Jones Jr. Out Guns Lacy

Roy Jones Jr. rolled back the years and soundly beat Jeff "Left Hook" Lacy in front of a thrilled partisan crowd in Billoxi, Mississipi. Jones who was voted Fighter of the Decade of the 1990s by The Boxing Writers Association of America looked ageless in thoroughly out-boxing his opponent for the duration of the fight. Fight fans were witness to a exhibition of Jones' former glory before the action was called to a halt after 10 rounds. In essence the fight could have been stopped many rounds earlier, as Jones now 40 completely out-classed the highly regarded Lacy.

Jones IBF who has held championships in the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions has also won the WBA heavyweight title in his only fight in this weight class. He is also noted for holding the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, NABF, WBF, and IBA light heavyweight championships at the same time and undoubtedly now feels despite his age has more titles ahead of him.

MMA Pound for Pound King Anderson Silva reiterated his desire to fight Jones Jr. under boxing rules, in response Jones Jr affirmed he would simply "destroy" Silva and make him regret wanting to fight Jones. I have my doubts whether the fight will ever be made but in the mean time check out Jones Jr. vs Lacey below.

Armenian 101

I’ve never been to Armenia and I don’t know anybody who has either but I do know one thing about the place – they love to scrap over there. Having spent the morning researching a little bit about the place I can now reveal that besides knowing that there are 3.4 million inhabitants and the capital is Yerevan, I still only know that they just love to fight. If you go to Armeniapedia.org and take a look at their list of famous Armenians, you will find there are in fact no famous Armenians, well no real ones. They claim former tennis star Andre Agassi is Armenian, despite being born in Vegas they even claim that Princess Di’ is 1/64th Armenian – check it out for yourself. They do however produce great fighters over there. Carrying the hopes of a nation in the square circle has been pro-boxer Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan. A superb fighter, he is the current WBA, WBC and IBF Undisputed Super Flyweight World Champion. However it is in the cage where there seems to be an endless stream of Armenian scrappers excelling.

These include former UFC welterweight top contender Karo “The Heat” Parisyan and his cousin - former TUF finalist Manvel “The Anvil” Gamburyan. Other notable fighters include Roman Mitchyan, Arman Gamburyan and countless other K1 fighters. However one fighter stands to put Armenia firmly on the map. Born of Armenian exiles in Iran and trained in The Netherlands Gegard Mousasi is the man that I believe to be the only true test to both Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida. His performances at both middleweight and light heavyweight over the past two and a half years have seen him capture The Strikeforce light heavyweight belt, The Dream middleweight belt, the Cage Rage middleweight belt and a truly magnificent Dream Middleweight Grand Prix victory. It is his stoic demeanor which has really set chins wagging among the fight press.

During last week’s first round destruction of Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Mousasi cut a relaxed and almost reclusive figure. He sauntered up to the cage, devoid of the usual air punching or growling as practiced by other fighters. His stare down lacked any attempt at intimidation and after he had decimated top ten ranked light heavyweight Sobral he respectively thanked the crowd before slipping back into the shadows. I am in no doubt that this mindset is due to his time spent training with walking legend and number one Pound for Pound Fighter Fedor Emilianenko, he too cuts a solemn figure before and after fights. This monk-like countenance stands apart from the traditional base-ball cap adorned snarling combatants that we usually witness in and around MMA.

I can’t imagine how much money the UFC will throw at Mousasi to get him into the Octagon but I do know that it will prove to be money well spent. There is a mystique about this guy – if they take themselves seriously they will sign him up at any cost. If they don’t not they will be fooling themselves into believing they have the best fighters in the world on their rosters but they will also deny the majority of fans the joy of seeing this truly unique fighter in action. Until they do, you can rest assured that Mousasi along with his compatriots will be beating the hell out of whoever they are put in front of.

Watch Mousasi destroying Babalu !

- Barry Mc

Captain America

The date was August 25th 2007 and as referee Herb Dean called a halt to battering that Gabriel Gonzaga was taking, UFC colour commentator summed up the feelings of Mixed Martial Arts fans around the world in declaring “That guy is my hero!” Couture had just defended his heavyweight belt at the tender age of 43. The titles of legend and warrior are often bandied about the fight game - but there is simply no other MMA fighter more deserving of those descriptions than Captain America himself, Randy Couture.

The UFC Hall of Famer has competed in fourteen title fights during his twelve year career, a UFC record. He has more light heavyweight belts and heavyweight belts than any other fighter in the sports history. As a light heavyweight he defeated Champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 44 to become the first and only fighter to hold UFC titles in two different weight classes. At heavyweight he defeated Tim Sylvia to become the oldest fighter to win a title at age 43. Remarkably Couture has entered the majority of these title fights as the underdog – facing younger fighters, feared and in their prime. He defeated Chuck Liddell for the interim light heavyweight title at a time when The Iceman was universally renowned as the deadliest striker in the sport, in doing so he halted Liddell’s ten fight win streak. In his defeat of Tito Ortiz, he out-wrestled a fighter dubbed by many as simply indestructible. Returning from retirement to face Tim Sylvia, few felt that Couture would stand a chance against the 6ft 8” giant who weighed 275lbs on the night of the fight.

It has been these heroic performances over the past decade, not simply his obvious skill that has captured the hearts of his fans. Couture brings three key weapons into the Octagon – sublime conditioning, affective game plans and the heart of a lion. Couture has consistently evolved his style, nick-named “The Natural” he has a pedigree as clinch wrestler, he was indeed an Olympic alternate three times for the U.S. Wrestling Team. Since then he has developed into a fluid boxer and displayed devastating ground and pound. When Joe Rogan declared that Couture was “his hero” it was following possibly his greatest display in the octagon. Couture had defeated the giant Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight title and was scheduled to face Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga. Gonzaga had just shaken up the division, with the kick heard around the world, knocking out the human highlight reel Mirko Cro-Cop Filipovic with a devastating left high kick to the jaw. Up until then Gonzaga had been regarded as an A grade grappler and submission master, this mix of skills as well as the fact that he was sixteen years younger than his opponent meant that Gonzaga was the clear favourite before the fight. Couture however had different plans, he out-boxed and out-wrestled the Brazilian before stopping him in the third round, it was simply an heroic performance and one of the sports finest moments. It was soon revealed that in blocking a Gonzaga high kick, Couture had shattered his arm. Despite having a split ulna, Couture fought on an defeated Gonzaga, you could break his arm but no break his will.

Outside the octagon, Couture’s career has been equally as distinguished, he served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1988, as mentioned he was as U.S Wrestling Team alternate for the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games and has campaigned for fighter’s rights to the annoyance of the UFC top brass. It is fitting that on August 29th Couture will meet fellow MMA legend Antonio Minitoro Nogueira at UFC 102 in his home town of Portland Oregon. It will be fitting return home for a man universally recognised as one of the greatest to ever compete in the sport. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Couture, at the sprightly age of 46 puts himself right back in title contention, to re-write history just one more time.

- Barry Mc

The Return of The Janitor

I will get straight to the point - I love a nick-name, I like the good ones but I really love the bad ones. Last weeks bout between Kurt "Batman" Pelligrino and Josh "The Dentist" Neer had me waiting up til 4.00am just to hear it announce - I didn't even watch the whole fight. Therefore it gives me great pleasure to announce that The UFC has confirmed the return of the man with easily the greatest nick-name of all time. Drum roll please for - Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko!!!!

Yup that's right - The Janitor. This one has fascinated me for years - I mean who would purposely call themselves The Janitor? Did he type "takes no shit" into google translator or did he take the expression "wipe the floor with him" literally too far! I just read that he and his girlfriend Vanessa also have a 6 year old son called Roman...perhaps he just really really likes sanitation and is giving props the Romans with that name too...

On a serious note Matyushenko is bloody good. The Bulgarian is an accomplished Freestle Wrester and has defeated the likes of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Pedro Rizzo, his first return UFC bout will be at UFC 103, September 19th against the unknown and nick-nameless Croatian Igor Pokrajac.

Here is a short video of him doing his thing from the IFL .

-Barry Mc

Equality Kicks Ass

The rise of MMA in the last half decade has been nothing short of meteoric. In this short period, the sport once derided as "human cockfighting" by then Senator John McCain, has completely transformed its image, established it’s credibility and seen it's popularity soar. Some of the significant drivers behind this rise would include the vision and determination of The UFC's President Dana White, the support shown by the ultra-loyal fan-base and finally the professionalism and skill of the fighters themselves. Couple these factors with the slick marketing savvy shown by The UFC in highlighting the thrill of MMA and the growing disillusion with the state of boxing, it seems that MMA has exploded into the mainstream.


The real success of The UFC has been in highlighting the flash KOs, the take-downs and the slick submissions of the sport while moving away from the negative connotations that no holds barred fighting had previously suggested. This was achieved by stressing the professional background of it's fighters - they were not simply drunks in a cage – instead the UFC sought to advertise that their fighters were true athletes - many had competed at Olympic level as wrestlers or Judokas, the majority held black belts in at least one martial arts disciplines and many more held credible Pro-Boxing pedigrees.


It worked, now viewers on this side of the Atlantic have an appreciation for all facets of the game. They will applaud successful take-downs and guard passes with the same respect as they would a speedy combo or a slipped punch. We have also become accustomed to seeing fighters wearing fingerless gloves, throw elbows, knees and roundhouses in the same way we would expect jabs and one-twos thrown between boxers. Many have questioned whether this tolerance for blood and damage in what appears to be the more brutal fight game is a good thing? Perhaps this is a just a greater symptom of societies higher tolerance for violence in general. Many others would suggest that to fight is simply part of human nature - it is our inherent animal instinct - we need to find who the Alpha Male is? We certainly know that the ancient Greek's favoured an ol' spot of Pankration to decide who exactly the fistic Champion of the camp was.


For all the many that agree that fighting is part of human nature, that boxing is the Sweet Science and that Mixed Martial Arts is bona fide sport - there will be few that would like to see their wife or daughter locked into the octagon to fight five minute rounds of full MMA. Those people probably won't know about The Strikeforce Carano vs. Santos Event taking place in San Jose, California this Saturday.


In what will be the most highly anticipated female MMA bout to date, American Kickboxer Gina Carano will take on Brazilian Vale Tudo Fighter Christine Cyborg Santos. This fight will be the headline fight on a card which features many top ten ranked male fighters and in Gegard Mousasi, the man many believe to be the un-crowned Middleweight Champion. The fight may be one of the most important MMA fights to date. Carano (7-0) is unbeaten in all of her previous MMA bouts will take on her toughest test to date against a fighter who’s power belies her female frame, is notoriously savage. It is fight that fans have wanted to see for the past two years and in a sport where few are protected, these two female warriors will get it on in front of 15000 fans and countless thousands on pay-per-view.


Ironically the timing of this fight could not be more apt, tomorrow the Comité International Olympique meets to finally ratify female boxing as an Olympic Event. Finally female fighters will get the chance to capture the attentions of hearts of their nations on an International stage. As one of the last bastions of sexism falls, I wonder who long it will be before we applaud female MMA in the mainstream or heck imagine crown an Olympic Female MMA Champion.

- Barry Mc.

Monday Link Monkey #1

Okay so it seems that there is some sort of MMA event taking place almost every weekend, which is good right? Sure, but the problem remains that the majority of events are pretty lame and usually consist of an octagon of sorts made from materials bought that day in Woodies (or US equivalent), fighters that are probably just out on probation and venues that look just like The Phoenix Club from Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights. It seems that any individual blessed with the ability to put three capital letters together and print them on a poster is hosting an event.

It may be true that this is grass roots MMA but it is also true that these events are generally organised to give red-necks something to do rather than race lawn mowers.

Therefore our very own Link Monkey has decided to save you the effort of it all and will sift through the lame stuff to provide highlights of each weekend's MMA action - Harrrroooooooooooo for the Monkey!

Each Monday we will have links to the best action right here.

This weekend we were spoiled for action with UFC 101 and WEC 42, the two main events have been posted below but here are the best rest. Enjoy.


* Yikes Miguel Torres unbeaten in his last 9 outings loses WEC title *
* Another TUF Champ loses - as Amir Sadollah gets KO'd by a nobody *
* Rashad Evans impersonates Mike Tyson and his own Mammy *
* Brock Lesnar Documentary *

- Barry Mc

Griffin Busted

Click the picture to see a video of the fight

In case you didn't alreadyknow - Anderson Silva went all ninja on Forrest Griffin's head last night at UFC 101 in Philly. Knocked out brutally in the first round, former TUF Winner and Light Heavyweight Champ Griffin was distraught and seemingly still on queer street walked straight out of the octagon much to the disappointment of the 17,000 fans in attendance and Egg-Head-Pres. Dana White.

Reports have since surfaced that Griffin suffered a dislocated jaw and a busted ear drum during the fight and in fairness you need both of those to conduct an interview so it was probably understandable that he chose to leave. Equally plausable as an excuse was the sore arse he must have had from being dropped at will by a deadly accurate Silva. Griffin never looked himself and was in trouble early, choosing to block anything Silva threw at him with his head instead of his hands. With Forrest such a willing target Silva poured on the pain and finished Griffin after just 3.23 of the first round.

It's safe to say that The Spider's reputation as the premiere striker in MMA has been restored. This time out he balanced all the feinting and monkeying about from his previous fights with lethal intentions. It really is devastating to watch Silva in this form, a cerebral fighter with no par - it is his speed and accuracy that stands head and shoulders above his MMA counter-parts.

Although he has made no secret of his desire to fight Roy Jones Jr. under boxing rules - it is safe to say that following last night's demolition Dana White will make sure his immediate future lies within the octagon.
- Barry Mc

Kenny's Floored-Again

Click the picture to see a video of the fight

In the early hours of last night The Hilo Scrapper BJ Penn dismantled top contender Kenny Florian within four rounds to regain his UFC Lightweight Title. This was Penn's third defense of his Lightweight belt and many had doubts as to whether BJ was mentally tough enough or had the motivation to get back down to Lightweight following his January mauling at the hands of George Saint Pierre.

The manner in which he defeated Florian, via his trademark rear-naked-choke at 3:54 of the fourth round silenced those critics. Many saw GSP's succesful strategy of pressure and take-downs as the key to bettering Penn. At to hsi merit Ken-Flo stuck to this game plan, employing the same swarming all pressure attack on Penn in a bid to stifle the Champ's stand-up in a the hope tiring him out. Time after time, the challenger feinted and locked up with Penn, using shoulder pressure on BJ's chest and stomach in a bid to squeeze the air from him. However as many have experience before trying to take the BJJ Black Belt down i a fruitless affair, the Champ's balance, control and skill nullifying Florian's increasingly desperate attempts. During these attempts Florian was getting clipped and by the fourth round knew he was three rounds down and needed to switch tactics and expand his game more.

Spotting this change Penn seized the advantage - slammed Florian to the canvas via a sweet double-leg takedown and gave a master class in ground fighting. He transitioned effortlessly from half-guard to full-mount while controlling his opponent and peppering him with strikes. Florian was thus forced to give up his back in a bid to avoid the onslaught of punches. From there with Penn in control it was anaconda versus chicken time with Joe Rogan playing Attenborough to the masses. Sure enough BJ sinked in his trade mark choke, defeating Florian.

Florian now joins Joe Stevenson, Jens Pulver and Sean Sherk on place BJ's scrap heap. Next up for BJ is more pool jumping and a New Years Barn Burner with Diego Sanchez.

- Barry Mc

Punchy Face

"If you are planning on wearing some Stars and Stripes emblazoned pants and you are not in a movie then you better make sure you can hit back hard and often." When moustache wearin' rifle huggin' Don Frey squared off against Japanese Pro Wrestler Yoshira Takayama at Pride 21 that was exactly what he did.

Despite both coming from wrestling backgrounds, competing in a sport where any array of knees, elbows or kicks could be used - they went for the age old school yard technique of grabbing the other fella by the back of the neck and digging him as hard as possible. What followed was six minutes of human Rock 'em Sock 'em - that eventually left Takayama looking like a......sonufabitch who fights a dude in stars and stripes pants.

Enjoy!

Sack The Uglies

They actually did it. The UFC Management has sacked ring girl Edith Labelle with immediate effect. Rumours have been circulating since her notable absence from the Pre-Fight Press Conference and Media Tour. Soon her profile was removed from UFC.com and finally there were reports of a He/She-Horse-alike-Figure drowning it's sorrows in down-town Vegas. Those rumours have been confirmed - they've sacked the ugly!

This is a classic case of an employer implementing the Least Pretty means test for redundancies, a threat which has hung over the mingin' one from Girls Aloud for ages now. Poor Edith after three years has finally bitten the bullet. It's a shame but hardly a surprise, standing beside beauties such as Arianny Celeste, Rachelle Leah and Logan Stanton, Labelle often looked like she belonged in the Octagon rather than walking around it. Indeed there are unconfirmed reports that some of the Lightweights complained that Edith made them looked wimpy.

Could this be the UFC's response to Affliction's drug farce by removing the most chemically composed people in the organaisation or have they simply decided that the site of Edith struggling to disguise her ball bag in hot pants does not look good on digital TV. Either way- following a competition run in cahoots with US Maxim Magazine, they have found a new ring girl in the shape of Natasha Wicks (vid below - yussss). I will leave you to get to know the card-carrying genius herself.

Reports that Edith has been offered a three fight deal at Middleweight are unconfirmed.
Reports that she pees standing up are true.

UFC 101 Weigh-Ins

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Batman vs. The Dentist

As soon as Ken Shamrock dubbed himself the "World's Most Dangerous Man" the floodgates were opened for any dude to throw on a pair of boardies, cut the fingers of his gloves and call himself the "hit-man" or "the assassin" or whatever they thought sounded tough.

I understand the need for a nick-name - well, I can see how it serves a purpose. It helps create a fighter identity, can be ingloriously boastful and just like a good stare down can strike fear in their opponents. A brief look at some of the better ones and it seems that some served different purpose.

• Ali - dubbed himself "The Greatest" - just so you knew....
• Super Middle Weight Jeff "Left Hook" Lacey - gave his game plan away with his chosen alias.
• Michael "Second to" Nunn - presumably liked a pun.
• "Irish" Micky Ward - was guaranteed an automatic fan base and free beer on the road.
• "Gentleman" Jim Corbett - was a fan of reverse psychology/the ladies....

I'm not against nick-names per se, indeed boxing has given us some truly epic examples, some personal favorites being - "Smokin - Joe Frazier, Arturo - Thunder - Gatti and Juan - The Hispanic Causing Panic - Lazcano" it seems MMA is determined to follow suit and perhaps god forbid eclipse it's pugilistic decendents.

This brings us nicely to this weekend's UFC 101 show; it's first from boxing's old stomping ground Philadelphia. The main card features a bout between Josh "The Dentist" Neer and fellow lightweight contender Kurt "Batman" Pelligrino. Yup Batman versus The Dentist - I'm pretty sure I scribbled Batman versus a Shark on a desk during my school years but this is for real!

In fairness to both, they are bona fide fighters and in Neer a KO machine and future lightweight belt contender. Expect Batman to employ some stick and move before devoid of his utility belt getting tagged and WHOMPED! into next week.

That Lightweight belt is currently on the line in the main event where Champ B.J. Penn aims to defend his title for a third time against Boston native Kenny Florian. Penn who has held belts at both Welterweight and Lightweight is one of the sports elite competitors and after only three years of training become the first non-Brazilian to win the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Championships. This natural skill level led Penn to be known as The Prodigy - a name given to him by none other than......you guessed it, Ken Shamrock.

See what I did there...