After a solid day of fights in Sydney, Australia it's time to figure out which match-ups make the most sense following the results of UFC on FX 2. With the UFC currently in the process of crowning their first flyweight champion, many of the fighters on this card already know what their future in the organization is; McCall and Johnson will rematch after the Australian commission's inability to solve 2nd grade math problems and Benavidez will sit in limbo as that fight plays out. For those less fortunate I'll attempt to tackle the arduous task of playing match-maker to decide their next opponents.

Martin Kampmann vs BJ Penn

In the headliner of the UFC's third card in the land down under, Kampmann was able to capture a rather shocking victory over the always game Thiago Alves. Many were expecting a fight in which two strikers would trade shots until one man fell, but the end result ended up coming from a successful Kampmann scramble which resulted in a guillotine with less than a minute left in the fight forcing Alves to tap.

Kampmann has proven himself to be more than just a striker over his last several fights by routinely being able to stop take-downs from fighter's known for their wrestling and also being able to scramble out of bad situations when needed.

Style wise, BJ Penn is about as close to Martin Kampmann as one could ask for, he's a striker at heart that's known for his gumby-like ability to twist-and-turn out of about in situation to keep his opponent from taking him down. With a solid stand-up game, almost flawless take-down defense, and cardio that has become less and less of a question with each fight, a bout between the two would be extremely competitive and more than likely end up being a very technical striking bout.

Penn has recently shown interest in making a return to the sport and a fight against Kampmann would create an opportunity for either man to capture a solid win and prove that they belong in the mix of elite fighters at welterweight in the UFC.

Thiago Alves vs Mike Pierce

Suffering a loss after looking fairly solid in a close fight this past Friday, Alves didn't lose that much stock at welterweight that he hadn't already lost from previous performances. Thiago's ground game and takedown defense had always been the most suspect areas of his arsenal, and if anything he showed some signs of improvement by being able to take down a fighter that other men with much better wrestling credentials had struggled or failed to do.

With many people feeling that Pierce deserved the nod in his fight against Josh Koscheck, a man who lost to Alves when he was at his peak, this fight seems like a match-up that both men would desire. Alves could use Mike's momentum from the questionable Koscheck fight as a springboard to jump back into the welterweight picture and Pierce would be able to keep the discussion about him going as he has yet to get that big win over a high-profile opponent that you need to make your mark in one of the UFC's most cutthroat divisions.

Keep in mind, this isn't the first time that this fight has been discussed. Mike already called out Alves before his ex-training partner Ricky Story fought and beat him, and Alves said that he was up for the challenge when questioned about the possibility of the fight. This would be an easy fight to book given both men's shown interest in the past and simple to sell with the back story that comes along with it.

Tim Boetsch vs Constantinos Philippou

Boetsch and Philippou have both been feel-good underdog stories to a certain extent during their tenure with the UFC. Philippou, a man who originally tried out for The Ultimate Fighter season 11 and didn't make the cut, has now risen above anything developed from that season of the show by defeating the winner Court McGee.

Boetsch, who is currently riding a three fight win streak, was once released by the UFC after going a mediocre 2-2 during a stint with the company after the collapse of the IFL. Since that time he's reinvigorated his career and has amassed an impressive 7-1 record, only losing to rising light heavyweight Phil Davis. Looking better with every performance, Boetsch recently acquired a stunning come-from-behind victory when he knocked out Yushin Okami at UFC 144, and is now hotter than he's ever been throughout his career.

With two or three more solid wins either of these men could find themselves in a title bout in one of the thinnest divisions that the UFC currently has. Whether or not these two end up fighting each other next, they're bound to run into one another before either gets that crack at the belt simply because of the lack of names at the top of the division.

This not only is a logical fight, but it's also a fan friendly fight. Neither Boetsch or Philippou are excellent in any one area but they are without question two of the most rugged and game-bred fighters in the division. Both of these guys come in to knock your block off, they don't come in to win by scoring points. I can't imagine how this potential match-up wouldn't be exciting and hopefully we see Joe Silva make this happen.

Anthony Perosh vs Vladimir Matyushenko

Realistically both of these men are in the exact same boat. They're both hovering around 40 which is fairly old in combat sports and most athletes their age are either on their way out the door or have already thrown in the towel.

Whether or not either have long term aspirations to become a UFC champion I don't know, but if they're honest with themselves they're probably both most interested in entertaining their fans with the time they have left in the sport and putting a little extra cash away before the curtain is finally closed.

This might sound like I'm dismissing them and I'm honestly not doing that. For what it's worth, Matyushenko has never gotten the credit that he's deserved and during his recent tenure with the UFC he's become very entertaining while most still seem to characterize him as a boring wrestler despite the fact that both of his last wins have lasted less than a combined time of 3 minutes.

Perosh has seen a similar outcome and is currently riding a three fight win streak since his return to light heavyweight, but he's fought nobody of note during this run and he's been reserved for cards oversees.

Typically I wouldn't suggest matching up a fighter on a three fight win streak with a fighter that lost his last bout but because of the level of competition in that run combined with the similarities that both share in age and overall worth to the UFC I think this fight makes sense.

THIS I ALSO POSTED ON MY WEBPAGE: http://www.joeshowradio.com/archive/articles.php?id=20120303-Fights-to-Make-After-UFC-on-FX-2

One of the most talked about topics over the last 48 hours has been the potential for a rematch between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz, with the majority of those favoring this rematch being Nick Diaz fans. I myself am a Nick Diaz fan but I don’t find myself really craving to see this fight again like so many others seem to be doing.

My fandom for Diaz is pretty intense. I make it a point to let others know that my only MMA apparel is MiddleEasy's t-shirt that pays homage to Nick's infamous catchphrase and when Diaz is on a card I send out mass texts with the message ‘Don’t be scared homie!’ to my friends so they know that they need to be watching the fights.

The reason for my Diaz fandom is quite simple, Diaz actually fights. In a time where MMA is constantly evolving, Nick makes sure to never turn his back on what this sport is truly about, fighting.

Continue reading this post »

During today's UFC phone conference Dana White announced that Cain Velasquez versus Junior dos Santos would be moved from UFC 139 over to the first UFC on Fox card set to take place on November 12th in Anaheim, California at the Honda Center.

What was previously said to be a two fight event will now instead only have one fight scheduled to air due to the nature of the bout potentially going five rounds. In the event that the fight doesn't go the distance undercard fights will be aired to fill the time left in the one hour time block.

Scheduling only one fight for the main card and that bout being a heavyweight fight stirs up many questions over if this move was the smartest choice for the UFC brass to make for this event. It's widely considered that the most unpredictable fights are those that involve heavyweights. With the sheer strength that they possess, fights can frequently end rather quickly due to the knockout power that can be delivered with any given shot by these men.

Junior's last two fights have gone the distance but other than these he's never gone the distance in a fight. On top of that, the two opponents that he's faced in those fights—Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin, have a combined number of one knockout loss on their records; Nelson being knocked out by Andrei Arlovski back in October of 2008.

In the case of Velasquez he has finished all but one of his opponents via knockout, the sole man to make it through a fight with Cain being Cheik Kongo. As we all know, in Kongo's last fight he recovered from multiple flash knockouts against Pat Barry to come back and knock Barry out himself in one of the best come-from-behind knockouts in UFC history, arguably only behind Smith's comeback over Pete Sell at the Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale.

To attempt to argue that Kongo doesn't have a solid chin would be a hard argument to make; he took all that Cain had to offer, ate coma-inducing shots from Barry to still win, and has only been finished standing by Gilbert Yvel—a man that at the time when their fight took place was known for viscously stopping opponents with his superior striking.

Aside from the fact that both men possess the power to stop either man, very little is actually known about either man's chin. To this point it's considered that both have very solid chins but at the end of the day we don't really know for sure.

In Junior's career he's never been tested, and when I say never I literally mean no man has ever even came close to mounting any type of effective offense against him in the cage. He's absolutely outclassed every opponent he's ever faced and made the toughest competition of his career, Shane Carwin, look like a human punching bag. Whether or not he can take a flush shot from a hard puncher is yet to be seen.

Cain falls into a somewhat similar case as his adversary Santos does. With the exception of his fight with Kongo, Cain hasn't really had that many tough challenges thrown his way either. In his fight with Kongo, he was dazed multiple times but was able to come to his senses quick enough to tie Kongo up before he could land anymore blows. It could be argued that if Cain would've been more wreckless in his fight with Kongo and didn't play it smart by closing the distance in those instances with the frenchman that he would've been finished, but we'll never be able to truly know.

Clearly, both of these men possess the power to end the night for either man. The only real question that's left to be answered is if either man can take a shot from the other. Both Cain and Junior possess superior stand-up when compared to the rest of the UFC heavyweight division, which they have both used to end an overwhelming majority of their fights. In their combined 25 fights, 16 of those have ended by them knocking their opponent out.

It appears that real question that should be debated in the buildup for this fight isn't whether or not the fight will go the distance, but which round the fight will be ended. At the end of the day fans will be more than pleased to watch undercard bouts on the live portion of the card, but it seems that the UFC could potentially plant a bigger footprint on Fox by scheduling to fights to air versus one. Whether or not this will have any impact on the numbers they pull in for this card is yet to be known, but it's something that should definitely at the least be questioned.

Make no mistake about it, Cain Velasquez versus Junior dos Santos is one hell of a fight, but as Josh Gross retweeted today, this is not like Ali-Foreman. This is the first title defense for Velasquez against a young fighter not on the same level. Add to the fact that neither man are proven to draw in big ratings by themselves, we might see results that could've been better with a different lineup.

THIS CAN ALSO BE READ AT WWW.JOESHOWRADIO.COM

Tonight on The Joe Show we were joined by MMA Agents fighter Mike Pierce. When asked about the criticism of MMA Agents by MMA fans online and if it was warranted given that he had just inked a new deal with the UFC, Mike dropped a bomb on us.

Very recently, MMA Agents was acquired by Paradigm Sports Management. Paradigm will take over the handling of the fighters signed with Pavia's company and Pavia will stay on board handling client relations.

The portion of our interview with Pierce that dealt with this subject can be listened to in the video below.

What this means for the ongoing lawsuit involving MMA Agents and the UFC is yet to be known.  Be sure to check out the site as the story develops.

Information regarding the lawsuit was originally reported by Kevin Iole. Bloodyelbow.com gave the synopsis of Iole's report below.

Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting, has filed suit against Ken Pavia, one of the sport’s most prominent fighter agents, alleging Pavia passed along trade secrets and confidential Zuffa documents to rival mixed martial arts promotion Bellator.

An email which Zuffa’s lawsuit alleges is from Rebney to Pavia on July 4 was attached as an exhibit to the 16-page suit. In it, Rebney writes, " … You’ve been great about sending us ‘All’ of the seminal docs from the UFC, so that we can re-do them and implement them for Bellator."

Later, the email Zuffa alleges to have been written by Rebney continues, "Please list each in terms of what it is for and how the UFC uses them/implements them. … Then I’m going to have our team Monday re-type them and we will sufficiently alter them such that they will appear to be ours and not theirs."

The response that is purported to have come from Pavia is brief and says, in its entirety, "Still I (sic) vegas. May take 24 hours to organize as some forms go to the guys in my office."

This will mark a first for Paradigm as they have yet to deal with mixed martial arts but they are very familiar with managing athletes. Previously, Paradigm has managed athletes in both the NFL and the MLB.

More information on Paradigm can be found at their facebook page and eventually their official website which is currently under construction.

SOURCE: http://www.joeshowradio.com/archive/articles.php?id=20110825-MMA-Agents-Acquired-by-Paradigm-Sports-Management

Continue reading this post »

In this interview we speak with an extremely emotional Jason Reinhardt as he tells us about his life of fighting and trials and tribulations that he's had to go through throughout his career.

Jason was very open with us about his injuries and how he came back from being told that he would never even train again to getting back into the big show being the UFC.

With financial and health issues plaguing him since he broke his neck in 2001, Jason has literally been fighting for his life these past ten years.

Having a strong family support team as well as a re-found youth over the past month along with a solid camp in Wand Fight Team backing him the future looks bright for the oldest man currently active under UFC contract.

If this interview doesn't make you a Reinhardt supporter then you probably never will be. Tune in for a different type of interview that you don't hear all too often.

Continue reading this post »

Let's rewind the clock back to May 15th, 2004 when Roy Jones had definitively fallen from grace when he was knocked out in two rounds in a rematch with Antonio Tarver. Prior to his second fight with Tarver, Roy was coming off of a very poor performance, capturing a majority decision win over Tarver in a fight that many didn't give Tarver a shot at winning. With Roy's recent success defying odds to become the only man to progress from junior middleweight to heavyweight and capture a belt with his win over John Ruiz, the odds were stacked against the 'Magic Man'.

In the matter of 47 minutes all previous notions that the newly crowned heavyweight champ would steamroll Tarver were thrown out the window and many began to seriously question what Roy had left. It seemed that time had finally caught up with Roy Jones with his poor performance as it does with most fighters that have relied on speed throughout their career, but Jones wanted to prove that this wasn't the case and the rematch was set. Once the bell rang in their second encounter it only took two rounds for Tarver to prove to the world that Jones had seen his better days and that Superman had finally found his kryptonite: father time.

Jones would go on to continue to compete after his KO loss to Tarver, finding little success in the ring defeating only journeymen and former stars that didn't resemble their former selves in any sense; most notably Felix Trinidad and Jeff Lacy. Since that May night when he was knocked out by Tarver, Jones has gone 5-6 being knocked out three more times—twice in his last three. Although many fans have been calling for Roy to retire for quite some time due to him taking unnecessary damage in the ring, Roy refuses to listen and continues to take beatings from men that he would have killed a decade ago.

Continue reading this post »

After UFC's stellar card that featured many fan friendly fights we're now stuck with the arduous task of figuring out what's next for the fighters on the card. Of course Junior Dos Santos will be fighting Cain Velasquez next for the Heavyweight title and it's presumed that Kenny Florian will get a crack at Jose Aldo, but what about the other guys?

Here's my thoughts on what's going on in Joe Silva's head right now for some of the other UFC 131 fighters that don't have anything currently lined up.

Continue reading this post »

In Shane's preparation for his UFC 131 heavyweight fight against Junior Dos Santos fans will get to see a side of Shane that they haven't seen before, a smaller side. Previous to his bout with Brock Lesnar endurance was never really that much of an issue for Carwin; he had finished all of his opponents within the first round and did so in spectacular fashion time and time again. Fans presumed that one day Shane's cardio would come into play but no one delved into topic too deeply simply because we had never been given a reason to question it. His performances had been nothing but impressive and as long as a fighter achieves that we assume the best.

In the buildup for Carwin vs Lesnar many experts that regularly break down upcoming fights and provide analysis had brought up the gray area of Carwin's game, but it was never used as a reason that he would lose, more so just an open possibility. 'If' he would tire, 'if' he couldn't go past the first—they were simply 'ifs' and nothing more.

When the fight eventually came around we saw the same Carwin that we all knew and loved for one round; the Carwin that would come out with his fists cocked back ready to lay his opponent out with a Thor-like punch that would make your face hurt just seeing it on television. For virtually five entire minutes Carwin was able to transform his fists into meat grinders courtesy of Brock Lesnar's face.

Continue reading this post »

Webcam chat at Ustream

Continue reading this post »

If you haven't seen any of my posts you're probably not aware of my site so I'll give you a little background info. In 2009 me and a group of online buddies started a very small MMA broadcast at www.joeshowradio.com where whenever we felt like going on air we would discuss MMA between ourselves and anybody that cared to listen could. It was a pretty random show and nothing that I took all that serious because it was just for fun.

Since then I've taken more of a professional approach and put together a decent looking site in my opinion and we now have scheduled shows with routine hosts where we get a good amount of guests to come on. We now have call-in lines (a toll free number), a pretty decent studio setup, and we broadcast on ustream.

Our radio show portion of the site has been my primary focus and probably always will be. The shows are my passion and I take a good bit of pride in them since I'm basically doing this from no broadcasting background whatsoever and I think the product that deliver is pretty decent.

Continue reading this post »

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

Continue reading this post »

Nick Diaz, a man that has been ridiculed by fight fans and media alike for his unwillingness to fall in line with the mainstream media's view for as to how a fighter should conduct themselves on-camera, has carved out a pretty decent following for himself despite the lack of approval from the men that supposedly matter, and the following doesn't seem to be dieing down any time soon. In careless fashion, Nick will let his opinions be known regardless of what some may think and as he says he'll always 'keep it real'. A savant in the fine art of speaking in a discursive style, Nick will keep you listening regardless of the subject matter.

Coming into this past Saturday night's main event bout against Paul 'Semtex' Daley a good portion of the pre-fight buildup took a turn towards other non-fight matters with Ariel Helwani's interview that he conducted alongside the Stockton native.

Continue reading this post »