UFC 131: Herman wins battle of the UFC debuts

Dave Herman and John-Olav Einemo both had impressive combat sports careers before starting with the UFC, but it was Herman who came out ahead in the two men's Octagon debuts. Herman won in a TKO after a back-and-forth debut at UFC 131 in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Einemo started the bout by driving Herman into the fence, but Herman held him off. Einemo continued to stalk Herman around the Octagon. Einemo caught a leg kick and took Herman down. He moved into side control, which is where he should have been able to show off his submission skills, but Herman pushed Einemo off with his feet and they returned to stand-up.

In the second round, Einemo continued to stalk Herman around the cage, landing several punches along the way. After a short stop to give Herman his mouthpiece, Einemo went on the offensive, landing several strikes that appeared to wobble Herman, but he recovered to throw a knee and strikes to shake up Einemo. But then Einemo came back, throwing knees that appeared to staggered Herman.

The tide changed in the fight one more time when Herman delivered knees to Einemo's midsection. Einemo fell to the ground, and Herman followed up with big punches until the fight was stopped at 3:19 in the second round.

"I wanted to keep it on my feet against a world-class submission artist. I've been working on my conditioning at Team Quest because that's been an issue for me in the past. Once I started hitting him with big shots, I knew I could finish him," Herman said after the fight.

Both fighters came in with rich pedigrees before their Octagon debuts. Herman, who trains with Dan Henderson at Team Quest, was a Division I wrestler at Indiana and fought in Bellator and Sengoku. Einemo has world-class grappling, and is the only man to have beaten Roger Gracie at Abu Dhabi. But it was Herman's skills and abilities to withstand Einemo's strikes that won the fight, pushing Herman's record to 21-2, while Einemo now 6-2.

Blatte
Bskinny Coffee
Argmatrix
Boresha
Boresha International

Ryron Gracie Discusses Popular 'Gracie Breakdown' Videos, Working at UFC 1

Filed under: , ,

MMA Fighting recently caught up with Ryron Gracie, the son of Rorion Gracie, to discuss the popular YouTube videos he produces with his brother Rener, working at UFC 1, the growth of the UFC, and whether he will ever fight in the UFC.


 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan

Father knows best: Advice from MMA’s dads

Fathers are known to dispense advice, so in honor of Father's Day, Cagewriter collected some of the best advice given to the MMA world.

Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce heavyweight: "My father died when I was seven, but the man who raised me, Percy Benoit, told me to work hard, you're a good person and good things will come to you."

Joe Lauzon, UFC lightweight:" My father was huge with 'Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today.' My dad has always hustled... no matter how well he did something, there was always room for improvement and he was going to squeeze out every ounce of improvement in everything he did."

Dan Henderson, Strikeforce light heavyweight champ: "My dad was my wrestling coach for most of my life, and then when I started MMA, he didn't know too much about it. But he'd watch my fights on TV, and I was fairly new in the sport, and he'd always have some sort of critique, even though he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Even if I knocked the guy out, he'd say, 'It seems like he's hitting you an awful lot. Maybe you ought to move your head a bit.'"

Scott Coker, Strikeforce CEO: "My dad knew I loved martial arts, and he said find a way to make that your career, as you get older, because then you'll love it, and you won't have to feel like you're going to work. Find something that you love to do."

Sam Stout, UFC lightweight: "My dad's give me tons of good advice in my life. He's the one who taught me to work for what I believe in. He's a very motivated guy. He's the one who taught me to stick up for myself. He's the one who put me into sports and encourage me to play."

Aaron Simpson, UFC middleweight: "If you want to continue to be great at something, never be satisfied. He told me this after I won state my freshman year of high school."

A very Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially my father, who gave me the advice to not let idiots get in the way of my dreams. Thanks, Dad.

Picture from Combat Lifestyle

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan

Munoz plays with fire, but gets by Maia at UFC 131

Mark Munoz was shocked early by Demian Maia, but stuck with his gameplan and picked up a big win by testing the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace's ground game. Munoz was given the unanimous decision, 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27, in a pivotal middleweight fight at UFC 131 in Vancouver.

This is a very rewarding win. All of the sacrifices that my family has made and all of the work my training partners put in to help me get ready for this fight ? it all came to fruition tonight. Demian is obviously an excellent jiu-jitsu artist, but fortunately, my wrestling really helped me grind this one out," said Munoz.

Munoz got a wake up call in the first round. Maia came out throwing hard lefts that the former Oklahoma State wrestler simply wasn't picking up. Just 45 seconds into the fight, Maia nailed him with grazing left. Munoz's legs went out as he stumbled backwards, but Maia didn't seem to pick up on the fact that the Filipino was in trouble. Munoz quickly regained his wits and started firing back with his own hard shots.

"His standup got a lot better. His punches were crisp and a lot straighter than I expected. We had expected more looping punches, but he definitely tightened that part of his game up," Munoz said. "At the end of the day, I was able to persevere and grind out a tough decision."

In the second and third rounds, the fight was highlighted by some solid exchanges on the feet, but it turned into a battle of who would win the clinch game along the game. Munoz played a dangerous game. pretty much anyone who's tested Maia in tight, has been tossed or dominated into a submission. When the fight did hit the ground, Munoz controlled the position and avoided getting in a real predicament.

Munoz (11-2, 6-2 UFC) is now 6-1 down at middleweight and probably deserves a shot at someone like Chael Sonnen or Brian Stann. Maia (14-3, 8-3 UFC) came out of this fight a winner as well. His improved standup certainly keeps him in the mix to continue fighting top 10 opponents at 185.

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan

There Are No Sacred Cows: Harley-Davidson Patents Cylinder Head Cooling System

The rumors that Harley-Davidson has been eying a liquid-cooled motor design have always been in abundance, and 10 years ago we saw the company test the waters of that pool with the Porsche-engineered lump that was found in the V-Rod. While the VRSC line may not have been as big of a success compared to the other models in Harley’s line-up, the water-cooled bastard child of Milwaukee still seems to sell in the tens of ...

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan

Five-round main events have their downside

Last week, the UFC announced that five-round fights would now happen for all main events. Yahoo! Sports' own Dave Meltzer wrote an excellent breakdown of why five-round title fights are a good thing. He discussed how many close, non-title main events have taken place and that five-round bouts will make the winner more obvious.

But there are downsides to this decision. Namely:

Not every fighter is ready for a five-rounder. The UFC's Ultimate Fight Night, UFC on Versus and "The Ultimate Fighter" finale events give the UFC a chance to promote up-and-coming fighters. The main events are often populated by fighters who will eventually be near a title shot, but they need time to grow. Pushing them into five-rounders too early could hurt their development.

A main-event injury could wreak more havoc on the cards than we've seen. Consider what happened with UFC 131. Just weeks before the fights, Brock Lesnar had to pull out of the main event, and Shane Carwin stepped in. If Carwin had to switch up for a five-round fight on short notice, then he (or any fighter) might not be able to prepare for a five-rounder in time. The fighters would be in a position to either go into a bout not as prepared as their opponent or turn down the opportunity to headline a card.

It takes away a champion's advantage. A champion has few advantages going into his fight, besides the cool walk-in with someone holding the belt over his head and the fact that to win the belt, he has been into deep waters before and knows just what those extra two rounds require. Now anyone who has been in a main event will have that experience.

25-minute fights will eat into a broadcast window. As Meltzer noted in his column, five-round fights means that in televised events, five-round fights will only allow for three other bouts within a broadcast.

It isn't the silver-bullet to end judging questions in close fights. Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar, and Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar all fought five-round bouts. Every one of those bouts were close, had controversial decisions and required a rematch. Those extra two rounds didn't decide anything.

What are your thoughts on five-rounders? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan

Rossi?s opinion of the Lorenzo negotiations

This quote comes from the Spanish language website elmundodeportivo.es. The message and the sentiment are clear: “You aren’t worth what I get paid Jorge”. From elmundodeportive.es, translation by Fans.Moto.GP (Thanks!): What Jorge is looking for seems presumptuous to me: Arrive at Yamaha, and in his second year ask that he be given the same treatment [...]

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan