Thu May 24 11:43am EDT
In Billings, Mont., a rather creative promoter came up with a way to combine two sports guaranteed to make spectators say, "WOOOOOO!" MMA and motocross. (If you want to cut the suspense, cut to the 23-second mark.)
Your eyes do not deceive you. That is a fairly normal MMA bout in a cage going on with bikers doing flips over the cage. My stomach was in my mouth every time they went over the cage, hoping that the bikers made the leap. Of course, they did every time.
Promoters are always trying new ways to bring fans into MMA. Kudos to the creator of Backflips and Beatdowns for coming up with a creative way to share MMA with the masses, even if it does make me worry about bikes dropping on the heads of fighters.
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Thu May 24 09:53am EDT
UFC 146's all-heavyweight main card is this Saturday. To prime you for the the fights, read the picks from Kevin Iole, a selection of Cagereaders who posted their picks on the Cagewriter Facebook page, and me. Don't agree with the picks? Speak your mind in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
Champion Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir for the UFC heavyweight title
Kevin Iole: Junior dos Santos KO1 Frank Mir -- This could just as easily be Mir by first-round submission, but since all fights begin on the feet, I will go with dos Santos by KO.
Maggie Hendricks: JDS KO1 Mir -- Mir's only hope is to get this fight to the ground to avoid Junior's powerful stand-up. But as Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez learned, getting JDS to the ground is not an easy feat, and Mir won't succeed.
Cagereader's take: Frank Mir is an outstanding, decorated mixed martial artist. He can be dangerous on his feet and clearly on the ground as well if you look at his past submissions. His best bet is to figure out how he can get Junior dos Santos to the mat. The unfortunate part for Mir is that dos Santos possesses some of the best standup in the heavyweight division and I think Mir will struggle with those heavy-hitting fists Junior is going to throw. I love them both as fighters but my guess is dos Santos will win this one and retain his belt via TKO. -- Roberto Garza
Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
Iole: Cain Velasquez TKO2 Antonio Silva -- I think Velasquez is the best heavyweight in the world and will prove it against Big Foot. Velasquez is a better version of Daniel Cormier and Cormier had his way with Silva.
Hendricks: Velasquez TKO1 Silva -- Velasquez has had to deal with competitors bigger than him since he was was Division I wrestler at Arizona State. He's learned how to use his speed, takedowns and striking to handle the size disadvantage, and he'll do it again on Saturday.
Cagereader's take: Cain Velasquez by TKO. Cain will rebound nicely in this bout. We'll see him return to his stalking/aggressive fight style which will eventually lead to some ground and pound against Silva. Silva is a top heavyweight but he's not very quick. He won't have a quick enough reaction to keep Cain away. -- Eddie Ledezma
Wed May 23 04:00pm EDT
The UFC is billing this weekend's bouts as literally the biggest main card of all time because a whole lot of big dudes are fighting on the main card. It will answer these six questions.
1. Who is the best heavyweight in the UFC?* Of course this question will be answered. With the UFC heavyweight belt on the line, the main event is designed to answer that question. However, it has to have an asterisk on it because of the Alistair Overeem shenanigans before the bout. He was suspended from fighting for nine months because of abnormally high levels of testosterone, and his own actions kept him from fighting on this card. Through no fault of their own, Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos' bout will have an unsatisfying "what if" hanging over it.
2. How did Cain Velasquez recover from his first loss? From the second Velasquez stepped into the cage, he was a freight train. He started his career with nine straight wins, topped off by a TKO of Brock Lesnar for the title. Dos Santos stopped that train with a 64-second knockout, and this is the first time fans will see Velasquez since then. Will he be able to fight back to get a win over Antonio Silva, or will Velasquez suffer his second loss?
3. Can Dan Hardy stop his epic losing skid? "The Outlaw" has four losses in a row in the UFC, which is an unheard of number. Fighters have been cut for much less. After losing to Chris Lytle in August, Hardy took time away from the sport. He doesn't have an easy fight in Duane "Bang" Ludwig. We'll find out Saturday night if he can finally right the ship.
Wed May 23 08:38am EDT
Though Frank Mir's opponent changed for UFC 146, his sponsor didn't. He is still sponsored by the UFC, like Jon Jones. They gave him a walkout shirt that's low-key and collegiate-looking.
Plus, it has pretty stars and I'm a sucker for pretty stars. Buy it for $29.95.
Note: Junior dos Santos' walkout shirt for this weekend was not online, but you can buy this wall hanging depicting the champ, so ... win.
Tue May 22 02:47pm EDT
After his arrest for a DUI early Saturday morning, Jon Jones posted a statement on his Facebook page. He started by saying he "screwed up big time."
"I'm truly sorry to those of you that I may have embarrassed in any way, to those of you with kids that I may have let down. I will prove to them as well as to myself that no matter what is happening in life, we can always work our way back and make things even better than before."
Jones' manager, Malki Kawa, went on MMA Weekly Radio and pleaded for fans to give Jones a chance.
"I would just kind of like to let the fans know to give him a chance. Give yourself a chance to get all the facts in yourselves, wait until everything gets said and done, and then at that point if you want to vilify him afterwards and you heard him speak and you heard him say his part and then vilify him, I can't control what people are going to say. But it is too soon; it is too quick in my opinion. He really is a decent guy. He's a very, very good guy, trying his hardest to be a good role model, a good example, and he wants to be that. No one's perfect and he's never said he was and never said that he doesn't make mistakes. It's a fact he made a mistake. He messed up and I'm sure he's going to come out and apologize and do what he's got to do."
I've been surprised by the amount and type of vitriol aimed towards Jones for this incident. I find drunk driving deplorable and have no problem with Jones (if found guilty) or anyone else who is found guilty of such reckless, selfish, disgusting behavior spending a whole lot of time in a jail cell.
But the comments here, on Facebook and on Twitter have had a gleeful tone. Too many people are happy that Jones screwed up. Let's be clear here. Jones could have killed someone. Jones could have killed himself. This arrest is no reason to rejoice.
Tue May 22 08:56am EDT
UFC 146 is this Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! Check out the retro promo the UFC cut for this weekend's all-heavyweight main card, and give us your picks with reasons why you're picking each fight at the Cagewriter Facebook page. Also note that the video above was cut before Mark Hunt pulled out of his bout and was replaced by Lavar Johnson.
Mon May 21 03:04pm EDT
The UFC middleweight champ, a referee, a cage announcer, and an actor/sensei/officer of the law/shooting glasses wear/leather coat aficionado walk into a bar:
Unfortunately, we don't get to see the end of their scintillating duel over mediocre beer. Does Silva rise up against the man who taught him the kick that knocked out Vitor Belfort? Do they agree the beer is mediocre, forget their feud and start singing with Bruce Buffer at the old timey piano? Does Dan Miragliotta find a hidden beer that he shares along with the secret to his always-glowing tan? There are so many ways this could end. Tell us how you would solve this cliffhanger in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
Mon May 21 11:06am EDT
Strikeforce is still on the brain, but let's take a second to check out the other fights that happened this weekend.
At Bellator 69, Mark Kolata qualified for next season's heavyweight tournament with a verbal submission of Abe Wagner with an Achilles lock. As expected, Jessica Aguilar and Megumi Fujii put on a great three-round fight with Aguilar taking the decision. After getting his protective cup situation figured out, Karl Amoussou used his judo and withstood a strong third round from David Rickels to get a decision win and a spot in the Bellator welterweight tournament final against Bryan Baker. In the final of the middleweight tournament, Maiquel Falcao beat Andreas Spang in a decision. He overcame a point deduction for an illegal knee to still win the tournament.
Two more semifinalists were chosen on "The Ultimate Fighter." Team Cruz's Vinc Pichel took the two-round decision from Team Faber's Chris Saunders. Though Saunders thought the fight was going to the third round, the judges said the bout was over. There was no such controversy in the second bout with two Team Faber fighters facing off. Al Iaquinta knocked out Andy Ogle near the end of the first round.
The semifinal match-ups will be James Vick vs. Michael Chiesa and Pichel vs. Iaquinta. Also during the episode, UFC president Dana White announced Urijah Faber's new opponent at UFC 148 will be Renan Barao.
Mon May 21 09:54am EDT
Jeffrey Earnhardt descended from NASCAR royalty. As the grandson of legend Dale Earnhardt and the nephew of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., racing is literally in Jeffrey's bloodline. The he has raced and plans to race again, Earnhardt is debuting in a new sport: MMA.
Earnhardt will fight at Fight Lab 25 in Charlotte, N.C. as an amateur on Tuesday night. He will fight Chris Faison at bantamweight. Earnhardt trains at Renegade Fighting Systems in Charlotte.
Though he races on the Rolex Sports Car Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, he was attracted to the challenge and physical conditioning of MMA. On Tuesday night, he wants to use his fight to show that race car drivers are great athletes, too.
"A lot of people don't see race car athletes as true athletes," he said to MMA Fighting. "They don't think we're capable of doing anything other than sitting in a car and driving in a circle. A lot of people don't understand the reality of it. This is an opportunity to prove to people that race car drivers are athletes. It's a lot harder than people realize. Hopefully this MMA fight will help people realize that, and that we can hold our own as athletes."
But he's still an Earnhardt, and the 22-year-old said racing will always be number one for him. Fighting is fun, but racing cars is the family business.
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Sun May 20 12:08pm EDT
Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett fought most of their five-round bout with broken hands at Strikeforce on Saturday night. Cormier broke his right hand, the same one he broke in knocking out Antonio Silva in September. Barnett broke his left hand and headed straight to the hospital after losing the decision in the final of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix.
Both men are planning to see surgeons after their grueling bout. Cormier wants to make sure this injury isn't recurring.
"I think this time I'm going to take a different approach," Cormier said. "I think I'm going to have surgery on it and get it fixed, because I don't want it to be recurring and then end up costing me later and later on down the line."
Barnett's manager said the fighter will see an orthopedist to find out how serious the injury is.
Five-round fights are difficult without any injuries. Cormier and Barnett were forced to use different weapons throughout their bout to find a way to the judges' decision.

Junior dos Santos makes a boy's dream come true
Posted May 24 2012
Frank Mir's relationship with Junior dos Santos
Posted May 22 2012
Junior dos Santos on Nogueira's decision
Posted May 22 2012
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