KILLER FINISHES: MINOWAMAN VS. IMANI LEE
June 30, 2010 by Matt
Minowaman dominates the super-large Imani Lee. How awesome is the call by Michael “The Voice” Schiavello?
NOW YOU CAN HAVE ARIANNY CELESTE ALL OVER YOU
Yep, now you can have lovely UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste all over you. This is as close as you will get, so you might as well go for it.
SHOWTIME GIVES PEEK INTO FEDOR & WERDUM TRAINING SESSIONS
June 24, 2010 by searstapper
Strikeforce and M-1 Global teaming up for another co-promoted event. “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum” is this Saturday in San Jose, CA. Showtime has another preview video featuring main event fighters Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum.
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MIGUEL TORRES FLYING ARMBAR!
June 23, 2010 by Matt
Peter Griffin prefers more of the ground and pound, but I’m certain he’d still be very pleased. Follow Miguel Torres on Twitter for more hilarity.
RICARDO LAMAS VS. DAVE JANSEN AT WEC 50
June 23, 2010 by Matt
MMA Junkie is reporting that local fighter Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas will fight Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen at WEC 50.
The Team Top Notch fighter is coming off a vicious KO win of Bendy Casimir at WEC 47 in March. In round 1 of that fight, Casimir went for a takedown and Lamas delivered a fierce knee to Casimir’s head that crumbled him to the canvas and left him unconscious. The Bully got the win and improved to 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the WEC. His lone loss as a pro came via a Danny Castillo TKO last August.
Jansen has also been defeated only once as a pro. He lost via unanimous decision to Kamal Shalorus in January after rattling off 15 straight wins to start his MMA career. Jansen’s last fight was also his WEC debut, beating Rich Crunkilton by unanimous decision.
WEC 50 features the first title defense for current champ Dominick Cruz, who will battle the electric Joseph Benavidez, “WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez”. It takes place August 18 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort and the main card airs live on Versus.
VIDEO: MIGUEL TORRES WORKING WITH EMANUEL STEWARD
June 23, 2010 by searstapper
Miguel Torres has branched out to other trainers to get him ready for his next fight. One of those people is legendary boxing trainer Emanuel Steward. Check out this video provided by EckoMMA.
BELLATOR FEATHERWEIGHT FINAL COULD MIRROR WELTERWEIGHT FINAL
June 23, 2010 by searstapper
Bellator had an impressive offseason signing some of MMA’s most coveted free agents as well as little known up-and-comers ready to break out on a bigger stage. Many of those acquisitions have panned out, especially in the middleweight and welterweight tournaments. The finals of both divisions pretty much featured the matchups many thought would happen when the initial pairings were announced. Last week Olympic wrestler Ben Askren grounded and pounded his way past Total Fight Challenge & Sengoku veteran Dan Hornbuckle. On Thursday another Olympic caliber wrestler, Joe Warren, takes on undefeated Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
HORODECKI DEFEATS DOWNES AT WEC 49
June 21, 2010 by Matt
Here is the recap on Dan Downes fight from Frank Curreri at WEC.TV.
Moral victories tend to have little worth in professional sports, but the losing effort of Wisconsin’s Dan Downes offers yet another strong counterargument to that norm. Based on first impressions of his lanky, pear-shaped frame, as the young Irish-American walked into the cage he appeared to be the human equivalent of chum about to be served to a frenzy of sharks (or in this case, his opponent, former International Fight League champion Chris Horodecki). Sure enough, Horodecki had his way with the Marquette University college graduate from the opening horn, scoring a takedown and locking in a deep guillotine choke. Downes, who had taken the fight on just a few days’ notice as a replacement for Ed Ratcliff, fought off the oxygen deficit for a long time before escaping. With thousands of his fellow Canadians spurring him on, Horodecki earned another takedown and “Danny Boy” showed his grit and determination once more by fighting off a rear naked choke attempt.
In the second stanza, Horodecki, a noted Muay Thai specialist under Shawn Tompkins, reverted to his bread and butter attacks. He wasted no time tagging Downes with a 1-2 combination to the face and followed that up with a knee to the face. Downes, perhaps due to the ridiculously abbreviated training camp, seemed to be winded and fighting back on fumes. Yet he stubbornly kept charging forward and winging punches that had little steam on them. On three different occasions in the fight Horodecki had landed spinning back kicks that wowed the crowd but did nothing to stop his flat-footed foe from coming forward.
Horodecki racked Downes with a high kick, clipped him with an uppercut and a 1-2 combination to the head and body. And Downes slowed down but never folded. Unfortunately for the former U.S. Secret Service intern, well-applied chokeholds trump toughness. As the late great Helio Gracie declared, the choke is the best maneuver in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, precisely for the aforementioned reason. And so Downes had met his match in the third stanza when Horodecki took him down and sunk in a rear naked choke. Finally, 1 minute and was 9 seconds into the round, “Danny Boy” was forced to concede defeat and tap out.
It was the first loss of Downes’ career after six straight wins, but his stock probably rose in defeat. He certainly earned the respect of Horodecki.
“Danny is super-tough. He’s a tough, tough Irish kid.” Horodecki said. “Thank you for stepping up to the plate … Hat’s off to him.”
VIDEO: RAMPAGE JACKSON WITH JAY LENO
June 20, 2010 by searstapper
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was a guest on “The Tonight Show” last week. The UFC lightweight was on the show promoting “The A-Team.” It looks like he had a fun time with Jay Leno, and he was the classic humerous Quinton we’re used to seeing when he’s not fighting in the Octagon.
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CHICAGO-BORN DANNY DOWNES GETS WEC CALL
Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports. But one man’s pain turns into another man’s opportunity. And so it is for Chicago-born Dan “Danny Boy” Downes. Downes got the call from the WEC to replace Ed Ratcliff, another Chicago-born fighter, who had to pull out of the card due to injury. Downes will be fighting Chris Horodecki at WEC 49 in Edmonton on Sunday night.
Danny, 24, was born and raised in Mount Greenwood neighborhood and is an honors grad of St. Ignatius High School and Marquette University. He fights out of Milwaukee and under the training of Duke Roufos.
Downes holds a 6-0 pro record with 5 wins coming by way of TKO and 1 unanimous decision win. He signed a six-fight deal with the WEC, but has his work cut out for him in his debut. Horodecki is viewed as something of a wunderkind in the sport, and he will be fighting in front of his home crowd. Horodecki holds 2 wins over local fighter Bart Palaszewski and is 13-2 in his pro career. He did lose his WEC debut to Anthony Njokuani at WEC 45. Ratcliff fought Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at that event, so that speaks volumes to what the WEC thinks of Horodecki.
Downes last fight was a 1st round TKO of Bruce Johnson at King of the Cage on April 25th. So he’s definitely in shape and has been training. Should he pull off the win against Horodecki on Sunday, he’ll definitely open up plenty of eyes in the sport.
Local fighter and former WEC champion Eddie Wineland will also fight on the card. He takes on Will Campuzano at 135 lbs. Wineland has recorded 2 straight unanimous decision wins since losing Rani Yahya here in Chicago in April of 2009. Watch Downes and Wineland fight at WEC 49 Sunday night on Versus at 8pm.
