Former UFC fighters Tyson Griffin and Efrain Escudero are the headliners of tonight RFA 4, Resurrection Fighting Alliance, in Las Vegas.
Tyson Griffin, after a failed stint at featherweight, returns to lightweight with a great desire of revenge.
In fact he lost 4 of his last 5 matches. He comes back in the Octagon after more than a year: October 29, 2011, against Bart Palaszewski, and it was a bad KO (= Bart Palaszewski vs Tyson Griffin).
But when Griffin fights, often there are spectacular fights: in his last 13 matches, 5 were “Fight of the Night”, and one was
Tonight from the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre it’s time for Abu Dhabi Warriors Fighting Championship. A 10-fight Mixed Martial Arts card and the season-ending World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship (WPJJC) will be the headline events of the new UAE jiu-jitsu season.
The attention is all on the return of Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons. He is known for his eccentric attitude and exciting style of fighting. Pele’s style is primarily Muay Thai, but he also practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in which he holds a black belt. He holds notable wins over former UFC Welterweight Champion Pat Miletich, UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and Alexander Shlemenko (x2).
He can also lay claim to landing a knockout victory over ‘pound for pound’ great Anderson Silva in Muay Thai competition. There is a lot of anger between them, and ‘Pele’ released and explosive interview about it full of insults and attacks against ‘The Spider’ (see the video at the bottom of this post).
The Bellator 79 weigh-ins have been completed from Orillia, Ontario for tonight event at Casino Rama, which features the semifinals of the Bellator Season 7 Heavyweight and Featherweight Tournaments.
The main event is Richard Hale (238.4 pounds) vs Thiago Santos (265.2 pounds), Heavyweight semifinal. Richard ‘Rare Breed’ Hale (20–4–1) in his career has won the Rage in the Cage Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight championships, and in the quarterfinal defeated Mike Wessel by TKO. Thiago ‘Big Monster’ Santos (11-1-1nc) has a very effective rear-naked choke submission and his huge weight can be an advantage against Hale. In his last two matches, he had a “groin issue” with Eric Prindle: he first gave it at Bellator 59 (= Prindle vs Santos 1), and than
“I said it in Brazil, and I’ll say it again: Hell yes, they will (fight)” Dana White said Tuesday during MetroPCS online chat.
But it will not be easy, because both of them have other plans (watch Anderson Silva UFC 153 post fight interview) and Jon ‘Bones’ Jones (17-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) said he wants to be a heavyweight as early as next year. Anderson Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) has always said that his desire is to fight welterweight champ Georges St Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC), who will make his most-anticipated return in the Octagon in less than 3 weeks (UFC 154: St Pierre vs Condit).
White, though, isn’t buying that argument: “I guarantee you that fight will absolutely happen. When people say that, it’s crazy because a lot of people believe that Jon Jones should be fighting at heavyweight anyway,” he said. “So to say that GSP vs Anderson Silva doesn’t make
Now is official: Pat Barry (7-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) and Shane del Rosario (11-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) will meet on the main card of the TUF 16 Finale on December 15 at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The main event will be a fight between veteran “TUF 16” coaches Shane Carwin (12-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and Roy Nelson (17-7 MMA, 4-3 UFC).
Pat Barry, one of the UFC’s most popular heavyweights is just 2-4 in his past six fights. However, he fought always with great opponents, including Mirko ‘Cro Crop’ Filipovic, Cheick Kongo (five star match for one of the most unpredictable endings ever!!!), Stefan Struve and Lavar Johnsony, so his bad record is understandable. His last victory was a great bout with Christian Morecraft on January 20, 2012 (Fight of the Night – look at that punch!).
Shane del Rosario, the first American to become the
At UFC 155 on December 29 in Las Vegas Phil Davis will face former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.
Griffin was originally scheduled to face Chael Sonnen, but Sonnen was designed to become a coach on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter against Jon Jones. The two will also fight for Jones’ title in April of 2013.
Davis recently submitted Wagner Prado via an anaconda choke at UFC 153 (= Phil Davis vs Wagner Prado 2). Davis is 4-1 (with one no-contest) in his last six matches.
Griffin’s last fight was against Tito Ortiz at UFC 148 on
November 3 is the day of World Series of Fighting. The new promotion will host several UFC and Strikeforce veterans, as well as the MMA debut of one of the most feared kick boxers in the world: Tyrone ‘King of the Ring’ Spong. He is the reigning WFCA Cruiserweight Muay Thai and the former It’s Showtime 95MAX World champion. For his MMA debut he has been training with the MMA team “Blackzilians” for over a year now with veteran fighters as K-1 World Grand Prix winner and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and former UFC light heavyweight champions Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort. The numbers speak for him: 68-6-2 in his kick boxer career, with only a lost in the last two years against ‘The Reem’.
In the main event former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei ‘The Pit Bull’ Arlovski takes on Strikeforce veteran Devin Cole.
In the co-main event former UFC competitor and now light heavyweight Anthony Johnson (look at this spectacular head kick in his last fight with Jake Rosholt) faces
Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos has signed with the Texas-based Legacy Fighting Championship and is scheduled for a February debut.
Santos, a former Strikeforce title challenger, hasn’t fought since September 2011, more than 13 months ago, and this was the principal reason that induced him to change scenary.
It wasn’t a good period for “Cyborg” family: he has lost 4 of the last 6 matches and comes from a TKO (elbows) loss against Jordan Mein and a submission (armbar) by Nick Diaz (= Nick Diaz vs Evangelista Cyborg Santos). His lately most important success was with