Dynamite!! 2010 Picks

Ishii > Le Banner
Kharitonov > Mizuno
Overeem > Duffee
Fernandes > Takaya
Zaromskis < Sakuraba
Aoki > Nagashima
Kawajiri > Thomson
Miyata < Uno
Tokoro > Watanabe
Sakurai > High
Minowa > Izumi

Strikeforce Rankings - December 28th 2010

Rankings for fighters who currently fight in Strikeforce.

Note: Champions are automatically ranked number one in their divisions

Heavyweight
1. Alistair Overeem
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Antonio Silva
5. Josh Barnett
6. Brett Rogers
7. Andrei Arlovski
8. Shane Del Rosario
9. Daniel Cormier
10. Lavar Johnson

Changes: Antonio Silva moved up from #5 to #4 after defeating #6 LHW Mike Kyle. With Antonio Silva rising Josh Barnett dropped to #5.

Light Heavyweight
1. Rafael Cavalcante
2. Mo Lawal
3. Gegard Mousasi
4. Dan Henderson
5. Renato Sobral
6. Mike Kyle
7. Ovince St. Preux
8. Roger Gracie
9. Antwain Britt
10. Ron Humphrey

Changes: #5 Dan Henderson defeated previously #4 ranked Renato Sobral to take his spot and will take on #1 Rafael Cavalcante next. #7 Ovince St. Preux stays put after his win against #10 MW Benji Radach and Mike Kyle's stock did not drop as he was impressive in defeat in a HW match against Antonio Silva, he sits at #6.

Middleweight
1. Ronaldo Souza
2. Mayhem Miller
3. Tim Kennedy
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Cung Le
6. Luke Rockhold
7. Trevor Prangley
8. Matt Lindland
9. Scott Smith
10. Benji Radach

Changes: #5 ranked Matt Lindland loses to Robbie Lawler and drops down to #8 as Luke Rockhold and Trevor Prangley both move up a spot. Scott Smith lost his WW debut against #2 WW Paul Daley and will most likely fight at MW for his next fight. #4 Robbie Lawler's KO of Matt Lindland has propelled him into a title match-up against #1 Ronaldo Souza.

Welterweight
1. Nick Diaz
2. Paul Daley
3. Tyron Woodley
4. Evangelista Santos
5. Bobby Voelker
6. Roger Bowling
7. Jorge Masvidal
8. Tarec Saffiedine
9. Marius Zaromskis
10. James Terry

Changes: Paul Daley cemented himself as the #2 WW with an impressive KO of #9 MW Scott Smith. However #4 Evangelista Santos will get the next crack at #1 Nick Diaz's WW crown.

Lightweight
1. Gilbert Melendez
2. Josh Thomson
3. K.J. Noons
4. Lyle Beerbohm
5. Gesias Cavalcante
6. Billy Evangelista
7. Justin Wilcox
8. Vitor Ribeiro
9. Jorge Gurgel
10. Caros Fodor

Changes: None

World Victory Road Presents: Soul of Fight Picks

SRC Jacket match (Lightweights): Sotaro Yamada vs. Kim Lee Sak
Sotaro Yamada by R2 Sub

SRC Jacket match (59 kg): Kiyotaka Shimizu vs. Ichiro Sugita
Kiyotaka Shimizu by UD

SRC Jacket match (Lightweights): Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Jung Jin Suk
Yukio Sakaguchi by UD

Amy Davis vs. Misaki Takimoto
Misaki Takimoto by R2 Sub

Rin Nakai vs. Mika “Hari” Harigai
Rin Nakai by R2 TKO

Roxanne Modafferi vs. Hitomi Akano
Roxanne Modafferi by UD

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament 2010: Manabu Inoue vs. Shunichi Shimizu
Manabu Inoue by UD

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament 2010: Akitoshi Tamura vs. Taiyo Nakahara
Taiyo Nakahara by UD

Heavyweights: Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Dave Herman
Dave Herman by UD

Middleweights: Yuki Sasaki vs. Mamed Khalidov
Mamed Khalidov by R2 TKO

Lightweights: Kazunori Yokota vs. Jadamba Narantungalag
Kazunori Yokota by UD

SRC Welterweight GP Series: K-Taro Nakamura vs. Yasubey Enomoto
K-Taro Nakamura by UD

Lightweights: Maximo Blanco vs. Won Sik Park
Maximo Blanco by R3 TKO

Welterweights: Ryo Chonan vs. Taisuke Okuno
Ryo Chonan by UD

Featherweights: Masanori Kanehara vs. Yoshiro Maeda
Masanori Kanehara by UD

Megumi Fujii vs. Emi Fujino
Megumi Fujii by R1 Sub

Middleweights: Kazuo Misaki vs. Mike Seal
Kazuo Misaki by R2 Sub

SRC Featherweight title match: Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki
Hatsu Hioki by R4 Sub

Update on the Will Ribeiro Situation - Dana White Promises To Help

As you should know, Dana White was in Rio (alongside UFC Champions Anderson Silva, Shogun Rua and other UFC talent) recently to announce that the UFC would be returning to Brazil in 2011. After the press conference, Dana White met Will Ribeiro and promised him that he would help him. Here is what Will said on Facebook:

I'll wait for your help with great calm and patience. 

Thank you Dana White. Be what God wants. 

Let's see if Dana White and different from my managers Ed Soares and Jorge Guimaraes. 

He shook my hand, had an attitude of a gentleman. 

With much determination and sacrificial I Will Ribeiro had access to Dana White here in Rio, was complicated and virtually impossible but I won that battle but the game of interests, I overcame the famous imposter when Panico na TV, I could dribble and got the watchful in man's billfold circfuito fights, he talked to me Ed Smith spoke with him about what I live here in Brazil and Dana White was impressed when he saw me, even then he knew miml mouth by others and some photos, well, he shook my hand and according to Ed Smith, he promised to help. Let's wait and see and it is equal to Ed Smith and Joinha, or if he a different person the same as Andrew Noble Pederneiras.

Will Ribiero was formerly a top 10 ranked Bantamweight fighting in the Zuffa owned WEC promotion. In December of 2008 he was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him in a coma. Will is no longer in a coma but he is still recovering from his near fatal injuries. His struggles have been well documented by James Ryan.

Anthony Pettis Went Matrix At WEC 53

WEC went out with a hell of a bang as Anthony Pettis performed a very Genki Sudo-esque move of awesomeness. Check it out below:

WEC 53 Picks

Bantamweight bout: Renan Barão vs. Chris Cariaso
Barão by UD

Lightweight bout: Ricardo Lamas vs. Yuri Alcantara
Lamas by UD

Lightweight bout: Danny Castillo vs. Will Kerr
Castillo by UD

Bantamweight bout: Eddie Wineland vs. Ken Stone
Wineland by R3 TKO

Bantamweight bout: Brad Pickett vs. Ivan Menjivar
Pickett by UD

Lightweight bout: Jamie Varner vs. Shane Roller
Varner by R3 TKO

Lightweight bout: Zhang Tie Quan vs. Danny Downes
Quan by UD

Lightweight bout: Bart Palaszewski vs. Kamal Shalorus
Shalorus by R2 TKO

Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Chris Horodecki
Cerrone by UD

Bantamweight Championship bout: Dominick Cruz (c) vs. Scott Jorgensen
Cruz by UD

Lightweight Championship bout: Ben Henderson (c) vs. Anthony Pettis
Henderson by R3 Sub

MMA Picks Recap

Finally the full results from Nemesis Fighting are in so I can display how I did on my picks last week.

UFC 124
5-5-1 (prelims absolutely killed me this time out)

Extreme Challenge 170
4-0

Nemesis Fighting
5-1

This week:
14-6-1

Overall:
22-8-1

UFC 124, Nemesis Fighting & Other MMA Event Picks

Extreme Challenge 170

Vince Lucero vs. Tim Sylvia
Sylvia by R1 KO

Richard White vs. Travis Wiuff
Wiuff by R1 sub

Ryan Williams vs. Tommy Speer
Speer by UD

Ted Worthington vs. Paul Bradley
Bradley by UD

Nemesis Fighting: MMA Global Invasion

Lightheavyweight bout: Francisco France vs. Keith Jardine
Jardine by R3 KO

Heavyweight bout: Kerry Schall vs. Paul Buentello
Buentello by R1 TKO

Lightheavyweight bout: Chris Davis vs. Eliot Marshall
Marshall by UD

Lightweight bout: Jeff Curran vs. Travis Marx
Curran by UD

Middleweight bout: Marcus Hicks vs. Terry Martin
Martin by UD

Flyweight bout: John Dodson vs John Moraga
Dodson by UD

UFC 124

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Josh Koscheck
Koscheck by UD

Heavyweight bout: Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle
McCorkle by KO R1

Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
Miller by UD

Lightweight bout: Joe Stevenson vs. Mac Danzig
Stevenson by UD

Welterweight bout: Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
Alves by R3 TKO

Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Hazelett by R2 sub

Middleweight bout: Joe Doerksen vs. Dan Miller
Miller by UD

Middleweight bout: Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Rafael Natal
Natal by UD

Welterweight bout: Matt Riddle vs. Sean Pierson
Riddle by UD

Welterweight bout: TJ Grant vs. Ricardo Almeida
Almeida by R2 sub

Lightweight bout: Pat Audinwood vs. John Makdessi
Audinwood by UD

Fedor Emelianenko Rumor Mill

I've gathered a couple of interesting rumors concerning Fedor from some reliable sources in my opinion and I thought I would share them. First off the Fedor/M-1 deal is done in principal and should be finished soon (this was actually accidentally leaked by Loretta Hunt on twitter) and secondly it looks like Fedor will face Russian Heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov next (only way that it would make some sense is if it was the opening of the HW tournament Strikeforce wants to put on). As always with rumors take this with a grain of salt but don't be too surprised if this happens.

Dana White Vlog 12-6-10

Strikeforce Just Put On The Card of the Year

Strikeforce: St. Louis was easily the best card of 2010. It featured THREE KO of the Year candidates, a back and forth war in Mike Kyle/Bigfoot Silva, the most one-sided thrashing this side of Cyborg/Finney in OSP/Radach (a fight I scored 30-24).

Just in case you missed it:

The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck Finale Quick Picks

Featherweight bout: Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia
Leonard Garcia by UD

Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Rick Story
Hendricks by UD

Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove
Maia by UD

Light Heavyweight bout: Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
Bonnar by R3 TKO

Lightweight bout: Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson
Brookins by R2 sub

The World MMA Awards Skits

The World MMA Awards went down and since it's a popularity contest that means squat i'm not going to get into the results but they did have a few skits that were worth a few chuckles.

Strikeforce Henderson vs Babalu 2 Quick Picks

Dan Henderson (#5 LHW) vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral (#4 LHW)
Hendo tries to come back from his loss to now UFC Welterweight contender Jake Shields and I think will beat Babalu for the second time in another close decision victory. The winner of this match will most likely take on Feijao next.

Robbie Lawler (#4 MW) vs. Matt Lindland (#6 MW)
A classic striker versus grappler match. Both men are very experienced but Lindland is twelve years Lawler's senior. Although Lindland has had a lot of trouble with southpaw strikers in the past (Vitor Belfort), I expect him to out-grapple Lawler to a decision.

Antonio Silva (#5 HW) vs. Mike Kyle (#6 LHW)
As a last minute replacement Mike Kyle will step in for the injured Valentjin Overeem to face Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. While I like Kyle's chances better than Overeem I still can't pick him to beat the bigger Silva although an upset is a possibility. Bigfoot by third round TKO.

Paul Daley (#2 WW) vs. Scott Smith (WW Debut)
Scott Smith makes his first trip down to Welterweight to welcome Paul Daley to Strikeforce. This has the makings of an all out war and I doubt we'll see it go to a decision. I'll take the better striker, which is Daley. Unless Scott Smith gets another comeback win (which he seems to have a knack for) Daley will win by KO in the second round.

Benji Radach (#10 MW)  vs. Ovince St. Preux (#7 LHW)
A replacement fight for the scrapped Herschel Walker bout finds Benji Radach moving up to Light Heavyweight to take on Canadian prospect Ovince St. Preux who is coming off a win over Antwain Britt last week at the Strikeforce: Challengers show. I expect "OSP" to use his size advantage and take Radach to the ground en route to a decision victory. If he can pull it off he'll finish his 2010 by going 6-0 for the year.

So despite an injury plague before the show Strikeforce still puts on a stacked card which features tons of top 10 action.

Brock Lesnar Is Manlier Than You, Carries A Deer On His Back

Now that is what I call a man.

You can also see the scar that Cain Velasquez gave him here:



For more pictures of Lesnar's recent hunting trip click here.

This Online Exclusive TUF 12 Clip Shows You The Real Koscheck

See while Josh Koscheck's alter ego Kos might be a douchebag to hype up fight the real Josh Koscheck is actually a nice guy. He's like the man every woman wants, a tough mysterious man with a real sensitive side once you get to know him.

Great Redemptions In MMA Part One: Fred Ettish

It's late February, one man gets a phone call from Art Davie, the founder of the UFC. An injury to Ken Shamrock has opened up an alternate spot in the tournament. The brave man on the other side of the phone accepts the offer and will enter UFC 2: No Way Out in less than 2 weeks. This man is Fred Ettish, Karate Master.

Fred Ettish stepped in for an injured Frank Hamaker to fight Johnny Rhodes in the second round of the one night tournament. During the fight Ettish pioneered many tactics such as the butt-scoot and fetal position that would later be used by MMA champions Shinya Aoki and Brock Lesnar respectively. Ettish was truly a pioneer for the sport and even in defeat, Ettish became a legend.

View the epic battle in it's entirety below:


After over a decade of being one of the many punch-lines of the hardcore MMA community, Fred was determined to prove himself in MMA. Sure, he was 53 years old and may have had a little bit of ring rust after not having a fight in over a decade but he was determined to make a comeback. There was only one man worthy of his comeback and that was the highly touted prospect Kyle Fletcher. Ettish made a successful comeback which you can see in it's entirety below. Fletcher never recovered from the loss and is currently 0-9 in his professional MMA career.



Here's to you Fred! Seriously, all jokes aside you're a part of MMA history and a great tale of redemption.

Also Fred has one hell of a life story and has over-come a lot of stuff in his childhood so check out this Sherdog article about him for some insight.

Strikeforce Rankings - December 1st 2010

Rankings for fighters who currently fight in Strikeforce.

Note: Champions are automatically ranked number one in their divisions

Heavyweight
1. Alistair Overeem
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Josh Barnett
5. Antonio Silva
6. Brett Rogers
7. Andrei Arlovski
8. Shane Del Rosario
9. Daniel Cormier
10. Lavar Johnson


Light Heavyweight
1. Rafael Cavalcante
2. Mo Lawal
3. Gegard Mousasi
4. Renato Sobral
5. Dan Henderson
6. Mike Kyle
7. Ovince St. Preux
8. Roger Gracie
9. Antwain Britt
10. Ron Humphrey


Middleweight
1. Ronaldo Souza
2. Mayhem Miller
3. Tim Kennedy
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Cung Le
6. Matt Lindland
7. Luke Rockhold
8. Trevor Prangley
9. Scott Smith
10. Benji Radach


Welterweight
1. Nick Diaz
2. Paul Daley
3. Tyron Woodley
4. Evangelista Santos
5. Bobby Voelker
6. Roger Bowling
7. Jorge Masvidal
8. Tarec Saffiedine
9. Marius Zaromskis
10. James Terry

Lightweight
1. Gilbert Melendez
2. Josh Thomson
3. K.J. Noons
4. Lyle Beerbohm
5. Gesias Cavalcante
6. Billy Evangelista
7. Justin Wilcox
8. Vitor Ribeiro
9. Jorge Gurgel
10. Caros Fodor