A rock climbing training blog - why?

If you are hoping to improve your ability or learn more about training techniques and tools, then this blog will give you some of the answers - because that’s what I’m going to do too! I’ve been climbing for about three years and have developed enough basic ability to get me up 6a routes. I’ve set [...]

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Nice guys finish fights: Brendan Schaub brings gear to Brazilian kids

Last week, we had to give out a Facepalm of the Week, but this week, Cagewriter can tell you about Brendan Schaub (pictured at right), one of the UFC's up-and-coming heavyweights, being a good guy.

Schaub, a runner-up on "The Ultimate Fighter, is in Brazil to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 134. It is the biggest fight of his career, as a win could put Schaub into the mix for title contention, but that didn't keep him from going back to a poor town that he had visited on his last trip to the South American country.

With the help of his sponsors RevGear, Echo Unlimited and Bony Acai, Schaub came back with bags of training gear. On his first visit, he found that the young MMA students were practicing on asphalt with little protection.

"You go there, and these kids have nothing," the heavyweight said today at a pre-event press conference for UFC 134, which takes place Saturday at HSBC Arena in Rio. "Literally, nothing, and they're as happy as can be ... For me, it was a rude awakening. It's stuff I'm not used to in Denver, Colorado ? my little bubble ? so I got all my sponsors together (to collect) donated gear."

The poverty in Brazil is hard to ignore, but someone with a laser focus on a fight easily could have done that. Kudos to Schaub for keeping his eyes open, and then doing what he could to help.

Thanks to MMA Junkie

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A vicious head kick does the job as Curran takes featherweight tourney at Bellator 48

Pat Curran stood with one of the most feared knockout artists in the world at 145 pounds and beat Marlon Sandro in the race to land the first fight changing shot. Once he did, Sandro couldn't recover, and Curran took home another $100,000 check and another Bellator tournament title. Curran stopped Sandro with a brilliantly timed head kick to post the victory at the 4:00 mark of the second round at Bellator 48 in Uncasville, Ct.

The 23-year-old Curran has won 7-of-8. His resume of includes wins over Ronnie Mann, Roger Huerta, Toby Imada and Sandro. His only recent loss came via decision at lightweight against Eddie Alvarez, the No. 5 ranked 155-pounder in the world. Along with the big payday, Curran earns himself a future shot at the Bellator featherweight champ Joe Warren.

When it started back in June, Sandro (19-3) was a sizable favorite to win the tournament. The Brazilian entered last night's fight ranked No. 5 at featherweight while Curran (16-4) was way down at No. 19.

It was far from an easy night for Curran. Sandro, 34, was outpacing him and landing the more effective shots on the feet. The first round was close, but Cagewriter gave a slight edge to Sandro. In the second, Curran's output dipped and a Sandro overhand right with 3;30 left ripped open a nasty gash over the American's eye. Curran simply wasn't throwing enough shots to score. When he got a little more active, it quickly changed the direction of the fight.

Curran flicked out a double jab, Sandro ducked to his left to avoid the punches and that's when the American unleashed the head kick. It was perfect. Sandro's momentum took him right into Curran's right shin. Sandro went down in a heap and his arms fell to the side. Curran jumped on top and unloaded three more punches on the defenseless Brazilian. Referee Keith Peterson launched himself through the air to push Curran away and save Sandro.

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UFC on Fox: You want cross-promotion? We?ve got cross-promotion

The UFC announced its seven-year deal with FOX on Thursday, promising plenty of cross-promotion between existing FOX entities and the UFC. To help out the network and the promotion, Cagewriter has a few ideas:

A "Glee"/"The Ultimate Fighter" crossover episode -- The fighters have to put together a song and dance to get New Directions to regionals. Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray finally solve their difference in the Octagon. Dana White and Mr. Schu smile and nod a ton. How could this go wrong?

Put the "American Idol" spin on "The Ultimate Fighter" -- Televise the tryouts, and have a panel either over-praise or break the hearts of every contestant.

"The Family Guy" goes to a UFC show -- Peter Griffin and his buddies head to catch some fights with some buddies in Quahog, only to find out that Brian has his UFC debut, with Stewie as his cornerman. Roy Nelson has a cameo.

Feed a fighter challenge on "Hell's Kitchen" -- The chefs have to create a post weigh-in dinner for Anderson Silva. It has to take into account his nutritional needs and love for fast food. Can they handle it, or will the chefs turn on each other? (Hint: It's reality TV. They're going to turn on each other.)

"So You Think You Can Dance: UFC edition" -- Fighters sure like to show off their moves on their way to the Octagon or after fights. Is it too much to ask for a UFC dance-off? No. No, it is not.

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Tompkins died of a heart attack, funeral arrangements and memorial fund set

The mixed martial arts world is still reeling from the shocking passing of trainer Shawn Tompkins.

An autopsy revealed that the 37-year-old died from a heart attack in his sleep while staying at a friend's house in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on Sunday.

"Shawn's family had a history of heart disease," said Tompkins' manager Gary Ibarra of Athletic Management & Representation Group (AMR) told the London Free Press. "Shawn had an enlarged heart and blocked arteries. No one had any idea. It really doesn't matter how much you exercise and what kind of shape you are in. That's why everyone is in such shock."

Tompkins was married to Sam Stout's sister Emilie. Stout, a UFC fighter, worked with Tompkins for years.

"I don't know what to say," Stout said. "It's not supposed to be happen to a healthy 37-year-old person. Who would think he had to get checked out for that?"

Tompkins worked out of Adrenaline Training Centre in London, Ontario and TapouT Training Center in Las Vegas, NV with Stout, Mark Hominick, Chris Horodecki and Ronnie Mann. The former head coach at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Tompkins also cornered fighters like Randy Couture, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Jay Hieron, Forrest Griffin, Mark Coleman and Gray Maynard.

Cage Potato reports that a memorial fund has been set up.

[...] The Shawn Tompkins Memorial Fund, which is currently accepting contributions to assist Emilie with funeral and burial costs.

"Shawn was more than a client," Ibarra stated via press release. "His passion and vision for MMA was infectious, evident by how he could motivate his fighters to become better athletes and people.On behalf of AMR Group's athletes and staff, we extend our deepest sympathies to Emilie, Sam and Shawn's entire family. His spirit will live on in our hearts."

To contribute to Tompkins' memorial fund, send an email to TeamTompkins@ShogunMMA.com. Details of the memorial service will be announced in the coming days at AMRGroup.tv.

The funeral service at West Park Church in London is Friday at 1 p.m.

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UFC's Rio Event Not Without Challenges, but End Result Is Smashing Success

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RIO DE JANEIRO -- It's a little sad to think that Ian Loveland could probably fight his whole career and never again walk out to the kind of ovation that he got from the same Brazilian crowd that would be booing him moments later.

In Las Vegas, the first prelim fighters at a UFC event usually enter to a mostly empty arena and an indifferent crowd. In Rio, the HSBC Arena was packed to the rafters well before the first entrance song blared over the speakers, and fans erupted in cheers as soon as they got a look at the night's first fighter, which just happened to be Loveland.

Then, during the introductions, it sunk in for them that Loveland was American, and the boos came raining down. Such was the double-edged sword of the passionate Brazilian crowd for UFC 134, which UFC president Dana White dubbed "the loudest crowd ever."




"The first fight of the night sounded like a title fight," White said, adding, "We might be here every weekend. It was a successful event before it even happened."

The ovations for Brazilian fighters were deafening all night long. For foreigners -- Americans in particular -- it must have felt like walking into a cavern full of faceless, frenzied enemies. The only thing to do, as David Mitchell did when he entered to the Jimi Hendrix "Star-Spangled Banner" intro portion of U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky", was embrace the hate.

Of course, when Mitchell's opponent, Paulo Thiago -- a soldier for the BOPE special forces squad in Brazil -- entered a few moments later to the theme from Elite Squad, a popular Brazilian film about BOPE, the boos quickly turned into the kind of raucous cheers Thiago never hears for his fights in the U.S.

Did it alter the outcome of the fight at all? Maybe not, but since only one foreign fighter managed to defeat a Brazilian (that would be Stanislav Nedkov, who knocked out Luiz Cane, thus silencing the crowd for a few shocked seconds) on a fight card that was essentially Brazil versus the world, it doesn't seem like a little hometown love hurt anyone's chances on Saturday.

They cheered. They chanted. They sang songs that, at least according to my bilingual seatmates, were sometimes profane, sometimes funny, and sometimes just downright weird (naturally, several Americans were also warned that they were about to die, and no one seemed to think this was a strange thing to chant in unison at a professional fight).

But though the crowd was among the most vocal and inspired the UFC has ever had, putting on an event in Rio wasn't without its challenges. Earlier in the week rumors surfaced that the UFC had run into problems with the venue, that it was understaffed and required the promotion to provide everything from electricity to security, putting the set-up dangerously behind schedule at one point.

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When asked about those difficulties following the post-fight press conference, White flashed a knowing but weary smirk.

"No matter how much support you get from the city, let me tell you what, when you go to another country to put on an event, there are a lot of obstacles and a lot of hoops to jump through," White said. "We did it. We got through it, man, and here we are."

By early indications, White and the UFC didn't just get through the first Brazilian event under Zuffa ownership -- they killed it. From the lucky fans who managed to score tickets to the fights before they sold out, to the scores who watched on free TV at home, this soccer-mad city was fully focused on the UFC for at least one night.

According to White, early polling numbers indicated that UFC Rio garnered a whopping 20 percent TV share in Brazil on Saturday, which would put the total estimated viewership here at about 30 million.

"Huge," White said. "It was a big night."

Inside the arena, at least, it was also a night for Brazilians by Brazilians. It wasn't just that they dominated the fight card, winning eight of the nine fights in which a Brazilian took on a foreigner. It was that they expressed such unified disdain for anything non-Brazilian, even booing their own fighters when one of them dared to speak a bit of English in his post-fight remarks, then immediately reverting to cheers when he gave in and switched to Portuguese.

And when it was announced that Raphael Assuncao, who hails from Recife, Brazil, was now fighting out of Jupiter, Florida, well, you can probably guess what the crowd response was.

The Brazilian unity vibe was put into words at the post-fight presser, when Anderson Silva was asked about the mixed crowd reaction to seeing him in a Corinthians jersey -- a Sao Paulo soccer team and rival of the local Rio clubs.

"I think what we need to make clear and what we need our fans to understand is that we can and we should improve a lot of things about our country," Silva said via an interpreter. "We're not here to defend the jerseys of our team but instead to defend Brazil so that we can have a better future for the sport."

Try to imagine for a moment a scenario where Brock Lesnar calls for putting personal allegiances aside in favor of national unity and goal-oriented improvement across the country, and you start to get a sense of how the general mood of this night differed from the feel at a fight in the MGM Grand.

Anyone could see that this was a special night for Brazilian MMA, but where does it go from here? It's one thing to get a huge response when it's a novel event, as the UFC received on its recent trip to Toronto, but what about the next time?

What are the UFC's future plans for the country that embraced it with an almost terrifying fervor on Saturday night?

"We're going to take this thing everywhere," White said after being asked about rumors that the UFC plans a return to Brazil in a 100,000-seat soccer stadium. "We believe there's a lot of cities [in Brazil] where we can be successful, and we're coming back to Rio too."

When it does, the UFC might want to warn its Brazilian fighters to save the English for the post-fight presser. And maybe don't advertise the fact that many of them do their training camps in the U.S.

 

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Rua or Griffin? Evans says Forrest, video experts like ?Shogun?

The most intriguing fight at UFC 134 might be Mauricio "Rua" Shogun against Forrest Griffin. Griffin manhandled Rua at UFC 76. Yet he's a huge underdog heading to the fight in Rio De Janeiro. Remember this is also the same Rua who was destroyed by Jon Jones back in March. So who wins? Fellow UFC light heavyweight star Rashad Evans sees a repeat of the first meeting.

"There's something that happens in a fight sometimes, and the way Forrest beat him the first time, he took a piece of him with him. And when you take a piece of somebody with you?well, Shogun recognizes that. I think they might pick up right where they left off, because there's no fear. That's gone. You know, Forrest is going to go in there, and Forrest is going to push the pace. Let's be honest here. Shogun does not have the best conditioning. I think that was a problem in their first fight, and I think it's going to be a problem in this second fight."

RawVegas.tv panelists Damon Martin (MMAWeekly.com) and Larry Pepe (ProMMARadio.com) don't agree with Evans. They're both worried about Griffin's passion for the fight game.

You can watch UFC 134 right here on Yahoo! Sports

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