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By Anthony De Franco  March 16, 2010, at 9:00 am  Gabriel Gonzaga is no slouch. People have seemed to forget in all the hype surrounding his opponent, Junior Dos Santos. Gonzaga has some of the best ground skills in the heavyweight division. He also has very underrated power in both his hands and his legs.
Gonzaga’s shirt features his team’s logo on the back of the shirt. I never understood why more fighters didn’t do that. Awhile ago, American Top Team came out with their own shirt. That’s called free advertising.
Our new partner, Carnal DaMMAage has this one for 39.98, and you can save 10% with the coupon code “PJCoupon.”
By Anthony De Franco March 14, 2010, at 7:40 pm UFC Fans, Roger Huerta has left the building.
After claiming that he wanted to leave the sport to pursue an acting career after his last fight, Roger Huerta received his UFC formal release this week. That allowed him to negotiate with other companies and he’s landed in Bellator, according to MMA Junkie.
Sources close to the situation confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the popular lightweight received his formal release from the UFC this week, which opened the door to finalize a deal with the upstart promotion.
Bellator has called a video press conference for Monday at 3 p.m. ET that will stream live at Bellator.com.
He’ll be part of an 8-man, multi-event tournament that will pit the winner against last year’s champ and top ten lightweight Eddie Alvarez. For those who are suggesting that Roger Huerta will walk through the competition because of his UFC experience, Don’t be so sure. Fighters like Toby Imada, and Jorge Masvidal are not going to go down without a fight.
By Anthony De Franco March 13, 2010, at 1:14 am Time is getting short. We aren’t that far away from the games May 25th release date. THQ just released yet another trailer for UFC 2010: Undisputed, this time featuring B.J. Penn. It also reveals that we will be treated to a full trailer on Monday, March 15th, courtesy of the wonderful people of IGN.com.
By Anthony De Franco March 3, 2010, at 7:30 pm The war has been raging on for quite sometime. To boxing fans, there are two kinds of people. There are fight fans, and then there are those idiots that watch two gay dudes roll around on a mat for fifteen minutes and call it fighting.
To us with half a brain, we realize that boxing is an integral part of MMA, and one that has gotten people far in the sport. Well, another Boxer is trying to make the crossover to the octagon, and for once, Dana White and the boys are biting. Today, they signed James Toney to a multi-fight deal, according to Mike Chiapetta of MMA Fighting.com:
After a long period of off-again, on-again courtship, the UFC has pulled the trigger and signed 41-year-old boxing champion James Toney.
UFC President Dana White confirmed the signing to MMA Fighting after it was first reported by FiveOuncesofPain.com.
Toney had actively campaigned for a contract from the UFC, following White around the country to several events and eventually meeting with him in Las Vegas. Toney reportedly turned down at least one contract offer before signing.
Asked when Toney would debut, White said he had “no idea.”
So, Dana White has repeatedly thrown mud towards Strikeforce for the idea of the “freak show” fight. He killed the Herschel Walker fight, and there are those that say that this is the same thing. Toney is out of his prime, seemingly out of shape, and lacks any sort of well-rounded game. He will stand in the middle of the cage and throw bombs, believing that he can knockout just about anyone out. Until he gets in the cage against a wrestler than puts him through the mat.
More than that, this whole courtship has had a bit of a carnival feel to it. From Toney following the UFC around the country, to his rants that you can’t understand, like this one:
Toney has seemingly “publicized” his way into the world’s largest MMA organization.
Is Dana wrong for this signing? Probably not. It’s not like Toney is a professional dancer wanting to fight without proper training. He is a professional boxer and what he lacks on the ground he will inevitably make up for with crisp standup. The problem will be remaining on his feet. Which I don’t believe he can do.
Look for Toney to be 1-2 and out of the UFC sooner than later. If they do keep him, it will be to market the brand to boxing fans.
Side note: Does anyone else really hope that James Toney does one of those videos calling me out and threatening to kick my ass? That would really make my day.
By Anthony De Franco February 28, 2010, at 9:39 pm Sherdog.com did an interview with former PRIDE light heavyweight fighter Ricardo Arona that had some very interesting tidbits in it.
Ricardo Arona is recovering from surgery and hopes to fight again this year, the Brazilian recently told Sherdog.com.
He injured his knee during his win over Marvin Eastman in September at Bitetti Combat 4.
“I injured a ligament in the first round, but at the end of the second round, when I put my foot on the Octagon grid, I must have (torn) my meniscus. From that point on I felt a really hard pain, but I returned in the third round and fought standing up until the bell rang,” said Arona, who had surgery two months ago.
The two-time ADCC submission wrestling champion is now planning a return to training and to the ring
“In July I’ll restart my MMA training,” Arona said. “I got some calls from two American events. I want to be fighting in October or November.”
While I doubt one of them is the UFC as he is coming off a serious injury, he is probably one fight away from securing a deal. While in PRIDE, Arona defeated names like Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson, and of course, The Axe Murderer himself, Wanderlei Silva.
However, Arona has never fought on American soil. This raises two questions: Can he pass a drug test, and can he get over “octagon block” or whatever it is that Cro Cop claims he has? If he does, the UFC can quickly add another contender to the 205 lb division.
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