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Tag: mma

  • Live Video: New York State Assembly hearing on legalization of MMA

    The vote in the New York assembly regarding MMA being legalized, that is expected to pass, is taking place right now.  You can watch live via the video link below.  The hearing has been a circus so far with every ignorant statement about MMA imaginable being made.

    If it passes, the tentative plan would be to run a big show in November in Madison Square Garden.

    UFC had hoped for it to pass for years now, and several times it likely would have, but it was blocked from going to a vote for a number of reasons.  Amazingly, amateur mixed martial arts is legal in New York but professional mixed martial arts is not.

    Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez talked about this situation in detail in last night’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

    WATCH LIVE HERE

  • Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: UFC fighter, writer & photographer Mike Jackson

    With such a major weekend and major events behind us and with so many big things to look forward to, this week’s Josh Nason’s Punch-Out features someone who has both covered the sport and fought inside the Octagon to help make sense of it all: UFC welterweight and media memberMike Jackson!

    ***This is a free show for everyone. Please share on your social network of choice!***

    Josh and Mike talked for an hour about the news of the day and his future, including:

    – His thoughts on Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz and where McGregor went wrong

    – Why he enjoyed Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate more than most

    – Who he’d like to see McGregor, Holm, Diaz, and Tate fight next

    – What fight announced during the UFC Unstoppable presser he most wants to see

    – What he learned and took in during his first UFC fight week

    – When it first set in that he had actually competed inside the Octagon

    – Why he wants to fight Artem Lobov

    – Why it bothers both Josh and Mike how much grief Sage Northcutt gets…and more!

    Click below to stream or right click to download. Thanks for sharing socially!

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  • Breaking News: Dave & Bryan on the death of Kevin Randleman

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today with a breaking news audio on the death of Kevin Randleman.

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  • Jim Ross signs on with Flipps’ Fite TV, more commentary to come?

    On Tuesday, Flipps Media of San Mateo, CA, announced the development of an online service called FITE TV, and that Jim Ross has signed on as the public face of the product, strongly suggesting he would be doing more commentary.

    FITE TV will give viewers worldwide access to PPV and iPPV events from pro wrestling, boxing, and MMA. There will be both a free and a PPV component to the service, which in many ways, is reminiscent of Go Fight Live, a similar service.

    The key is this service will also offer streaming PPV events from TNA and ROH for those who either a) don’t have access to them or b) want the convenience of streaming rather than buying on TV.  FITE TV will be available on smart TVs as well as most streaming devices. The app is available free on iTunes and Google Play now.

    Besides TNA and ROH, the entire WWN Live family of Evolve, Shine and FIP, as well as Future Stars of Wrestling have signed on with FITE. If you remember, Jeff Jarrett used Flipps Media for the iPPV broadcast of Wrestle Kingdom 9 when he had the international rights to the show.

    Ross’ involvement was due to a connection with Mike Weber, the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Flipps Media. Weber had a long history in pro wrestling, serving as a marketing head for WCW, WWE and TNA.

    “Getting invovled with FITE is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” said Ross. “It is the future of televised fighting sports. There is no easier way to stream wrestling, MMA and other fighting sports content including special commentaries on those sports by me.”

    Other organizations involved will include the Las Vegas based Tuff-N-Uff amateur MMA promotion, Legacy Fighting Championships, USA Sumo and the World Arm Wrestling championships.

  • Holly Holm strikes it big at World MMA Awards

    Holly Holm won four different awards at tonight’s World MMA Awards in Las Vegas. Holm was awarded Female Fighter of the Year, Upset of the Year, Knockout of the Year and Breakthrough Fighter of the Year.  The show was taped in Las Vegas for TV on FS 2 .  We’ll see if Ariel Helwani’s nice speech about me makes the cut.

    Award winners:

    Knockout of the Year: Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey

    Media Source of the Year: MMAFighting.com

    Submission of the Year: Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano

    Fight of the Year: Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald

    Coach of the Year: Rafael Cordeiro

    Reporter of the Year: Ariel Helwani

    Gym of the Year: Jackson/Winkeljohn

    Leading Man: Dana White

    Comeback of the Year: Eddie Alvarez vs. Gilbert Melendez

    Trainer of the Year: Mike Dolce

    Lifetime Achievement Award: Bruce Buffer

    Promotion of the Year: UFC

    Analyst of the Year: Dominick Cruz

    Referee of the Year: John McCarthy

    Upset of the Year: Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey

    Best program: UFC Embedded

    Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Holly Holm

    Ringcard Girl of the Year: Arianny Celeste (who in her speech said this was the silliest award)

    Male Fighter of the Year: Conor McGregor, who cut a taped heel promo

    Female Fighter of the Year: Holly Holm

  • Retrospective: The Ultimate Fighter, season two

    Due to the rousing success of TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) season one, specifically the TV ratings for the finale, which featured the famous Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar match, TUF season two was produced quickly and came on the air only a few months later. The finale for season two would set a ratings record doing a 2.0 (2 million viewers), edging out the season one finale, which did a 1.9 (1.9 million viewers). (You can read “Retrospective: TUF Season One” here)

    Season two was basically the exact same as season one. Season two was also the only season (until recently) where all the house fights were considered professional bouts by the NSAC. Typically, the “in-house” fights are only considered “practice” and don’t effect a fighter’s record. These fights counted.

    The Ultimate Fighter – Season TWO

    Airdate: Spike TV, August 22, 2005 – November 5, 2005

    Weight Classes: Heavyweight and Welterweight

    Coaches: Matt Hughes (blue), Rich Franklin (green)

    Team Hughes: Joe Stevenson (w), Josh Burkman* (w), Sammy Morgan (w), Luke Cummo (w), Mike Whitehead (h), Dan Christison (h), Rob MacDonald (h), Tom Murphy (h) *Burkman was replaced by Jason Von Flue due to injury on episode 2

    Team Franklin: Jorge Gurgel (w), Marcus Davis (w), Anthony Torres (w), Melvin Guillard (w), Keith Jardine (h), Seth Petruzelli (h), Rashad Evans (h), Brad Imes (h)

    The Finale:

    • Joe Stevenson beat Luke Cummo by unanimous decision in three rounds to become the TUF welterweight winner
    • Rashad Evans beat Brad Imes by split decision to become the TUF heavyweight winner
    • In the main event, Diego Sanchez beat Nick Diaz by unanimous decision

    This season was pretty uneventful. It really became clear about half way through that Chris Leben should have been hired to be on every season, just to hang out, get drunk, and cause problems. These fighters seemed to get along much better. However, there were some interesting things that happened this season:

    • Heavyweight Kerry Schall was eliminated due to a knee injury
    • Eli Joslin chose to leave the show, citing his reasons as not being able to handle the camera environment at the house (as an aspiring fighter, this made me so mad)
    • Dan Christison joined the show to replace the injured Schall
    • Josh Burkman was forced to leave the competition after breaking his arm in his match with Melvin Guillard
    • Jason Von Flue joined the show to replace Burkman
    • Evans caused controversy by showboating in his fight against Tom Murphy
    • Coach Hughes sent Von Flue over to Team Franklin for reshuffling, which made Von Flue mad
    • Even though Cummo and Imes were both the last picked for their respective divisions, they both made it to the finale

    There wasn’t much memorable that happened, but I do remember when Rashad won the heavyweight finals. It made me fall in love with him as a fighter. Here was this smooth talking undersized athlete taking on this monstrous rugged cowboy. Rashad was clearly too small to be a heavyweight, but he won anyway. I’m not sure when he took the nickname “Suga” but I gave that name (Sugar) to my third dog in his honor.

    Where are the champions now?

    Joe ”Daddy” Stevenson: Stevenson’s last fight in the UFC was a loss to Javier Vazquez on June 26, 2011. It was his fourth loss in a row. He was cut by UFC and has since lost two more times putting his losing streak at six. He most recently fought one year ago on January 30, 2015, for Swarm Entertainment at Super Brawl 1 losing by split decision to Dominique Robinson. My guess is that there was never a Super Brawl 2. His current record is 31-16 and rumor has it that he’s retired from active fighting at age 33, which is probably a smart decision.

    “Suga” Rashad Evans: Evans’ is still in the UFC. He is 36 and was most recently seen being defeated by Ryan Bader at UFC 192 on October 3, 2015. Rumor has it that he will be facing Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on FOX 19 on April 16, 2016. His record is 19-4, and he actually had a brief light-heavyweight title reign taking the strap from season-one alum Forrest Griffin, only to have the title taken from him in his first defense against Lyoto Machida. 

  • FS1 scores big ratings success from UFC Boston event

    Photo: Esther Lin of MMAFighting.com

    Ratings are in for this past Sunday’s UFC Fight Night on Fox Sports 1 and they’re excellent. 

    Sunday’s four fight main card from Boston, headlined by Dominick Cruz defeating TJ Dillashaw for the UFC bantamweight title, averaged 2.288 million viewers for the nearly three hour broadcast — the second highest number ever for UFC on that network, trailing only the January 2015 Boston show headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Dennis Siver.

    Even more impressively, the two-hour prelims show (Patrick Cote vs Ben Saunders was the featured fight of four televised bouts) averaged 1.767 million viewers. That’s good for the fourth highest rated UFC show on FS 1, just behind the promotion’s debut show in August 2013 that was headlined by Chael Sonnen vs. Shogun Rua. Coincidentally, that was also in Boston.

    With the expirement of running a UFC show following NFL’s NFC playoff games earlier in the day on FOX – and heavily promoting the show during the game – proving to be a ratings success, expect the Sunday January show to become an annual tradition.

  • Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: 2015 MMA Year In Review (October-December)

    In the final installment of our look back at 2015 in the world of MMA, Josh Nason and Paul Fontaine of WrestlingObserver.com and MMADraws.com look at one of the most eventful quarters in MMA history: October – December. Here’s part 1 and part 2 for subscribers.

    Here’s just a bit of what Josh and Paul discussed:

    • Conor McGregor’s 13-second exclamation point on his year long feud with Jose Aldo
    • Daniel Cormier’s eventful first title defense at UFC 192 against Alexander Gustafsson that also included Johny Hendricks missing weight and the debut of Sage Northcutt
    • UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw leaving Team Alpha Male and heading to work with Urijah Faber rival Duane Ludwig
    • Holly Holm’s shocking knockout and dominance of Ronda Rousey in Australia
    • Bellator booking Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie III for early-2016
    • ONE’s answer to weight cutting issues
    • And tons more!

    If you’re a subscriber, right click to save or just click to listen. Subscribers get early access & other UFC audio content by signing up for the RSS feed!

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  • Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: 2015 MMA Year In Review (July-September)

    Photo: Esther Lin of MMAFighting.com

    As we continue to slide into 2016, we’re not finishing talking about the amazing 2015 in MMA just yet. After discussing January-June, Paul Fontaine of WrestlingObserver.com and MMADraws.com is back on the 26th Josh Nason’s Punch-Out to sift through all the big news and happenings from July through September. 

    Here’s just a lovin’ spoonful of what Josh and Paul discussed:

    • Conor McGregor’s ascension to the throne of (ahem, interim) UFC featherweight champion
    • Gilbert Melendez’s surprise failed drug test
    • Fedor Emelianenko coming out of retirement, but for who?
    • Ronda Rousey winning ESPYs and calling out Floyd Mayweather
    • Stitch Duran’s firing from UFC
    • Sean Wheelock getting released from Bellator/Spike TV
    • The build to UFC 190 and Rousey’s 34-second destruction of insta-rival Bethe Correia
    • Anderson Silva banned for a year and the mystery blue vial of liquid​
    • The UFC’s Go Big press conference where McGregor made three or so future fights
    • Bellator’s foray into a dual MMA/Glory kickboxing show to mixed results
    • The controversy of Vitor Belfort’s elevated TRT tests prior to UFC 152 and who know what and when
    • And tons more!

    If you’re a subscriber, right click to save or just click to listen. Subscribers get early access & other UFC audio content by signing up for the RSS feed!

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  • UFC 195 feedback, Lawler vs. Condit fight of the night

    UFC 195

    Thumbs way up. Some upsets, burst bubbles, and stylistic surprises, and as expected an off the chart main event. Some questionable decisions but what else is new.

    Best fight: Lawler-Condit

    Worst fight: wasn’t one

    Best performance: Condit even losing

    KO: Stipe

    Sub: Ortega

    Sheldon Westcott eats a couple of Edgar Garcia right hands and very quickly takes it down, ties him in knots, and gets the rather late TKO off about a zillion unanswered punches. Michonori Tanaka aggressive early but Joe Soto threatens off his back throughout and comes on very strong in the 3rd. Entertaining and competitive. 29-28 split Tanaka. Soto would have won by whole fight but by the rounds/points system you can see how it went that way. Dustin Poirer looks outstanding back at LW busting the Joe Duffy bubble, taking a wide but also entertaining and competitive UD with one 30-26.

    Striker Drew Dober surprisingly widely dominates the TD game and takes the 29-28 upset UD over wrestler Scott Holtzman. Similarly, Nina Ansaroff outstrikes Justine Kish, who seems overanxious, and Kish comes on late to dominate the ground game. Could go either way. Kish takes the the UD with two 30-27s, which seems weird, as Ansaroff certainly looked to win the 1st. Alex Morono takes a dubious 29-28 x 2, 27-30 SD over Kyle Noke in a very close one. Michael McDonald looking very rusty after two years off gets used as a mat rag by Masanori Kanehara but somehow reverses a sunk-looking arm tri into RNC for the tap in the 2nd. 

    Tony Sims looks good early at long range and stuffing Abel Trujillo’s TD, but Trujillo counters a power double with a Guillotine for the tap. He’s so strong he didn’t even need proper position, getting pressure using his neck, shoulder and chest. Facially Trujillo and Roman Reigns could be twins.

    Diego Brandao outboxes and outwrestles Brian Ortega for 2 1/2 rounds but misses a punch badly in the 3rd allowing Ortega to get position to chain subs till he locks up a triangle for the tap.

    Very interesting fight that might have been too subtle for the audience. Basically Lorenz Larkin’s low kicks vs. Albert Tumenov’s body punches. Very close. Like the earlier fight whole fight scoring would be Larkin who finished strong but points go 29-28 split Tumenov. Not popular decision. Both looked very good.

    A bigger bubble bursts as Stipe Miocic catches Andrei Arlovski’s always questionable chin with a short right that rocks him and does not let him off the hook and it’s over in 54s. Stipe screams at Dana for a title shot, which seems unarguable. Stipe was just ranting (not in a bad way) and I think on his promo he said at one point ‘I’m CM Punk, bro.’

    Carlos Condit turns in a career-best performance in his WW title challenge to Robbie Lawler. Most fluid and instinctive he’s ever looked. Pattern is set in the 1st with Condit constantly moving and leading and Robbie looking to counter after Carlos scores a flash KD. He then dictates the rest of the round, 10-9. Pattern holds in the 2nd but Robbie finds the range and drops Carlos, a lot harder and has him in brief trouble and evens it up. The 3rd is the swing round as it turns out with Carlos again just much much busier and Robbie throwing very little but landing most of it clean and hard. I thought the sheer volume made it Condit’s round. The 4th was similar until late when Carlos rocked Robbie late and had him in some trouble and I thought was enough for a 10-8. The corner told Robbie he needed a KO and he went out and tried to get it, hitting Carlos with everything but the kitchen sink, but he couldn’t drop him and Carlos fought back every time. Early round of the year candidate and fight of the year also. Robbie took the 5th, borderline but IMO not quite 10-8. Both collapsed against the fence at the bell. I had Condit 49-46 but the judges went 48-47 split for Robbie. No losers here. A rematch could be called for but Carlos said he may retire.

    Crimson Mask

    Good morning Dave, 
    I ordered the show on UFC.tv with a fight pass discount.  I definitely got my money’s worth.  A solid thumbs up show, with very good prelims, and a great main event.  I think a rematch at UFC 200 or that weekend HAS TO happen (sorry Tyrone).  And have a #1 contender fight on standby that weekend.  I scored the main event 47-47, with the champ winning rounds 2, 3, 5 @ 10-9.  I scored Condit winning 1 @ 10-9 and 4 @ 10-8.  Lawler did nothing in 4 and CC’s striking stats showed I was justified having a 10-8 score.  

    Happy WK Eve,
    James Brown

    Thumbs up

    Best fight Robbie Lawler vs Carlos Condit

    Worst fight Drew Dober vs Scott Holtzman

    Best KO Stipe Miocic

    Best Sub Michael MacDonald

    Best Performance Robbie Lawler & Carlos Condit

    Robbie and Carlos was a war, scored it for Condit but 3rd round was so close that i cant be upset about it, way more upset over the Kyle Noke decision. Poirier vs Duffy was also a great fight that is gonna go unnoticed because it aired on Fight Pass and due to the main event euphoria

    Wade Haugen

    Thumbs Up

    Best Fight: Lawler vs. Condit

    What a terrible decision.  I could see a draw if you gave Lawler a 10-8 2nd round and a 10-9 5th but I can’t see how you give him the fight.  Rest of the show was fun if not inconsequential outside of the Miocic KO win.  

    Mike Hiscoe

    Thumbs up show fight of the night lawler vs condit. Worst fight was Justine kish vs Nina Anasaroff. Just an awesome main event. I think the reason I had lawler winning 48-47 was in that third round even though condit threw more, a lot of the punches didn’t land while when they were exchanging lawler got the better of him. Three was the only close round. Every other one was solid by condit in 1 and 4 while lawler in 2 and 5. Again great show.

    Corey Lieb

    Thumbs up. Best fight lawler vs condit. Think fight is great but being overhyped. Maybe best round 5 I’ve seen, but lot of fight was lawler failing to get off. I scored 3 to 2 for condit. Lawler would have won pride rules. Enjoyed lawler macdonald and lawler Hendricks both times better. Wish Hendricks hadn’t missed weight as I still think he and lawler is best fight to make. Love condit but don’t think he’s top 3 in division at moment. Other than lawler , think Hendricks, woodley, and macdonald all beat him. Don’t think this decision was any more controversial than Hendricks lawler 2 which I thought was more clearly for Hendricks than this was for lawler. 

    All that said, loved the fight. 

    Mark Libell

    Thumbs way up.
    Best match was obviously Lawler/Condit. One of the best fights ever, I think. Hope they run it back, I’d pay double to watch it.
    Worst match I’d say Kish/Ansaroff for lacking anything that looked like pro-level technique.
    With that main event, easy thumbs up, but the co-main was a great performance and Brian Ortega and Michael McDonald had 2 outstanding submissions. Fun show on the whole.

    Jeremy Sexton