Some Early Thoughts On Matt Hughes vs. Diego Sanchez
Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/30/some-early-thoughts-on-matt-hughes-vs-diego-sanchez
Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/30/some-early-thoughts-on-matt-hughes-vs-diego-sanchez
The crowd in Toronto on Saturday night was unprecedented for the UFC, with 55,000 fans more than doubling the promotion's attendance record. But while the fans themselves were something new, the man they came to see did the same old thing: UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre once again won a thoroughly dominant unanimous decision victory, defeating Jake Shields in the main event at UFC 129. The judges scored it 50-45, 48-47 and 48-47 for St. Pierre, and although those score cards were closer than the usual for St. Pierre, they represented what has become commonplace for the UFC champ: He wins decisions easily, rather than putting opponents away spectacularly. St. Pierre said afterward that he wasn't happy with his own performance. "I couldn't deliver much," St. Pierre said. "I'm sorry for the fans. I wanted to make a knockout or a submission."
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/01/georges-st-pierre-does-it-again-dominates-jake-shields-at-ufc/
Filed under: EliteXC, MMA Media Watch, Strikeforce
Gus Johnson, the lead mixed martial arts play-by-play man for CBS who has called many of the most-watched fights in the sport's history, is leaving the network. Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated reports that Johnson, who's best known for calling college football and the NFL, is leaving after failing to come to terms on a new contract with the network. It's not clear whether Johnson is also out at Showtime, where he has been both a boxing and MMA play-by-play voice. Johnson will still be part of Saturday night's Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley pay-per-view broadcast, but it seems unlikely that Johnson would stick around at Showtime, which a division of the CBS Corporation, for long.Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/05/05/gus-johnson-out-at-cbs/
Randy Couture showed some guts taking on a scary fighter in his final MMA tilt. It didn't work out for the 47-year-old legend, but he got to walk out of the Octagon to a huge ovation from the crowd in Toronto and with his head held high. There may never be another fighter like Couture.
Couture took on MMA's great riddle in karate master Lyoto Machida. For six minutes, Machida confused Couture with his movement and counter-striking, then he pulled off an amazing front kick to put the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion on his back. Couture was out and referee Yves Lavigne jumped on top to save him at 1:05 of the second at UFC 129.
Machida essentially pulled off the crane kick from "The Karate Kid" and, in doing so, knocked out one of Couture's teeth.
"I think I had all my teeth the last time we had this discussion," joked Couture with UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I felt like I was standing still out there. He's a tremendous athlete."
Couture (19-11, 16-8 UFC) confirmed that he is done. He's made a pretty successful transition to acting. He was a cast member in Sylvester Stallone's blockbuster "The Expendables" and is part of the mix when "The Expendables 2" begins filming in September.
His impact on mixed martial arts is beyond description. After a decorated amateur wrestling career, he decided to transition to MMA when it was still very much an outlaw sport back in 1997. He was 34 at the time. During the growth years, Couture was a winner in and out of the Octagon. Along with winning five titles fights at light heavyweight and heavyweight, he did much of the media work necessary to spread the word about the legitimacy of the sport after it was purchased by Zuffa in 2001.
Machida, nearly overcome by emotion, thanked Couture for the opportunity to fight him.
"It was an honor [to fight him]. It was a dream when I was a child, I would like to fight this guy," Machida said. "He is a hero. This is the hero. Thank you so much."
Machida's amazing boot was the second front-kick knockout in the history of the UFC. The first came less than three months ago at UFC 126 when Machida's teammate Anderson Silva used a similar move to knock out Vitor Belfort.
Machida's kick was a variation of what Silva did. He faked a left kick and leapt into a right kick. Couture never saw it coming. After the fight, Machida thanked both his father and Steven Seagal for teaching him the kick. Silva also thanked the movie star following his fight. Seagal, an 80's and 90's action film star, has been working with some of the fighters from Blackhouse MMA based in Southern California. Many in and out of the game mocked on Seagal for accepting credit following Silva's win, maybe the kidding needs to subside.
Anderson Silva’s Sweet Ride From West Coast Customs is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News
Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/ufc-news/anderson-silvas-sweet-ride-from-west-coast-customs-54452/
Source: http://www.fighters.com/05/01/top-5-best-moments-of-ufc-129-st-pierre-vs-shields
If you think Georges St-Pierre is the most cerebral fighter in the game look no further than his coaches Greg Jackson and Firas Zahabi. They may be the best in the business and not because they understand the technique/physical side of things, but they're constantly trying to master the mental side.
Starting at 15 years old, Zahabi trained to be a fighter and then moved outside the cage as a trainer at 26. In between he went to Concordia University and majored in philosophy, which has a huge influence on how he handles his fighters.
"Philosophy's the root of all thinking. It's epistemology, learning how you know things. And I always thought it the fundamental building block of any science," Zahabi told Neil Davidson from the Canadian Press. "And I use philosophy every day. My training is always predicated on why. I cross-examine what type of reasoning is used to get to this conclusion. I think it's the key to success ? proper, rational training methods. We do a lot of different, radical things that a lot of people don't do."
Zahabi is always looking to broaden his knowledge so he even listens to audio books on his daily ride to and from TriStar Gym in Montreal. Davidson says Zahabi's recent reads include: "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, "The 33 Strategies of War" by Robert Greene, and Plato's "Symposium."
What makes Zahabi so good and trusted by elite fighters like St-Pierre, Kenny Florian and Miguel Torres is that he's also hands on. He's still a fighter at heart. Zahabi, 31, just earned his own black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
"The thing about Firas that makes his such a good coach is because he's always evolving himself. . . . He's not only a great coach, he's a great fighter. I always believed he would have been a great a fighter if he chose that route but he chose the coaching route," says lightweight John Makdessi.
Zahabi is going to be a busy man on Saturday night at UFC 129. He's worked with GSP, Torres, Makdessi, Yves Jabouin and Rory MacDonald leading up to the card at the Rogers Centre.
The GSP-Jake Shields fight should be the ultimate chess match in and out of the cage. It pits two great fighters from two very good game planning camps in TriStar versus Cesar Gracie.
You can watch UFC 129 on PPV (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) right here on Yahoo! Sports.