Search This Blog

Friday, May 10, 2013

MMA Europe

Welcome to the MMA Europe Blog.

On this blog I'm going to discuss MMA in general, news about MMA, results, video's, rumors and fights. I'm going to update this blog daily with all kinds of new stuff.

Latest News



I also want to tell about a great MMA group on Facebook.
It's the biggest MMA group on Facebook today, the name is "WE ARE ALL ONE" and I'm going to tell you guys what this group is all about.


The whole idea behind the group is to have a Facebook group where fans can discuss and make connections to improve the image of MMA. MMA is the most growing combat sport in the world but still has a negative image in Europe and some other places. In some countries they want to forbid it. Why? Because a lot of people don’t understand the sport.
It’s a mix from several Olympic sports, such as boxing, judo, wrestling, taekwondo. Different fighters are really smart guys with high education, such as lawyers or doctors, but also the casual husband, taxi driver or whatever can be a MMA fan or fighter.

A Dutch guy named "Hein van de Velden", who is the cousin of former UFC Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten, started the group after he saw a picture of Genki Sudo with the "WE ARE ALL ONE" banner. He thought it was a great text to create a group with on Facebook.

He wants to show the world that "WE ARE ALL ONE" No matter what education,hometown you come from, we are all MMA fans and sportsmen! If they train MMA, they can lose all stress in training. If they don’t train MMA, there’s still a group where they can get a real good feeling being a part of "WE ARE ALL ONE".


He is now rounding up pictures of fans and fighters with the text "WE ARE ALL ONE!" so he could see how many people are supporting the group.

A lot of professional fighters support the group as well:
- Stefan Struve (UFC Heavyweight fighter)
- Remco Pardoel (ex-UFC fighter)
- Filip Verlinden (2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Tournament Final 16 fighters)
- Bas Rutten (former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
- Michael Kuiper (UFC Middleweight fighter)

You can view their photo's in the "WE ARE ALL ONE" album
This is my "WE ARE ALL ONE" picture :)
kenneth we are all one picture

"WE ARE ALL ONE" also helped me to lose weight. I went from 206.8 lbs (on 06/29/2012) to 162.9lb now

So come on and help build the image of MMA and be a part of the facebook group "WE ARE ALL ONE".

Cris Cyborg declined fight with Ronda Rousey over money, not weight

cris cyborg picture


Former Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Champion Cristiane 'Cyborg' Santos passed on a great opportunity to face UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda 'Rowdy' Rousey. At first the weight seemed to be an issue, but Mike Chiappetta says it was the money, not the weight that was a problem.

Mike Chiappetta from MMA Fighting revealed that Cris Cyborg and her manager Tito Ortiz passed on the chance to fight Ronda Rousey for the first women's fight ever at UFC 157. Mike Chiappetta (Bloody Elbow) explains what happened, because it had nothing to do with Cyborg not being able to cut to 135 lbs:

While (match weight) was at the center of most conversations in the media regarding the inability to make the Cyborg-Rousey fight, it was not the deal-breaker it's been reported to be.

During the ongoing negotiations, which lingered for about two months, the promotion agreed to pay for the services of a dieting and nutrition consultant like Dolce. But there were other points that the two sides could not agree on.

The biggest issue, according to Cyborg's management firm Primetime 360, was Zuffa treating Cyborg as a bit player rather than an event co-star.

Dave Meltzer also commented at Wrestling Observer:

The problem is, and this is huge, is that after Cyborg beat Carano, Cyborg's subsequent fights garnered very little interest. It surprised me seeing how big the Carano fight was, the reaction, the ratings, the attendance, etc. While Carano was clearly the star, one would have thought Cyborg would have come out of such a big win on the first women's main event that set record Showtime MMA ratings as a big star herself. There are obvious conclusions you can draw as to why that didn't happen, but I think UFC recognizes that it didn't.

Rousey vs. Cyborg can be promoted with the UFC's marketing behind it as the biggest women's fight in history and insiders may feel Cyborg is still the best fighter, although the steroid issue as it pertains to this fight is huge. Because women don't produce the level of testosterone as men, a woman on steroids has far more of a competitive edge against someone clean than a man would under the same circumstances. We can all play pretend, but Cyborg did fail a test, and even if she hadn't, photos of Brazilian handball star Cristiane Justino and fighter Cris Cyborg can challenge any before-and-after Barry Bonds photos.

Cyborg did pass all her tests prior to her Invicta fight last month, and she was tested during some of her other fights. But given the nature and limitations of testing when you know in advance when you are tested, that doesn't mean a whole lot.

Today, Cyborg on the outside is not nearly the star that Liz Carmouche or Miesha Tate are. But if she signs with UFC, she will be. One can only argue, and this is a valid one, that her management should have come up with a long-term battle plan for her to naturally get her bodyweight to 145-150, where the cut to 135 wouldn't be harsh. She would lose muscle and strength, but that's part of the game, and it's hard for people to have sympathy because of the belief of how she got that much muscle and strength. I can recall talking to Marloes Coenen, after she had come-from-behind to beat Carmouche, and she was remarking that Carmouche was deceptively strong. "But not Cyborg strong," noting Cyborg had the strength of the male fighters she's trained with.


Hopefully this fight will still happen as it would be a great fight!





Wednesday, May 8, 2013

UFC Heavyweight Shane Carwin retires from MMA

shane carwin picture


Former UFC Heavyweight Interim Champion Shane Carwin has announced his retirement today on Twitter.

It's not really a shock that UFC fighter Shane Carwin retires from the sport, it has been almost 2 years since he last fought in the UFC. He announced his retirement on Twitter.

shane carwin twitter picture

He ends his career because after enduring several injuries since his last fight in June 2011 he hasn't been able to fight. He ends his career with a professional record of 12-2 with all first round finishes of his opponent, both by KO and Submission. Before Shane Carwin lost in his title fight against Brock Lesnar he was 4-0 in the UFC and 12-0 in general. He had impressive wins over Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir and Gabriel Gonzaga on his resume. After his fight with Brock Lesnar, the injuries were starting to come, he was scheduled to fight Roy Nelson at UFC 125 but pulled out due to a back injury. He was also scheduled to fight Roy Nelson but a knee injury forced Carwin off the TUF 16 Finale.

Although he doesn't specifically says what he's retiring from, but with all his past injuries and so on, it looks like we never going to see Carwin in the Octagon again...





Monday, May 6, 2013

Rich Franklin not retiring just yet, wants Bisping next

rich franklin picture


Rich Franklin finally decides what's next for his career 6 months after the devistating KO loss to Cung Le. He's not planning on retiring just yet, and he plan on fighting Michael Bisping next.

Rich Franklin talked to Ariel Helwani on last week's episode of The MMA Hour and he says he has no plans to retire just yet, dispite his KO loss to Cung Le last November at UFC: Macao:

I haven't been sitting on my end thinking about retirement. I don't want any of the fans out there to think: Oh, Rich is just out there contemplating retiring.

The loss to Cung was a big setback for me. Unexpected in my camp, I'm kind of sitting here thinking what's my next move going to be. And I realized I'm 38 years old and my time is limited in the sport. I know that I'm not going to be fighting another 10 years. I have to start think about the things that I'm doing outside of MMA.


His remaining time in the UFC is going to be limited, like he said. And Franklin already knows what's next for him: Michael Bisping. Even though the fight doesn't make, because Franklin just came of a KO loss and Bisping just had a great win over Alan Belcher at UFC 159 but Franklin sees it differently:

I look at my Twitter and a lot of people talk about Michael Bisping. That would be an exciting fight and something the fans would want to see. I’m an exciting fighter, he’s an exciting fighter, and we both like to throw down.






Saturday, May 4, 2013

UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2 Extended Preview

velasquez vs bigfoot II picture







Friday, May 3, 2013

UFC 163: Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis Promo Video

aldo vs pettis picture







Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Jon Jones moving up to HW after clearing out the LHW division

jon jones picture
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones will probably move up to the UFC's Heavyweight division after he cleans out the Light Heavyweight division says coach Greg Jackson on The MMA Hour.

Jon Jones coach Greg Jackson was a guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, you can watch the full video below, and he answered the question whether Jon Jones should move up to Heavyweight:

Yeah, I'm OK with whatever they want to do. If he wants to do that, then I'll help him out. I've always said that it's up to fighters and the management. Then it's my job to figure out how we're going to do that. If that's the parameters they want to give, that's what I do. And I actually enjoy that. Anything different is good.

He also talks about the challenges that Jon Jones still has to face at Light Heavyweight:

It doesn't matter to me.

It's whatever the UFC says. As long as we have enough time to prepare, we're going to have to fight them all anyway. We're going to have to fight Machida again, we're going to have to fight Gustafsson, whoever else they put in front of us. It's just a matter of who's next. But I never want to be like, 'Avoid this guy' or 'fight this guy.' When you're the champion, you really have to take on. That's part of what being champion is; whoever they say you have to fight, you have to fight. People might not think that makes sense because we said we don't want to take a new fight on short notice. That's a whole different animal. It's not that we were avoiding the opponent, we were avoiding the situation. We wanted to make sure we were well-prepared. This is a world title in a sport that I think is the best in the world by far, and I want to take that seriously.


The only true challenges left for Jon Jones are Alexander Gustafsson and Dan Henderson, but since Lyoto Machida won against Dan Henderson, it will be hard to see Jones vs. Henderson. The next logical choice would be Gustafsson, but now that Jones is out due to his compound fracture on his toe, he will likely to be matched against Lyoto Machida for the #1 contender spot.







Monday, April 29, 2013

Tito Ortiz may have to come out of retirement to beat Jon Jones

tito ortiz picture
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz tweeted on Sunday morning that he can't let Jon Jones beat his record of consecutive Light Heavyweight title defenses.

Tito Ortiz responded to Jon Jones when he tied his UFC record of 5 consecutive title defenses in the Light Heavyweight division on Twitter:

tito ortiz twitter picture Tito Ortiz won the vacant belt by Unanimous Decision against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25 on April 14, 2000 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. After he became champ, he succesfully defended his title against Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock. He then lost the title against Randy Couture at UFC 44 on September 26, 2003, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

On the other hand is Jones, who won the title in a TKO victory against Mauricio Rua at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He defends the belt 5 consecutive times against, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen. This ties him with Ortiz, Jones said he wants to break his record and then fight UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in a super fight.





Sunday, April 28, 2013

UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen post fight press conference

press conference picture
Watch the UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen Post Fight Press Conference video below.







UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen fight videos

Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen




Michael Bisping vs. Alan Belcher




Roy Nelson vs. Cheick Kongo




Phil Davis vs. Vinny Magalhaes




Jim Miller vs. Pat Healy




Rustam Khabilov vs. Yancy Medeiros




Ovince St. Preux vs. Gian Villante




Sarah McMann vs. Sheila Gaff




Brian Caraway vs. Johnny Bedford








Saturday, April 27, 2013

UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen Livestream







Friday, April 26, 2013

UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen Weigh in live



Weigh in Results

MAIN CARD

Jon Jones (205) vs. Chael Sonnen (205)
Michael Bisping (186) vs. Alan Belcher (185)
Roy Nelson (258) vs. Cheick Kongo (237)
Phil Davis (205) vs. Vinny Magalhaes (205.5)
Jim Miller (155) vs. Pat Healy (155.5)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX)


Rustam Khabilov (156) vs. Yancy Medeiros (155.5)
Gian Villante (206) vs. Ovince St. Preux (206)
Sara McMann (134) vs. Sheila Gaff (133)
Bryan Caraway(136) vs. Johnny Bedford (136)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FACEBOOK)


Leonard Garcia (145) vs. Cody McKenzie (145)
Nick Catone (173) vs. James Head (170.25)
Steven Siler (145.25) vs. Kurt Holobaugh (145)





Thursday, April 25, 2013

UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen Media Staredown Video







Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Chael Sonnen being Chael Sonnen







Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Georges St-Pierre on Joe Rogan's Podcast







Countdown to UFC 159

jones vs sonnen picture







Monday, April 22, 2013

UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez Post-Fight Press Conference

henderson vs melendez picture







Sunday, April 21, 2013

UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez fight videos

henderson vs melendez picture


Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez




Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir




Nate Diaz vs. Josh Thomson




Matt Brown vs. Jordan Mein








UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez Livestream

henderson vs melendez picture







Friday, April 19, 2013

UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez Weigh ins

henderson vs melendez picture

Watch the video for UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez below, it starts at 4pm Pacific Time / 7pm Eastern Time / 01:00h Dutch time.



Results

MAIN CARD (FOX, 8 p.m. ET)

Benson Henderson (155) vs. Gilbert Melendez (154)
Daniel Cormier (235) vs. Frank Mir (257)
Nate Diaz (156) vs. Josh Thomson (155)
Matt Brown (171) vs. Jordan Mein (170)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 5 p.m. ET)

Darren Elkins (145) vs. Chad Mendes (146)
Francis Carmont (186) vs. Lorenz Larkin (186)
Myles Jury (156) vs. Ramsey Nijem (156)
Joseph Benavidez (125) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (125)
Jorge Masvidal (156) vs. Tim Means (156)
T.J. Dillashaw (136) vs. Hugo Viana (135)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FACEBOOK)

Roger Bowling (156) vs. Anthony Njokuani (155)
Clifford Starks (185.5) vs. Yoel Romero (185)





If GSP wants Anderson Silva next, Johny Hendricks will have to wait!

gsp vs silva picture

GSP can face Anderson Silva next, if he asks for it though.

The talks for superfights start again, in the video below Dana White says Johny Hendricks will have to wait again if GSP asks for Anderson Silva. That is if Silva wins his next fight against Chris Weidman on July 6, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

I am literally going to call Georges St-Pierre today and I’m gonna see what he wants to do. If Jones beats Sonnen, then we gotta wait for Anderson. Anderson’s gotta beat Weidman.

If Georges says to me, ‘I want to fight Anderson Silva,’ do you think I’m gonna go, ‘No you’re not, you’re fighting Johny Hendricks?’

If St-Pierre lost that fight, he’d still be 170 lbs champion. He’d go down and fight Hendricks for the title.








Thursday, April 18, 2013

UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs. Melendez predictions by MMA Europe

henderson vs melendez picture

Below are my predictions for UFC on Fox 7: Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez


I don't think Melendez is as good as a lot of people think he is. Don't get me wrong Melendez is definitely a top 5 lightweight, but I think Henderson is the better one of the 2. Henderson will be too big and too strong for Melendez to handle. I expect Henderson to control Melendez for 5 full rounds to win the decision.

Benson Henderson def. Gilbert Melendez by Unanimous Decision.

Frank Mir vs. Daniel Cormier


I don't see any way how Mir can win this. I think Cormier will come in to fight with the perfect gameplan and stay away from Mir's jiu-jitsu game. I think Cormier will try to keep the fight standing and try to pick Mir apart, Cormier is definitely a lot faster than Mir is and that will be his key to win this.

Daniel Cormier def. Frank Mir by TKO/KO.

Nate Diaz vs. Josh Thomson


Actually I haven't really seen anything from Thomson just yet, so I don't know how he fights. But I do know he was the former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion and Nate Diaz was the UFC Lightweight title eliminator. I'm just guessing now and I'm picking Diaz for the win.

Nate Diaz def. Josh Thomson by Submission.

Matt Brown vs. Jordan Mein


I really like Matt Brown and Jordan Mein looked really great in his first UFC fight but I think Brown will take the win.

Matt Brown def. Jordan Mein by TKO/KO.

Chad Mendes def. Darren Elkins by TKO/KO
Francis Carmont def. Lorenz Larkin by Submission
Myles Jury def. Ramsey Nijem by Decision
Joseph Benavidez def. Darren Uyenoyama by TKO/KO
Tim Means def. Jorge Masvidal by Decision
T.J. Dillashaw def. Hugo Viana by Decision