FanNation

DREAM 5: Alvarez' Cut paves way for Hellboy's Reign

I was originally going to combine this event with the EliteXC on CBS card this weekend, but the fights were too good. A proper recap of each fight was warrented.

DREAM 5: Lightweight Grand Prix Semifinals & Finals
July 21st Osaka, Japan
www.dreamofficial.com

TV: HDNet

Finals Alternate Hansen runs away with oppertunity, Championship

Photo from MMAWeekly.com

Joachim Hansen d. Shinya Aoki via TKO (Punches) in Round 1.

Hansen won the earlier GP alternate bout vs Kultar Gill and is replacing Eddie Alvarez who's right eye swelled dam near shut after sustaining a cut and heavy damage from his war with Kawajiri. The near 2 hour wait between Alvarez' fight and the finals caused the severe swelling to occur. Aoki earlier won a decision over Caol Uno, utilizing his superior jiu jitsu and flexibility in a no doubter. This pairing is also a rematch from their 2006 fight in PRIDE FC, where Aoki won with a first round gogoplata.

Round 1. Hansen went forward looking to set the tone, missed with a punch and Aoki took advantage with a takedown into half guard. Both would throw punches looking for openings. Aoki, not doing much with the position postured up to his feet. Hansen began throwing upkicks, one of which caught Aoki in the groin causing a rest period. Restart on the feet. Hansen again swings and misses allowing Aoki to close the distance and get a bodylock where he pulled guard, and Hansen came with him to the mat. Aoki utilizing the rubber guard to nullify Hansen's attacks. Hansen pulled free and landed a few solid punches on the ground, back into Aoki's guard. After a breif moment, Hansen backed off and came back down with a punch that stunned Aoki causing him to roll to his side. Hansen pounced and unloaded with punches to the side of Aoki's head until the ref had to step in to aid the defenseless fighter.

After the fight, Hansen made it clear that Alvarez would be the first challenger to his new found championship belt. Earlier this year they had possibly the fight of the year in their back and forth war in which both fighters heeded danger from the other. Alvarez walked away with the decision, time for round 3!

How they got here.......

Shinya Aoki d. Caol Uno via Unanimous Decision after Round 2. GP Semifinals.

Aoki defeated Gesias Calvancante in the opening round and Katsuhiro Nagata in the quarterfinals, while Uno received the lone bye of the grand prix in the opening round and defeated Mitsuhiro Ishida in the quarterfinals.

Round 1. After some low kicks from each figther, Aoki used a jumping knee to the body to close the distance into a clinch, where he would get a bodylock takedown. Immediately Aoki went for an armbar. Uno defended well and escaped into Aoki's guard. Restarted in the middle of the ring. Aoki uses a scramble by Uno to look for a leglock. Uno is wearing wrestling shoes which proves to be a detriment as it is easier for Aoki to hold onto. After a couple leglock attempts, Uno evades danger and scrambles again this time causing Aoki to go for his back. For about a minute Uno fends off Aoki's choke attempts and keeps moving. Uno rolls into Aoki's guard, but is met with an immediate triangle attempt. Uno pushes forward so he's face down on the mat, breaking Aoki's grip. Round 2. Aoki gets a takedown into Uno's half butterfly guard. Uno rolls and Aoki takes his back again, where he locks in a body triangle for control. Uno keeps moving, avoiding choke attempts. Aoki's legs keep Uno from escaping. They are used like vice grips. After a minute or so Uno reverses position into Aoki's guard. The rest of the round Aoki uses his rubberguard techniques to nullify any possible danger.

Miletich? No thanks.

It was a bad day for the Miletich camp.  Both "Big" Ben Rothwell and Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia were exposed for what they are.  Overrated.  Rothwell entered the weekend on a 13 fight win streak, albeit against IFL talent.  He would leave bloodied and bruised.  Tim Sylvia entered his highly anticipated match with Fedor Emelianenko having lost 2 of his last 3 fights.  Some of us questioned whether Sylvia belonged in the ring with Fedor.  After Saturday, we would be proven right.

Affliction / UFC Pickem Results

Filling in for David after I tallied the results for the recap blogs so will post them now.

Join our mma group for mma discussion, OCTAGON.

Quick Results:

Hank Hill is your winner with 59 points
Send your pic to David for the group display.

YODA 58
Head Kick KO 58
RobertMenn 57
NCshvDavid 56
B-Dawk 55
The Prodigy 35
Wildbill 29

The original picks can be found HERE.

The picks for Levens/Lazema and Aleks Emelianenko/Buentello were thrown out due to those fights not happening.

Wildbill did not submit picks for all the fights.

B-Dawk did not make a pick for the Lindland fight.

6 out of 8 picked Fedor, Hank was the only one to get the pick completely right. Prodigy and Wildbill picked Sylvia and finished at the bottom.

I was the only one to pick Rothwell, Prodigy was the only one to pick Rizzo, & Menn was the onlye one to pick Farber...... all three ending up being bad upset picks.

Menn, Yoda and Hill were spot on with their upset pick of Mark Hominick.

Unanimous selections: Silva, Vera, Belfort, Rogerio, Lindland, & Velasquez

Hill and David were the only 2 to correctly pick Frank Edgar.

Everyone except me and Wildbill were correct by picking Kevin Burns. Whatever happens with the protest of the decision will not affect the outcome of the pickem. For sure Johnson has a gripe on losing by eye poke so hopefully it gets overturned for his benefit.

Specific Breakdowns:

Hank Hill: 59

Emelianenko 10 (Title / Method / Round)

July 19 Affliction & UFC Results Part 2: The Main Cards

Part 2 of 2 from the July 19th MMA Doubleheader of Affliction and UFC.
Featuring the Main Cards of each event.

Affliction: Banned
July 19th Anaheim, California
www.afflictionclothing.com

TV: PPV

Fedor re-establishes his dominance

Photo from Sherdog.com

Fedor Emelianenko d. Tim Syliva via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 1. 7 out of 8 picked correctly.

Fedor is the man. It's that simple, he is THE #1 fighter in the world proving it in PRIDE after beating all comers. The only knock is that he hasn't fought a top 10 heavyweight since beating Cro Cop in 2005. He is 28-1 (the loss being to a cut suffered within the first minute of a tournament, otherwise it would be a no contest) and is coming off of a win vs the freakishly big Hong Man Choi of Korea. Sylvia is the former UFC Heavyweight champion coming off of a loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira back in February, now chasing his dream and possible nightmare.

Round 1. Fedor came out strong, throwing hard punches in succession. During the melee he drops Sylvia with a right hook. Sylvia turtled up face down, and Fedor grasped his waste with his right arm and threw more punches with his left. Tim could not escape and Fedor took his back and locked in a fight ending rear naked choke just 36 seconds into the fight. What a one sided beatdown......

Fedor made his intentions known that he would like to fight Randy Couture, who obviously wants the fight just as bad and is in the middle of some legal squabble with the UFC about his contract terms. Once that gets sorted out, this may actually happen by new year's. Oh, this fight was also for the WAMMA Heavyweight Title which supposedly is a true world title, but thats another story (rant).

Andrei Arlovski d. Ben Rothwell via KO (Punches) in Round 3. 7 out of 8 picked correctly.

Arlovski came in after winning his last two UFC fights, now finding himself in a new home and in a ring for the first time in his career looking to get his old aggressive kill or be killed charisma that Sylvia seemingly stole from him last year. Rothwell destroyed all of his foes in the IFL and is making a big step up in cometition opening himself up to true top 10 opponents.

Round 1. Both fighters exchanged some low kicks. Rothwell secured a thai clinch in the corner. Seperates. AA moves forward and secures a bodylock which led to a takedown. From here he tried for a heel hook, but was unsuccessful and Rothwell escapes. Back on the feet, Arlovski opens up some more and wobbels Rothwell with a punch and moves forward smelling blood, but Rothwell recovers and answers with a punch of his own before the bell. Round 2. Rothwell looks for a clinch, but Arlovski hits him again and unloads another flurry of heavy punches against the ropes. Rothwell recovers but is taken down again by Arlovski. He starts landing some good ground and pound and goes for the heel hook again but it fails and Rothwell winds up on top. Some good elbows by Rothwell but nothing serious and after a brief lull they are stood up. Arlovski again comes in with a massive barage of punches, and some knees for good measure. Rothwell is saved by the bell it appears. Round 3. Body clinch in the corner. Seperates. Big knee from Arlovski sends Rothwell towards the corner. Arlovski closes the distance and unloads with punches. Rothwell is hurt and is stagering during the barrage, finally he is knocked down and out with a right uppercut.

Arlovski is back! Nobody more than him needed an impressive knock out to get back to the form of old which made him one of the more popular fighters in MMA. Could he be the next challenger for Fedor while Couture works out his legal dilema with the UFC? If anything, a fight between the two in Chicago would sell out the United Center for sure! Make it happen!

Josh Barnett d. Pedro Rizzo via KO (Punch) in Round 2. 7 out of 8 picked correctly.

Barnett is the best American heavyweight at this point in time. He is a former UFC champion with his win over Couture back in the day and his career in Japan. He is coming off of a win in Sengoku earlier this year vs Japanese judoka Hidehiko Yoshida. Rizzo already holds a win over Barnett from their earlier careers in the UFC where Rizzo was also a UFC champion. He is coming off of two wins last year in the States, most recently over Jeff Monson.

Round 1. Feeling out process begins. Slow pace is interuppted with a random spinning back kick from Barnett who prefers his fights on the ground. Pedro is more of a counter puncher type fighter. Barnett uses some nice T kicks to keep Pedro off balance. Spinning back kick again by Barnett. Lots of jabs and misses by each fighter. Round 2. More of the same until nearly two minutes into the round. Barnett moves forward with a right hook that misses but follows up with a left hook that knocks Rizzo out cold.

The way this fight ended was eerily similar to their first fight, but completely reversed. Rizzo is not the same as he was when he was a top 10 heavyweight, his 2 comeback fights in PRIDE in 05-06 were highlight reel type knock out losses just like this one. Barnett prefers to fight on the ground, yet it never went there till the knock out. Surreal, and out of nowhere KO. Josh is the no-brainer #1 contender for Fedor, strictly looking at the rankings, but PPV appeal will favor Arlovski or Couture based on recent notoriaty in the UFC for the two of them.

Mark Hominick d. Trenell Young via Submission (Armbar) in Round 2. Only 3 out of 7 picked correctly.

Hominick has had mixed results as of late, losing 3 in a row including two in the WEC to ground fighters Josh Grispi and Rani Yahya. Young is a strong aggressive fighter, and IFL veteran, where hes lost his last two to Ryan Schultz and Deividas Taurovicious. Both fighters needing a win.

Round 1. Feeling out process begins. Lots of punches thrown from both fighters, but not too many are landing. Body punch backs Hominick up. Young misses with a low kick and eats a counter right hook. Those were pretty much the more damaging blows of the round. Round 2. More flurries. Hominick misses with a low kick and is taken down by Young. Hominick bucks out, Young maintains position but Hominick locked in a loose triangle choke. Young leveled up, picked him up and slammed out of the choke. Hominick slaps on an armbar attempt and uses it to transition into a triangle, which is not tight. He locks it in, but transitions immediately to an armbar when Young went to defend. The arm was there for the taking, and the fight is over.

Renato Sobral d. Mike Whitehead via Unanimous Decision after 3 Rounds. 7 out of 9 picked correctly.

Babalu is coming off of a win in a smaller show after being released from the UFC after holding onto a choke vs David Heath well after the tap. (Stupid to cut him, in my opinion) Whitehead is riding a long win streak in smaller shows as well as the IFL, and the 205lb class looks just right for him.

Round 1. Feeling out process, slow pace. Stuffed takedown by Babalu. Seperate. Stuffed takedown by Whitehead. Seperates. Later in the round, Babalu gets a takedown looking for a head and arm choke, Whitehead escapes. Round 2. Clinch in the corner, knees by both. Seperate. Takedown by Whitehead. Good defense by Babalu led to a ref stand up. Bablu wiffs with a spinning back fist. Clinch to the ropes, knees by Babalu. Round 3. Takedown by Whitehead but is caught in a choke, which he escapes. Babalu than goes for an omoplata but Whitehead escapes that as well. Pace slows down again....or did it ever pick up?

UFC Fight Night: Silva vs Irvin

July 19 Affliction & UFC Results Part 1: The Prelims

Part 1 of 2 from the July 19th MMA Doubleheader of Affliction and UFC.
Featuring the fights that made up the preliminary televised portion of each event.

Affliction: Banned
July 19th Anaheim, California
www.afflictionclothing.com

TV: FSN and PPV

Vitor returns with a stunning knock out

Photo from SI.com

Vitor Belfort d. Terry Martin via Knock Out (Punch) in Round 2. All 7 picked correctly.

This was the live fight of the FSN portion of the card. Vitor is coming off of a few wins in some smaller orgs while Martin is coming off of a DQ win in last month's Adrenaline card after being pegged in the nuts repeatedly by Daiju Takase. 

Round 1. The entire round was contested on the feet. Vitor appeared to be very patient looking to counter. Martin's background in boxing led him to some combination attempts, but Vitor avoided any damage. Round 2. Vitor comes out with a flying knee yet Martin is able to grab the leg. Vitor punches until they he releases the hold. Vitor closes the distance and comes through with a right uppercut and a straight left combination that knocks Martin out. Martin winds up laying down against the ropes as the fight is called.

Mike Pyle d. JJ Ambrose via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 1. 5 out of 7 were correct.

This fight kicked off the 4 hour PPV. Pyle is coming off of a loss to Jake Shields at an EliteXC event from last year, while Ambrose is making a step up in competition and into the big leagues off MMA.

Round 1. Stuffed takedown by Ambrose, Pyle takes control and gets a bodylock takedown into side control. He than transitions to the back, but Ambrose rolls and Pyle uses it to attempt an arm triangle choke. Ambrose escapes the hold and rolls to his back. This becomes a mistake, because from there Pyle uses punches to soften Ambrose up while getting his back and locks in a fight ending rear naked choke.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira d. Edwin Dewees via TKO (Punches) in Round 1. All 8 were correct.

Rogerio, is the brother of UFC Heavyweight Champion Rodrigo is coming off of a win in the now defunct HCF org in Canada over Todd Gouwenberg, after taking a year between fights since the demise of PRIDE. Dewees is a late replacement for Vernon White who was denied a license by the CSAC.

Round 1. Dewees throwing kicks to start the round, lead to a clinch in the corner where pressure by Rogerio caused Dewees to fall against the ropes, Rogerio in Dewees' full guard working ground and pound. After they stood up they went into a thai clinch where Rogerio threw some knees, than backed away and threw some punches and went back into the clinch. Again backing out, Rogerio this time knocked Dewees down with a left hook. Rogerio seized the oppertunity and finished the fight with punches forcing a ref stoppage.

Matt Lindland d. Fabio Negao via Unanimous Decision after 3 Rounds. All 7 were correct.

After more than a year away from MMA competition, Matt Lindland is coming off of a loss to the main event fighter Fedor Emelianenko at a Bodog event. Negao, an unknown, fighting mostly in smaller shows in Brazil is coming off of a loss to recent UFC acquisition Rousimar Palhares.

Round 1. Lindland came out strong and knocked Negao down with a straight left. He than rushed in and locked a guillotine choke in, rolling into mount causing the choke to tighten. Negao tried to buck him off but is still stuck. Eventually the hold is broken. Lindland worked some ground and pound from the guard. Round 2. Lindland is wobbled with a punch, but nothing serious. Most of the round looked alot like drunken boxing. Late double leg takedown by Lindland and some ground and pound. Round 3. Both fighters appeared to be gassed out, leading to some sloppy boxing again. Lindland shoots and gets a takedown, but they fall through the ropes causing a restart. Lindland lands a nice knee before the round ends. Too bad the fight didnt end with that guillotine in round one.

Other Affliction Prelim results.

Paul Buentello d. Gary Goodridge via Unanimous Decision after 3 Rounds. Was on the FSN portion of the card. Did not see this fight. Goodridge replaced Aleksander Emelianenko on 1 day's notice because Aleks was denied by the commision and an event Goodridge was supposed to fight on was cancelled last week.

Justin Levens vs Ray Lazema This fight was cancelled due to time constraints. They were paid their show money + half of their win bonus.

UFC Fight Night: Silva vs Irvin