MIKE RUSSOW INTERVIEW
Ingo Weigold of the MMA Nuts recently caught up with UFC heavyweight Mike Russow at FLO MMA in Palatine. Russow trains his BJJ there with Comprido, who recently returned from Las Vegas after shooting “The Ultimate Fighter”. Comprido is the BJJ coach for Brock Lesnar, and also served in that role on the Lesnar coaching staff for this upcoming season.
ROUFUSPORT UP FOR AMERICA’S TOP GYM
March 24, 2011 by Matt
Versus has been running their own version of MMA “March Madness”, asking readers and viewers to vote for America’s best MMA gym. It’s down the final 2 in the tourney.
The contenders:
- Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy, the home of Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez and the Brothers Diaz
- Roufusport, the Duke Roufus gym that camps Chicagoan Dan Downes, Erik Koch, Pat Barry and Anthony Pettis.
If you want to vote, head over to the Versus MMA page.
2 TAPOUT MOUTHGUARDS FOR $8
March 22, 2011 by Matt
MMAHQ offers one great MMA gear deal a day. Today’s deal is on mouthguards by TapouT.
TapouT Mouthguard 2 Pack for $8
You get 2 TapouT mouthguards, one in orange and white and one in orange and black.
Get your size before they’re all gone.
DANIEL STRAUS ADVANCES IN BELLATOR TOURNEY
March 21, 2011 by Matt
Daniel Straus made his pro debut at XFO 27 back in February of 2009. He’s fought in the XFO a total of six times, his last bout a win against the always tough Joe Pearson. Straus has been rolling since his KO-loss to Pat Curran at XFO 29. Since that fight Straus had won 10 in a row, including victories over solid opponents like Chad Hinton, Karen Darabedyan and Gideon Ray.
He was invited to take place in Bellator’s season 4 Featherweight tournament. His first match was Saturday night at Bellator 37, and Straus pulled out a decision victory against previously undefeated Nazareno Malegarie. Straus was caught in several different sub attempts but was able to break free and out-point Malegarie.
With the win Straus earned his way to the semifinals of the tourney.
XFO RETURNS TO THE SEARS CENTRE
March 21, 2011 by Matt
The XFO has announced that XFO 39 will take place at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. Before we get to the new card information, let’s take a trip down ol’ memory lane and look at the XFO 13 card, which was the last event the XFO held there.
Alonzo Spellman, yes the former Bear, took on Antoine Hayes. The main event was Jeff Curran vs. Raphael Assuncao, who fought this weekend at UFC 128. Assuncao was KO’d by Duke Roufus-trained Eric “New Breed” Koch. Other notables onthat card in 2006:
- Combat-Do’s Bob Schirmer
- Kerry “Meat Truck” Schall, UFC veteran heavyweight
- Donnie Liles, who fought in the IFL and Strikeforce
- Brian “Mandingo” Gassaway
- Jason Guida
- Terry Martin
- Matt “Sunshine” Fiordirosa
- Justin McElfresh, who went on to fight in the WEC
- Mike Marrello, former XFO Heavyweight champ
- UFC vet Nate Mohr
- Mike Stumpf, who went on to fight in ShoXC Challengers
- John Hosman, who later fought in the WEC
So fast-forward back to 2011, and the card will feature Jon Murphy, Felice Herrig, Chris Garcia, Will Brooks, Ryan Bixler, Tyler Combs, Michele Gutierrez, Christian Reynoso, Dennis Dombrow, Mike Stumpf, Jerad Karlen, Nick Scotti, Matt Tobie, Jason Graves & Jeff Curran vs. Joe Pearson.
The event will take place on May 13th at the Sears Centre, and you can get your tickets by visiting the event page on the Sears Centre site.
CYRUS WASHINGTON IS “BLACK DYNAMITE”
March 18, 2011 by Matt
BIMA Chicago will be hosting a Muay Thai seminar with Cyrus Washington, aka “Black Dynamite” on March 26th.
Check out this fight with Cyrus from 2008 when he was fighting for Tiger Muay Thai and MMA Training Camp in Phuket. Cung Le and Showtime Pettis have nothing on Cyrus. Watch the video and you’ll see what I mean.
Cyrus actually broke his opponent’s arm with that throw from the Thai clinch. If you want to come to the seminar and learn from him, call Josh at BIMA Chicago at 847.579.9120 or e-mail him at Josh@bimachicago.com.
JENS PULVER “DRIVEN” TO BE DISTRIBUTED NATIONALLY
“Driven” is the Gregory Bayne documentary about Jens Pulver. Bayne sent an e-mail blast that included excellent news — “Driven” is soon to be distributed nationally.
Bayne wrote:
“As of today I am in the final steps to locking in national distribution for JENS PULVER | DRIVEN. We’re very excited about the partner we have found, and the exposure they will bring to the film.
I will have more details to share with you once we’re signed, sealed and delivered, but I wanted to let you know that as part of our deal we’ll be placing sales of the film on DVD or Digital Download via our site on moratorium until our official July release date. That means if you or someone you love still hasn’t put their hands on a copy of the film, the time to do it is right now. We’ll be taking it offline within the next 48 hours.
Get directly to our store at this link. Over the next couple of days we’ll have some additional announcements about our GET DRIVEN 2011 screening tour to share as well.
Thank you again for being part of this film.
Below is the trailer for the film. You can download the beautifully haunting theme song, “Not My Father’s Son” for free by visiting the Driven store.
COMPRIDO ROLLING WITH WANDERLEI SILVA
March 16, 2011 by Matt
FLO MMA’s Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros stopped by to visit the Wand Fight Team and spend some time training with Wanderlei Silva. Comprido is also the Jiu-Jitsu coach for Brock Lesnar, and you can catch him in action on the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Lesnar vs. Dos Santos”.
Comprido is a 7-time World BJJ champion. If you’d like to be trained by Comprido, stop by or call FLO MMA.
h/t: BrazilianBlackBelt
LOCAL BANTAMWEIGHT RECOGNIZED BY BLOODY ELBOW
March 15, 2011 by searstapper
BloodyElbow.com recently recognized Aurora’s Yusup Saadulaev as one of the top up and coming bantamweights. Leland Roling lists Saadulaev as #4 ranked fighter on the 2011 World MMA Bantamweight list, and gives a thorough scouting report on the BJJ whiz.
Here are some of his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills on display in a 2009 fight for the Total Fight Challenge.
Read more
KILLER FINISHES: SHANE DEL ROSARIO’S OMOPLATA
March 14, 2011 by Matt
The talented Shane Del Rosario is an undefeated Strikeforce fighter that has won 11 times in his career, with 10 of the wins ending in the very first round. Del Rosario recently beat Lavar Johnson at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva, in what was initially the Grand Prix reserve bout. Though Del Rosario won, Fedor was awarded the reserve spot in the Grand Prix after his loss to Big Foot Silva.
Here is an amazing comeback and a “Killer Finish” by Del Rosario from his 2009 fight against Brandon Cash.
