Art Of Fighting 9 took place from Jacksonville, Florida, Nextmmafighter.com was live on location with a live stream and play by play, the following quick results are courtesy of NextMMAFighter.com check them out for full coverage of AOF 9 "Apocalypse"
Main Event- Welterweight championship
Delson Heleno def Waachiim SpiritWolf by unanimous decision.
Co Main Event
Charles Blanchard def Daniel Rafuse by TKO (stoppage due to cut) at the end of Rd. 1
Lenny Mitchell def Daniel Rafuse by KO Rd. 1 4:00
Jahmal Mclennan def Ron Jacobs by unanimous decision.
Aaron Conway def Jamie Harrison by TKO in Rd. 1 3:05
Imani Lee def Terry Blackburn by split decision.
Angelica Brotherton def Tiffany Connell by armbar Rd. 2 4:59
IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES LATEST DVD AND BLU-RAY® OFFERING FROM WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING®
Some of the greatest fights in the history of World Extreme Cagefighting® will be available on one, action-packed DVD and Blu-Ray®. Image Entertainment, Inc. (OTCQB: DISK), one of the largest independent home entertainment distributors in North America and acknowledged pioneer of the multi-billion dollar optical disc industry, announced today that it will release the “BEST OF WEC” on Tuesday, Sept. 7.
The latest offering from World Extreme Cagefighting® will feature six of the greatest fights in the history of the lighter weight classes, as well as never-before-seen bonus footage. “BEST OF WEC” features over three hours of tremendous action and will be available in DVD and Blu-Ray® format at Best Buy and select retailers across the United States.
“The ‘BEST OF WEC’ release is a superb collection of WEC’s most thrilling fights and features some of the top fighters in the world,” Bill Bromiley, Chief Acquisitions Officer of Image Entertainment, said. “Image Entertainment is very excited to offer fans a front row seat to the best, most memorable fights the MMA world has ever seen.”
Included on the “BEST OF WEC” DVD are the following fights: Miguel Angel Torres vs. Takeya Mizugaki in a bantamweight title clash from April 2009; A lightweight war between Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and “Razor” Rob McCullough from Nov. 2008; Miguel Angel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda for the 135-pound title from June 2008; The epic featherweight title bout between “The California Kid” Urijah Faber and Jens “Lil Evil” Pulver from June 2008; The 2009 Fight of the Year featuring Ben “Smooth” Henderson vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone for the interim lightweight championship; the five-round featherweight title battle between Mike Brown and “The California Kid” Urijah Faber.
“After the success of our first release, Aldo vs. Faber, we are excited to offer ‘BEST OF WEC’ to our loyal fans,” WEC Vice President Peter Dropick said. “Our goal is to give our following the opportunity to build a library of some of the greatest fights in WEC history. ‘BEST OF WEC’ continues that trend and is an absolute must-have for any mixed martial arts fan.”
For more information on World Extreme Cagefighting®, visit www.wec.tv.
A Benefit Event for Children’s Hospital Central CA
On September 25th, 2010, Coors Light Presents "Champions For Children.” This will be the first annual Mixed Martial Arts event produced by PureCombat on behalf of Children's Hospital Central California; benefiting the hospitals fund raising Campaign For Children's. Come out and support this effort and "YOU" too can be a Champion for Children’s.
Kicking off this event will be the Weigh Ins on September 24th from 5-7pm; …hosted by the Manchester Center located on Shields and Blackstone in Fresno. Bring the whole family to the center of the mall for some fun, shopping and mingling with stars like Ultimate Fighter Season 11 Winner, Court McGee. Court will be signing autographs and taking pictures as we celebrate this opportunity to fight for Children’s Hospital. Also making an appearance is 17-7-1 superstar Mike Kyle who’s fought all over the world and in the UFC, WEC and Strikeforce.
The big event will be the following evening at the Clovis Rodeo Grounds ….and since this is all about being champions, how better than to include a championship fight for the recently vacated 170 lb Welterweight Belt with Brock “The Machine” Jardine whose ready to meet whomever we put in front of him confident that the belt already belongs to him.
Look forward to a battle between Olympic Silver Medalist/Fresno State Alumni Stephen Abas in his 3rd fight of his career against Martin "Tarzan" Sandoval, at one of the most exciting weight classes, the 135 lb. division.
Brodie Farber a well rounded fighter whose last 2 fights have been in the UFC is also a Fresno State Alumni and will be meeting the man with the fastest KO in the world …..3 sec KO Steve “Dangerous” Ramirez.
Ralph Alvarado, another tough Fresno State Wrestler, is also on the card and is looking for the one fighter who will accept this battle at 135…….any takers???
PureCombat vet Rodney Rhoden has agreed to pit his knock out record against Rob Emerson’s UFC past. Rob, whose last 7 fights have been in the UFC, has proven by his record of wins that he has the gas to stay in the fight… all the way to the end.
Gabriel Solorio will be meeting Alex Crispim, Strikeforce Vet, in the cage…both having identical records and the same history of wins should make the outcome to this fight anyone’s guess.
Also on the card:
Mike Guidry vs Ben Davis,
Rafael Urena vs Dominic Clark,
Cole Nagy vs TBD,
Anthony Vidal vs Jose Torres
and we’ve added a fem fight with a Farmersville school teacher Ms. Reneau, Mo’s opponent is TBD.
For Tickets go to MyTicketPortal.com call center at 866-973-9610, or visit www.MyTicketPortal.com. Tickets sold through MyTicketPortal.com are subject to a Customer Convenience Charge.
DISCOUNTED HOTEL ROOMS AVAILABLE IN CLOVIS BY MENTIONING PURECOMBAT
Comfort Suites Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott
143 Clovis Ave 50 North Clovis Avenue
(559) 299-9992 (559) 323-8080
Joe Soto dominated the first round in the main event of the night vs Joe Warren, Soto stunned Warren several times with some big punches. as well as stuffing any attempt at a takedown by Warren. Warren came back in the second round and landed a straight right that dropped Soto, Warren came down with some more shots as Soto tried to get back to his feet, Warren lands a big right knee that drops Soto again and Warren finishes Soto .33 seconds into round 2 to become the new Bellator featherweight champion.
Ulysses Gomez defeated Travis Reddinger in their bantamweight tournament quarter final fight, Gomez took Reddinger down multiple times in rounds one and two, Gomez landed a big right hand in the round two controlling the fight as it went into the final round. Reddinger came out swinging in the final round but Gomez would take him down a couple more times. Reddinger looked for a arm bar then locked in a tight triangle, but Gomez would escape as the fight ended sending it to the judges. judges scored the fight 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 a split decision for Ulysses Gomez
Zach Makovsky defeats Nick Mamalis by unanimous decision sending him to the semi finals of the bantamweight tournament, after three rounds all three judges scored it 30-27.
Ed West defeats Bryan Goldsby sending him to the semi finals of the bantamweight tournament, after going the distance judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 a unanimous decision for West, he will face Jose Vega in the next round.
Gilbert Jimenez defeats Aaron Barringer by unanimous decision judges scored the fight (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Richard Odoms defeats Dale Mitchell by split decision, judges scored the fight (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Andrew Craig defeats Rodrigo Pinheiro by TKO, doctor's stopped the fight due to a cut 2:53 in round 3.
Andrew Chappelle defeats Joe Christopher by unanimous decision, judges scored the fight (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jon Kirk defeats Shane Faulkner by TKO 2:19 in round 3.
Steven Peterson defeats Ernest De La Cruz by unanimous decision judges scored the fight (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Strikeforce heavyweight contender (10-2) Brett "The Grim" Rogers will return to action coming off back to back losses to the hands of Fedor and Overeem, but it wont be in a Strikeforce cage, instead Rogers will make the trip to Canada to headline Warrior One (W-1): New Ground October 23rd from the Halifax Forum.
Rogers will face (16-16-3) Ruben "Warpath" Villareal in the main event of the night and looks to get back on track. "Warpath" last seen action late last year wining by TKO.
Also on the card is The Ultimate Fighter season 11's Jaime Yager takes on undefeated Jeremiah Hamilton.
W-1:New Ground Full Card:
Main Event
Brett "The Griom" Rogers vs Ruben "Warpath" Villareal
Bellator Fighting Championships World Featherweight Championship belt will be on the line Sept. 2nd when reigning champ Joe "The Hammer" Soto defends his title against Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 27 in San Antonio.
The five-round Main Event Championship fight - which will be televised LIVE nationwide from San Antonio's Majestic Theatre on FOX Sports Net - features two fighters at the top of their games each looking to make another huge statement that they are among the world's top 145-pound fighters.
Soto, a native of California's Central Valley, was a virtual unknown in the MMA world before knocking off Ben Greer, Wilson Reis and Yahir Reyes to take home the first-ever Bellator Featherweight Championship belt last June. He recently improved his record to a perfect 9-0 with an impressive May 20th ground-and-pound stoppage of durable UFC veteran Diego Saraiva at Bellator 19 in Dallas. The Hammer is known for his well-rounded arsenal and finishing ability with four of his wins coming via submission and four being stopped via KO or TKO.
Warren, the former NCAA all-American wrestler at the University of Michigan and two-time Greco-Roman wrestling world champion, burst onto the MMA scene in 2009 with stunning wins over former WEC standout Chase Beebe and Japanese sensation Kid Yamamoto. In 2010, he took home Bellator's Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Championship with inspiring consecutive victories over Eric Marriott, Georgi Karakhanyan and the previously undefeated Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, improving his overall pro MMA record to 5-1 and solidifying his place among the best featherweights in the sport.
"Of our four upcoming world title fights, the Soto-Warren fight is hugely intriguing," said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. "Joe Soto is extremely talented and has made a collection of top ten rankings. Warren's a world-class wrestler who beat one of the greatest featherweights in the world in just his second fight. He has tremendous heart and he doesn't understand what the word 'lose' means. Joe Soto also comes from a national-caliber wrestling background and anyone who saw his fight with Diego Saraiva in May knows that his game is polished and world-class throughout every facet of MMA. This should be a truly spectacular fight."
Soto said that he "can't wait for the fight" and thinks he matches up well against Warren.
"I'm just really excited to get in there and compete against him," Soto said. "He's a wrestler just like I am, but I think I can out-wrestle him. If he takes me down, I'm better on my back than he is on top. If we stay standing, I think I can out-box him. No matter where the fight goes, I think I'm a much better all-around fighter than he is."
Warren, for his part, respectfully disagreed, saying that "after September 2nd, Joe Warren will have his first belt and that's going to be big trouble for everyone in this weight division.
"Joe Soto is a tough fighter, but he's going to see the best Joe Warren that's ever been in a cage," Warren said. "We're both great wrestlers so I'm guessing we're going to get in there and beat the crap out of each other, but in the end I'm going to be taking that belt home with me."
Also The 26-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt Ulysses Gomez who boasts a 6-1 overall professional record with all of his six victories coming via submission. He will enter the tournament in the midst of a four-fight winning streak that includes a five-round unanimous decision victory over jiu-jitsu black belt Luis “Speedy” Gonzalez at Tachi Palace Fights 4 "Cinco de Mayhem"
Gomez faces 14-2 Travis Reddinger in the first round of the Bellator bantamweight tournamnet
“Ulysses has a great background in jiu-jitsu which could serve him well in our 135 tournament,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “He comes to us through the same management team that provided Joe Soto during Season 1, so their track record is very impressive. We’re happy to have him and look forward to watching him fight in our Bantamweight Tournament.”
Gomez was born in Southern California but moved to Las Vegas at the age of 12. At around the same time, he saw his first pro MMA fight and got hooked. He started training in jiu-jitsu and competing in a variety of local and regional grappling competitions. He made the transition to MMA in his early 20s and took his first pro fight in March 2008.
A father of two, Gomez comes from a family of athletes. His older brother, Herculez, is a renowned pro soccer player who spent seven years in the MLS before moving over to Puebla FC of the Primera Division de Mexico. Ulysses Gomez is known for wearing the soccer jersey of his brother’s current team as his walk-out T-shirt before his fights.
“My brother is a great athlete and a role model to me,” he said. “My own career, on the other hand, is just getting started and I think Bellator is going to take me to the next level. I love the tournament format, I love that they market to Hispanics. God’s given me the talent, so now I want to make the most of it.”
also on the card
Bellator Bantamweight quarterfinal fight
Bryan Goldsby vs. Ed West
Bellator Bantamweight quarterfinal fight
Nick Mamalis vs. Zach Makovsky
If Chad Griggs has any regrets about the night he knocked out Bobby Lashley, it’s that the fight didn’t go into the third round.
He wanted that explosive, sensational, dramatic knockout.
Instead, what Griggs got was a tired, bleeding, dazed, out-on-his-feet Lashley barely surviving the second round, before the referee stopped the fight, declaring Griggs the winner.
“The third round would have been nothing but bad for him,” Griggs told STRIKEFORCE.com. “He was so gassed.”
Griggs, a full-time firefighter and paramedic in Tucson, Arizona, pulled off an upset at STRIKEFORCE: Houston, Aug. 21, clubbing Lashley with repeated hammer fists and right uppercuts. Even on the ground, Griggs held his own with Lashley, a former college wrestling champion.
Griggs put a sudden stop to Lashley’s momentum and his five fight winning streak that started his Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) career.
“He didn’t like getting hit,” Griggs said. “This is the first time he had every really been tested.”
Like Fabricio Werdum’s upset victory of the world’s No. 1 fighter, Fedor Emelianenko, on June 26 in San Jose and Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante’s upset title victory over “King Mo” Lawal later at STRIKEFORCE: Houston, Griggs’ victory showed that ability and determination inside the cage sometimes matter more than reputation and popularity outside the cage.
Griggs wasn’t given much of a chance against the hulking 245-pound Lashley. Partly because of Lashley’s size, but mostly because of his name, many fans assumed that he would walk right through Griggs. Lashley is a former star in WWE and TNA, and has a huge fan base from his time with the professional wrestling promotions.
Griggs, however, was not going to let Lashley’s reputation scare him.
“I was a little bit intimidated,” Griggs said. “But at the same time it took a bit of the pressure off me. I had nothing to lose. He had all of the pressure on him.”
The 32-year-old Griggs took the fight on five months notice. He said he would have liked about two months to fully train because he likes to walk into fights a bit leaner. But he trained with mixed martial arts veteran Mike Whitehead, who weighs more than Lashley, so he could get comfortable with a bigger man mounting him.
“I had Mike Whitehead laying on me for 5 weeks,” Griggs said.
The training paid off.
While Lashley was able to take Griggs down, he wasn’t able to do much after that.
Rather Lashley burned a lot of energy, while Griggs stayed fresh and strong.
“We stuck to the game plan,” Griggs said. “We worked on the takedown, but we worked much more on what we would do once he had the takedown.”
Griggs was able to avoid any serious punishment with Lashley on top. Better, he made Lashley work while he was on top, fighting back when Lashley relaxed, and catching him with punches from his guard.
“He was using much more energy than I was,” Griggs. Griggs, who has a record of 9-1, said he knew Lashley was in trouble early.
“I could tell in the first round,” Griggs said. “He was relaxed. He was too tense. He was wanting to finish me in the first round.”
Lashley connected with a few punches, but Griggs said he was never in trouble.
“Not at any point did I feel I was going to get knocked out from the mount,” Griggs said.
Griggs confidence grew throughout the fight. And when he saw the blood pouring from a bad cut under Lashley’s left eye, he knew it was only a matter of time.
“It appeared in his eyes when I caught him that he was thinking ‘I am in a fight and I am going to be in trouble,’” Griggs said.
Now that Griggs, a former International Fight League (IFL) competitor, has made a name for himself on the STRIKEFORCE national stage, he’s looking to continue his momentum. He wants to fight again as soon as December, against Brett “The Grim” Rogers.
“Brett Rogers likes to stand and bang,” Griggs said. “That would be a great fight for me and the crowd.”
He said he will fight whomever STRIKEFORCE wants him to fight.
“I am really hoping for a decent-name opponent,” Griggs said. “With enough time training, I can take on anybody.”
With a unanimous five-round decision Saturday at UFC 118 over, Edgar (13-1) defended his lightweight belt against the man he took it from four months ago. All three judges scored it 50-45 for Edgar, meaning Penn (15-7-1) did not win a single round this time.
As he did in April, Edgar moved quickly, not letting Penn throw punch combinations. This time Edgar beat Penn to the punch even more often, and he was more successful with takedowns. The champion wrestled Penn to the mat several times and made him pay with punches each he scrambled up.
Penn answered with a takedown of his own to start the fourth round, but Edgar worked his way back up and deposited Penn on the canvas by sweeping his rear leg as Penn attempted to land a knee. In the fifth and final round, Penn again got the early takedown. But Edgar reversed the position and went to work with short punches.
Compustrike counted 95 strikes standing for Edgar, compared to 43 for Penn. The champion scored four takedowns and connected with 60 strikes on the ground; Penn had two takedowns and landed just 10 strikes on the mat.
Edgar's control of the fight's flow and his additional dominance in wrestling made the judges' decision easy.
Former champion Randy Couture easily overcame heavyweight boxer James Toney. Couture submitted Toney with an arm-triangle choke less than four minutes into the fight.
Middleweight Demian Maia easily controlled Mario Miranda for a unanimous decision. Although Maia could not get the submission, he took down Miranda almost at will and kept him from mounting any significant offense.
Welterweight Nate Diaz inflicted a nasty cut over Marcus Davis' right eye before leaving him unconscious with a guillotine choke in the third round.
Maynard defeated Florian via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Nik Lentz, Joe Lauzon, Dan Miller, Greg Soto, Mike Pierce won their preliminary bouts.
UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar joins the program, as does UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and UFC president Dana White. Also, highlights from Strikeforce: Houston and former champion Tito Ortiz makes his studio debut before the crew heads to Boston for live coverage of UFC 118.
Art Of Fighting 9 took place from Jacksonville, Florida, Nextmmafighter.com was live on location with a live stream and play by play, the following quick results are courtesy of NextMMAFighter.com check them out for full coverage of AOF 9 "Apocalypse"
IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES LATEST DVD AND BLU-RAY® OFFERING FROM WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING®
PureCombat “CHAMPIONS FOR CHILDREN”
By:BIGTRIP
Main Card:
Strikeforce heavyweight contender (10-2) Brett "The Grim" Rogers will return to action coming off back to back losses to the hands of Fedor and Overeem, but it wont be in a Strikeforce cage, instead Rogers will make the trip to Canada to headline Warrior One (W-1): New Ground October 23rd from the Halifax Forum.
Bellator Fighting Championships World Featherweight Championship belt will be on the line Sept. 2nd when reigning champ Joe "The Hammer" Soto defends his title against Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 27 in San Antonio.
Also The 26-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt Ulysses Gomez who boasts a 6-1 overall professional record with all of his six victories coming via submission. He will enter the tournament in the midst of a four-fight winning streak that includes a five-round unanimous decision victory over jiu-jitsu black belt Luis “Speedy” Gonzalez at Tachi Palace Fights 4 "Cinco de Mayhem"
If Chad Griggs has any regrets about the night he knocked out Bobby Lashley, it’s that the fight didn’t go into the third round.
With a unanimous five-round decision Saturday at UFC 118 over, Edgar (13-1) defended his lightweight belt against the man he took it from four months ago. All three judges scored it 50-45 for Edgar, meaning Penn (15-7-1) did not win a single round this time.
