Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov weigh-in results

CINCINNATI -- A sparse, but knowledgeable and loud crowd watched as all 20 fighters made weight at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov at the U.S. Bank Arena.

There were fireworks early, as Alexis Davis seemed to take offense to Amanda Nunes crowding her space during their staredown. Mike Kyle and Marcos Rogerio de Lima engaged in a intense staredown that lingered to the point of uncomfortableness. As Daniel Cormier and Antonio Silva squared off, Cormier was not pleased with Silva's large fists getting so close to his face.

The weigh-in results:

MAIN CARD (Showtime)
?    Josh Barnett (261) vs. Sergei Kharitonov (256.5)
?    Daniel Cormier (247) vs. Antonio Silva (264.5)
?    Champ Ronaldo Souza (185) vs. Luke Rockhold (185)
?    Roger Gracie (205) vs. Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (205)
?    Maximo Blanco (155) vs. Pat Healy (155)
PRELIMINARY CARD (HDNet)
?    Mike Kyle (205) vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima (205)
?    Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (205) vs. Yoel Romero (205)
?    Jordan Mein (170) vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos (170)
?    Alexis Davis (135) vs. Amanda Nunes (134.5)
?    Chris Mierzwiak (185) vs. Dominique Steele (184.5)

The preliminary fights will air on HDNet at 8 p.m. ET, and Showtime at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Boresha
Skinny Coffee
Boresha BLatte
Bsweet
Boresha Business

Strikeforce?s Three Stars: Cormier, Lawal and Mein

Strikeforce?s Three Stars: Cormier, Lawal and Mein

Who stood out from the thrilling card delivered by Strikeforce on Saturday night in Cincinnati? Read Cagewriter's picks, then tell us your stars in the comments or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Daniel Cormier: When Strikeforce announced the heavyweight Grand Prix, did you ever expect that one of the finalists would be Cormier? The two-time Olympian was given a golden opportunity when Alistair Overeem left the tournament. Cormier seized the moment, knocking out the much larger Antonio Silva in the first round. Unfortunately, he injured his hand in the process. The timing of his finals bout against Josh Barnett will depend on the severity of the injury.

No. 2 star -- "King Mo" Lawal: After a layoff of more than a year, Lawal showed no signs of injury or ring rust, knocking out Roger Gracie in the first round. After the win, he said he is interested in going after the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt again, but not if it's a bout to win a vacant belt. Lawal and Cormier's wins were part of the 4-0 night by American Kickboxing Academy.

No. 3 star -- Jordan Mein: One of the best performances of the evening was on the preliminary card, as Bas Rutten-trained Mein took out Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. With his father in his corner, the 21-year-old Mein handled Santos' leg and body kicks before unloading a flurry of strikes on Santos' face in the third round and then finishing with five right elbows.

Boresha Tea
Bskinny Coffee
Nuvo Gene Tea
Skinny Science Coffee
Skinny Tea

McGee decisions Yang at Ultimate Fight Night 25

McGee decisions Yang at Ultimate Fight Night 25

"The Ultimate Fighter" winner Court McGee notched a win after a long layoff from the Octagon, taking a decision over Dongi Yang at Ultimate Fight Night 25 in New Orleans on Saturday. The judges gave McGee the win 30-27, 29-28, 30-28.

McGee wobbled Yang in the first round, getting the better of Yang in the stand-up battle in a very close round that featured Yang stalking, but McGee striking. The second round showed a tired Yang slowing down, but still throwing big shots. As the round wore on, McGee was able to land more kicks and punches. Yang didn't have enough energy to defend the strikes.

The fight exploded in the third round, as Yang knocked McGee down halfway through the round. He followed up with a flying knee, but took some damage of his own as both fighters emerged with bloody faces. McGee defended a toss attempt by Yang, and then took Yang down and went straight into full mount. Yang's conditioning -- or lack thereof -- played a part, as McGee finished the round with an easy takedown into half-guard. McGee followed up with elbows, then moved into a guillotine choke. The round ended before McGee could finish the submission.

McGee hadn't fought since October of 2010 due to a knee injury. His record moves to 14-1, while Yang falls to 10-2.

Boresha Comp Plan
Boresha Compensation Plan
Boresha Distributor
Boresha International
Boresha Latte

'Rampage' Jackson: I Got No Respect for Jon Jones

Filed under:

As pre-fight verbal battles go, the one between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is starting to get a little bit meta. During Monday's UFC 135 media call, it was less about what's being said than what was said, and who said it first.

Not surprisingly, the two could not reach a consensus on the topic.

According to Jackson, it was Jones who kicked things off by acting "real cocky" at the first press conference to hype their main event title fight. Jones, who claimed he was "waiting for an example or a quote" to illustrate Jackson's point, said he's doing his best not to get caught up in the pre-fight talk -- though, by the way, it's all Jackson's doing.

"My job is not to out-talk him," Jones said on Monday. "You're talking about an opponent who threatens and harasses literally every opponent in his career's history, and I'm very aware of this. So I'll let him talk and have fun and make me look like the scared one, but when I'm in the Octagon on the 24th, that's when I'll demand more respect."

Jackson, of course, bristled at the suggestion that he's a habitual trash-talker.

"If you go back and look at my interviews [before fights with] Marvin Eastman and Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson and other guys, I react the way the guys act towards me," he countered, adding that Jones had set him off with his disrespectful, "cocky" attitude at the initial Denver presser.

"The guy has never walked the way I've walked in this sport, and basically the guy just said the wrong [expletive] and I treat him the way I treat him because I got no respect for him," Jackson said.

Still, the most heated public exchange between the two came during Saturday night's UFC Fight Night 25 broadcast on Spike, when the UFC's Joe Rogan asked about Jackson's allegations that Jones had a spy in his camp.

Jones seemed flustered by the topic, and said on Monday that what he's really confused about is how fans could believe he'd actually go to the lengths that Jackson had alleged, all just to get inside information from his opponent's training camp.

"The only thing that bothered me initially was the spygate situation," Jones said. "And it wasn't the situation necessarily, it was the fact that fans actually considered the fact that I would pay someone to...first of all, find someone to go to his camp and then pay someone and try to get Rampage to trust them, and all this ludicrousness, I thought that was pretty interesting that the fans would think I would do something like that."

While Jones drew contrasts between his bout with former Pride champ "Shogun" Rua and this fight with another Pride veteran in Jackson, he added that it was still "a huge honor" to fight an experienced mainstay of the sport like "Rampage."

Jackson, too, acknowledged that Jones "has skills," and said he plans to do his part to help him advance those skills after Saturday night.

"After I relieve him of his first loss, I think Jon will go on to be a better fighter because he won't have all that pressure of being undefeated," Jackson said. "...I'm just the person to give him that first [expletive]-whooping so he can go on and be a great fighter that I know he can be."

If you're looking for these two to find something nice to say about one another, that might be as close as you're going to get.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Argmatrix
B Latte
Bcreamy
Blatte
Boresha

Koscheck talks exploding eyeball and asking for Wandy, Franklin or Leben

Koscheck talks exploding eyeball and asking for Wandy, Franklin or LebenJosh Koscheck wouldn't be Josh Koscheck if he didn't dole out some great prefight talk in advance of his UFC 135 fight against Matt Hughes. The welterweight title contender has been on the shelf since his loss to Georges St-Pierre last December so he's got plenty to say. It started last week on Twitter when he essentially dared Hughes to not take the fight.

In a blog this week for Sportsnet.ca, Koscheck apologized for his one-sided loss to GSP. St-Pierre smashed Kos' orbital bone in the first minute of the fight at UFC 124. The American said the pain was off the charts.

"I had no depth perception and was basically a one-eyed fighter for the next 23 minutes. I can man up but the pain was just horrible. It hurt worse than anything I've ever experienced," wrote Koscheck. "It hurt even more than when I cut my big toe off when I was six -- when I was playing with my grandfather's axe being a little [expletive]. Seriously -- the eye hurt way worse than chopping my big toe off."

Koscheck is thrilled that he got a shot at Hughes after Diego Sanchez had to bail from the fight with an injury.

"[...] last week I got word Matt Hughes, who has avoided me for years, needed an opponent for UFC 135 in Denver on Sept. 24. I've called out Hughes for so long but he's always avoided me. When he was on top and one of the top in the division, he used his position to avoid fighting me and all the AKA guys," Koscheck said. "[...] Like I knew he would, he tried to suggest fighting Jon Fitch instead, knowing full well Fitch is still recovering from shoulder surgery. I tweeted that I'd accepted the fight and was ready, just to put pressure on Hughes to quit bitching and take the fight. I wanted to make it so that if he did turn the fight down, all the fans would know that he bitched out."

So Koscheck is staying at 170 after toying with the idea of taking a fight at middleweight. He says he asked for Wanderlei Silva, Chris Leben or Rich Franklin.

Boresha Latte
Bcreamy
Boresha Distributor
Skinny Tea
Boresha Compensation Plan