, my hands shake when I hear that song'. When he heard how powerful it was for me, he told me I could keep it as my walkout song.

On what he thinks of Mir's chin:

Everybody's chin is their weak spot. If you land a shot on somebody's chin, they're down. Fight over. So yeah, that's where I'm going to try to hit him. And that's where I'm going to be hitting him.

On his love of singing:

I don't need karaoke. I sing a cappella. I like singing. I sing in the shower and all the time. When we're happy people, music's just part of our day.

On his prediction for Silva/Sonnen II:

I've got to take Anderson. Sonnen-Silva I, Sonnen was caught taking performance-enhancers and Anderson had broken ribs. It wasn't a fair fight. This time he'll beat him easily.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/junior-dos-santos-shares-thoughts-frank-mir-why-145910707.html

Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo  John Alessio 

Matchmaker, matchmaker: News on Urijah Faber, Ronda Rousey, Matt Mitrione and more

Here's the latest fights to be made, just for you:

-- Erik Koch and UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo put on their best Member's Only jackets and headed to the mountains to officially announce their bout at UFC 149 in Calgary.

-- After UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and pulled out of their July 7 bout, Urijah Faber will still fight at UFC 148. His opponent is still to be determined, and interim title belt will be on the line.

-- Ronda Rousey has a date for her first championship defense, kinda. She will fight Sarah Kauffman in August, but an exact date and location has not yet been announced.

-- In what is already my favorite match-up of the summer, Siyar Bahadurzada is stepping in to face Thiago Alves at UFC 149. Yoshihiro Akiyama had to pull out of the bout with Alves after an undisclosed injury.

-- Days after UFC on Fox 3, heavyweight bouts were added to UFC on Fox 4 in Los Angeles. Matt Mitrione will fight Rob Broughton and Oli Thompson will fight Phil De Fries.

Care to make predictions on any of these bouts? Go for it in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/matchmaker-matchmaker-news-urijah-faber-ronda-rousey-matt-211346861.html

Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen 

?The Ultimate Fighter: Live? Ratings Fall to an All-Time Low

It would seem that "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" continues to struggle generating viewership. This past Friday's episode, the eleventh installment, drew a meager 821,000 viewers, making it the least watched episode in the program's 15-season history.

MMAFrenzy.com

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/28643/the-ultimate-fighter-live-ratings-fall-to-an-all-time-low/

Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen 

Injured champ Dominick Cruz says rival Urijah Faber will only fight for ?No. 1 contender?s belt?

A downcast Dominick Cruz said Wednesday that he'll be back better than ever from the anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered last week that forced cancellation of his bantamweight title defense on July 7 against rival Urijah Faber, that was to be the co-main event of UFC 148 in Las Vegas.

Cruz, the UFC bantamweight champion, was sparring when he injured the knee. The ACL tear was diagnosed on Sunday in Las Vegas following an MRI. Cruz said the swelling needs to decrease before he can proceed with the surgery.

"It was a normal day in practice," Cruz told Cagewriter. "I went for a weird trip and it folded my knee. There was a really loud pop and I was kind of in denial the rest of the night. The next day, I went in and got an MRI. I got the results on Sunday and by Monday, the news was out."

On Tuesday on Fuel TV, UFC president Dana White said that Faber would fight an opponent to be named at UFC 148 for the interim belt. Cruz will fight the winner when he's healed. Cruz said recovery time is six to nine months, which will likely mean it will be at least 14 months between fights for him. He last fought in October when he defeated Demetrious Johnson via unanimous decision.

White didn't release names, but Faber did later on the show.

Dominick's been out since his last fight and has had several injuries. I think I'll be fighting Renan Barao, Ivan Menjivar or maybe Michael McDonald.

He'll carry a belt around, should he wins, and that will undoubtedly gall Cruz. There is no love lost between the two and they were paired as coaches on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter as a way to take advantage of the heat between them.

If Faber wins at UFC 148, he'll be the interim champion, but Cruz said that won't mean much.

"First of all, it's not like Faber is a lock to beat whoever they put him again," Cruz said. "If he gets it -- and that's a big if -- he won't be carrying around the championship belt. I am the champion and I have the belt. He'll have a No. 1 contender's belt.

"If he has that, big deal. You have to beat the champ to be the champion and he won't have beaten the champion. It's no guarantee he'll win no matter who he fights, but regardless of what happens, I hope he's happy running around with a No. 1 contender's belt, if he gets it."

Cruz said the only time he thinks of the injury is when he does interviews, which forces him to relieve the bad moment. But he said while it will hurt financially, he'll make it OK.

"I live humbly for this reason exactly," Cruz said. "Every fighter lives and dies by his own body. If you're a Trophy Truck driver and the truck breaks down, there is no season. As fighters, our bodies are our Trophy Trucks. This is a minor setback, but I live humbly knowing a situation like this could occur."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/injured-champ-dominick-cruz-says-rival-urijah-faber-031718593.html

Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah