Shirley Bendell Inducted Into Martial Arts Hall of Fame
We often read about people gaining a lot from getting involved in the martial arts. Such was the case with Shirley Bendell, a recent inductee into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame. Bendell, a victim of both gang and acquaintance rape that lost her sister to an unsolved murder began participating in the martial arts back in 1980. She believes that the move helped her to become a victor, not a victim. Today, she holds a Fifth-Degree Black Belt in Song Moo Kwan Tae Kwon Do, Freestyle Karate, Shitu Jujitsu and Shitu Judo.
However, Bendell has done more than just take from the martial arts; she has also given to them. You see, over the past 18 years she's taught more than 1,300 women and girls in a special sexual-assault prevention class. She has also instructed many in regular classes and thinks of those she works with like extended family.
Bendell received the Hall of Fame honor from her husband, Don, for these reasons and more, making them the first husband-wife team to be inducted. In fact, Bendell had no idea that she was even the guest of honor at the annual Bendell Karate Awards Banquet at Shrine Hall in Pueblo West, instead believing she was going to receive a surprise visit from one of her famous friends.
"I cannot believe this," Bendell said following the presentation. "This is one of the best days of my life. Thank you so, so much."
Congratulations to someone who clearly deserves the honor that was bestowed upon her.
Reference
BJ Penn defeats Diego Sanchez By TKO At UFC 107
"This fight is my destiny... It's everything that I've ever dreamed of," said Diego Sanchez before challenging BJ Penn for his UFC light heavyweight championship. Of course, past would-be opponents often stated such things only to find out later that Penn was more of a nightmare opponent than anything else. Speaking of "Nightmare," you're probably wondering how Sanchez did. So let's get to it.
The first round saw Sanchez come forward aggressively early and get absolutely dropped by a huge Penn right hand for his efforts. From there, Sanchez ate a terrific onslaught of punches that would have taken out a lesser man but somehow survived. For the majority of the rest of the stanza, Sanchez and Penn were pretty even on their feet until Penn landed a strong right hand at the end of the round.
In the second round, Penn once again used his better boxing skills to gain points on his adversary, often connecting with punches right after failed Sanchez takedown attempts. By the way, the same exact kind of thing occurred in both the third and fourth stanzas. But the fifth round proved different. You see, a Penn high kick opened up a huge cut on his opponents' forehead that caused the doctor to stop the fight by way of TKO. This fight tells us a few things about Penn once and for all. First, his boxing is at the top of the food chain in the UFC lightweight division. Second, cardio is no longer a problem at all. And last, he's the greatest MMA lightweight champion we've seen to date.
BJ Penn wins via TKO at 2:37 of round five.
Check out our UFC 107 Results
Frank Mir Submits Cheick Kongo At UFC 107
Before taking on the absolutely enormous Cheick Kongo at UFC 107, Frank Mir said, "my long term goal is Brock Lesnar's demise." Would this kind of forward thinking prove to be foolish with a different challenge in front of him in the here and now? One word: Nope.
Mir came out willing to strike with his adversary. Simply put, he utilized good head movement, connected with a big left hand that dropped Kongo, and then choked him out cold. In the end, a revitalized and much bigger Mir made it look easy.
Frank Mir wins by submission at 1:12 of round one. And he didn't even have the leverage people usually need to sink in the guillotine.
Check out the rest of our UFC 107 results
Jon Fitch Defeats Mike Pierce By Unanimous Decision At UFC 107
"I enjoy welcoming in the new guys and putting an early beat down on them," Jon Fitch said before taking on Mike Pierce at UFC 107. It was hard not to believe Fitch considering his record. That said, they have the fights for a reason, right?
The first round saw Fitch take his opponent to the canvas pretty quickly and then take his back. Though he landed several strikes from that position, he was unable to flatten Pierce, which caused him to eventually give this advantage up. Soon after, Pierce took Fitch down only to watch him get to his feet rather quickly. For the rest of the round, Fitch proved to be the more technical striker.
1-0 Fitch.
The second round saw Fitch gain two takedowns and out strike his opponent on his feet, causing Pierce to need a stoppage in the third. Unfortunately for Pierce, he didn't get it.
Jon Fitch wins via unanimous decision.
Check out our UFC 107 Results
Kenny Florian Submits Clay Guida By Rear Naked Choke At UFC 107
The bottom line coming into the fight between Kenny Florian and Clay Guida at UFC 107 was this- Clay Guida simply doesn't engage in boring fights. Neither, really, does Kenny Florian, making this a highly anticipated bout.
The first round started off with some technical striking by both fighters before Florian attempted a high kick, fell off balance, and found himself on the ground for his efforts. Soon after, however, he was able to get to his feet, which said a lot for his chances considering that getting up from under Guida hasn't proven to be an easy task in the past for opponents. From there, Guida began establishing Octagon control in the middle of the ring with activity and occasional right hands inside when Florian suddenly shot and took him down. Though Guida got right back up, moments later Florian actually ended up on the canvas with his adversary side mount. Again, Guida got up. Then Florian grabbed a double leg and took him down really hard with a slam.
Along the way, a right elbow by Florian opened up a cut on Guida's head, even if Guida did get up again before the bell. Got to give that round to Florian, based on the cut and his activity toward the end of the stanza.
The beginning of the second saw Guida shoot in for a takedown only to watch Florian sprawl out of it. With the blood flowing down Guida's head, Florian began to slowly connect with punches in spots. In other words, his superior technical striking really began to show through. Perhaps that's what caused Guida to come forward somewhat wildly, and on the way in Florian sent him to the ground with a right hand, followed it up with strikes on the canvas, and then sunk in the rear naked choke. Moments later, Guida was tapping.
Kenny Florian defeats Clay Guida by way of rear naked choke at 2:19 of round two. Just another impressive win for the Boston-bred fighter.
Check out the rest of our UFC 107 Results
Stefan Struve Defeats Paul Buentello By Decision In A UFC 107 War
"I'm gonna use my reach and my height and my size to my advantage," Stefan Struve told fans before taking on Paul Buentello in his long awaited UFC return. Would Buentello knock his adversary out, or would all 6-foot-11 of Struve prove to be too much?
The first stanza started with a big uppercut from Struve after failing to pull guard on his opponent. Soon after, Struve took Buentello down and then took his back with a body triangle. A decent amount of striking and some valid rear naked choke attempts by Struve followed, but the crafty Buentello fought off his advances for several minutes until finally managing to turn the tables on his opponent and take the top position on the ground. But too little, too late. The first round clearly went to Struve.
The second round of this fight was awesome. Early on, Buentello landed a nice overhand right and then another on his forward moving opponent that dropped him, more from momentum change than anything else. After Struve came to his feet, the two found themselves along the cage wall where the tall Dutch fighter dropped to the ground and started looking for leglocks to no avail. When they came to their feet again, Buentello landed a great right to the body. Struve countered with some nice punches, before coming in with a flying knee, only to get rocked by a huge Buentello right that dropped him for his efforts. Toward the end of the round, the two threw down on one another big time. It was a great exchange. That said, the second stanza was clearly Buentello's, making the last one the deciding factor in this writer's opinion.
The third round saw a tired Buentello continue to throw hard right hands that often hit. Unfortunately for him, Struve's long legs allowed him to land an amazing amount of low kicks that did real and consistent damage. The two traded big time toward the end of the fight again, but Struve's kicks deservedly gave him both the final round and a majority decision.
Stefan Struve wins by majority decision.
Click the link for more UFC 107 Results
UFC 107 BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez Results
UFC 107 came to us all live on December 12, 2009 from the FedEx Forum in Memphis , Tennessee. We're talking about a card with BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Clay Guida vs. Kenny Florian, and Cheick Kongo vs. Frank Mir on it. Talk about trying to bring in some Tennessee fans, no?
In case you're wondering what happened, see our UFC 107 results below with links to more detailed explanations of the bigger fights.
Alan Belcher defeats Wilson Gouveia by first-round TKO
Matt Wiman defeats Shane Nelson by unanimous decision
Johny Hendricks defeats Ricardo Funch by unanimous decision
Rousimar Palhares defeats Lucio Linhares by second-round submission
DaMarques Johnson defeats Edgar Garcia by first-round submission
TJ Grant defeats Kevin Burns by first-round TKO
Stefan Struve defeats Paul Buentello by decision
Kenny Florian defeats Clay Guida by rear naked choke
Jon Fitch defeats Mike Pierce by decision
Jake Shields Joins Bevy Of MMA Fighters Against Dog Fighting
When NFL star Michael Vick went to jail for charges connected to dog fighting, the world was given a grim dose of reality. Our sports stars are hardly all role models. After all, the idea that someone could take living things and train them to kill one another for sport, often under highly abusive circumstances, is just hideous on a number of levels.
Enter Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields. Shields has now joined several other professional MMA fighters in taking on this problem with Kris Crawford of For Pits' Sake, Inc., by joining their Knock Out Dog Fighting Program.
"Now that I am a known fighter I think it's important for me to be a positive role model and speak out to let people know this kind of stuff isn't OK," said Shields. "As professional fighters, we are willing participants and can walk away whenever we want. Dogs aren't given that choice."
Here's hoping that they can make a difference. If not, then here's hoping that those who use dogs in such a manner will be thrown into a cage with the Fedor Emelianenko's and Anderson Silva's of the world without their consent, just to get a sense of what it's like.
Dan Henderson Signs With Strikeforce
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
Roy Big Country Nelson Knocks Out Brendan Schaub To Win Ultimate Fighter 10
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.