Monday December 7, 2009
It was looking as if former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson was going to have to beat Nate Marquardt for the right to get that revenge match against Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title. But it turns out that fight wasn't in the cards. You see, Henderson won't be fighting for the UFC at all. Rather, he's signed with Scott Coker and Strikeforce.
"STRIKEFORCE and its growing roster of world class talent will offer me many exciting fights and has the ability to bring many new fans from all around the world to mixed martial arts," Henderson said in a press release. "I am grateful to (STRIKEFORCE Founder and CEO) Scott Coker for the opportunity to help make this happen and for treating me with the utmost respect throughout our negotiations.
I'd also like to thank Dana (White) and the UFC for the opportunities they provided me and I wish them ongoing success. I'll continue to watch their events and I hope they'll tune in to my fights in STRIKEFORCE. After all, I'm a true fan of our fantastic sport and would love only to see MMA continue to grow."
With this signing, Strikeforce has truly announced themselves as a competitor with the UFC. Though they have a very long way to go before their organization is truly on a plane with White and the gang, the fact that they were able to wrestle a fighter with a reputation like Henderson away from them speaks volumes. After all, how many times has the UFC lost a fighter that was on their roster that they wanted back to someone else?
Relevant Articles
Dan Henderson Biography
Strikeforce MMA
Sunday December 6, 2009
Most people thought that if Roy "Big Country" Nelson were going to win his fight against Brendan Schaub for the Ultimate Fighter 10 title, he would do so on the ground. In accordance with this, early in the fight after defending against a nice Schaub flurry he took his opponent down, seemingly moving forward with the game plan that most expected. But then Schaub got up, changing everyone's perspective. Could Nelson win a stand up fight against him?
Answer: yes. You see, a few moments later a Roy Nelson right hand dropped Schaub and put him to sleep.
Roy "Big Country" Nelson defeats Brendan Schaub by KO at 3:45 of round one. Before the fight, Nelson proclaimed himself a kung fu fighter and afterwards rubbed his belly on top of the cage wall. He's a different kind of guy, folks. But an entertaining one at that.
Full TUF 10 Finale Results
Saturday December 5, 2009
Matt Hamill was getting dominated by Jon Jones at the TUF 10 Finale. Jones had been winning the stand up battle by a little early in the first round, but once he executed an awesome trip to get his opponent to the ground, the mount plus a mercilles ground and pound onslaught followed. We're talking about an abundance of punches and legal elbows that some referees, quite frankly, might have stopped the fight from. Blood was pouring from a cut on Hamill's nose. But then Jones opened things up even more on him with two illegal up and down elbows (12 to 6). The referee stopped the fight and initially took a point from Jones. But when a bloodied Hamill could no longer continue, he was awarded victory via disqualification.
Jones needs to know the rules and there's no excuse for not following them. That said, this fight was already over by the time that Jones, who simply appears to have made a mistake, threw the illegal elbows. So it must feel like as empty a win as there could possibly be for Hamill, who also indicated that he hurt one of his arms during the fight.
Matt Hamill defeats Jon Jones via disqualification.
Follow the link for the full TUF 10 Finale Results
Saturday December 5, 2009
"If Houston Alexander's the gatekeeper, I got one thing to say about that. Houston, you got a problem," said Kimbo Slice coming into his official UFC debut against a man with a striking reputation similar to his own. Funny quote, but would he be able to back it up?
Well, yes and no. In the end, this was not the one minute and a cloud of dust people were expecting.
The first round saw Alexander run around the edges of the Octagon while Slice followed him. Slice only hit home with a few strikes throughout the entire stanza and hardly even tried to cut his opponent off. On the flip side, Alexander didn't stick and move much; he just moved. That said, he did connect with multiple low kicks. No one really deserved to get points in this uneventful round, but one certainly could've given it to Alexander just as easily as Kimbo.
The second round saw the evolution of Slice's grappling game, particularly as takedowns are concerned. Along with this, he dominated the action, slamming Alexander with a couple of up, up, and away takedowns and even took his back at one point. That coupled with a few power strikes on his feet and some nice ground and pound easily netted Slice the stanza.
In the third, both fighters started off brawling, with Alexander the aggressor. Later in the stanza, Alexander landed a low kick that dropped Slice and followed it up with a hard punch. Slice gained a takedown soon after that but did almost nothing with the move, forcing the referee to stand the two up. Before the bell, Alexander landed a nice left elbow and followed it up with a strong right hand. This round should've been Alexander's.
And by that scoring, you have one round for Kimbo (round two), one for Alexander (round three), and one that no one deserved. That said, you could give the first to Kimbo based on the fact that he took the center of the ring. Or you could give it to Alexander based on low kicks. Or you could just call it a draw that no one deserved to really gain points from. In the end, what I'm saying is that either fighter could've been awarded the decision (and the judge that gave Kimbo all three rounds needs to explain). But that's not how the cookie crumbled.
Kimbo Slice defeats Houston Alexander via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Full TUF 10 Finale Results