Pro Athletes That Could Have Been MMA Fighters

With the announcement of his retirement from the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal can now go full-force into his second love: training MMA. OK, that’s not going to happen. Shaq will find himself in some cushy broadcasting job, likely trading verbal jabs with Charles Barkley. But for a time Shaq did train MMA. So here’s a look at a piece we did a few years back that features some pros that we think would have been fierce MMA fighters.

Ray Lewis
	Ray Lewis is known for his intensity, energy and desire to win. He lives to punish people on the football field. For him football is like MMA – you keep going until someone doesn’t get up. He’s super fast, 6’1″ 250 lb. and he’d never stop fighting. He’d surely never tap. He’d also redefine “Epic Staredown”. Nobody would bring it more than Lewis.
Nolan Ryan
	He may be retired but remember that fight with White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura? Classic dirty boxing that would’ve made Randy Couture cry with pride. Ryan showed bad-assery at age 46 against a much younger Ventura. In the offseason Ryan wrestled with and branded steer on his ranch.  One can only imagine how nasty Ryan’s clinch game would’ve been.
Alicia Sacramone
	Grapplers dream of her flexibility. I bet she could easily pick up Eddie Bravo’s flavor of Jiu-Jitsu given her attributes. Plus, she has an underrated left hook. Remember this video? Another thing Alicia has is strength. Gymnasts are known for having most functional strength among athletes. A lot of fighters incorporate gymnastics body work/exercises into their strength routines. Plus, don’t forget the attitude. After all, there’s a reason they don’t call it gym-nice-tics.
Kyle Farnsworth
	The Farns is big, strong and has just enough crazy in him to make the fighter across from him very nervous. He kicked an electric fan so hard he sprained his knee and had to go on the DL. He shot in on Paul Wilson, took him down with ease and bloodied his face. Or how about his awesome double-leg and slam of Jeremy Affeldt? At 6’5″ 240, with tree trunks for legs, Farns would have made Cro Cop look small.
Adrian Wilson
	Adrian Wilson is 6’3″ 230 lbs of mean. He can jump 66 inches off the ground — see it right here — and he has a standing vertical of almost 40. Athletic ability is great to have in MMA, but Wilson is also one of he hardest hitters in all of football. Wilson has received a few unnecessary roughness penalties in his career. “Probably about 100% of the time the hits I do make, they’re kind of violent, and that’s what they probably see is the violent part of the hit.”
Carlos Zambrano
	Carlos Zambrano has already had 2 nicknames that were good enough for MMA: “El Toro” and “Big Z”. They are both spot on. Zambrano is 6’5″ 255, and his temper is exactly like that of a bull. He disfigured the face of former teammate Michael Barrett in a brawl that started in the dugout and made its way to the clubhouse. He beat the tar out of a Gatorade machine. You don’t mess with the Zambrano.
Shaq
	Shaq already trains Gracie Jits and Muay Thai. He would have no problem putting anyone in a triangle choke with those super-long legs. Also, imagine catching a flying knee from him. Being over 7 feet tall he’d have no problem landing a head kick on Lesnar or any other heavyweight. He also has his first opponent in mind. He wants to take on Hong Man Choi.
Tie Domi
	Domi made a career in the NHL by taking on — and usually beating up — much bigger players. His bouts with Bob Probert were legendary. He once knocked Scott Niedermayer unconscious with a vicious elbow. When a taunting fan fell through the glass into the team bench, Domi pinned him and started throwing. And his nickname is MMA-ready too: “The Albanian Assassin”.

Have any to add to the list? Let us know in the comments section.

CYRUS WASHINGTON IS “BLACK DYNAMITE”

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

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

KILLER FINISHES: SHANE DEL ROSARIO’S OMOPLATA

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.

ZUFFA BUYS STRIKEFORCE

Zuffa has scooped up another MMA promotion, this time purchasing its main competitor, Strikeforce. Dana White sat down with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani to talk about the huge news, and go through some of the details as to how this will all play out.

FLO MMA’S MANOS, STREATER WIN AT GOLDEN GLOVES

Congratulations to FLO MMA fighters Jon Manos and Shane Streater, who won their recent Chicago Golden Gloves matches. Manos defeated Carlson Gracie’s Daniel Morales.

FLO MMA coaches Achour and George Esho are both Golden Gloves winners, and Manos was a 2008 Golden Gloves champ.

The quarterfinals and semifinals currently run until March 19th, and the finals begin on April 7th. The fights are now held at Gordon Tech, located at California and Addison in Chicago. For tickets, visit the Chicago Golden Gloves site.

JOSH SHOCKLEY MOVED TO BELLATOR MAIN CARD

NWI Times’ Matt Erickson reports that Hobart, Indiana’s Josh Shockley has been moved onto the main card for Bellator 36. Initially scheduled to fight on the undercard, Shockley was given a quarterfinal spot in the Season 4 Bellator Lightweight Tournament, taking the place of Ferrid Kheder who apparently could not make weight.

Shockley will now face Bellator veteran Toby Imada at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, and the bout will air live on MTV2. Shockley is undefeated as a pro with a record of 6-0-1, and he has fought locally in C3, Duneland Classic and TFC.

“I’m pumped — it’s a big opportunity for me,” Shockley told Erickson on Friday night. “I had a feeling something was up (with Kheder not making weight). As soon as they announced (I was the replacement), I was very happy. Imada is super tough, but I’ll find a way.”

“We’ve had high hopes for Josh since we signed him, this is a great opportunity for him,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “He really doesn’t have anything to lose and that makes him a very dangerous fighter.”

It’s not only a huge career opportunity for Shockley, but it’s a financial windfall as well. He would have made $2,500 to show and $2,500 to win on the undercard. Now he’ll receive $10k to show and another $10k if he beats Imada. If Shockley can get past Imada, he advances to the semifinals of the tourney.

Unfortunately this leaves Kalvin Hackney, Shockley’s initial opponent, without a fight and he has been scratched from the event. But Erickson reports that sources close to the fight confirm that he will be paid both his show money and win bonus. Classy move by Bellator.

APFC ULTIMATE BATTLEGROUND HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

Killer highlight video of APFC: Ultimate Battleground, produced by ScalesoffMedia.

APFC Ultimate Battleground Highlights – HD from ScalesoffMedia on Vimeo.

The next APFC event, Ultimate Showdown, is scheduled for March 26 in DeKalb.

BJ PENN RVCA X DMOTE SHIRT

The cool new BJ Penn X DMOTE shirt was designed by New York-based, Australian artist DMOTE as part of the RVCA Artist Network Program. Synonymous with graffiti art in Austrailia, DMOTE has transcended into fine arts, bridging the gap between his roots and culture sensitive approach to commercial work.

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