SEVERAL CHICAGOANS ADDED TO BELLATOR 25 LINEUP
July 26, 2010 by searstapper
Bellator 25, scheduled for August 19 at the Chicago Theatre, is shaping up to be a showcase of local Chicago area talent. Three area fighters will reportedly take part on a fightcard already claiming the likes of two welterweights who’ve earned their stripes in area fight promotions.
MR. INTERNATIONAL FIGHTING AT BELLATOR 25 IN CHICAGO
July 15, 2010 by searstapper
Chicago’s own Shonie Carter will reportedly be part of the fightcard when Bellator returns for action later this summer at The Chicago Theatre.
MIGUEL TORRES WEC 51 INTERVIEW
July 13, 2010 by Matt
Ray Flores talks with Miguel Torres about his upcoming battle with Charlie Valencia at WEC 51 on September 30th at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. That fight will be the co-main event on the card with featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Manny Gamburyan to fight for the title as the main event.
RASHAD EVANS TALKS TRAINING WITH MIGUEL TORRES
July 12, 2010 by Matt
Local ring announcer and MMA play by play man Ray Flores talked with Rashad Evans during a break in training with Miguel Torres at Torres Martial Arts in Hammond, Indiana. Rashad talks about training with Miguel, beating Rampage and his upcoming title fight with Shogun Rua.
CHICAGO’S LOUIS TAYLOR TO FACE JOE RIGGS
July 9, 2010 by Matt
Chicago’s Louis Taylor is headed to the main event. Taylor got the call to take on Joe “Diesel” Riggs to headline a stacked STRIKEFORCE Challengers event from Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. Taylor will be fighting Riggs in front of Diesel’s home crowd, and they’ll do it at a catch weight of 182 pounds in the main event on Friday, Aug. 13, LIVE on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. here in Chicago.
Taylor is 6-1 and has rattled off two consecutive knockout wins since his first career loss to Nate Moore on the undercard of the STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL: Fedor vs. Rogers event here in Hoffman Estates last November.
The 5-foot-11 Taylor has scored knockouts in four of his six consecutive victories and has only gone to the judges scorecards once in his professional career.
The event, STRIKEFORCE’s first in the state of Arizona, will also feature a four-woman single elimination welterweight (135 pound) tournament comprised of four female prospects to be announced soon. The tournament will be completed over the course of the evening’s fight card.
The winner of the tournament will likely face the champion of the July 23 STRIKEFORCE Women’s Welterweight Title fight between undefeated, defending champ Sarah Kaufman and challenger Roxanne Modafferi in Everett, Wash., LIVE on SHOWTIME.
Riggs holds notable victories over STRIKEFORCE Welterweight champ Nick Diaz, Kendall Grove, Chris Lytle and “The N.Y. Badass” Phil Baroni. He is coming off a controversial unanimous decision loss to streaking, former world champ Jay Hieron at STRIKEFORCE: Miami on Jan. 30, 2010.
CHICAGO BJJ COACH HELPS KEY BROCK LESNAR’S SUCCESS
July 7, 2010 by searstapper
There’s a Chicago area connection to the success of reigning UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros. Comprido coaches BJJ at FloMMA in Northwest Suburban Palatine.
Courtesy: Five Ounces of Pain
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.
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.”
