10/25/2010
Better stamina, crisp boxing lead Bisping past Akiyama at UFC 120
Love or hate him - and plenty of MMA fans can't stand Michael Bisping - you have to give him credit for being a well-rounded, smart fighter. After a rough night for the British fighters on the main card, Bisping pleased the hometown fans in London by scoring a unanimous decision victory, 30-27 on all cards, over Yoshihiro Akiyama in the main event at UFC 120 in London.
"Akiyama's a tough fighter but I truly believed in my training and my skills and my ability to win this fight," Bisping told UFC color analyst Joe Rogan.
Just seconds into the fight, Bisping felt Akiyama's power. Akiyama, a fighter of Korean descent born in Japan, packs some zip in his hands. He landed a right hand on the side of Bisping's head. The Brit's legs buckled and he had a little trouble regaining his balance for a few seconds.
"I was seeing double. That's for sure," Bisping said. "And I couldn't see out of (my left eye). I said 'oh [expletive] this isn't a good start.'"
Once the fight settled into a rythym it was Bisping who consistently landed a series of combinations while Akiyama only went for the knockout punch. "Sexyama" landed his share of good right hands throughout the fight but the judges favored Bisping's volume over Akiyama's hard shots.
Things got dicey in the final round when Akiyama (13-3, 1-2 UFC) took nasty low blow as Bisping (20-3, 10-3 UFC) tried an inside leg kick. With 3:30 left in the fight, Akiyama laid on the mat for over two minutes and at one point he looked a longshot to continue the fight.
When it re-started, Akiyama went for broke but he only had about 60 seconds left in his gas tank. He even tried one last flurry in the final 10 seconds of the fight but Bisping avoided eating a fight changing shot.
Akiyama has won only one of his three fights with the UFC. All the matches have been very similar. He's chosen to slug it out in each fight but because his conditioning isn't up to par, he wasn't been able to maintain the same pace for 15 minutes. Akiyama's a short, thick middleweight at 5-foot-10. Maybe he's carrying some excess weight. He has the game to be a player at welterweight but as long as he remains at middleweight he may just be a .500 fighter.
For Bisping, this is another baby step toward the top five in the UFC's middleweight division. He's suffered middleweight losses to Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva. He still holds out hope for a shot at the champ Anderson Silva but right now, at minimum, he's behind Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt in the 185-pound pecking order.
"I'm training my ass off. I'm hungry," said Bisping. "Regardless of what some people say on the Internet, they think I'm full of my own [expletive], I'm not! No one works harder than me. Hopefully, I'll get the call soon."
Atlanta Hates Us Summer Montage
Looking for a promotion, Johnson and Bowling produce mixed results
Strikeforce develops its future stars on its Challengers shows. Three months back, Sarah Kaufman came up big with a win over Roxanne Modafferi to move up Strikeforce's shows on Showtime. Las night, it was time for Roger Bowling and Lavar Johnson to land that signature win that'd get them the call up. Johnson came through with a KO finish of Virgil Zwicker while Roger Bowling showed he needs a little more seasoning during a loss to Bobby Voelker.
Early in the fight, the 6-foot-4, 251-pound Johnson had to deal with the speed of Zwicker. He took some good licks - leg kicks and some straight rights - before unloading on the smaller heavyweight. Ninety seconds into the first, with little regard for Zwicker's power, the big man began to swing for the fences. After some huge uppercuts, Zwicker crumbled to the mat. Johnson didn't have to throw another shot in getting his third Challenger Series win at 2:17 of the first.
"I hit him hard a few times but he was in it for the fight. He made it a good fight," said Johnson.
Johnson (15-3) said he's ready for the step up to Showtime's main cards.
"I'm ready for the big show. I want to chase down some of those big name guys and see if I have what it takes or not. I'm not afraid of an ass whuppin'," said Johnson.
Johnson, 33, mentioned names like Andrei Arlovski and Brett Rogers.
Bowling (8-1) looked awesome early in his fight. His speed overwhelmed Voelker but he got a little left hook happy. Voelker lost the first but started to time that Bowling leaping left hook. Voelker had Bowling missing badly in the opening minutes of the second and fired back with some hard shots. That's when Bowling went for a takedown. It got stuffed and instead of scrambling back to his feet, Bowling sat there on all fours allowing Voelker to tee off. He landed six huge shots and it was downhill from there for Bowling.
Bowling got back to his feet but then tried another sloppy takedown that was thwarted. Voelker got top control and never relinquished it. He stayed busy with punches and hammerfists. Bruised and bloodied on his face, Bowling eventually covered up and turned to his side. The referee had to save him giving Voelker (23-8) the win at 3:58 of the second.
Strikeforce Challengers results (Courtesy MMAjunkie):
Bobby Voelker def. Roger Bowling via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 3:58
Lavar Johnson def. Virgil Zwicker via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 2:17
Billy Evangelista def. Waachiim Spiritwolf via unanimous decision
Julia Budd def. Shana Olsen via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 2:51
John Devine def. Brandon Cash via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:05
David Douglas def. Dominic Clark via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 2:33
Bellator hits home stretch Thursday night with marquee fights in Philly
Though the City of Brotherly Love may be focused on how the Phillies are faring in the playoffs, Philadelphia's fight fans have a treat with Bellator in town. In the second-to-last card of the season, Bellator will award a championship belt, and host the bout it likely expected when it signed Roger Huerta.
With lightweight tournament champ Pat Curran injured, Philadelphia's own Eddie Alvarez will face Huerta in a non-title bout. This will be the third bout for Alvarez since winning the Bellator lightweight belt, but he has yet to defend the belt.
Though a belt isn't on the line, Huerta called this fight "the biggest fight of his career."
"He's kind of [going to] bring me back from the dead, almost," Huerta said in a Bellator press call. "He's going to bring the best out in me."
That's exactly what Huerta needs, considering that he's lost three of his last four bouts.
Lyman Good will put his welterweight title on the line when he meets up with Season 2 welterweight tournament champion Ben Askren. Though Askren was an Olympian in 2008 and a two-time national champion wrestler at the University of Missouri, Good said that he's ready for Askren's wrestling, having worked with with Kurt Pellegrino on takedown defense. He also stepped up the focus on his cardio.
"I've been working purely on my conditioning as well, using a lot of the time I've had since I last fought, not so much that I had a specific weakness that I was worried about, but you've got to ask yourself, in contrast to your opponent, what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses?" Good said. "It's clear what Askren's are, so I've been working on my takedown defense and wrestling, but especially my cardio, which pays dividends when it comes to a fight, especially a five-rounder."
Bellator will air on FOX Sports. Check your local listings to see when it will air in your area.
10/24/2010
Días de Calle, The DC Spain Video
Global Skateboarding has the 20 minute DC Spain video entitled Días de Calle.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MostlySkateboarding/~3/vI3zgIyExnc/dias-de-calle-dc-spain-video.html
Tyler Franz Then and Now
Tyler Franz rips in old and new footage. Via: Everyman.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MostlySkateboarding/~3/o_NXuPDRgqY/tyler-franz-then-and-now.html
