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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.
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The finale of the thirteenth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" was just like the season of the reality show: unmemorable, but with bright spots.
No. 1 star -- Ed Herman: Nearly two years and multiple surgeries since his last fight, Herman knocked out Tim Credeur in less than a minute. Ring rust? Hardly a problem for the alumnus of the third season of TUF.
No. 2 star -- George Roop: Hey, remember when Josh Grispi was slated to face Jose Aldo, but had to pull out because of injury? Just after Grispi's corner told him not to quit, Roop showed that Grispi was not ready for that title shot with a kick then a strike to the body.
No. 3 star -- Tony Ferguson: He may not be the most-liked fighter among his TUF 13 castmates, but his first-round knockout of Ramsey Nijem showed that this reality show is not a popularity contest. After winning the fight, the cut glass trophy, a contract with the UFC and the Knockout of the Night bonus, Ferguson called out fellow TUF winner Amir Sadollah.
Who were your Three Stars from Saturday night's fights? Speak up in the comments or on Facebook.
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Anthony Pettis has risen to the top of MMA lightweight ranks. His mix of athleticism, stamina, creativity and well-rounded skill set is tough to beat. The sick part is that he's just 24 years old.
He's got the life experience of someone much older. That comes with training and staying dedicated for 14 professional fights.
It also happens when you have to survive the gruesome murder of your father at 15 years old. Pettis' father, Eugene was knifed down during a robbery gone bad. Anthony had to become a father figure for his then 8-year-old brother Sergio (pictured in the black shirt) along with staying on track to follow his fighting dream.
It's gone off with few hitches publicly and that includes the father figure part. His brother Sergio, now 17, is the spitting image of Anthony.
"I didn't even understand completely what happened," Sergio said referencing his father's death. "But as I grew older with all my friends at wrestling meets, their fathers were there and it was kind of depressing. But my brother Anthony was there, so it was alright."
Sergio's accompanied Anthony to Las Vegas to help him prepare for his lightweight showdown tomorrow night against Clay Guida in the main of the "Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale."
The younger Pettis is mature beyond his years, focused and incredibly poised for a teenager. He's even an amateur MMA fighter with plans set to turn pro when he turns 18. That's right Sergio is already in there fighting men while he's still a high school student.
Anthony raves about Sergio's potential.
"He was my main training partner for Guida," Pettis told "The MMA Insiders" show on ESPN1100 in Las Vegas. "He's already better than me in wrestling."
Anthony says the future is bright for his little bro.
"I guarantee my brother makes a big move in the sport," Pettis said. "Right now, it's my time but he's going to be 18 pretty soon and hopefully we will both be fighting on the same card sometime pretty soon."
Sergio just graduated high school, and shortly after his birthday in August, he'll make his pro debut in September. The kid even speaks about his future career like he's a veteran.
"I've got a big name already with Pettis. That last name means I've got to live up to the hype he's had," Sergio said. "I've got high expectations, but I feel like I can reach them because of my training with him."
Let's allow Sergio to develop his career slowly,but Anthony doesn't have that luxury. All the pressure is on Pettis tomorrow night. He's a minus-170 favorite against a guy with 13 UFC and 39 overall fights under his belt. Guida feels disrespected a bit and wants to derail Pettis from getting his shot at the winner of Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard.
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Strikeforce announced today that Gina Carano will not fight on their June 18 card in Dallas after not getting medically cleared, and they have not decided yet if Sarah D'Alelio will still fight on the card. The bout between K.J. Noons and Jorge Masvidal will now be aired on Showtime. A reason for Carano's lack of a medical clearance was not given, nor was a return date.
The lack of medical clearance is a stumbling block for Carano's return to fighting after taking a break to work on her movie career. She hasn't fought since losing badly to Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos nearly two years ago. Carano had recently moved training camps from Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas to Jackson's in New Mexico in preparation for the bout.
D'alelio was understandably disappointed, tweeting, "DAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMIT!!!" not long after the news broke about Carano. She added, "Positive vibes for a fellow fighter.....hopefully its nothing too serious. But still dammit >:( Ultra prepped for a good fight right now." With a 4-1 record, this was to be her Strikeforce debut.
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Call it cocky. Call it confident. Tony Ferguson said before and after his victory over Ramsey Nijem, that reaching the UFC was his destiny. He backed up his talk and put an exclamation point on what was a long journey.
"I was just so hungry. This was something I was destined to do," Ferguson told Cagewriter after his win at "The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale." "I wanted to do something different. I found my niche. This is exactly where I belong. I just want the paychecks to say UFC on them."
They will for at least the next year or so. Ferguson's knockout at the 3:54 mark of the first round guaranteed that. The fact that Ferguson was even standing in the Octagon on Saturday was unlikely chapter in his story.
His slot on TUF 13 was far from a given. He'd tried out two previous times and fell short.
Ferguson actually made it to the third round of cuts for Season 11. That's right, a dude who wrestled in college at 165, tried out for a season featuring middleweights. For Season 12, Ferguson flew to Washington D.C., then drove to Charlotte and didn't even make it out of the first round of cuts.
After that failure, he went back to work on the MMA minor league circuit.
"I was living paycheck by paycheck by fighting. I was living in the gym. You hear that story, but I never played that card. The one thing that I did do, I kept my mouth and kept my chin down," said Ferguson.
For Season 13, he took a more aggressive approach during the interview process.
"I went to the third tryout and brought all the aggression with me and everything I've ever had for those three years. My mom told me you kill'em with stats. 'Three time all-state at 152, two-time All American and national champ at 165 for Grand Valley State and I have a Pure Combat championship belt, and this is who I beat.' I was intense and they bought it," said Ferguson.
Once the 5-foot-9 Ferguson arrived in Las Vegas, he realized fighting at welterweight was going to be a rough ride.
"When I first got to the house I was like 'holy crap these guys are pretty big,'" Ferguson said. "The guys would say why don't you go to lightweight?"
Ferguson nearly bowed out of the competition in his first fight. Justin Edwards was giving Ferguson all he could handle before the smaller fighter pulled off an awesome upkick knockout (22:00 mark - video).
Ferguson realized he'd gone away from his roots and was trying to be too pretty in the Octagon.
"I forgot that I was a wrestler. I always wanted to just stand there and go toe-to-toe. There's nothing better than a fight that goes toe-to-toe. You slip and you move, but honestly Justin capitalized on taking me down. I started looking at that. Not so much Pernell Whitaker. That's when I got smarter," said Ferguson.
That was the turning point for Ferguson, who beat Edwards on his 27th birthday. In the next two fights, he destroyed Ryan McGillivray in 46 seconds and dispatched of Chuck O'Neil early in the third round.
After the win over Nijem, he's got a UFC contract in hand and nice bonus of $40,000 for the TUF 13 Knockout of the Night.
"I want to go to Disneyland," said Ferguson.
His fiancee Cristina, who lives near Ferguson in Ventura, Ca., has wanted to go for a while.
"Trust me we're going to go there and Knotts Berry Farm. I want to be able to have fun," said Ferguson.
Ferguson said he'll be back in the gym soon and fight wherever the UFC tells him. His future could be down at 155.
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Gone was the happy, smiling Junior dos Santos. The guy who's 12-1 with eight knockouts to his credit, sat on stage in Vancouver and gave his prediction for his fight against Shane Carwin on Saturday night at UFC 131.
"Shane Carwin comes from wrestling. I think I'm faster than him. As soon as he feels my hands, my speed, I think he's gonna try to take me down," said dos Santos (26:55 mark).
That was short and sweet, but it didn't even cause a ripple from Carwin. The 6-foot-2, 255 pounder believes in his power and keeps saying he'll stand and trade with the Brazilian.
"I am a great at wrestling and I was blessed with huge power in my oversized XXXL hands, but I've just got a lot to learn. [...] On Saturday I will be facing a guy that, like me, can finish a fight with one just punch. He comes from an amazing training camp and he is not only a powerful striker, but one of the most accurate strikers too," Carwin wrote in his Yahoo! Sports' "Monster" blog. [...] But I believe I will be the one doing the knocking out. My power is derived from my legs and ass. I have the ability to generate a lot of power even in short or tight spaces because of the power from my big legs … which is great for punching but makes it nearly impossible for me to get keys from my jeans pocket."
During the prefight press conference at the University of B.C.'s Robson Plaza, UFC president Dana White raved about the fight. He expects fireworks and said the winner will face Cain Velasquez in the next four or five months. Velasquez has mentioned October in Houston as his target for a return.
White also discussed one of the big rumors of the week - the UFC's future television deal plans and the possibility of leaving Spike and buying a stake in the Comcast/NBC-owned G4.
"We're talking to everybody right now. There is no deal with anybody. If that was true, trust me, I'd be up here talking about it right now," said White (11:30 mark).
Meanwhile, MMAFighting's Mike Chiapetta reported that rumors persist about the UFC looking to buy G4. Sources at Spike are telling Chiappetta that Bellator, currently on MTV2, would then be an option for Spike.
Bloomsberg.com checked into the G4 story.
NBC Universal's G4 channel may fetch as much as $600 million in a sale to Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to analysts including David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co.
...
Negotiations are early and a deal may not be reached, said the people, who aren't authorized to speak publicly. Ultimate Fighting Championship's contract with Viacom Inc. (VIA/B)'s Spike TV ends this year, one of the people said. More broadly distributed cable channels with bigger advertising revenue can fetch as much as $20 per subscriber, Joyce said.
The New York Times confirmed the UFC's talks to buy the channel that's currently seen in 60 million homes. Spike is available in 99 million homes. UFC would have to work on the recent DirecTV issue with G4. The channel was dropped by DirecTV at the end of the 2010.
Brian Stelter of the Times reported that Comcast, the new owner of G4, met with UFC representatives on Wednesday.
Two of the people with knowledge of the NBCUniversal talks said that UFC, which is privately held, could take ownership of 60 percent or more of G4, which is one of the lowest-rated cable channels in Comcast's portfolio. Its target audience of men ages 18 to 34 overlaps nicely with UFC's audience on Spike, a unit of Viacom, which has carried a fighting reality show for the last six years.
According to Stelter, the UFC is looking for a bigger deal this time around from Spike.
Spike's $170 million-a-year deal with UFC for the show, "The Ultimate Fighter," and for live fights expires in six months. Negotiations between Spike and UFC for a new deal started almost one year ago, one of the people said, but broke down after UFC proposed a $325 million-a-year fee, a price that was far steeper than Spike was willing to pay.
You can watch UFC 131 right here on Yahoo! Sports
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The finale of the thirteenth season of "The Ultimate Fighter" was just like the season of the reality show: unmemorable, but with bright spots.
No. 1 star -- Ed Herman: Nearly two years and multiple surgeries since his last fight, Herman knocked out Tim Credeur in less than a minute. Ring rust? Hardly a problem for the alumnus of the third season of TUF.
No. 2 star -- George Roop: Hey, remember when Josh Grispi was slated to face Jose Aldo, but had to pull out because of injury? Just after Grispi's corner told him not to quit, Roop showed that Grispi was not ready for that title shot with a kick then a strike to the body.
No. 3 star -- Tony Ferguson: He may not be the most-liked fighter among his TUF 13 castmates, but his first-round knockout of Ramsey Nijem showed that this reality show is not a popularity contest. After winning the fight, the cut glass trophy, a contract with the UFC and the Knockout of the Night bonus, Ferguson called out fellow TUF winner Amir Sadollah.
Who were your Three Stars from Saturday night's fights? Speak up in the comments or on Facebook.
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Filed under: UFC
UFC president Dana White is never shy about voicing his displeasure with cageside judges. As a matter of fact, he did so last night, rightfully criticizing scorecards in a Michihiro Omigawa decision loss that was widely considered wrong, as well as a lone judge who scored round one of Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes for the former, even after the latter dropped him and outworked him in round one. Judgment calls are exactly what the words imply, a perception based on individual sensibilities. Rarely will they result in 100 percent agreement. Case in point is last night's bonus awards, a judgment call that comes from White. Essentially, he makes a judges' decision at the end of the night that results in some extra cash in the pockets of the fighters. At the close of UFC 131, he awarded $70,000 each to Dave Herman and Jon Olav Einemo for Fight of the Night, but in my view, that money belonged to Mark Munoz and Demian Maia. First off, let's temper any criticism of White. The Herman-Einemo fight was wildly entertaining for the eight minutes and 19 seconds it lasted. The big men battered each other with power shots, it had momentum swings, and it looked like either was on the verge of winning multiple times before Herman closed the show with a second-round TKO. It was a fun and competitive fight, but it was not a great fight. If you want to show fans a great mixed martial arts bout, skip ahead a few minutes in the UFC 131 broadcast to Maia vs. Munoz. Rarely would you describe a bout as "beautiful," but I think this was one of those times. Why? This fight gave you a little bit of everything, illustrated the vast complexities of the fight game and showcased two high-level fighters capable of finishing the fight anywhere. With most matchups, you have a generally good idea of how a fight will play out, but from the beginning, this one went against script. Maia, once upon a time an awkward and light puncher, was snapping off combinations with power, and Munoz looked flummoxed. Maia even dazed him once with a left hook behind the ear. Since most had expected Munoz to have a sizable advantage in the standup department -- particularly in power -- the bout became suddenly more compelling. If Maia can out-work him on the feet, and we know he has the advantage on the ground, how can Munoz win? One of the biggest ways in which MMA is unlike boxing is that you have very little time to make adjustments. In boxing, you can lose two or three rounds, and still have most of the fight to figure out your path to victory. In MMA, if you lose the first round of a three-round fight, it's almost immediately panic time. Munoz had to know he was behind on the judges' scorecards, and he had to figure out the best way to attack a grappling specialist who had just outworked him on the feet. No easy task, but that's the fight within the fight. But the second round was even more compelling than the first. Interestingly, Maia changed up his plan, looking for several takedowns against Munoz. Perhaps he figured he had Munoz shook up and could take advantage of the situation. Instead, Munoz was ready, and he largely out-grappled the fantastic grappler during a series of brilliant exchanges and position reversals, punishing him after failed takedown tries and attempts to pull guard. So after round two, we had a situation where the grappler won round one with standup, and the power puncher had won round two by outworking the submission wizard on the ground. Exactly what we expected, right? It was no surprise that the pace slowed in round three, but there were still a few excellent moments, including one in which Maia had Munoz in a reverse crucifix on his back, but Munoz escaped. The final few minutes were tense and taut, each knowing a win was riding in the balance. By the end, it was razor close, and no one quite knew who would get the decision, a drama to the last seconds. Finally, it was Munoz awarded the victory. A great fight is not always about two guys trading leather with reckless abandon. It's also about two high-level fighters surprising each other with unexpected game plans, adjusting on the fly, and showing technical brilliance for 15 minutes. Herman and Einemo may be going home with the cash, but it was Munoz and Maia who put on a true display of MMA at its best.
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