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 Roy Nelson's performance against Frank Mir was nothing short of terrible. He looked out of breath throughout the second and third rounds, and was unable to generate offense for much of the bout. According to his wife, Nelson's problems were from a bout with pneumonia, not a lack of conditioning. Via text messages with Cagewriter, Jessy Nelson said that her husband had walking pneumonia during the first two weeks of May, and that he spent Monday in a Las Vegas hospital. "He described the feeling like someone is taking a big scab off of his lungs," Nelson wrote. That would certainly explain the wheezing that went on during the Mir match. It would be easy to blame his conditioning on his appearance, as Nelson flaunts his beer-bellied figure. He even walks out the Octagon to the "Weird" Al Yankovic song, "I'm Fat." UFC president Dana White said that he was unhappy with Nelson's performance and planned to meet with him about it. But Nelson was just as full-figured in his bout with Junior dos Santos, which also went all three rounds. Though he tired near the end of that bout, it was nothing like the exhaustion Nelson showed in the Mir bout. His other two bouts in the UFC were both first-round knockouts. Before that, his last three-round bout was a loss to Jeff Monson in March of 2009. His last decision win was nearly four years ago. Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Nelson-s-wife-reports-that-he-had-pneumonia-befo?urn=mma-wp2838 Target archery Autracing Aquakart Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, Videos VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- MMA Fighting spoke to Shane Carwin on Wednesday about his UFC 131 fight against Junior dos Santos, how he lost over 20 pounds preparing for this fight, changing opponents on one month's notice, his take on the fight and working with Paul Heyman on the UFC Countdown show. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_us_983956481001','codever':0.1,'autoload':false,'autoplay':false,'playerid':'61371447001','videoid':'983956481001','stillurl':'http://www.blogcdn.com/www.mmafighting.com/media/2011/06/shane55.jpg','publisherid':1612833736,'width':580,'height':324,'videotitle':'Shane Carwin Interview','bgcolor':''}); Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/06/08/shane-carwin-discusses-leaner-diet-plan-of-attack-against-junio/ Freestyle BMX Cyclo-cross Crosscountry mountain biking Road bicycle racing Track cycling 
With just days to got before the finale, the semifinals are contested on "The Ultimate Fighter." Who will fight for the shiny, breakable glass plaque? Read on for spoilers and a recap. Awkward moment of the week: The house is still reeling from Tony Ferguson's drunken attacks on Charlie Rader. Chuck O'Neil, who will fight Ferguson, says that Ferguson has burned every bridge in the house. Apology of the week: Ferguson apologized to his team, and said he didn't remember what he said. His team didn't accept it, and they have chosen not to be in his corner when he fights. But first, a fight that doesn't have alcohol-fueled drama. (Side note: semi-final fights are three rounds long.) Semifinal one of the week: Ramsey Nijem (Team dos Santos) vs. Chris Cope (Team Lesnar) Round one: Nijem starts the fight more aggressively, jabbing Cope into the fence. Cope tries to avoid the takedown, but ends up eating some of Nijem's punches. Cope still gets taken down, but then gets back to his feet. Nijem maintains control against the fence, and even when Cope breaks away, Nijem is able to land strikes. Round two: Cope starts the round with a leg kick, but is quickly taken down by Nijem. Cope gets back to his feet, but sustains strikes from Nijem as he stands. Nijem never lets up, moving Cope against the fence, then flooding with a barrage of punches and knees until Cope finally falls, and referee Steve Mazzagatti steps into to stop the fight. Mispronunciation of the week: "And going to the finals! Ramsey Nay-Jim!" Mazzagatti said as he raised Nijem's hand. Semifinal two of the week: Chuck O'Neil (Team Lesnar) vs. Tony Ferguson (Team Lesnar) Round one: O'Neil starts strong, landing jabs that appear to shake Ferguson up. Ferguson has good movement, and finally starts landing strikes two minutes into the bout. He then starts using leg kicks, but O'Neil returns the favor. With two minutes left, Ferguson lands a snapping strikes and get O'Neil to back up. Ferguson finishes the round strong, landing a flurry of strikes, even knocking O'Neil down for a second. Round two: Ferguson starts this round more aggressively, throwing punches and moving O'Neil back into the cage. Ferguson keeps up his footwork and head movement, but O'Neil still manages a few strikes. Ferguson responds and appears to shake up O'Neil with a few jabs. They exchange leg kicks, and then a Ferguson jab causes O'Neil's nose to bleed. Round three: Ferguson comes out with leg kicks and body shots. O'Neil begins to hobble from the leg kicks. O'Neil's corner begs for him to throw a jab when Ferguson comes in for a kick, but he isn't able to. A straight right knocks O'Neil to the ground, where Ferguson tries to follow him to the ground but isn't able to because of O'Neil's kicks. Back on their feet and with O'Neil's nose bleeding profusely, Ferguson knocks O'Neil to the ground with a hard body shot. The fight is stopped. And that's your final: Tony Ferguson (Team Lesnar) vs. Ramsey Nijem (Team dos Santos). That will air as a part of "The Ultimate Fighter" finale which runs this Saturday on Spike. Despite an unbalanced semifinal, both teams are represented. Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/What-you-need-to-know-from-this-week-on-The-Ult?urn=mma-wp2897 Boccia Bo?eln Boule lyonnaise Bowls Curling UFC president Dana White tweeted the news Wednesday that MMA fans have been waiting to hear: 
A fight between the UFC welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre, and the Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz, is on for late October. This is the first fight between Strikeforce and UFC fighters since Zuffa, the parent company for the UFC, bought Strikeforce in March. Until now, the UFC had maintained that the two promotions would remain separate. It is also the bout that makes the most sense for both fighters. Diaz and GSP have both cleaned out their divisions. Neither fighter has lost since 2007. Diaz has been asking for this fight for more than a year, pointing out in an interview with Cagewriter that GSP did not have many challenges left within the UFC: GSP's fought everybody else. He's already fought Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck. He doesn't want to fight those guys again. He should want to fight me. I think he should stand up and say, whether this fight is going to happen or not, I'm not afraid to fight.
Diaz turned out to be correct, as GSP beat both Koscheck and Diaz's training partner, Jake Shields. Diaz has faced a similar dearth of challenges. He beat Paul Daley with a TKO in the first round in April, and Evangelista Santos with an armbar in January. Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Georges-St-Pierre-vs-Nick-Diaz-on-the-docket-fo?urn=mma-wp2883 Human powered aircraft Model aircraft Parachuting Banzai skydiving BASE jumping 
LAS VEGAS - It looked like a heavyweight versus a blown up middleweight, but fighting at the highest level has little do with appearances. The much bigger Kyle Kingsbury discovered what crisp boxing felt like and found himself in a dog fight against Fabio Maldonado. Kingsbury was able to survive some nasty body shots, score a few takedowns and do enough damage from the thai clinch to pull out a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all cards, at "The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale" at the Palms. "What a battle. A war. My head just continues to swell up. (Maldonado) is like the Terminator," said Kingsbury. It's the fourth straight win for Kingsbury, who got off to a less than stellar start with the UFC. Kingsbury (11-4, 4-1 UFC) is one of several TUF alums on the card. Kingsbury lost to both Ryan Bader and Krzysztof Soszy?ski on the show, but the UFC saw enough in him to offer him a spot on the TUF 7 Finale. The former Arizona State defensive lineman has grown a lot as a fighter. He met a tough cookie tonight in Maldonado (18-4, 1-1 UFC). "All the footage I saw on him came through tonight. But is sure is different going through it in your head and then experiencing it in person. I kept giving him good shot after good shot and they seemed like they were just going right through him," Kingsbury said. "It can be a little disheartening. It does affect you. But he's experiencing the same thing as well. You just need to keep your composure." 
Early on, it looked like Kingsbury would overpower the Brazilian. The thai clinches appeared to be doing major damage as the taller Kingsbury threw some vicious knees. Upon closer look, Maldonado was blocking many of the knees and began hurting Kingsbury with some powerful body shots. He also ate a few big overhand rights. When Kingsbury decided to blow his nose in the third round, his left eye blew up. According to FightMetric, Maldonado outlanded Kingsbury 122-110. That included 65 body shots. Both, this Cagewriter and Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole scored it 29-29 for Maldonado. "I have a lot of respect for Kyle. He's a really tough guy. I honestly thought that I won the fight," Maldonado said. "I felt like I controlled every area of the fight. Applying a little more pressure and a few more kicks might have convinced the judges in the end that I did do enough to win the fight." The Kingsbury takedowns must've gone a long way for the judges. He made good on 5-of-14. Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Kingsbury-survives-much-smaller-Maldonado-at-TUF?urn=mma-wp3050 Méta and longa méta (long méta) â Hungarian game Oina â One (Two, Three, or Four) Old Cat â variable Over-the-line â qv Pes?pallâ four bases 
Clay Guida's win over Anthony Pettis was huge in so many ways, but most important may have been the fact that it confirms he made a good move in turning his career over to renowned trainer Greg Jackson. In the past, Guida had always fallen short in career changing fights. This time, a good gameplan and smart execution allowed him to post the biggest win of his career. "Everyone knows the cardio is there, but there has to be more than cardio. There has to be composure in the cage," Guida told Cagewriter. "Sometimes I would go out there recklessly. I wasn't using all my energy in the right way, kind of wasting movement." Guida (29-11, 9-5 UFC) lost title contender fights against Roger Huerta, Diego Sanchez, Tyson Griffin and Kenny Florian. "With Kenny, I came out strong the first two minutes and then stopped [moving]. I was a sitting target and he picked me apart. I didn't think he had knockout power, but he dropped me. It doesn't happen very often, [but] he dropped me and choked me." Jackson, a game-planning guru, is working on the mental side of things for Guida. 
"The coaches say 'fight with perpetual motion but don't think. Clay, you're not getting paid to think. That's the one thing that stopped me from being successful as a wrestler. I would think too much out there," Guida said. "Some guys are more natrual athletes than myself. A lot of my opposition are more talented than me in the MMA world. The constant pressure and going out there and fighting on basic instinct and reaction is where I'm going to have my success." Guida sees that he was missing something in those fights. He wasn't a complete fighter, physically or mentally. "I've lost most of my fights against those top guys. Perhaps at the time it was premature," Guida said. The 29-year-old feels like his time has arrived. "Now, I have the mindset. I have the coaching staff. I have great teammates. I have all the confidence in the world that I'm going to be the next lightweight champion of the UFC," said Guida. Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard still have to meet for a third time to sort things out at the top of the UFC lightweight division, but don't be surprised if Guida has a shot at the winner. Jim Miller has a pivotal fight upcoming in August against Ben Henderson. The former WEC champ is more than capable of pulling off the mild upset. If Miller is out of the mix, the UFC should throw Guida in there. The guy always delivers exciting performances. He's earned five UFC postfight bonuses and his wrestling would force both Edgar and Maynard into standup wars. The question is, could either catch him on the feet, with his more composed style? Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/With-mental-game-solidified-Guida-wants-to-make?urn=mma-wp3183 Rallycross Rallying Regularity Rally Road racing Road crawling Filed under: UFC  UFC 131 was planned as a pay-per-view that Brock Lesnar would carry: Lesnar, the UFC's biggest pay-per-view draw, would coach against Junior dos Santos on The Ultimate Fighter all spring, then fight dos Santos in a heavyweight No. 1 contender bout in the summer. It would be a very big deal. Instead, Lesnar got sick with diverticulitis, and the UFC had to scramble to put Shane Carwin in with dos Santos. Carwin is a fine replacement, but the bottom line is that without Lesnar, this pay-per-view is one only the hard-core fans will buy. What: UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin When: Saturday, the pay-per-view broadcast starts at 9 PM ET Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia Predictions on the five pay-per-view fights below. Junior Dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin Although dos Santos-Carwin is nowhere near as big a draw as dos Santos-Lesnar would have been, you can make a case that it's a better fight. I thought Lesnar's suspect chin would have allowed a hard puncher like dos Santos to make short work of him, but I think Carwin has the potential to stand and trade with dos Santos and actually get the better end of an exchange of punches. The questions about Carwin are mostly about his health and fitness. He's been out with a back injury since losing to Lesnar almost a year ago, and the Lesnar fight exposed serious problems with Carwin's cardio. We don't know what kind of shape Carwin will be in for this fight. For dos Santos, the questions are whether he can take a punch from the one UFC heavyweight who might hit even harder than he does, and whether he'll be able to stop a bigger, stronger wrestler like Carwin from taking him down and controlling him from the top. I think this fight is basically a toss-up, and a quick knockout in either direction is entirely possible -- and largely unpredictable. But if the fight lasts more than a couple minutes I'll give dos Santos a slight advantage based on his better conditioning and more technically proficient striking, and I'll pick him to win. Pick: Dos Santos
Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes Florian, who debuted in the UFC as a middleweight, has moved down three weight classes in six years and is now making his featherweight debut. If Florian can make the cut to 145 pounds without weakening himself too severely, he could be a real force in the featherweight class. The UFC would love to see that, as a fight between Florian and Jose Aldo is the biggest featherweight fight the promotion could put together. Nunes is 16-1 and coming off the biggest win of his career, having beaten former featherweight champion Mike Brown at UFC 125. He's well rounded and still improving, and he could be a handful for Florian. But I see Florian out-striking Nunes in the early going, getting him to the ground as the fight wears on and eventually winning by submission. Pick: Florian Jon Olav Einemo vs. Dave Herman I'm sure the majority of fans have never heard of either of these guys, but Einemo vs. Herman is not a bad fight. Einemo hasn't fought in almost five years, but if he's healthy and ready to go his ground game is among the best in the heavyweight division. Herman is a 26-year-old with a 20-2 record and has been very successful fighting in Japan and in Bellator, EliteXC and other American promotions. There's no way to know how ready Einemo is to return, but I'm going to pick Herman based on having youth and recent success on his side. Pick: Herman Demian Maia vs. Mark Muñoz This is a good stylistic matchup between the fighter who may be the best pure grappler in the middleweight division, and the fighter who may be the best pure wrestler in the middleweight division: Maia is a former ADCC grappling champ, while Munoz is a former NCAA wrestling champ. Munoz needed less than a minute to knock out C.B. Dollaway in March, showing off some solid striking that could test Maia's chin, but I think the most likely result is Maia catching Munoz in a submission and forcing him to tap. Pick: Maia Donald Cerrone vs. Vagner Rocha Rocha has fought on Bellator and Strikeforce undercards, but he's taking an enormous step up into the UFC. I don't think he's ready for a fighter of Cerrone's caliber, and I expect Cerrone to make short work of Rocha. Pick: Cerrone Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/06/08/ufc-131-predictions/ Aquakart Autocross Autograss Banger racing Board track racing
With just days to got before the finale, the semifinals are contested on "The Ultimate Fighter." Who will fight for the shiny, breakable glass plaque? Read on for spoilers and a recap. Awkward moment of the week: The house is still reeling from Tony Ferguson's drunken attacks on Charlie Rader. Chuck O'Neil, who will fight Ferguson, says that Ferguson has burned every bridge in the house. Apology of the week: Ferguson apologized to his team, and said he didn't remember what he said. His team didn't accept it, and they have chosen not to be in his corner when he fights. But first, a fight that doesn't have alcohol-fueled drama. (Side note: semi-final fights are three rounds long.) Semifinal one of the week: Ramsey Nijem (Team dos Santos) vs. Chris Cope (Team Lesnar) Round one: Nijem starts the fight more aggressively, jabbing Cope into the fence. Cope tries to avoid the takedown, but ends up eating some of Nijem's punches. Cope still gets taken down, but then gets back to his feet. Nijem maintains control against the fence, and even when Cope breaks away, Nijem is able to land strikes. Round two: Cope starts the round with a leg kick, but is quickly taken down by Nijem. Cope gets back to his feet, but sustains strikes from Nijem as he stands. Nijem never lets up, moving Cope against the fence, then flooding with a barrage of punches and knees until Cope finally falls, and referee Steve Mazzagatti steps into to stop the fight. Mispronunciation of the week: "And going to the finals! Ramsey Nay-Jim!" Mazzagatti said as he raised Nijem's hand. Semifinal two of the week: Chuck O'Neil (Team Lesnar) vs. Tony Ferguson (Team Lesnar) Round one: O'Neil starts strong, landing jabs that appear to shake Ferguson up. Ferguson has good movement, and finally starts landing strikes two minutes into the bout. He then starts using leg kicks, but O'Neil returns the favor. With two minutes left, Ferguson lands a snapping strikes and get O'Neil to back up. Ferguson finishes the round strong, landing a flurry of strikes, even knocking O'Neil down for a second. Round two: Ferguson starts this round more aggressively, throwing punches and moving O'Neil back into the cage. Ferguson keeps up his footwork and head movement, but O'Neil still manages a few strikes. Ferguson responds and appears to shake up O'Neil with a few jabs. They exchange leg kicks, and then a Ferguson jab causes O'Neil's nose to bleed. Round three: Ferguson comes out with leg kicks and body shots. O'Neil begins to hobble from the leg kicks. O'Neil's corner begs for him to throw a jab when Ferguson comes in for a kick, but he isn't able to. A straight right knocks O'Neil to the ground, where Ferguson tries to follow him to the ground but isn't able to because of O'Neil's kicks. Back on their feet and with O'Neil's nose bleeding profusely, Ferguson knocks O'Neil to the ground with a hard body shot. The fight is stopped. And that's your final: Tony Ferguson (Team Lesnar) vs. Ramsey Nijem (Team dos Santos). That will air as a part of "The Ultimate Fighter" finale which runs this Saturday on Spike. Despite an unbalanced semifinal, both teams are represented. Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/What-you-need-to-know-from-this-week-on-The-Ult?urn=mma-wp2897 Hopper ballooning Wingsuit flying Gliding Hang gliding Human powered aircraft |
Strikeforce lightweight champion, Melendez talks with Showtime Sports, straight from the cage following a brutal victory over Tatsuya Kawajiri.
