|
|
By Anthony De Franco  March 12, 2010, at 9:00 am  Does any MMA fighter have more business ventures than Urijah Faber? He has his own clothing line, his own gym, his own fight team, and oh yeah, is fighting in the main event of the first ever WEC pay-per-view. Hell, recently, the Sacramento Kings recently held Urijah Faber Night. Really, the dude is a star.
That’s why he gets yet another Silver Star shirt, despite owning his own company.
Faber is a proud Californian which is why the bear from the Cali state flag makes an appearance here. The eagle graphic underneath has become a staple of Faber’s shirts, much like GSP’s shield.
MMA Warehouse has this one for 39.99.
For more Urijah Faber shirts, Check out The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco January 12, 2010, at 2:12 am We went into this fight with a tacit understanding of the situation. Gray Maynard was fighting for a title fight tonight. He didn’t just need to win, he needed to impress. He needed to part of a solid main event that was not only a quality fight, but one where he took care of Nate Diaz in an exciting way.
Unfortunately, it looks like Maynard took that to heart a little too much. Instead of the focused power striker that we are used to Maynard being, we got a trash-talking, bar hook throwing sub-par version of himself. He may have won a split decision, but he lost his shot at champion B.J. Penn, and maybe even some of the hardcore fans as well.
Photo by Dave Mandel of Sherdog
I was really disgusted by what I saw from “The Bully” last night. I really thought that we were going to see an advanced fighter avenge his only loss (even if it doesn’t really count) with passion and precision. I thought that when Diaz did the Nate Diaz thing and threw his hands up and said something no one understood because he can barely speak English, Gray would throw a right hand down the pipe and put Stockton, California’s (second) favorite son down for good.
Instead, what did Maynard do when Diaz called him a bitch? He called him a bitch back and threw a lunging hook that made one of the best prospects in the lightweight division look like he had been mainlining tequila. And then he did it again. And again.
So, instead of “The Bully” taking on Penn, it will be up to New Jersey’s Frankie Edgar to try and dethrone the champ. Edgar’s boxing is better than the good version of Maynard’s, let alone the atrocity that we saw on Monday night. There will be people who write about Maynard’s victory over Edgar. They will say that it’s a travesty that Edgar is getting this shot now.
Well, here is what we know: Dana White (and I) hate people who piss away opportunity. That’s what Maynard did tonight. He proved that to him, tonight was more about revenge against the big mouthed Diaz than it was the title shot.
That’s not only misguided, it’s just dumb.
By Jason Comack December 3, 2009, at 5:59 pm A veteran of almost 50 fights, Gilbert Yvel is set to make his UFC debut against Junior Dos Santos at UFC 108.
Yvel, 33, was thought to be Octagon bound after Affliction Entertainment closed its doors in August, but sat in limbo until the Nevada State Athletic Commission issued him a provisional one-fight license in October.
Yvel’s controversial past has weighed on his current career. The Dutch striker turned MMA fighter drew outrage for several well-publicized incidents of misconduct including striking a referee and intentionally fouling his opponent.
The incidents prompted the Nevada State Athletic Commission to deny him a fight license in February 2007, nixing a fight with Sergei Kharitonov in Las Vegas at Pride 33.
After almost 50 overseas fights, Yvel made his U.S. debut in January after a special meeting with the California State Athletic Commission, where he assured regulators that his misdeeds would not be repeated.
Yvel is what he is. A incredibly talented striker who can be neutralized by any half decent wrestler. He’s lost to; Henderson, Horn, Frye, Fujuita and Josh Barnett and many lesser opponents.
As a big PRIDE fan you’d expect me to be the first in line to defend Yvel but the truth is I can’t. Time and time again we’ve seen guys come over from Japan who built up their record fighting cans get destroyed in the UFC. I was shocked that the public reaction was mainly pro-Yvel.
Has Gilbert ever beat anyone of note…besides that poor referee?
Prediction: Dos Santos tries to stand with him for a round before taking him down and submitting him with ease in Round 2.
By Anthony De Franco October 29, 2009, at 5:22 pm YES! The best looking man in MMA, Urijah Faber, is finally back from his two broken hands and will be fighting Raphael Assuncao at WEC 46 in January. Some people were suggesting that he wouldn’t be back in the cage until March, but never count out “The California Kid.” MMA Weekly broke the news.
The long-awaited return of World Extreme Cagefighting fan favorite Urijah Faber is now set.
MMAWeekly.com sources on Thursday confirmed that Faber would return at WEC 46 on Jan. 10 to face fellow featherweight contender Raphael Assuncao. They have verbally agreed to fight when the promotion returns to Faber’s backyard of Sacramento, Calif., at the ARCO Arena.
Faber (22-3) last fought in a loss to current 145-pound champion Mike Brown at WEC 41 in June, also in Sacramento. He fractured his right hand in the bout and has spent the past few months healing.
“That would be perfect timing for me,” Faber told MMAWeekly.com earlier this month when asked about a January return.
Faber is stuck in one of the weirdest situations in MMA. He lost his first fight with Mike Brown because he was being stupid and threw a spinning back elbow against a damn good fighter. Then, after beating Jens Pulver before getting a rematch, he broke one hand and seriously hurt his other during the fight. Even with that, he was to land some funky elbows, and held Mike Thomas Brown to a somewhat unimpressive victory.
Now, people are still calling Faber one of the best featherweight fighters in the world, which is not something that you would normally say about a guy who has lost two out of his last three fights. I think that he needs two fights before getting back to Brown, and he’ll get his first win against a fighter that just isn’t in the same class.
By Anthony De Franco October 26, 2009, at 9:44 am Well, this just keeps getting better.
It turns out that all the judges from the Machida-Shogun fight had the champion winning three different rounds. Two judges had “The Dragon” winning rounds one, two and three. The other had him winning rounds two, three and four. For those who are curious, yours truly had him losing rounds one, three, four and five.
How we do know this? Because the California State Athletic Commission scorecard has been posted on MMA Weekly. Check it out.
This decision still puzzles the hell out of me. UFC president Dana White has already stated that he expects an immediate rematch for Rua. Personally, I think that each should get one fight in between, but that means that there is a chance that one of them would lose, so I get the decision.
|
|
Tags: 
