YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Maggie Hendricks

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    • Sunday is officially* National Nate Marquardt Appreciation Day

      IMG_1022If you are a Nate Marquardt fan, clear the decks on Sunday. Set your DVR, order some dinner and dig in for a NATE-tastic evening.

      As the headline for UFC on Versus 4, Marquardt will face Rick Story. This will be Marquardt's first bout at welterweight, and Story's second bout in less than a month. But that's not all, Marquardtians.

      He will also be the focus of an all-day marathon on Spike, with UFC Unleasheds and full replays of events that will feature Marquardt's bouts with Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Martin Kampmann, Ivan Salaverry, Wilson Gouveia, and Rousimar Palhares.

      The marathon starts 1 p.m. ET and will end at 11 p.m. ET, which means it will overlap with the live fights on Versus. It's a curious strategy for Spike to use, since few people would rather watch an old fight than a new one unfolding before their eyes. Perhaps the Spike programming execs are really huge fans of Nate the Great.

      * Not actually official.

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    • Exclusive pictures from Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum

      Check out pictures from Saturday night's Strikeforce bouts by Tracy Lee. See Alistair Overeem react to Fabricio Werdum's request to fight on the ground, Chad Griggs beat on Valentijn Overeem, and the remains of K.J. Noons face after Jorge Masvidal went to work on it.

    • You tell us: Who will win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix?

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      The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is now more than half finished, with just three bouts left to decide a champion. The Final Four of Silva, Kharitonov, Barnett and Overeem isn't exactly what was expected, but every great tournament needs a few wrenches thrown in to make it compelling. Take a look at the first four matches.

      Emelianenko gets overpowered by Silva: In his first fight after sustaining his first loss in nearly a decade, Emelianenko had to fight the much larger Antonio "Big Foot" Silva. He couldn't hold off attacks from Silva, and took several hammer fists when Silva was able to gain full mount. The fight was stopped before the third round could start.

      Kharitonov makes quick work of Arlovski: A veteran of PRIDE and DREAM, the Russian fighter had no problem with the Belarussian Arlovski. A knee and an uppercut ended the bout in the first round, advancing Kharitonov to the semifinals.

      Barnett smothers his way to submission of Rogers: Like Kharitonov, Barnett made his

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    • Strikeforce’s Three Stars: Masvidal, Barnett and Cormier

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      The latest installment of Strikeforce's heavyweight grand prix delivered a bizarre night of fights that featured a no decision, a submission due to strikes, and a weird main event where neither fighter showed off his best work. But who did stand out?

      No. 1 star -- Jorge Masvidal: As the non-heavyweights on the main card, Masvidal and K.J Noons had the tall order of showing what the little guys can do. Masvidal lived up to expectations, putting on a show with K.J. Noons' face on the unfortunate receiving end. A kick to the neck leveled Noons near the end of the first round, and Masvidal never looked back. Now, he wants a shot at Gilbert Melendez and the Strikeforce lightweight title.

      No. 2 star -- Josh Barnett: After not fighting for nearly a year, Barnett had no problem disposing of Brett Rogers. He used catch wrestling to control Rogers before locking up an arm-triangle choke, and then launched into a speech that showed why fans still love Barnett. Next, he'll face Sergei Kharitonov

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    • Father knows best: Advice from MMA’s dads

      Fathers are known to dispense advice, so in honor of Father's Day, Cagewriter collected some of the best advice given to the MMA world.

      Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce heavyweight: "My father died when I was seven, but the man who raised me, Percy Benoit, told me to work hard, you're a good person and good things will come to you."

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      Joe Lauzon, UFC lightweight:" My father was huge with 'Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today.' My dad has always hustled... no matter how well he did something, there was always room for improvement and he was going to squeeze out every ounce of improvement in everything he did."

      Dan Henderson, Strikeforce light heavyweight champ: "My dad was my wrestling coach for most of my life, and then when I started MMA, he didn't know too much about it. But he'd watch my fights on TV, and I was fairly new in the sport, and he'd always have some sort of critique, even though he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Even if I knocked the guy out,

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    • Sam Stout talks about his UFC 131 KO and knocking out bullying

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      Sam Stout turned heads on the undercard of UFC 131 with his highlight reel knockout of Yves Edwards. With that win under his belt, he is working on stopping bullying while also thinking about his next fight. He talked to Cagewriter about his win, his future and more.

      When discussing his knockout, Stout said he didn't know that he scored such a jaw-dropper when he connected with Yves Edwards.

      "The thing is with the big knockout shot, when you make that perfect connection, it's like when you hit a home run in baseball. It doesn't feel like it's big. It didn't hurt my hand. It's that perfect connection right on the button."

      Though it would have been permissible for Stout to jump on top of Edwards to make sure the bout was over, he didn't. As soon as he saw that Edwards' eyes were rolled back in his head, Stout held back. {YSP:MORE}

      "For me, mixed martial arts is a sport. I'm not out there because I'm trying to hurt anyone. Especially Yves Edwards. He's a great competitor, great guy,

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    • Stanley Cup winners also big MMA fans

      AP110615066252The night before UFC 131, Junior dos Santos attended the Stanley Cup Final game five, a thrilling and close game won by the Canucks. Though dos Santos was disappointed that no big fights broke out, he was impressed by the game.

      Now, it turns out that the Boston Bruins, the winners of Lord Stanley's Cup, have pretty big MMA fans in their midst. Goaltender and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas told Fight magazine that even on game nights, he'll stay up late to watch the fights so that he won't be left out when his teammates discuss them in the locker room.

      He became a fan of MMA in its early days, recognizing the genius in Royce Gracie's jiu-jitsu.

      "As a kid, I got into a fight with a wrestler. He was bigger than me, but he couldn't fight. He took me down, and I could not get up," Thomas says. "I gained an appreciation right there for wrestling, and to later see Gracie's BJJ—I got hooked on the ground game right away."

      As a goalie, Thomas doesn't get in as many fights as his teammates, but

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    • Skater Flatt fined, reprimanded for non-disclosure of injury

      AP110430153509Rachael Flatt performed poorly at the world figure skating championships and later blamed her 12th-place finish on an injury. This upset many in the U.S. figure skating community, as Flatt's bad finish cost the U.S. a spot at next year's worlds.

      Now, Flatt has to pay for not admitting her injury. She was reprimanded by U.S. Figure Skating and fined an undisclosed amount.

      The problem with Flatt's lack of candor is that it didn't allow for the U.S.F.S. to call in alternates Mirai Nagasu or Agnes Zawadzki. Neither of those skaters would have likely won a medal over champion Miki Ando, silver medalist and Olympic champion Yu-Na Kim from Korea or bronze medalist, Italian Carolina Kostner. However, they could have finished at eighth place or higher, which, combined with Alissa Czisny's fifth place, could have earned the U.S. three spots at worlds for the first time since 2008.

      This fact was not lost on Frank Carroll, Nagasu's coach. He was not pleased when he heard of Flatt skating through

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    • Vancouver Athletic Commission speaks on Elkins/Omigawa decision

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      At UFC 131, judges' decisions caused consternation in the MMA world, from the UFC president on down. The 30-27 cards in Kenny Florian and Mark Munoz's wins were confusing enough, but the decision that was truly confounding was Darren Elkins' win over Michihiro Omigawa.

      Dana White responded by paying Omigawa his win bonus and treating the fight like a win for the Japanese fighter.

      "We're going to pay [Omigawa] his win money," White said. "I don't care what the judge says, he won the fight. … I say he won. Overruled."

      But now the Vancouver Athletic Commission is speaking out about judging in the Elkins-Omigawa bout to point out that Elkins could have reasonably taken the fight. In a statement to SB Nation, the commission's executive director explains: {YSP:MORE}

      "In the first round, Elkins backed Omigawa up with punches the entire round. He controlled the center of the cage. He was throwing a lot more shots, and landing more -- and in combination. If there is any controversy as to the

      Read More »from Vancouver Athletic Commission speaks on Elkins/Omigawa decision
    • Exclusive pictures from UFC 131

      Check out pictures from UFC 131 from Tracy Lee. See the grappling of Mark Munoz and Demian Maia, Dave Herman's knees, Junior dos Santos' dismantling of Shane Carwin and more.

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