SB Nation User Blog: scotty23

Matt Wiman vs. Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 103

scotty23 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:49:20 -0000

Martins Denis at InTheGuard.tv is reporting that lightweights "Handsome" Matt Wiman (10-5, 4-3 UFC) and Rafael dos Anjos (11-4, 0-2 UFC) have signed to square off at UFC 103, emanating from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas on September 19th:

The card of UFC 103 is taking shape and one Lightweight fight promises to add excitment to the event that will take place on the September 19th in the American Airlines Arena in Dallas. Sources close to the event informed that Rafael dos Anjos and Matt Wiman have signed to fight at 155.

Wiman and Dos Anjos have both been involved in memorable scraps in the past, and with both men coming off of consecutive losses, and Dos Anjos still searching for his first UFC win, the two will likely not disappoint come September.

A product of the Gracie Fusion team in Rio De Janeiro, Rafael Dos Anjos made a spectacular debut at UFC 91, but unfortunately for him, it was in defeat at the hands of Jeremy Stephens and his stunning uppercut KO. Things didn't get any easier for the Brazilian after that as he was matched up against the highly experienced and skilled Tyson Griffin at UFN 18 in April, where despite nearly catching Griffin in a rare calf slicer, Dos Anjos was otherwise out-pointed in a unanimous decision loss. With a loss against Wiman, Dos Anjos will find himself at 0-3 in the UFC and likely out of a contract as well, so he will surely look to give it everything he has in Dallas on September 19th.

Matt Wiman held his own on the 5th season of the Ultimate Fighter, but couldn't make it past the leaders of the pack on that uber-stacked season which also featured Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon, Cole Miller, and Nate Diaz. After the show however, Wiman quietly made waves as he racked up four straight victories inside the Octagon. Last December, Wiman's progress was derailed in a decision loss to Jim Miller, and in an April bout with Sam Stout, he dropped another decision in a controversial bout that many critics believe should haved ended with Wiman's hand raised. Now looking to keep his UFC record above .500, Handsome Matt will likely build on his previous success against skilled grapplers like Thiago Tavares to stifle the ground game of Dos Anjos. Wiman's also a natural fit for the Dallas card as he does most of his training in the Dallas area at Carlos Machado and Allen Mohler's gyms.

Anthony Johnson Arrested on Domestic Violence Charges

scotty23 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:43:48 -0000

Not news we want to be reporting. Promoted from the FanPosts by Kid Nate.

This story is still developing, but MMA Frenzy is reporting that UFC welterweight and fan-favorite, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson was arrested in California on June 27th on charges of domestic violence:

MMAFrenzy.com has confirmed with the Hayward, California Police Department that UFC welterweight Anthony Johnson was arrested on June 27 on multiple charges relating to an alleged domestic violence incident involving his ex-girlfriend.
The charges include domestic violence, battery with a special relationship, criminal threats, and damaging a cell phone. Though he was arrested on felony charges, the District Attorney filed misdemeanor charges, each of which is punishable by up to a year in county jail and an undisclosed fine if convicted.

According to police, the incident took place at 10:49am PT on the 27th with Johnson then contacting police on his own before being arrested at 1:30pm that afternoon. Authorities said he was very cooperative and polite.

Details of the incident were not available, though based on the charges Johnson allegedly struck his ex-girlfriend during the incident and damaged a cell phone so that she was unable to contact police to report the incident.

This is shocking news to say the least. It is notable that Johnson himself contacted police and essentially turned himself in, but I'm going to hold off on commenting until more details are released, and it does look like we will learn more from official sources soon according to Kris Karkoski at Frenzy:

When reached for comment, Nathan Brodnax of MMAagents, which represents Johnson, had no official comment on his arrest and could not confirm any details of the incident, but said they would be issuing an official statement later tonight or tomorrow.

Johnson, who was bailed out by an undisclosed party on the 27th through a bonding agency, is next scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on July 17th.

Johnson is not currently scheduled to compete on any upcoming UFC card, as he recently dropped out of his TUF 9 Finale fight with Matt Brown due to injury. In his most recent fight, Johnson scored a first-round TKO over Luigi Fioravanti back in February at UFN 17.

Innocent until proven guilty, etc.

If I Were Joe Silva - Part 2

scotty23 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:43:36 -0000

Back in December, I decided to play UFC matchmaker by taking on the role of the always mysterious Joe Silva, and putting together potential match-ups that I thought would be both entertaining and significant in regards to the standing of each fighter within their respective weight class. I didn't end up doing so hot: out of the twenty-nine fights I booked last time as wannabe-Joe Silva, only one turned into a bout that Joe Silva himself actually booked (Heath Herring vs. Cain Velasquez - but of course that one didn't even end up happening). These aren't really predictions though, but rather a thoughtful wish-list.

As we're now on the verge of UFC 100, and with the UFC's numerous fall events starting to fill up quickly, I've decided to roll out my second version of Fantasy UFC Matchmaker 2009: Undisputed. Once again, I'm using only those fighters who are not currently confirmed or rumored to be fighting on future cards. Fighters who are rumored to be fighting "TBA", and those are who currently injured or suspended but are still under contract to the UFC, are fair game. Like Joe Silva, I'm also trying to include two types of match-ups: those that draw in viewers and PPV revenues/TV ratings, and those that may not seem as entertaining on paper, but are important for determining contenders within each division. The list is also a combination of fights that I really want to see, and fights that I think make sense and might just happen in the near future.

I'm not going to provide any commentary or rationale for any of the match-ups...I'm asking you to do that as I did last time. Let me know what you think. Would you plunk down 50 bucks to see some of these on PPV? Or are some of them so meaningless that you wouldn't even tune in to a free Fight Night event to see them? Tell me which ones you like, which ones you would change, or give me some completely new pairings that you want to see.

So without further ado...

HEAVYWEIGHT -

Antoni Hardonk vs. Heath Herring

Pat Barry vs. Cheick Kongo

Stefan Struve vs. Mostapha Al-Turk

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT -

Rich Franklin vs. Luis Cane

Steve Cantwell vs. Elliot Marshall

Brian Stann vs. Houston Alexander

Krystof Soszynski vs. Tomasz Drwal

MIDDLEWEIGHT -

Patrick Cote vs. Chael Sonnen

Wanderlei Silva vs. Yushin Okami

Rousimar Palhares vs. Ed Herman

Denis Kang vs. Jorge Rivera

Goran Reljic vs. Alessio Sakara

Drew McFedries vs. Rob Kimmons

Mike Massenzio vs. Tim McKenzie

WELTERWEIGHT -

Matt Hughes vs. Karo Parisyan

Brock Larson vs. Marcus Davis

Dan Hardy vs. Carlos Condit

Matt Brown vs. Anthony Johnson

Dustin Hazelett vs. Ben Saunders

Chris Lytle vs. Edgar Garcia

Brad Blackburn vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Rory Markham vs. Dan Cramer

Matt Riddle vs. James Wilks

Damarques Johnson vs. Paul Taylor

LIGHTWEIGHT -

Sean Sherk vs. Clay Guida

Joe Stevenson vs. Frankie Edgar

Joe Lauzon vs. Mark Bocek

Gleison Tibau vs. Paul Kelly

Matt Wiman vs. Jason Dent

Terry Etim vs. Junie Browning

Denis Siver vs. Phillipe Nover

Ross Pearson vs. Rafael Dos Anjos

Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer Set for UFC 104

scotty23 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:14:42 -0000

This Fan Post was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 light-heavyweight champion Ryan "Darth" Bader (9-0, 2-0 UFC) will be back in action this fall at UFC 104 in Los Angeles on October 24th when he takes on BJJ black belt Eric "Red" Schafer (11-3, 3-2 UFC). Bader revealed the fight on his official Twitter account today:

Next fight...UFC 104 against Eric Shaufer (sic) in LA Oct 24th.

The Arizona Combat Sports-trained Ryan Bader stormed through the competition with on his season of TUF en-route to claiming the light-heavyweight crown against Vinny Magalhaes at the season finale. Since then, Bader fought on the UFN 18 card back in April where he utilized his superior wrestling to take a unanimous decision over Carmelo Marrero, although he commented after the fight that he was not satisfied with his performance, and was disappointed that he was unable to finish the fight before it went to a decision.

Eric Schafer is a savvy submission artist who trains along with UFC heavyweight Pat Barry, at Duke Roufus's gym in Milwaukee. Despite being highly decorated in the grappling world, Schafer struggled early in his UFC career, going 1-2 (although the losses came against solid competition: Stephan Bonnar and Michael Bisping), leading him to step away from the Octagon and take some fights in minor-league shows to build up his skills and confidence. It was a successful move for "Red, as he went 2-0 outside the UFC, and then returned to submit Houston Alexander and TKO Antonio Mendes in consecutive fights, with the most recent (Mendes) taking place back in January at UFC 93. Schafer was scheduled to take on Polish striker Tomasz Drwal on the TUF 9 finale last month, but an injury forced him to bow out with Mike Ciesnolevicz taking his place.

photos via ufc.com

UFC 104 coverage

Mike Pyle vs. Chris Wilson at UFC Fight Night 19

scotty23 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:37:12 -0000

Promoted from the FanPosts by Kid Nate.

Ariel Helwani over at MMA Fanhouse is reporting that welterweights Mike "Quicksand" Pyle (17-6-1, 0-1 UFC) and Chris Wilson (14-5, 1-2 UFC) will collide in Okahoma City on September 19th at UFC Fight Night 19:

A welterweight fight between Chris Wilson and Mike Pyle has been scheduled for UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City. Sources confirmed with FanHouse Sunday evening that the bout will be made official later this week.

Pyle and Wilson's paths crossed earlier this spring when Wilson was booked to fight Brock Larson (who replaced Josh Koscheck) at UFC 98 in May, but some last-minute issues with Wilson's medical paperwork forced the UFC to sign Pyle to a contract on extremely short-notice and put him in against Larson where he was submitted by the brutish Minnesotan in the first round after a wildly entertaining back-and-forth grappling battle. The Xtreme Couture submission specialist has skirted the edge of the MMA big leagues for years, finding mixed success in the IFL, Strikeforce, and EliteXC. This time with ample pre-fight room for a proper training camp, Pyle will look to showcase his slick ground skills more effectively in September.

In addition to be nixed from his UFC 98 fight at the last minute after putting weeks of effort and money into a full training camp, Chris Wilson had also just suffered a well-publicized home invasion robbery at the home he shared with his wife and child in Brazil. Suffice it to say, Wilson's spring didn't exactly go as planned. Now a full-time member of Team Minotauro in Brazil, the former Team Quest member and skilled striker will look to put all of that drama in the backseat, and work on stalemating Pyle's slippery BJJ while exploiting his own significant advantage on the feet.

Other rumored bouts for UFC Fight Night 19 include a lightweight clash between Roger Huerta and Gray Maynard, and the debut of another lightweight, Nova Uniao BJJ standout Ronnys Torres against a yet-to-be-named opponent.

Dan Miller vs. Aaron Simpson Possible for UFN 19 in September

scotty23 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:34:29 -0000

Promoted from the FanPosts by Kid Nate.

Two of the UFC's rising young middleweights may meet at UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City on September 19th, as a bout featuring Aaron "A-Train" Simpson (5-0, 1-0 UFC) and Dan Miller (11-2, 3-1 UFC) is in the works for the event, according to MMA Junkie:

Simpson first posted news of the bout on his Facebook page. However, perhaps jumping the gun before he got the greenlight to officially announce the fight, he later issued a disclaimer: "Sorry. That was not official. Still waiting."

Simpson has an outstanding wrestling pedigree as a two-time All American and former coach at Arizona State, and now as a wrestling instructor and full-time fighter at Arizona Combat Sports, but his heavy hands have gotten the most notice in his MMA career. With five (T)KO stoppages in five career fights, including a first-round victory over Tim McKenzie in his UFC debut which earned him a Knockout-of-the-Night bonus, Simpson has proven to be as dangerous on the feet as he is with his takedowns.

Miller is a submission specialist and a product of Jamie Cruz and Mike Constantino's AMA Fight Club in northern New Jersey, along with his brother and UFC lightweight, Jim Miller. The BJJ brown belt was thought to be on a tear through the UFC's 185-lb ranks after three straight victories, but a recent decision loss to Chael Sonnen at UFC 98 derailed those plans for Miller, and showed he was unable to utilize his vaunted submission game when faced with the suffocating top control of the Team Quest-trained Sonnen.

Although some may think that this bout will end up like Sonnen vs. Miller, Simpson has shown more of a willingness to stand and trade rather than resort to his excellent wrestling, despite his less than-refined striking. Miller has shown adequate stand-up skills, and he may be able to stun Simpson on the feet in order to get top-position on the ground where his submissions are most dangerous. Simpson is more than capable of holding Miller down for three rounds if he chooses to shoot, but he is far less experienced than Sonnen, and if his submission defense is anything like fellow wrestling standout Jake Rosholt's, the "A-Train" may be tapping before long.

Yes we can...hold out on Buffer pulling a full 360-degree point-and-spin at UFC 100. Keep the...

scotty23 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:07:03 -0000

Yes we can...hold out on Buffer pulling a full 360-degree point-and-spin at UFC 100.

Keep the dream alive!

wonder if they are still reading... F U Cagecrapato.com Seriously from the nick name to my tweets....

scotty23 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:03:33 -0000

wonder if they are still reading... F U Cagecrapato.com Seriously from the nick name to my tweets. Who owns that site AKA?

about 4 hours ago from web

Shane Carwin lashes out on Twitter at CagePotato.

Perhaps he wasn't amused by this story which made fun of his being oblivious to the implications of posting upcoming opponents on a social networking site.

Four grappling super-fights announced for UFC 100 Fan Expo: Friday 7/10: Rumina Sato vs. Ulysses...

scotty23 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:23:20 -0000

Four grappling super-fights announced for UFC 100 Fan Expo:

Friday 7/10:
Rumina Sato vs. Ulysses Gomez
Vinny Magalhaes vs. TBA

Saturday 7/11:
Joe Stevenson vs. Bill Cooper
Jeff Glover vs. Fredson Paixao

HT: MMA Junkie

Kyle Kingsbury vs. Razak Al-Hassan at UFC 104

scotty23 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:03:32 -0000

In a battle of light heavyweights who are both still searching for their first UFC win, Razak Al-Hassan will meet Kyle Kingsbury on the undercard of UFC 104 this October in Los Angeles. MMA Junkie has the report:

A source close to the fighters today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) verbal agreements are in place and the fight could be signed as early as this week.

Al-Hassan (6-1, 0-1 UFC) last competed in an infamous bout at UFC: Fights for the Troops in December, that saw Steve Cantwell lock on a vicious armbar which dislocated Al-Hassan's elbow in gruesome fashion, forcing the referee to stop the fight even though there was no tap-out. The midwest-based Taekwondo specialist has been rehabbing the injury ever since, and will look for a more positive (and less painful) result in his second UFC outing.

Kyle Kingsbury (7-2, 0-1 UFC) competed on the 8th season of The Ultimate Fighter where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. As a touted prospect from the renowned American Kickboxing Academy, Kingsbury was given a shot on the season finale where he dropped a unanimous decision to castmate Tom Lawlor. Now seemingly fighting to hold onto his UFC contract, Kingsbury will look to make a case for his relevance against Al-Hassan at UFC 104.