Friday, February 20, 2009

UFC vets set for Cincinnati ICF show

The young Intimidation Cage Fighting organization is coming to Cincinnati with a lineup full of former UFC fighters.

"ICF: Breakout," which takes place April 11 at U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati, is headlined by former UFC competitor and "The Ultimate Fighter 4" cast member Shonie Carter (46-18-7) vs. undefeated Cincinnati fighter Victor O'Donnell (5-0).

Fellow UFC vets Dan Christison, Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz, Luke Zachrich and Jeff Cox are also booked for the event.

Carter, who went 3-3 during five different stints with the UFC, is 7-2 since his last fight with the organization (a unanimous-decision loss to Marcus Davis in December 2006). "Mr. International" now faces O'Donnell, who's 5-0 as a pro following a 4-0 mark as an amateur. The bout will take place at a catch-weight of 175 pounds.

In the night's heavyweight co-main-event attraction, Christison (13-6), a cast member from "The Ultimate Fighter 2" who's 5-0 since late 2007, meets Cruz (4-2), a jiu-jitsu ace who scored a first-round TKO victory over Frank Mir during a 2-2 stretch in the UFC.

Also in action is "The Ultimate Fighter 7" cast member (and former MMAjunkie.com "TUF" blogger) Zachrich (8-1), who looks for his sixth straight win when he takes on fellow middleweight Jonathan Hines (0-0).

In a lightweight match-up, Cox (10-6), who's fought with the UFC, EliteXC, King of the Cage and Adrenaline MMA, takes on Cincinnati fighter Chad Hinton (4-0), who's undefeated since turning pro last year.

The show is scheduled to feature a total of seven amateur fights and eight pro bouts.

The ICF event is another major one for Ohio, whose athletic commission regulated more MMA shows in 2008 than any other state. It also marks the first Ohio show for the ICF, which to date, has held six events in Kentucky at Turfway Park.

U.S. Bank Arena hasn't hosted a major MMA event since UFC 77, an October 2007 event headlined by Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin II. The event drew 16,054 fans for a $2.5 million gate.

"We are thrilled to be hosting 'ICF: Breakout,'" stated U.S. Bank Arena Vice President and General Manager Kristin Ropp. "The Tri-State region, particularly Cincinnati, has proven to be a strong hotbed of MMA fans. We were honored to host UFC 77 and feel that ICF will pick up right where the UFC left off."

Tickets for "ICF: Breakout," which range from $38 to $78, are now on sale through Ticketmaster.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Diaz vs. Shamrock to Headline April 11th Strikeforce Event


Sorry I didn't post for a few days guys. Anyway I'm very hyped to see this fight and here is why, Both these guys are assholes.They will meet each other at a catch weight of 179 pounds. Diaz has fought as high as the 170-pound division in years past.

Shamrock confirmed the bout on today’s joint conference call hosted by Showtime and Strikeforce.

This will mark Shamrock’s first bout since losing his Strikeforce middleweight title to Cung Le last March. Shamrock sustained a broken arm while checking one of Le’s deadly high kicks and was forced to concede the fight as he was unable to make the call to start the 4thRound.

Shamrock received medical clearance to fight again last fall, however has chosen not to compete since the loss.

Diaz has primarily been competing in the lightweight division for the past few years, however has stated in the past that if the right opportunity presented itself, he would have no issues moving up in weight to accept the challenge.

He is currently riding a three-fight winning streak, with his most recent coming via TKO against Thomas Denny last July.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Penn talks retirement



Also in other hate on GSP news. Matt Hughes king of the Gsp haters had this to say....


I was also surprised by the final match, I thought BJ would have put on a better performance. BJ Penn is coming from a lighter weight class, but he took the fight at 170. That’s the bottom line. I knew it was going to come down to who had the better cardio and even at the end of the first round BJ looked tired. Now, on to what everybody is talking about, the greasing. I’m not the only one who has said that GSP felt greasy during a fight. I know Matt Serra has mentioned it and, even in their first fight, I think BJ said something. I’m not saying GSP did something wrong and I’m not saying that it would have changed any outcomes of any fights; but what I am saying is, for my last two fights against Georges, he felt greasy.

Ice fights in da Nati this weekend

Sunday, February 1, 2009

UFC 94 Turtle's thoughts


Georges St. Pierre put on one of the most dominating performances I've seen in my life. Sure, there have been other guys who have dominated their opponents in the past but this was a four round destruction of a top five pound for pound fighter in arguably the "biggest fight" in the history of the UFC.

I think it is apposite to stop here and address the opinions that this fight somehow loses significance because of the outcome. I've been saying in comment sections lately that it needs to be understood that historical significance can be achieved in two ways for a fight. 1) It is an obvious historic fight in its matchmaking. This is not a function of the outcome of a fight, it is a function of the factors involved in the fight prior to it taking place. 2) The aftermath creates a historic situation. This was the case with Griffin vs. Bonnar where it provided its own hype. It was the finish to a significant television show in the show but it provided its own significance via the action in the fight. This was a clearly historic fight from the moment it was announced.

But the amazing thing in the actual outcome of the fight was that St. Pierre dominated Penn in the stand-up despite all the talk of Penn having the best boxing in the sport, he got takedowns with frequency despite Penn's reputation as a very hard guy to put on his back, and he dominated on the ground even passing Penn's notoriously great guard with ease on several occasions. After the first few times where Penn threw his legs up to get a high guard and GSP was able to shrug them back down and do damage Penn looked worried and the first time that GSP passed to side control and started landing blows BJ looked downright chapfallen.

I sincerely believe that there is not a man on this earth who can beat the St. Pierre who showed up tonight in a welterweight fight. Thiago Alves is going to get thrashed if St. Pierre shows up motivated when the two clash. There was talk of GSP and Anderson Silva. That is the fight Turtle wants to see not Alves but hey whatcha going to do?

Let's also not diminish BJ Penn's place in the world of fighting. He is a guy who won the 170 lb. championship from Matt Hughes during the height of Hughes' dominance so I refuse to accept the idea that he is unable to compete at an elite level at 170. Despite this fight's outcome there is no doubt in my mind that Penn is still the best lightweight in the world.

Lyoto Machida is a beast. There was nothing different in his approach to this fight from any other. This was not a case of him trying to finish a fight to impress the fans. He used the normal footwork and legerity to force Silva to chase him and eat carefully chosen shots. When Silva was able to close distance Machida used simple foot sweeps to put him down and not be forced outside of his comfort zone. He put the stout Thiago down on THREE occasions with the final being as decisive as it gets. This man is not boring, this man is as legitimate as it gets.

Jon Jones - The man simply proved me wrong. I thought that Bonnar would survive an early flurry and catch the younger Jones as he overextended and gassed out. He did gas but he had built up a very big lead and Bonnar kept clinching in the 3rd round when he clearly was catching the tired "Bones" with strikes. Why he chose to do that, I don't know. But I can't take anything away from Jones. For as young as he is, his skill level and potential is amazing.

On a final note, while I enjoyed the fights it did start to feel a little like the magical "UFC Returns to PPV" card where every single fight was going to a decision. It was a fun night of fights but the more casual fans I've heard feedback from found some of the fights (especially Karo/Stun Gun) to be pretty boring. Lucky for everyone the show closed very strong with the Jones/Machida/St. Pierre putting on great fights.