The Everything Living

After his stint on Season 5 of "The Ultimate Fighter", Gabe Ruediger never got to fight again in the UFC. Maybe now he wishes he had waited a little while longer. Joe Lauzon, returning from a knee injury, slammed, punched, elbowed and finally armbarred Ruediger. It was just over two minutes of absolute domination as Lauzon won via submission in the first round. "Welcome to Boston," yelled Lauzon, who hails from nearby East Bridgewater, Mass. "I’m glad I got to fight here in Boston. I wanted to take his arm and that’s exactly what I did."There was absolutely no ring rust from Lauzon, who was returning from a knee injury in January. Lauzon (19-5, 6-2 UFC) set the tone early with a big right and pushed Ruediger against the cage. That’s where he got a hold of Ruediger and slammed him to the mat. Ruediger scrambled well but was still getting hit by big shots. He got to his knees and took some massive shots to the face as Lauzon punched underneath his arms. Ruediger actually got to his feet but was nearly suplexed as part of another slam to the mat. This time Lauzon didn’t let him up. That’s when he unloaded with some huge elbows to Ruediger’s face. He bailed at that point giving up his back where Lauzon converted it to the finishing armbar.Update: Lauzon won $60,000 for the submission of the night. Ruediger’s reputation took a beating from his appearance on TUF 5. He was pictured eating and relaxing before his first fight and then couldn’t make weight. He was quite the drama queen and quit before ever making it to the scale. UFC Dana White booted him from the TUF house dismissed him from the show. The UFC elected not to give Ruediger an official fight after the season was over. He then hit the minor league circuit while Lauzon, also a cast member that season, went on to become one of the hottest prospects in the UFC’s 155-pound division. Lauzon went 5-2, winning four postfight award bonuses. Ruediger (17-6, 0-2 UFC) was a fill-in tonight for the injured Terry Etim. We’ll see if he gets another shot. This one was pathetic and he once again showed a minor lack of class when he refused to shake Lauzon’s hand following the fight.

Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
Motocross

In a battle of two jiu-jitsu geniuses, Demian Maia won by unanimous decision, earning a score of 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Maia came close to submitting Miranda early, taking him down and applying a choke, but Miranda shook him off his back. The two finished the round off from their feet, but quickly returned to the canvas in the second round. Maia took Miranda down easily early in the round, and showed off why he is one of the sport’s best grapplers. Controlling Miranda the entire time, Maia applied both an arm triangle and an arm bar on Miranda, but Miranda was able to defend both.Miranda’s coaches — including UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva — begged Miranda to "let it go" in the final round, but it didn’t happen. Miranda was tentative, and Maia took Miranda down and came close to an arm bar near the end of the round. Miranda spinned out of the attempt, but it was too little, too late. With such great BJJ players fighting, a submission was expected. However, their grappling canceled out, and the fighter who had better control won. This was Maia’s first fight back since losing in a title bout to Miranda’s coach, Silva.

SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow
TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes

UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell has had his mohawk for 18 years, but he shaved it all off Monday morning on "Fox and Friends." Now, he looks like this: Liddell shaved his head for a good cause. BIC, the makers of razors, is sponsoring BIC 4 GOOD and encouraging people to shave their head for charity. You can virtually shave your head or send in a video of you actually getting your head shaved here. Either way, BIC will make a donation to Do Something, a charity that encourages volunteerism among youth. Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports: • Strangest records in sports • NFL’s top tailgating towns • Hoops trick shot with a golf club

Hanggliding
Mountainbiking
BMX
Inlineskating
Cliffdiving

The mixed martial arts world is salivating over seeing James Toney enter the Octagon this weekend at UFC 118. Finally a boxer has backed up his smack talk about MMA and putting his skills on the line against Randy Couture. Why are fans excited? Because most of them expect Toney to get destroyed and potentially embarrassed. That possibility has many boxers worried. "Of course, I got his back regardless. But I kind of feel like it’s kind of disrespectful man," said heavyweight boxing contender Chris Arreola. "Let’s just say he doesn’t succeed, and (then) every MMA person is going to be like ’see, he couldn’t cut it.’ Every guy who loves MMA, they’re going to be saying that boxing ain’t nothing compared to MMA."Boxers Victor Ortiz, Shane Mosley, Ricardo Mayorga and promoter Gary Shaw are featured in the video from FightHubtv.com. They don’t sound too confident in Toney’s chances. David Haye and Bernard Hopkins have the same worries as well. Much like Toney’s trainer Dan Goossen, Arreola is annoyed that Randy Couture won’t be reciprocating and entering a boxing ring. "Let’s
do the same, why don’t you bring Brock Lesnar in the boxing ring with
myself or any of the klitschko brothers? Bring Brock Lesnar into boxing,
let’s see what happens to him," said Arreola. "He’ll get knocked the
[expletive] out. It’s two different beasts."It’s that thinking, and it is accurate, that makes the whole "boxing versus MMA" promotional angle a bit of a farce. But as most of the boxing people tracked down by Marcos Villegas said, you never know what can happen with the four-ounce gloves.

KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski

With WEC 50 and Strikeforce: Houston in the books, Cagewriter takes a look at the fighters who stood out.No. 1 star — Anthony Pettis: "Showtime" earned his shot at the WEC lightweight title with an amazing win over Shane Roller. Pettis and Roller fought a back and forth bout for more than 14 minutes. Then Pettis locked on a triangle choke, earning him his third win in a row. No. 2 star — Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante: At Strikeforce: Houston, Feijao dethroned "King Mo" with a third-round TKO. Cavalcante won with the same powerful striking that had earned him the title shot. He used knees as an antidote to Lawal’s takedowns, and will now get to defend the belt that Lawal couldn’t. No. 3 star — Dominick Cruz: In his first title defense, Cruz showed excellent movement, avoiding Benavidez’s strikes while darting in to land strikes of his own. The five-round fight didn’t slow him down, either. Next up? Scott Jorgensen, also a big winner at WEC 50.Honorable mention — Daniel Cormier: Four weeks, three fights, two continents, one result. As we wrote last week, Cormier fought in his third fight in a month on Saturday, but you didn’t see any wear and tear on the two-time Olympian. He ran through Jason Riley in 62 seconds, and is now free to sit on his couch and play video games. Honorable mention — Chad Griggs: The full-time firefighter with
mutton chops wasn’t supposed to beat former professional wrestling star
Bobby Lashley, but that’s exactly what he did. He used an uppercut to
first cut Lashley under the eye, then to set up the hammerfists that
TKOed Lashley. Dishonorable mention — Texas State Athletic Commission: The state commission that oversaw Strikeforce:Houston did an abysmal job. Referee Jon Schorle stood up Bobby Lashley and Chad Griggs at a questionable time in the fight. He also hesitated in stopping the KJ Noons/Jorge Gurgel fight, looking as if he was going to step in, but then stopping. He then failed to recognize the illegal knee that Noons threw. To add to the troubles with refereeing, the state commission’s timekeeper had troubles with the clock during the Jacare/Kennedy bout. The UFC and Bellator both have events in early September in the Lone Star state. Hopefully, they’ll get their act together by then.Who were your stars from WEC 50 and Strikeforce: Houston?

Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping
Flying
Paragliding

MMA isn’t for everyone. We know that. Too often when folks from the 50-plus demographic speak about the sport they complain about the violence and the blood. So it cames as no shocker that there was complaining from veteran writers like Bob Ryan and Dan Shaugnessy. But they took a different stance both pointing out that they didn’t see what all the excitement was about."In all honesty, I’m just telling the truth. The biggest revelation I got from
spending that evening at the Garden was how astonishingly BOOOOORRING this thing
is," Ryan said CSN’s New England’s "Sports Tonight". "It is the most overrated … I do not remotely understand the appeal. There
isn’t enough blood, there isn’t enough action."Ryan said the first fight on the pay-per-view between Marcus Davis and Nate Diaz was solid but he didn’t enjoy the ground work in the later fights."The fans don’t like the wrestling," said Ryan, who is now an expert after taking in one live MMA card.Ryan also knows how knowledgeable each of the 15,000-plus in attendance were. "There are a sophisticated few martial arts experts who appreciate
when there is a well-executed martial arts move to create a submission, yes,
that is not the majority, it’s a small minority," said Ryan. Apparently, Ryan spoke with lots of fans to find out what they enjoy. "The people want to see boxing,
slugging, and they want to see when a guy gets down his face punched, that’s
what gets them excited. It is the most boring nonsense," said Ryan. "Most of the fights in the
early, and granted it was described to me as batting practice, the early bouts,
are guys in wrestling matches in which they were bad collegiate wrestling with
nothing happening." Who gave Ryan that description? Someone on press row? We’d love to know what MMA media regular says the early fights are "batting practice". This is why shows like CSN’s "Sports Tonight" and ESPN’s "Around the Horn" are unbearable at times. The panel is made of older media dudes who are speaking for the fans yet most haven’t had anything beyond a 10 second conversation with a fan in 10 years. The crew on the embedded CSN video was mostly pro-MMA. Longtime boxing and NFL scribe Ron Borges has more than given MMA a fair shake. He’s the "expert" on this panel. Sadly, you can’t count on one hand the number of boxing writers who’ve really embraced MMA. Check out the lead host Mike Felger, he describes the Davis-Diaz fight as sort of gruesome and then says he loved it!Quotes via Fight Opinion

Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
Surfing

James Toney’s neverending stream of trash talk can obscure the fact that the UFC lightweight belt is being contested at UFC 118. B.J. Penn has a golden opportunity to immediately try to win back the championship he lost to Frankie Edgar at UFC 112. To get ready for that bout, jump into the DeLorean and head back to June 29, 2001 for UFC 32. In just his second MMA bout, Penn threw a vicious knee to take out Din Thomas in the first round.

Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
Surfing
Flowboarding

by Michael David SmithWhen Frankie Edgar beat B.J. Penn in April to win the UFC lightweight title, many fans thought it was a fluke. But Edgar did it again on Saturday at UFC 118, winning another unanimous decision and showing without a doubt that he’s the best lightweight in mixed martial arts.

This time around it wasn’t even close, with Edgar winning all five rounds on all three judges’ cards.

“I want to thank B.J.,” Edgar said afterward. “He brought the best out of me.”.

BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch

by Michael David SmithUFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, former champion B.J. Penn, UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and former boxing champion James Toney will all meet the press, joined by UFC President Dana White, at Wednesday’s UFC 118 pre-fight press conference. And if you can’t be there in person in Boston, you can watch it right here at MMAFighting.com.

The star of the show is likely to be Toney, who will draw plenty of mainstream media attention and talk plenty of trash about Couture. It’s going to be easy to forget that Edgar-Penn 2 is actually the main event.

The UFC 118 pre-fight press conference begins Wednesday at 3PM ET and the video is below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood

by Michael David Smith
The UFC is in Massachusetts for the first time Saturday night, bringing to town a great battle for the lightweight title between Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn, and one of the strangest fights the promotion has ever booked with Hall of Famer Randy Couture facing past-his-prime boxing champion James Toney. We’ve got predictions below.

What: UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2

When: The non-televised undercard starts at 7 PM ET Saturday, the Spike TV card starts at 9 and the pay-per-view broadcast starts at 10.

Where: TD Garden, Boston Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

PogoPowerbocking
Paintball
Jibbing
Parkour
AndreReynolds

Competitive balance may be a fallacy you can strive for in other sports, but in fighting you need big stars. Strikeforce took a beating tonight as Bobby Lashley fell to start the Showtime telecast, then one of the promotion’s brightest young stars Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal found himself face first on the mat in less than 12 minutes. Rafael "Feijao’ Cavalcante was the bigger, more powerful and more technical fighter. It was just a matter of time before King Mo got caught by some kind of nasty strike. In the third round, he was hit with a huge knee in a clinch situation. His knees buckled and as he was stumbling backwards, Feijao nailed him with another right. Lawal fell to his back and rose back up in shaky fashion. He struggled to hold on to Feijao against the cage as he got pummeled by elbows. After absorbing over a dozen elbows and punches, Lawal’s left arm dropped. That’s when referee John McCarthy stepped in to stop things at 1:14 of the third. Lawal was clearly out, as he fell face first to the mat. Feijao (10-2) took the Strikeforce light heavyweight title from Lawal. It’s not shocking that Lawal (7-1) lost. After making the move over from the world of amateur wrestling, He’s still a very inexperienced fighter. Lawal, who just missed out on the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team, allowed his grappling to carry him to an unbeaten record against a decent slate of fighters. But tonight Feijao proved to be too strong. Lawal scored two takedowns but also worked very hard while missing on three others. Even when Feijao hit the deck, he got himself to his feet relatively quicklyLawal outlanded Feijao 67-50 but most of the Brazilian’s shots were much heavier.

AndyMacDonald
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist

Susan Wickstrand is the latest surf artist to be added to Club Of The Waves. Her art is really different and cool, mixing mediums like collage, photography, oil and encaustic (wax) on wood panel. Check it out…www.clubofthewaves.com/artistprofiles/susan_wickstrand.htmlImage: Gerry Lopez with his own Susan Wickstrand painting ‘Sleeping on a Honeysuckle’Also check out a collaboration between Susan Wickstrand and fellow COTW surf photographer Art Brewer.www.susanwickstrand.com

PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers

by Michael David SmithNo one can doubt Frankie Edgar anymore.

After Edgar beat B.J. Penn by unanimous decision in April, a lot of people believed that the fight was a fluke, that the judges erred, and that Penn was still the best lightweight in mixed martial arts. But now that Edgar has defeated Penn once again at UFC 118, there’s no room for debate: Edgar is the undisputed champion.

Except that Edgar has one loss on his record, and that one loss is to Gray Maynard, who has been anointed the next challenger to Edgar’s title. Maynard could make a case that he deserves to be considered the top fighter in the division, but unless he makes that case again in the cage, I’m sticking with Edgar at No. 1. The rest of the rankings are below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping
Flying

Filed under: Fighting, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsLeading up to UFC 118, James Toney told anyone who wanted to listen that he asked to fight Kimbo Slice (after his first request of facing Brock Lesnar was turned down) in his Octagon debut. Unfortunately for him, the organization had different plans and matched the boxing champion against Randy Couture.

You all know how that turned out for “Lights Out.”

But when Slice stopped by Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, he said he had never been offered a fight against Toney, but was certainly open to the idea.

“I never heard anything about me fighting James Toney, but you know, like I said, again, I’ll fight anybody, man. C’mon, everybody knows that about me from my street-fighting days. Put anybody in front of me, train me to be the best, I’ll fight the best. That’s one thing about Kimbo Slice that everybody knows.”

FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
JasonMurphy
JeremyMcGrath

Dana White talks Flyweight division & TUF for WEC at Fan Expo Video by UFC Fan Expo Boston

BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska
ChrisKlug

Strikeforce confirmed Wednesday that Nick Diaz will return to the cage on Oct. 9 in San Jose to defend his Strikeforce welterweight title against an old foe, K.J. Noons. They will headline a card that will also feature a title scrap between Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen, and a bout between American Kickboxing Academy standout Luke Rockhold and Matt Lindland. The Diaz vs. Noons matchup is puzzling. Though the two have bad blood, started in their Elite XC days, Noons is a lightweight. He beat Jorge Gurgel at lightweight last weekend, was Elite XC’s lightweight champ, and has never fought at welterweight for Strikeforce. Of course, Strikeforce gave Brett Rogers a title shot after he lost to Fedor Emelianenko, so logic may not be its first course of action in matchmaking. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty to get excited about on this card. Coenen will be fighting for the first time since she was TKOed by Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, and Kaufman offers an interesting matchup. Rockhold is an exciting young fighter, and Lindland will be a good test. Even the Diaz/Noons bout has potential if Noons can add to his size between now and Oct. 9.

MikeJones
MikeValley
NateAdams
ParksBonifay
PeterMel

UFC president Dana White spoke with MMAWeekly.com about where BJ Penn goes from here after losing the rematch to Frankie Edgar at UFC 118.

Hanggliding
Mountainbiking
BMX
Inlineskating
Cliffdiving

B.J. Penn doesn’t come from your traditional pugilist background. He didn’t grow up on the hard streets of some urban area. Nor is he mad at the world, or keeping himself out of jail. Penn had a pretty good upbringing in Hilo, Hawaii (how bad could it possibly be, right?) and when his fighting career ends, he’s got a good safety net to fall into. He’s a smart guy who was at the forefront, as far as fighters go, of marketing himself on the internet. As he readies for UFC 118 this weekend, he’s putting forth an old theme — "the focused/hungry B.J. Penn". Each time he loses a fight Penn talks about reinventing himself. "The loss to Frankie actually made me step back and realize I want to fight as much as I can. (After this fight, if healthy) I want to fight next month, next week," Penn said during last week’s UFC 118 teleconference. "I don’t know if I feel my biological clock ticking or what … I want to fight as much as possible." Penn is just 31 years old, but it sounds like he looks back on his 20’s with some regret. He spent a lot of time arguing about contracts and taking long breaks between fights. "I’ve kind of spaced my career out over the 10 years," said Penn (15-6, 11-5 UFC). "I kinda want to make a push to really be a true fighter. I’ve had a good training camp and I’ve kinda figured out how to keep myself heatlhy through multiple training camps." Over the last few years, we’ve been down this path several times. Penn spoke about a renewed hunger and that he was more focused after losses to Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. Now his win-loss record is serving as motivation. "When I first started fighting. I thought I was God’s gift to fighting. I thought I’d go 100-0 with 100 knockouts. I sit back, I look at my record and I can’t believe that I have six losses," said Penn. He considers the UFC 112 loss to Edgar a blessing. "If I won that fight I would’ve changed nothing in my game and I would’ve set myself up to fall even harder in the future," said Penn. "Everytime that you get a loss you take a different path and you get back on the right journey of why you started this thing in the first place."Penn not only lost his UFC lightweight title but it was the first time he’d fallen in fight 155 pounds since 2002. It was such a big upset that he’s been installed as a minus-450 favorite to regain his belt. He’s not buying into the hype. "People are putting Frankie in as the underdog. I feel like I’m the underdog. I’m the guy that doesn’t want this sport to pass him by," said Penn. "And I want to stay at the forefront of this whole thing. I’m working night and day to keep tweaking these little areas, to keep up with these young kids."Let’s hope this is the final time that Penn needs to motivate himself to be at his best. When right, he’s a top five pound-for-pound fighter. If he stays in good condition and keeps improving, he’ll probably get his belt back and have a 4-5 year run in front of him as the best 155er in the world. But it’s up to Penn now to cement his legacy as one of the best ever.

Motocross
Snocross
Rallying
Drifting
Supercross

Strikeforce confirmed Wednesday that Nick Diaz will return to the cage on Oct. 9 in San Jose to defend his Strikeforce welterweight title against an old foe, K.J. Noons. They will headline a card that will also feature a title scrap between Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen, and a bout between American Kickboxing Academy standout Luke Rockhold and Matt Lindland. The Diaz vs. Noons matchup is puzzling. Though the two have bad blood, started in their Elite XC days, Noons is a lightweight. He beat Jorge Gurgel at lightweight last weekend, was Elite XC’s lightweight champ, and has never fought at welterweight for Strikeforce. Of course, Strikeforce gave Brett Rogers a title shot after he lost to Fedor Emelianenko, so logic may not be its first course of action in matchmaking. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty to get excited about on this card. Coenen will be fighting for the first time since she was TKOed by Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, and Kaufman offers an interesting matchup. Rockhold is an exciting young fighter, and Lindland will be a good test. Even the Diaz/Noons bout has potential if Noons can add to his size between now and Oct. 9.

Motorcyclerally
Watersports
Rafting
Whitewater
kayaking

by Michael David SmithAlexey Oleinik, Jose Vega and Lisa Ward all won to advance to the semifinals of their respective Bellator Fighting Championships Season 3 tournaments Thursday night at Bellator 26 in Kansas City.

In a bloody mess of a fight in the heavyweight tournament, Oleinik and Mike Hayes slugged it out for 15 minutes. It wasn’t an easy fight to score, and could have gone either way, but two judges scored it 29-28 Oleinik while one scored it 29-28 Hayes. It’s a good thing for Bellator that Oleinik got the decision, as Hayes had a nasty cut on his right eye that likely would have prevented him from moving on to the semifinals.

As it is, Oleinik will face Neil Grove in one semifinal fight, while Cole Konrad will face Damian Grabowski in the other heavyweight tournament semifinal. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Skateboarding
Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing

Daniel Cormier is taking the right path to becoming an elite heavyweight. He’s working out of a high-level MMA gym and staying as active as possible. He just won the King of the Cage heavyweight title last weekend and made quick of work of Jason Riley tonight in the final fight on the non-televised undercard at Strikeforce: Houston. In the opening seconds, Cormier (5-0) charged Riley looking for a single-leg takedown. He didn’t get it but his aggressiveness put Riley on the defensive. When the fighters stood apart for a few seconds, Cormier leapt into an overhand right and hurt Riley badly. Riley hit the deck and that’s where Cormier turned on the jets. He pounded away with a half-dozen left hands. Riley covered up and took the abuse for a few more seconds before tapping due to strikes at 1:02 of the first. Cormier, an Olympic level wrestler out of Oklahoma State, is a little short for the division at 5-foot-11 and 249 pounds but he manhandled the much bigger Riley. His work with guys like UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose is paying off. His conditioning looks better and his hands are improving with each fight. His next fight is scheduled against Soa Palelei in Australia. Odds are he’ll take a few more fights between now and Nov. 21. Riley has dropped 3-of-4 fights including losses to Tim Sylvia and Devin Cole. Jorge Patino took his fight against Andre Galvao on short notice and did all he could to steal the fight in the first round. Galvao weathered the storm and was able to wear down the fill-in. Galvao scored a takedown early in the third and wailed away with shots to Patino, who couldn’t improve position. After dozens of elbows and punches to Patino, who was just covering up, Galvao got the stoppage at the 2:45 mark of the third round. Patino did a great job in the opening round attempting several punch-kick combos. The 37-year-old would charge Galvao, fire off a left and a right followed by a head kick. He shocked Galvao by landing a huge left with 1:40 left in the round. Galvao scrambled and was hurt badly when he got drilled by another left on his knees. Patino poured it on but just couldn’t get the finish. The effort probably sapped Patino a bit for the rest of the fight. Galvao was able to score takedowns throughout the second to take back control of the fight.The 27-year-old Galvao (5-1) is a highly decorated world champion in jiu-jitsu. His ground control was impressive and so was the toughness he exhibited in withstanding a dangerous situation in the first.

GerryNunn
JasonMurphy
JeremyMcGrath
JoshSanders
JustinHoman

A 45 day trip yields a lengthy montage with some seriously gnarly Australian shredding.

Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting

I had the opportunity to go hang at Woodward East a few weeks ago and participate as a guest instructor in their digital photography camp. It was a great time working with the all the photo campers. A solid week of shredding, photos, and golf carts. If you have a chance to go next summer, it’s well worth it. Here’s some photos from camp and of Cooper Wilt and Chris Haslam.

What have you done this month? Strikeforce heavyweight and two-time Olympian Daniel Cormier has fought on two continents, won two championship belts, prepared for his third bout and moved into a new apartment. As he gets ready for the third bout, he laughed at the idea that he was crazy. "Not crazy because of the way the first two went," Cormier told Cagewriter. "If I had gotten all cut up, then maybe. But these first two fights were a combined six and a half minutes. People keep asking if I’ve lost my mind, but we wrestled 2-3 times a week in college, and not easy wrestling matches. I’ve been trained to do this over the course of my wrestling career." Cormier won the XMMA heavyweight championship in Australia on July 31 with a TKO of Lucas Brown. Two weeks later, he earned the King of the Cage belt with a quick TKO of Tony Johnson, Jr. This weekend, he’ll face Jason Riley on the undercard of the Strikeforce: Houston card, a bout that will be aired online. At King of the Cage bout, referee Cecil People made waves after an odd statement before Cormier’s fight. When the two fighters came forward for pre-fight instructions, Peoples called the KOTC belt "the most prestigious in the world," an overreach at best.Cormier says that he didn’t hear what Peoples said at the time, and was surprised when he heard it after the fight. The normally talkative Cormier had trouble putting words to his reaction."I read comments the afterwards, and what do you say about that? I didn’t hear it. What do you say? Maggie, have you ever heard me at a loss for words? Maybe he believes that. It’s his opinion."He has no trouble speaking when answering the question of whether or not he will fight his friend and the Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, Mo Lawal. Though Lawal said he’s willing to fight at heavyweight, Cormier will not fight his friend."It won’t happen. Mo and I wrestled a lot. You can’t talk, you can’t communicate. What people don’t realize is that our relationship spans a decade. It’s more than MMA. When he transferred to OSU, Mo was my guy. He’s family to me, and I’d never take food out of his mouth. That’s what happens when you fight, and I’d never try to hurt him."But before he gets to that discussion, he has a fight to focus on, and then a new home to hang out in. He spent the weekend between fights moving into a San Jose apartment with American Kickboxing Academy teammate Luke Rockhold, though he did cave in and decide to hire movers.Now, Cormier is looking forward to winning his bout and relaxing in that new place."Hopefully, I can get one more win and then I’ll be 5-0 in a year. After this, I’m looking forward to taking a few days to just relax. Most people say they want to go to the beach, or go on vacation. I just want to lay on my couch and play video games."He won’t have to look far for reminders of his success. Cormier said that the two belts are on his entertainment center, next to the X-Box.

Motorsports
Motocross
Snocross
Rallying
Drifting

CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood

The first LA Skate Film Festival kicks off this Tuesday, August 31st. The nominees have been announced and the schedule set. All you have to do is show up at The Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles and enjoy.

Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing

Here’s a quickie video of James Toney talking some more trash. Much of it appears to be filmed while Toney was on last week’s UFC 118 conference call. The 41-year-old pro boxer has been doing more than his fair share to hype this weekend’s fight against Randy Couture. That also includes a neat feature in ESPN The Magazine where he answered several message board posts from fans. This one was on Bloody Elbow:Toney has never had a one-hitter quitter in any division, ever. That’s not to going to suddenly change with four-ounce gloves.Toney’s response (from Aug. 23 ESPN The Magazine):"When my trainer first gave me the four-ounce gloves, I said, ‘oh my god, I’m going to prison.’ It’s a much different feeling and it took me a bit to get used to it. But now I’m very fast with them. I know in my heart no one can stand in front of me and take my shots. If his jaw is exposed, it’s gonna be lights out, time to pay the electric bill."Part of the vlog’s also featured in this photo shoot. Toney is far from an Adonis but he looks to be in pretty solid shape.

LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney
MattHoffman
MikeJones

Kenny Florian lost his first UFC title shot against Sean Sherk. On Saturday night, in his homestate of Massachusetts, he was fighting for another title shot, but his fight vs. Gray Maynard looked a lot like the Sherk fight. Maynard worked his boxing early in each round and then, when he chose to take the fight to the ground, it went to the ground. Florian couldn’t get off his back and when it was standing, he did very little offensively. Maynard impressed the judges and was able to pull the mild upset via unanimous decision, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 on all three cards. The winner of the fight was promised a title shot. Now Maynard can sit back and watch the main event, where UFC lightweight champ Frank Edgar defends the strap against B.J. Penn. "I wanted to try and make him chase me — he doesn’t chase a lot — then throw two shots at a time and eventually try for the takedown," said Maynard (11-0, 8-0 UFC).Maynard played that game for the first four minutes of the fight and then scored his first takedown. It was a sign of things to come. Not only did Florian (14-5, 11-4 UFC) struggle to get back to his feet, but he posed no danger from his back. The former Michigan State wrestler did the same thing in the second round and landed a key left hand followed by a right uppercut with 2:30 left in the round. The uppercut opened up a cut over Florian’s left eye and affected his vision. Seconds later, Maynard scored another takedown and made a bloody mess of Florian. It was more of the same in the third. In the final 90 seconds, Florian threatened with a pair of omaplata attempts, but Maynard stayed patient and powered out of both. "I’m feeling good," said Maynard, as he was being booed by the pro-Florian crowd. "I’m really glad to get to the spot where I get a shot at the title."Florian, a native of Westwood, Mass., and a Boston College grad, has to go back to the drawing board. Maynard moves onto to the title shot, where he could face Edgar. He beat Edgar back in 2008 at Ultimate Fight Night 13 and came away with a win.

PeterMendia
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen

Quiksilver Europe puts together a sick montage from their Skate In Visión photo contest.

JoshSanders
JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram

Here’s a quickie video of James Toney talking some more trash. Much of it appears to be filmed while Toney was on last week’s UFC 118 conference call. The 41-year-old pro boxer has been doing more than his fair share to hype this weekend’s fight against Randy Couture. That also includes a neat feature in ESPN The Magazine where he answered several message board posts from fans. This one was on Bloody Elbow:Toney has never had a one-hitter quitter in any division, ever. That’s not to going to suddenly change with four-ounce gloves.Toney’s response (from Aug. 23 ESPN The Magazine):"When my trainer first gave me the four-ounce gloves, I said, ‘oh my god, I’m going to prison.’ It’s a much different feeling and it took me a bit to get used to it. But now I’m very fast with them. I know in my heart no one can stand in front of me and take my shots. If his jaw is exposed, it’s gonna be lights out, time to pay the electric bill."Part of the vlog’s also featured in this photo shoot. Toney is far from an Adonis but he looks to be in pretty solid shape.

Scubadiving
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering

When I moved into my new home, I spent a little time on reconnaissance for somewhere to train for climbing.
I initially thought a fingerboard would be the way to go. However, all the doorways were flimsy stud walls and not sturdy enough.
An alternative jumped out – Rock Rings by Metolius. If only I could find [...]

Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Canyoning

Any fighter who watched the HBO "Real Sports" piece on the possible connection between head trauma and concussions to ALS had to shutter with fear. Bernie Goldberg’s story indicated that there may be a link between athletes that often get their heads smashed — football, soccer and boxers — and the dreaded disease. Referencing the story, WEEI’s "Dennis and Callahan" show asked UFC president Dana White about safety issues in mixed martial arts. White launched right into his defense of mixed martial arts and the moves to make it safer. He also added his personal feelings about the safety of football by using his sons as an example. "Both of my sons, they’re 8 and 9, train in mixed martial arts. Not that I want them to be fighters I just think as a dad you should teach your kids how to fight," White told the Boston radio show. "My oldest son, who is 9, is a really good quarterback. He’s only lost one game in two years. He plays flag football … I don’t know how he got into football but he likes it. But I’m terrified for this kid to play football."To the average American sports fan that sounds crazy, right? With evidence emerging that ALS cases are popping up at an alarming rate amongst former football players, parents may want to think twice about what sports their kids should play.Listen to the entire interview here. Gerry Callahan sounded like he was lukewarm on MMA, but John Dennis was well-informed and even talked about possibly attending UFC 118. We know Dennis is a scrapper. A few years ago he was ready to throwdown on Ryen Russillo, a host from another Boston radio station. Dennis called Russillo’s cell phone one day in 2005 and left one of the best phone messages (audio – NSFW) we’ve ever heard. Russillo now does middays for ESPNRadio nationally based out of Bristol, Conn., but he must look over his shoulder anytime he visits Boston.

Drifting
Supercross
Motorcyclerally
Watersports
Rafting

A 45 day trip yields a lengthy montage with some seriously gnarly Australian shredding.

Snocross
Rallying
Drifting
Supercross
Motorcyclerally

John Cardiel and Ray Barbee plus The Mattson Two are out on the Get Out and Do Something Tour for Vans starting today in Virginia Beach then heading North ending in Brooklyn at KCDC on September 5th. Ray and the Mattson 2 will be performing live, followed by Cards spinning some of his favorite music.

KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent

B.J. Penn is always the star of the show but not this week at UFC 118. The Hawaiian lightweight legend has willingly taken a back seat to James Toney. The boxer’s talk and promotional acumen has carried the card. But make no mistake about it, Toney against Randy Couture, from a pure fighting standpoint is a sideshow (Sherdog’s pro’s picks have it 50-3 for Couture) compared to the UFC lightweight title rematch between champ Frank Edgar and Penn. Penn lost the first matchup via unanimous decision back at UFC 112. In typical Penn fashion, he’s tried to drum up some drama and angst heading into the fight but it’s just not that easy against Edgar, who is pretty benign with the spoken word. So the issue again for Penn is motivation. Is he fired up? Will he alter his style and work harder for the victory? If not, he’ll have two losses in a row and then what motivates him to come back and get better? Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole breaks down the big fights and betting odds from Boston.UFC 118 betting odds (Courtesy Venetian/Lagasse Stadium in Las Vegas)Official plays in boldFrank Edgar (+300) v. B.J. Penn (-400) – UFC lightweight titleJames Toney (+500) v. Randy Couture (-800) – Light heavyweight
Gray Maynard (+125) v. Kenny Florian (-155) – Lightweight
Mario Miranda (+190) v. Demian Maia (-240) – Middleweight
Marcus Davis (+190) v. Nate Diaz (-240) -Welterweight
Nik Lentz (Even) v. Andre Winner (-130) – Lightweight
Gabe Ruediger (+300) v. Joe Lauzon (-400) – LightweightGreg Soto (+110) v. Nick Osipczak (-140) – WelterweightJohn Salter (+250) v. Jim Miller (-330) – MiddleweightAmilcar Alves (+240) v. Mike Pierce (-320) – Welterweight

Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping

Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting

MMA fan and new Boston Celtic Shaquille O’Neal was one of the many stars in attendance at UFC 118 in Boston on Saturday night. He was joined by Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who wore a shirt with a picture of Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste on it. New England Patriots Tom Brady and Wes Welker were also in the building, but it was O’Neal who showed off his MMA moves for the camera. He is no stranger to MMA, having trained for years. O’Neal even made an appearance at the UFC Fan Expo on Saturday, and has even asked UFC president Dana White for a chance to fight in the Octagon.

DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
DannyHarf
DannyWay
DarrenShapiro

by Michael David Smith
KJ Noons knocked out Jorge Gurgel in the second round of Saturday night’s Strikeforce Houston card with the help of two illegal strikes, one a left hook at the end of the first round and one an illegal knee on the ground as the referee was starting to stop the fight in the second. The referee awarded the fight to Noons by knockout even though it easily could have gone to Gurgel by disqualification.

At the end of the first round, Noons floored Gurgel with a huge left hook an instant after the bell rang, and Gurgel was wobbly as he tried to get back to his corner. The punch clearly landed after the round had ended, and the referee easily could have disqualified Noons, or at least taken a point away. Instead, the referee did nothing.

More Coverage: KJ Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel Live Blog | Strikeforce: Houston Results

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

TrevorHanson
WesBrisco
ZaneSchwenk Snowboarding
Sandboarding

by Michael David SmithNate Diaz absolutely brutalized Marcus Davis Saturday night at UFC 118, using his striking to turn Davis’s face into a mess in the first two rounds before choking Davis into unconsciousness in the third.

“I feel good,” Diaz said afterward. “I think I broke my hand in the second round.”

But while Diaz may have suffered a broken bone, it was Davis who really suffered in the fight.

PeterMendia
PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen

Straight off a plane today to the Jobbing.com arena to check out some heavy shredding at the Street League. If the qualifiers gave any indication, shit is gonna get real wacky tomorrow. These guys are good. Heres a few images I saw today.

B.J. Penn is always the star of the show but not this week at UFC 118. The Hawaiian lightweight legend has willingly taken a back seat to James Toney. The boxer’s talk and promotional acumen has carried the card. But make no mistake about it, Toney against Randy Couture, from a pure fighting standpoint is a sideshow (Sherdog’s pro’s picks have it 50-3 for Couture) compared to the UFC lightweight title rematch between champ Frank Edgar and Penn. Penn lost the first matchup via unanimous decision back at UFC 112. In typical Penn fashion, he’s tried to drum up some drama and angst heading into the fight but it’s just not that easy against Edgar, who is pretty benign with the spoken word. So the issue again for Penn is motivation. Is he fired up? Will he alter his style and work harder for the victory? If not, he’ll have two losses in a row and then what motivates him to come back and get better? Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole breaks down the big fights and betting odds from Boston.UFC 118 betting odds (Courtesy Venetian/Lagasse Stadium in Las Vegas)Official plays in boldFrank Edgar (+300) v. B.J. Penn (-400) – UFC lightweight titleJames Toney (+500) v. Randy Couture (-800) – Light heavyweight
Gray Maynard (+125) v. Kenny Florian (-155) – Lightweight
Mario Miranda (+190) v. Demian Maia (-240) – Middleweight
Marcus Davis (+190) v. Nate Diaz (-240) -Welterweight
Nik Lentz (Even) v. Andre Winner (-130) – Lightweight
Gabe Ruediger (+300) v. Joe Lauzon (-400) – LightweightGreg Soto (+110) v. Nick Osipczak (-140) – WelterweightJohn Salter (+250) v. Jim Miller (-330) – MiddleweightAmilcar Alves (+240) v. Mike Pierce (-320) – Welterweight

Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports

If the WEC was undecided about giving a title shot to the winner of the Anthony Pettis-Shane Roller fight, the promotion had to be sold after watching the thriller that unfolded tonight in Las Vegas. The lightweights engaged in a great back and forth battle that moved all over the cage. Roller had his moments but was down 2-0 and likely losing the third, when he went for broke in the final seconds. Pettis capitalized on Roller’s aggression, slapped on a triangle choke and scored the finish at 4:51 of the third round. The 23-year-old Pettis is now in line for a title shot against WEC champ Ben Henderson."My confidence is as high as it’s ever been," said Pettis. "I’m ready for the champ. Where’s he at? Ben, where you at? WEC needs a new face, it’s me baby!" Update: The WEC announce Pettis got the $10,000 submission of the night bonus. Pettis (11-1, 4-1 WEC) set up the victory with some excellent grappling work. He avoided Roller’s nasty takedowns and even when he was dumped to the mat, Pettis quickly got back to his feet or put his opponent in potential submission predicaments. Even more shocking was Pettis’ ability to takedown Roller, a three-time All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State. Pettis was 3-for-3 on takedown attempts while Roller was just 2-of-6. According to Compustrike, Pettis dominated the striking outlanding Roller 63-27. "Taking down Shane Roller was pretty good," said Pettis. "He’s a tough guy. I never got hit in the face that many times. Big ups to Shane." Roller, who suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose in the final 90 seconds, said he never got into a groove. "I was a little frustrated. It was one of those nights where it wasn’t clicking," said Roller (8-3, 5-2 WEC). "I felt sluggish all three rounds. I didn’t feel strong in here for some reason." In the lead up to the fight, Pettis had drilled his wrestling heavily. He had worked on his takedown defense with former Olympian and two-time NCAA wrestling champ Ben Askren. Early on, it was clear Pettis’ prep work was paying dividends. He thwarted two takedown attempts in the first two minutes. On the feet, he was much faster and more creative. He landed the best blow of the fight with a crazy, looping head kick that landed on the back of Roller’s head (pictured). From the start of the second round, Roller didn’t seem right. He was backing up and allowing Pettis to control the cage. That’s when Pettis scored a takedown, controlled Roller on the ground for a little over two minutes and landed some good body shots. But Roller wasn’t out of the fight as he landed a crushing left hook that stunned Pettis. He just didn’t have the additional burst to pour it on. Roller did score a takedown early in the third but he could never settle into Pettis’ guard long enough to smash him with anything significant and several times he almost got caught in positions where a triangle could’ve been slapped on. It was a sign of things to come as Pettis finally got him with nine seconds left in the fight.

MarkKenney
MattHoffman
MikeJones
MikeValley
NateAdams

It’s been a good week in skateboarding, topped off with the release of Dylan Rieder’s video part. Boosh and I headed over to Gravis’s dylan. premiere to get the inside story. Video Coverage Here.

BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska
ChrisKlug

by Michael David SmithTrevor Sherman is the Bizarro James Toney.

Toney, the former world champion boxer making his mixed martial arts debut Saturday at UFC 118, is being trained in MMA by Sherman, and the two couldn’t come across any more differently in interviews. Where Toney is brash and cocky, Sherman is modest. Where Toney expresses nothing but contempt for his opponent, Randy Couture, Sherman shows nothing but respect, even reverence. Where Toney blabbers on at a mile-a-minute pace to the point where it’s hard to understand half of what he says, Sherman is articulate and measured in his comments.

In fact, Sherman and Toney seem to have only one thing in common: They both believe Toney will knock Couture out on Saturday night. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney
MattHoffman
MikeJones
MikeValley

by Michael David SmithIn a classic battle for the Sengoku middleweight title, Jorge Santiago and Kazuo Misaki went toe-to-toe for 24 and a half minutes Sunday in Tokyo before Misaki’s corner threw in the towel with just 30 seconds left in the fight, handing Santiago a victory in a bout he was on the verge of losing by decision.

“I proved to everybody here what a champ is made of,” Santiago said afterward. “This is the way a champion fights. This is the way I always want to fight.” Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting

by Michael David SmithFormer WWE star Bobby Lashley lost as a mixed martial artist for the first time Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, as a little-known opponent named Chad Griggs gave Lashley a tough fight and forced Lashley to quit after the second round.

It was a major upset and a major disappointment for Strikeforce, which hoped to establish Lashley as a star in its heavyweight division. Lashley has been exposed as a big, tough-looking guy who can talk a good game but isn’t much of an MMA fighter. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing

Daniel Cormier is taking the right path to becoming an elite heavyweight. He’s working out of a high-level MMA gym and staying as active as possible. He just won the King of the Cage heavyweight title last weekend and made quick of work of Jason Riley tonight in the final fight on the non-televised undercard at Strikeforce: Houston. In the opening seconds, Cormier (5-0) charged Riley looking for a single-leg takedown. He didn’t get it but his aggressiveness put Riley on the defensive. When the fighters stood apart for a few seconds, Cormier leapt into an overhand right and hurt Riley badly. Riley hit the deck and that’s where Cormier turned on the jets. He pounded away with a half-dozen left hands. Riley covered up and took the abuse for a few more seconds before tapping due to strikes at 1:02 of the first. Cormier, an Olympic level wrestler out of Oklahoma State, is a little short for the division at 5-foot-11 and 249 pounds but he manhandled the much bigger Riley. His work with guys like UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose is paying off. His conditioning looks better and his hands are improving with each fight. His next fight is scheduled against Soa Palelei in Australia. Odds are he’ll take a few more fights between now and Nov. 21. Riley has dropped 3-of-4 fights including losses to Tim Sylvia and Devin Cole. Jorge Patino took his fight against Andre Galvao on short notice and did all he could to steal the fight in the first round. Galvao weathered the storm and was able to wear down the fill-in. Galvao scored a takedown early in the third and wailed away with shots to Patino, who couldn’t improve position. After dozens of elbows and punches to Patino, who was just covering up, Galvao got the stoppage at the 2:45 mark of the third round. Patino did a great job in the opening round attempting several punch-kick combos. The 37-year-old would charge Galvao, fire off a left and a right followed by a head kick. He shocked Galvao by landing a huge left with 1:40 left in the round. Galvao scrambled and was hurt badly when he got drilled by another left on his knees. Patino poured it on but just couldn’t get the finish. The effort probably sapped Patino a bit for the rest of the fight. Galvao was able to score takedowns throughout the second to take back control of the fight.The 27-year-old Galvao (5-1) is a highly decorated world champion in jiu-jitsu. His ground control was impressive and so was the toughness he exhibited in withstanding a dangerous situation in the first.

Riversurfing
Surfing
Flowboarding
Skysurfing
Skateboarding

Scott Gall gets rad for his Gorf Life welcome video. Via: WiSkate.

Motorsports
Motocross
Snocross
Rallying
Drifting

by Michael David SmithIn a classic battle for the Sengoku middleweight title, Jorge Santiago and Kazuo Misaki went toe-to-toe for 24 and a half minutes Sunday in Tokyo before Misaki’s corner threw in the towel with just 30 seconds left in the fight, handing Santiago a victory in a bout he was on the verge of losing by decision.

“I proved to everybody here what a champ is made of,” Santiago said afterward. “This is the way a champion fights. This is the way I always want to fight.” Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood
DanPastor

by Michael David SmithDemian Maia returned to the Octagon for the first time since being humiliated by Anderson Silva in April, defeating Mario Miranda by unanimous decision at UFC 118.

It wasn’t a pretty fight, but it was a fight that Maia won handily, winning all three rounds on all three judges’ cards.

Early in the fight Maia took Miranda to the ground and proceeded to methodically advance his position and get Miranda’s back. Maia is one of the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world, and it seemed just a matter of time before Maia would win by submission. But Miranda did a nice job of wriggling free and standing back up after a couple minutes of Maia controlling him. The rest of the round was fought standing up without either fighter doing much damage, but Maia clearly won the round because he controlled the action on the ground.

Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing
Surfing
Flowboarding

He may get mocked on for being "The Decisionator" but no one can deny the fact that Dominick Cruz is a tough riddle to solve. Joe Benavidez got a second chance, this time with the WEC’s bantamweight title on the line, and just fell short of avenging his loss from their first meeting. He crushed Cruz’s nose and opened a cut over his left eye but the champion was able to take a split decision, 49-46, 48-47 and 47-48, to retain his belt in the main event at WEC 50 in Las Vegas. "Joseph Benavidez is a great competitor," Cruz told the WEC’s Craig Hummer. "He didn’t fall into the trash talk. He was a very honorable fighter."Cruz, who won his seventh straight fight (five by decision), was booed by many of the fans in attendance. When asked where he stands in the world rankings, the 25-year-old was undaunted and said he absolutely belongs near the top."I rank amongst the best in the world," said Cruz (15-1, 6-1 WEC). "There’s not a doubt
in my mind." The kid’s got a chip on his shoulder and it works to motivate him. Scott Jorgensen, who beat Brad Pickett earlier in the night, is likely to get the next bantamweight title shot against Cruz.Adalaide Byrd was the judge who scored the fight four rounds to one for Cruz. Lester Griffin gave the first three rounds to Cruz while Doc Hamilton gave Cruz the final three to Benavidez. Cagewriter had it 3-2 for Benavidez. From the start of the fight, Cruz employed his trademark dancing and darting style. Benavidez seemed to have it solved in the first two rounds by using a southpaw stance. He landed some solid kicks on Cruz’s lead leg and also used a counter right hook when Cruz attempted kicks. That said, the judges all liked what Cruz did early."I
just concentrated on staying hard to hit," said Cruz. "I don’t look too bad, I suppose" In the middle of the fourth, while in the clinch, Cruz actually suffered a broken nose on a big Benavidez knee. It opened up a cut on the bridge of his nose which spurted blood for the next two minutes. Update: Cruz’s trainer Eric Del Fierro said Cruz did NOT suffer a broken nose. Update II: FightMetric backed up the two judges who chose Cruz. The service says Cruz outlanded Benavidez 103-58 and also won the takedown battle 5-0. Update III: A reminder that fight stats are tabulated by humans and can also be subjective, Compustrike numbers back up the fact that this was a very close fight. Total Strikes: Cruz 86-of-233, Benavidez 69-of-235. Interesting to note, Benavidez landed just 4-of-5 strikes in the fourth and was taken down twice, but won the round on 2-of-3 cards. Things slowed down in the fifth round. Both fighters went for broke but missed on most of their strikes. Benavidez (12-2, 4-2 WEC) landed enough shots to take the round.

Rallying
Drifting
Supercross
Motorcyclerally
Watersports

What happened to all the hard work? We heard James Toney had gotten himself into shape. You can crow about being in the best condition of your life but the scale doesn’t lie. Toney stepped on stage Friday at the UFC 118 weigh-in and checked in at a ridiculous 237 pounds. That matches his heaviest weight ever as a boxer. It’s 20 pounds heavier than his last boxing match just 11 months ago against Matthew Greer. Keep in mind, Toney spent most of his boxing career between 160-175 pounds. At barely 6-feet tall, 237 pounds is a lot to carry. Toney takes on the UFC legend Randy Couture on Saturday night and needs to be light on his feet, try to avoid Couture’s takedowns and take advantage of the speed in his hands. Toney didn’t help his cause by showing up at a blubbery 237. And with all the smack-talking Toney has done lately, this certainly doesn’t look good for the 42-year-old boxer. Also not looking good was Toney as he removed his pants (pictured to the right). He gave the crowd at the TD Garden a little extra show when part of his rear end was exposed. The MMA fans in attendance let loose a hearty laugh. Many experts already weren’t giving Toney a chance, anyway. Couture has been installed a minus-800 favorite to win the fight. Even
UFC president Dana White admits that he’s out to make an example of
Toney, who’s been talking trash about mixed martial artists and White for years."What people don’t realize is that this started back in 2002," White told the Opie and Anthony Show on XM. "When we first bought the company, when Tito Ortiz was the big name in the UFC at that time. (Toney) came out and started talking all sorts of smack about the UFC and Tito. He wanted to fight one of these guys back then." Toney turned up the heat at the end of 2009 when he stalked White before UFC 107. Less than a month later, he crashed the postfight press conference at UFC 108 in Las Vegas. Toney holds a boxing record of 72-6-3, but will step into the Octagon for the first time. Couture enters the fight with 28 professional MMA fights. He was also an Olympic-level wrestler throughout his 20’s. Toney just began working on his wrestling and other elements of MMA at the start of 2010. All 20 fighters made weight without any issues. UFC 118 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Junkie)Pay-per-view card Frankie Edgar (154) vs. B.J. Penn (154) — for lightweight titleRandy Couture (220) vs. James Toney (237)Kenny Florian (156) vs. Gray Maynard (156)Marcus Davis (170) vs. Nate Diaz (171)Demian Maia (184) vs. Mario Miranda (185) Spike cardJoe Lauzon (156) vs. Gabe Ruediger (155)Nik Lentz (155) vs. Andre Winner (154)Non-televised card Dan Miller (185) vs. John Salter (185)Nick Osipczak (171) vs. Greg Soto (170)Amilcar Alves (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)

Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting

by Michael David SmithIn a dramatic about-face, Fedor Emelianenko released a statement Wednesday saying he wants his next fight to come this year against Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.

“This is an important match for me and something that I personally want to happen,” Fedor said in a statement released by his promotion, M-1 Global. “There have been conversations about putting this match-up together in the past and now is the time to begin making this bout possible.” Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting

Former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley was handed his first MMA defeat on Saturday to kick off the Strikeforce: Houston card. Chad Griggs won by TKO at 5:00 in the second round. Lashley took Griggs down and worked good, old-fashioned ground and pound from the beginning of the first round, and controlled Griggs for much of the round. On one of the Lashley takedown attempts, Griggs landed an uppercut that opened a large cut underneath Lashley’s left eye.Lashley didn’t let the gusher of a cut bother him early in the second round as moved into full mount, raining down blows on Griggs. He continued in this position for much of the round, pushing and dominating Griggs until referee Jon Schorle stood the two up, which was an odd decision. As Lashley’s eye bled, referee Jon Schorle brought in the doctor to look at Lashley’s eye. The doctor let the fight continue with less than a minute left in the round.As Lashley shot in for a takedown, Griggs delivered another powerful uppercut, directly to Lashley’s cut. Griggs followed that up with punch after punch until the bell rang. At that point, Griggs headed back to his corner, but a beaten, dazed and bloody Lashley had trouble getting to his feet. The referee stopped the fight, calling the TKO for Griggs. Up until this fight, Lashley had five wins. Only one of those bouts, a decision over Jason Guida, made it past the first round. This time, the cut and the pace of the fight was too much. Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani reported that Lashley was taken from the Toyota Center in a stretcher.

DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
DannyHarf
DannyWay

When I moved into my new home, I spent a little time on reconnaissance for somewhere to train for climbing.
I initially thought a fingerboard would be the way to go. However, all the doorways were flimsy stud walls and not sturdy enough.
An alternative jumped out – Rock Rings by Metolius. If only I could find [...]

BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska
ChrisKlug

I’m pleased to claim this blog officially on Technorati so that more people will read it
This link to my Technorati Profile is all it takes.

ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray
SheaLopez
StacyPeralta

Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out – I’ve decided to do it later this year…

Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr
I’m [...]

DanielWatkins
DannyHarf
DannyWay
DarrenShapiro
DaveMirra

When I moved into my new home, I spent a little time on reconnaissance for somewhere to train for climbing.
I initially thought a fingerboard would be the way to go. However, all the doorways were flimsy stud walls and not sturdy enough.
An alternative jumped out – Rock Rings by Metolius. If only I could find [...]

RyanSheckler
ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray
SheaLopez

I dig the pole cam filming in the intro to Gabreil Zuffery’s welcome video from Safari.

ChrisKlug
ChrisSenn
ChrisWard
ChristianHosoi
CJHobgood

DannyWay
DarrenShapiro
DaveMirra
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy

Check out exclusive pictures from WEC 50 from MMA photographer Tracy Lee. From Dominick Cruz’s smiling, bloody face to Anthony Pettis’ last-minute submission, you won’t want to miss these.

Freediving
Scubadiving
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing

by Michael David SmithAnthony Pettis put on the best performance of his promising MMA career Wednesday night at WEC 50, dominating Roller for more than 14 minutes before finally getting him to tap out with just nine seconds remaining in the third round, earning a submission win and likely a World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight title shot.

Early in the fight the 23-year-old Pettis showed serious improvement in his takedown defense, keeping the fight standing against a good wrestler in Roller. He also showed off some creative striking, employing a variety of kicks that had Roller frustrated. As the fight wore on Pettis also showed a more sophisticated ground game than he had in the past, and the way he finished the fight was a thing of beauty, escaping from a guillotine choke and then catching Roller in the triangle that made Roller tap at the 4:51 mark of the third.

TommyClowers
TommyGuerrero
TonyAlva
TonyHawk
TrevorHanson

Daniel Cormier is taking the right path to becoming an elite heavyweight. He’s working out of a high-level MMA gym and staying as active as possible. He just won the King of the Cage heavyweight title last weekend and made quick of work of Jason Riley tonight in the final fight on the non-televised undercard at Strikeforce: Houston. In the opening seconds, Cormier (5-0) charged Riley looking for a single-leg takedown. He didn’t get it but his aggressiveness put Riley on the defensive. When the fighters stood apart for a few seconds, Cormier leapt into an overhand right and hurt Riley badly. Riley hit the deck and that’s where Cormier turned on the jets. He pounded away with a half-dozen left hands. Riley covered up and took the abuse for a few more seconds before tapping due to strikes at 1:02 of the first. Cormier, an Olympic level wrestler out of Oklahoma State, is a little short for the division at 5-foot-11 and 249 pounds but he manhandled the much bigger Riley. His work with guys like UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose is paying off. His conditioning looks better and his hands are improving with each fight. His next fight is scheduled against Soa Palelei in Australia. Odds are he’ll take a few more fights between now and Nov. 21. Riley has dropped 3-of-4 fights including losses to Tim Sylvia and Devin Cole. Jorge Patino took his fight against Andre Galvao on short notice and did all he could to steal the fight in the first round. Galvao weathered the storm and was able to wear down the fill-in. Galvao scored a takedown early in the third and wailed away with shots to Patino, who couldn’t improve position. After dozens of elbows and punches to Patino, who was just covering up, Galvao got the stoppage at the 2:45 mark of the third round. Patino did a great job in the opening round attempting several punch-kick combos. The 37-year-old would charge Galvao, fire off a left and a right followed by a head kick. He shocked Galvao by landing a huge left with 1:40 left in the round. Galvao scrambled and was hurt badly when he got drilled by another left on his knees. Patino poured it on but just couldn’t get the finish. The effort probably sapped Patino a bit for the rest of the fight. Galvao was able to score takedowns throughout the second to take back control of the fight.The 27-year-old Galvao (5-1) is a highly decorated world champion in jiu-jitsu. His ground control was impressive and so was the toughness he exhibited in withstanding a dangerous situation in the first.

Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers
RyanSheckler

What happened to all the hard work? We heard James Toney had gotten himself into shape. You can crow about being in the best condition of your life but the scale doesn’t lie. Toney stepped on stage Friday at the UFC 118 weigh-in and checked in at a ridiculous 237 pounds. That matches his heaviest weight ever as a boxer. It’s 20 pounds heavier than his last boxing match just 11 months ago against Matthew Greer. Keep in mind, Toney spent most of his boxing career between 160-175 pounds. At barely 6-feet tall, 237 pounds is a lot to carry. Toney takes on the UFC legend Randy Couture on Saturday night and needs to be light on his feet, try to avoid Couture’s takedowns and take advantage of the speed in his hands. Toney didn’t help his cause by showing up at a blubbery 237. And with all the smack-talking Toney has done lately, this certainly doesn’t look good for the 42-year-old boxer. Also not looking good was Toney as he removed his pants (pictured to the right). He gave the crowd at the TD Garden a little extra show when part of his rear end was exposed. The MMA fans in attendance let loose a hearty laugh. Many experts already weren’t giving Toney a chance, anyway. Couture has been installed a minus-800 favorite to win the fight. Even
UFC president Dana White admits that he’s out to make an example of
Toney, who’s been talking trash about mixed martial artists and White for years."What people don’t realize is that this started back in 2002," White told the Opie and Anthony Show on XM. "When we first bought the company, when Tito Ortiz was the big name in the UFC at that time. (Toney) came out and started talking all sorts of smack about the UFC and Tito. He wanted to fight one of these guys back then." Toney turned up the heat at the end of 2009 when he stalked White before UFC 107. Less than a month later, he crashed the postfight press conference at UFC 108 in Las Vegas. Toney holds a boxing record of 72-6-3, but will step into the Octagon for the first time. Couture enters the fight with 28 professional MMA fights. He was also an Olympic-level wrestler throughout his 20’s. Toney just began working on his wrestling and other elements of MMA at the start of 2010. All 20 fighters made weight without any issues. UFC 118 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Junkie)Pay-per-view card Frankie Edgar (154) vs. B.J. Penn (154) — for lightweight titleRandy Couture (220) vs. James Toney (237)Kenny Florian (156) vs. Gray Maynard (156)Marcus Davis (170) vs. Nate Diaz (171)Demian Maia (184) vs. Mario Miranda (185) Spike cardJoe Lauzon (156) vs. Gabe Ruediger (155)Nik Lentz (155) vs. Andre Winner (154)Non-televised card Dan Miller (185) vs. John Salter (185)Nick Osipczak (171) vs. Greg Soto (170)Amilcar Alves (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)

DannyHarf
DannyWay
DarrenShapiro
DaveMirra
DeanRandazzo

I stopped by Northside today and it looks like they haven’t done much with the park accept put a fence and guard house up and sweep away the gravel. The bank to bank gap still isn’t finished so I wonder if there is some drama going on with the park. I’ve been told the park will open in September, but that could mean the first or last day of September.

Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports

It wasn’t a great night for Bobby Lashley. Once again, he looked one-dimensional in his fight against Chad Griggs. He suffered a nasty cut under his left eye that didn’t exactly motivate him to fight harder. Lashley also gassed out midway into second round. Worst of all, he his first loss in MMA was to a guy no one thought had a chance. After that performance, it will be pretty tough to sell Lashley in a fight against a big name opponent. It even sounded like Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was going to need some convincing. "We’ll be talking to Bobby later. You know he’s going to have to do some soul searching and really decide what he wants to do," said Coker. "But if he decides to fight, we’ll have him back." The MMA blogosphere reacted strongly to that statement. Was it an overreaction by the MMA pundits? We’re not sure. It was a bold statement by Coker about a guy who had just lost his first fight. Lashley, 34, is still a good prospect but clearly has things he needs to work on. That certainly doesn’t mean his career is without a future. Especially if we find out that he was dealing with some kind of serious ailment going into or during the fight. Coker explained his stance on WJFK’s MMA Nation radio show (5:25 mark)."Mixed martial arts is sport where sometimes you’re going to get hit, you’re going to get hurt. It’s not like pro wrestling," said Coker. " As he’s working his way up he’s going to come to a point where he says ‘is this something I want to do?’ You’re working your way up and now you get a real clear picture of what mixed martial arts is and do you want to work through it and continue, or do you want to do something else?" Coker may have questions about Lashley’s dedication but he knows one thing, the Lashley hype machine needs to slow down. "The thing that’s not fair for Bobby is he has all these high
expectations from all these people," Coker told host Luke Thomas. "People think he should be right in
there with Fedor. I mean come on, let’s be real, he’s not at that level
right now." The PW Torch reported on what forced Lashley to the hospital after the fight.Lashley was said to be "extremely dehydrated" after his fight against Chad
Griggs on the "Showtime: Houston" fight card. At the hospital, Lashley was
treated with multiple IV bags to pump fluids back into his system.Coker said he still believes Lashley would continue his MMA career but was non-committal on a fight against fellow pro wrestler Dave Batista. Coker said on MMA Nation that Lashley had already reached out to Strikeforce and wants to fight immediately.

Stunt
PogoPowerbocking
Paintball
Jibbing
Parkour

Former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley was handed his first MMA defeat on Saturday to kick off the Strikeforce: Houston card. Chad Griggs won by TKO at 5:00 in the second round. Lashley took Griggs down and worked good, old-fashioned ground and pound from the beginning of the first round, and controlled Griggs for much of the round. On one of the Lashley takedown attempts, Griggs landed an uppercut that opened a large cut underneath Lashley’s left eye.Lashley didn’t let the gusher of a cut bother him early in the second round as moved into full mount, raining down blows on Griggs. He continued in this position for much of the round, pushing and dominating Griggs until referee Jon Schorle stood the two up, which was an odd decision. As Lashley’s eye bled, referee Jon Schorle brought in the doctor to look at Lashley’s eye. The doctor let the fight continue with less than a minute left in the round.As Lashley shot in for a takedown, Griggs delivered another powerful uppercut, directly to Lashley’s cut. Griggs followed that up with punch after punch until the bell rang. At that point, Griggs headed back to his corner, but a beaten, dazed and bloody Lashley had trouble getting to his feet. The referee stopped the fight, calling the TKO for Griggs. Up until this fight, Lashley had five wins. Only one of those bouts, a decision over Jason Guida, made it past the first round. This time, the cut and the pace of the fight was too much. Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani reported that Lashley was taken from the Toyota Center in a stretcher.

KennyBartram
LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski

The title kind of says it all, Chris Roberts is on SUPERbrand Apparel. Click through for the full press release.

Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping
Flying
Paragliding

Bellator’s third season chugged along, making a stop in Kansas City on Thursday night for women’s, bantamweight and heavyweight tournament bouts. Lisa Ward earned a spot in the semifinals of Bellator’s women tournament with unanimous decision over Aisling Daly. She won all three round on all three judges cards. Ward took Daly down early in the first round, and controlled the fight throughout the round. Ward used her positioning to rain down punches at every opportunity. This pattern continued throughout the rest of the fight, with Ward using her wrestling skills to control Daly’s every move. With that win, Ward joins Megumi Fujii, Zoila Frausto and Jessica Aguilar in the semifinals of the Bellator tournament. Vega takes out Tims Jose Vega moved on in the Bellator bantameight tournament with a unanimous decision win over Danny Tims, with the judges seeing it 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 for Vega. Their fight featured non-stop action. Tims knocked Vega down early in the first round, but couldn’t keep Vega down. Vega reversed position, and controlled and inflicted damage on Tims. Any time Tims looked like he could gain an advantage, Vega would use his wrestling to take it away.Vega is the first fighter to make the Bellator bantamweight semifinals. Oleinik survives bloody battle Alexey Oleinik took the final spot in the heavyweight tournament with a split decision win over Mike Hayes. Oleinik took the bloody decision 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.Oleinik spent much of the fight on his back, but controlled Hayes’ wrists and caused damage from the bottom. However, he wasn’t able to finish off Hayes. This task became more difficult after Hayes sustained a cut on his eyelid in the third round. Oleinik will likely face Neil Grove in the semifinals, while Cole Konrad will fight Damian Grabowski.In a non-tournament bout, Steve Carl somehow lasted a through a tight Tyler Stinson triangle choke to win by a technical submission. After getting out of triangle, Carl sunk in a guillotine that choke Stinson unconscious at 2:30 of the first round. This bout was non-tournament, but Carl likely earned himself a spot in Bellator’s next welterweight tournament with the win.

AndyMacDonald
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist

Chad Mendes was a Division I NCAA finalist in wrestling, and he showed off those skills in his bout with Cub Swanson. Mendes won the decision, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. In the first round, Mendes utilized his wrestling background, landing an early punch before taking Swanson down. Referee Josh Rosenthal wasn’t satisfied with Mendes’ progress, so he stood the fighters up. Swanson nailed Mendes with a kick, and Mendes took him down again. Before the round ended, Mendes took Swanson down one more time after Swanson tried an unsuccessful flying knee. The second and third rounds followed the same script, with Mendes avoiding Swanson’s increasing flurry of kicks with takedowns. Swanson seemed more comfortable in the second round, doing a better job of getting out from underneath Mendes. However, any time Swanson was able to build a rhythm on his feet, Mendes took him back to the ground. "I’m a wrestler, and feel most comfortable on the ground," Mendes said after the fight. "I’m still working on my standup." Mendes, who trains with Urijah Faber’s Alpha Male team in Sacramento, notched his eighth win since starting MMA. His wrestling is impressive, but Mendes will need to grow more in his standup games as he moves up the WEC featherweight ladder.

Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
Motocross
Snocross

by Michael David SmithMuhammed “King Mo” Lawal was upset by Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, as a tough, back-and-forth fight ended with Feijao landing elbow after elbow to Lawal’s head in the clinch until Lawal couldn’t fight any longer.

Feijao said afterward that he prepared for this fight like never before. It showed.

“This is not about me,” Feijao said. “This is about my coaches, my team — Team Nogueira — my partners and trainers. This is about them. I train every day. Somebody asked me before, what will keep you in this fight? Training, training, training. … This is my dream.” The live blog is below.

More Coverage: King Mo vs. Rafael Feijao Live Blog | Strikeforce: Houston Results

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers
RyanSheckler
ScottBirley

by Michael David SmithSeven months after making his mixed martial arts debut, former NFL star Herschel Walker says he hasn’t lost any of his enthusiasm for MMA and will be back in the cage fighting for Strikeforce this year.

“I have a little one, so my number one focus is my child, but after that my focus is on fighting,” Walker told MMAFighting.com. “I’m training at AKA with some of the best trainers and some of the best fighters and as I get closer I’m trusting them to make the decision to tell me when I’m ready for my next fight. This is a very serious, very tough sport and I want them to tell me when they think I’m ready.” Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Rallying
Drifting
Supercross
Motorcyclerally
Watersports

by Michael David SmithMuhammed “King Mo” Lawal was upset by Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, as a tough, back-and-forth fight ended with Feijao landing elbow after elbow to Lawal’s head in the clinch until Lawal couldn’t fight any longer.

Feijao said afterward that he prepared for this fight like never before. It showed.

“This is not about me,” Feijao said. “This is about my coaches, my team — Team Nogueira — my partners and trainers. This is about them. I train every day. Somebody asked me before, what will keep you in this fight? Training, training, training. … This is my dream.” The live blog is below.

More Coverage: King Mo vs. Rafael Feijao Live Blog | Strikeforce: Houston Results

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Motorcyclerally
Watersports
Rafting
Whitewater
kayaking

He may get mocked on for being "The Decisionator" but no one can deny the fact that Dominick Cruz is a tough riddle to solve. Joe Benavidez got a second chance, this time with the WEC’s bantamweight title on the line, and just fell short of avenging his loss from their first meeting. He crushed Cruz’s nose and opened a cut over his left eye but the champion was able to take a split decision, 49-46, 48-47 and 47-48, to retain his belt in the main event at WEC 50 in Las Vegas. "Joseph Benavidez is a great competitor," Cruz told the WEC’s Craig Hummer. "He didn’t fall into the trash talk. He was a very honorable fighter."Cruz, who won his seventh straight fight (five by decision), was booed by many of the fans in attendance. When asked where he stands in the world rankings, the 25-year-old was undaunted and said he absolutely belongs near the top."I rank amongst the best in the world," said Cruz (15-1, 6-1 WEC). "There’s not a doubt
in my mind." The kid’s got a chip on his shoulder and it works to motivate him. Scott Jorgensen, who beat Brad Pickett earlier in the night, is likely to get the next bantamweight title shot against Cruz.Adalaide Byrd was the judge who scored the fight four rounds to one for Cruz. Lester Griffin gave the first three rounds to Cruz while Doc Hamilton gave Cruz the final three to Benavidez. Cagewriter had it 3-2 for Benavidez. From the start of the fight, Cruz employed his trademark dancing and darting style. Benavidez seemed to have it solved in the first two rounds by using a southpaw stance. He landed some solid kicks on Cruz’s lead leg and also used a counter right hook when Cruz attempted kicks. That said, the judges all liked what Cruz did early."I
just concentrated on staying hard to hit," said Cruz. "I don’t look too bad, I suppose" In the middle of the fourth, while in the clinch, Cruz actually suffered a broken nose on a big Benavidez knee. It opened up a cut on the bridge of his nose which spurted blood for the next two minutes. Update: Cruz’s trainer Eric Del Fierro said Cruz did NOT suffer a broken nose. Update II: FightMetric backed up the two judges who chose Cruz. The service says Cruz outlanded Benavidez 103-58 and also won the takedown battle 5-0. Update III: A reminder that fight stats are tabulated by humans and can also be subjective, Compustrike numbers back up the fact that this was a very close fight. Total Strikes: Cruz 86-of-233, Benavidez 69-of-235. Interesting to note, Benavidez landed just 4-of-5 strikes in the fourth and was taken down twice, but won the round on 2-of-3 cards. Things slowed down in the fifth round. Both fighters went for broke but missed on most of their strikes. Benavidez (12-2, 4-2 WEC) landed enough shots to take the round.

MikeJones
MikeValley
NateAdams
ParksBonifay
PeterMel

If the WEC was undecided about giving a title shot to the winner of the Anthony Pettis-Shane Roller fight, the promotion had to be sold after watching the thriller that unfolded tonight in Las Vegas. The lightweights engaged in a great back and forth battle that moved all over the cage. Roller had his moments but was down 2-0 and likely losing the third, when he went for broke in the final seconds. Pettis capitalized on Roller’s aggression, slapped on a triangle choke and scored the finish at 4:51 of the third round. The 23-year-old Pettis is now in line for a title shot against WEC champ Ben Henderson."My confidence is as high as it’s ever been," said Pettis. "I’m ready for the champ. Where’s he at? Ben, where you at? WEC needs a new face, it’s me baby!" Update: The WEC announce Pettis got the $10,000 submission of the night bonus. Pettis (11-1, 4-1 WEC) set up the victory with some excellent grappling work. He avoided Roller’s nasty takedowns and even when he was dumped to the mat, Pettis quickly got back to his feet or put his opponent in potential submission predicaments. Even more shocking was Pettis’ ability to takedown Roller, a three-time All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State. Pettis was 3-for-3 on takedown attempts while Roller was just 2-of-6. According to Compustrike, Pettis dominated the striking outlanding Roller 63-27. "Taking down Shane Roller was pretty good," said Pettis. "He’s a tough guy. I never got hit in the face that many times. Big ups to Shane." Roller, who suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose in the final 90 seconds, said he never got into a groove. "I was a little frustrated. It was one of those nights where it wasn’t clicking," said Roller (8-3, 5-2 WEC). "I felt sluggish all three rounds. I didn’t feel strong in here for some reason." In the lead up to the fight, Pettis had drilled his wrestling heavily. He had worked on his takedown defense with former Olympian and two-time NCAA wrestling champ Ben Askren. Early on, it was clear Pettis’ prep work was paying dividends. He thwarted two takedown attempts in the first two minutes. On the feet, he was much faster and more creative. He landed the best blow of the fight with a crazy, looping head kick that landed on the back of Roller’s head (pictured). From the start of the second round, Roller didn’t seem right. He was backing up and allowing Pettis to control the cage. That’s when Pettis scored a takedown, controlled Roller on the ground for a little over two minutes and landed some good body shots. But Roller wasn’t out of the fight as he landed a crushing left hook that stunned Pettis. He just didn’t have the additional burst to pour it on. Roller did score a takedown early in the third but he could never settle into Pettis’ guard long enough to smash him with anything significant and several times he almost got caught in positions where a triangle could’ve been slapped on. It was a sign of things to come as Pettis finally got him with nine seconds left in the fight.

PogoPowerbocking
Paintball
Jibbing
Parkour
AndreReynolds

Plenty of gnarly stuff going on in the new Denver Shop trailer.

BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska

by Michael David SmithThe good news for Chad Mendes is that he beat Cub Swanson by unanimous decision at WEC 50, running his professional MMA record to 8-0.

The bad news is that although Mendes completely controlled the fight with his wrestling, he doesn’t look like he’s developing much as a fighter.
More Coverage: WEC 50 Results | WEC 50 Fighter Salaries | Latest WEC News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
Motocross
Snocross
Rallying

There are a few good parks in between San Diego and Seattle. Maybe some other spots too. This week’s Fresh Crops is brought to you by Oceanside’s Brooks Fritz. Featuring Scotty Keller, Ryan Williams, Ryan Harris, Peter Gunn, Jamie Weller, Davey Rockit, Brad Herrera, Al Qaeda Chris, and Chucky Jones.

Atlanta Hates Us has a nice black & white montage from the much cooler month of March.

FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
JasonMurphy

Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing?
Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie – and there’s a new addition!
Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras.
This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]

SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow

by Michael David SmithCHICAGO — Stepping back into the cage for the first time since losing in last season’s Bellator welterweight tournament final, Dan Hornbuckle put on a good show and beat Brad Blackburn by unanimous decision at Bellator 25.

The fight started explosively, with Hornbuckle slamming Blackburn to the ground, Blackburn attempting to submit Hornbuckle with a guillotine choke, Hornbuckle slipping out and getting back up, and then Blackburn leveling Hornbuckle with a hard punch. That set the tone for a good back-and-forth battle, one that contained 15 minutes of action and not a minute of boredom. As he usually does, Hornbuckle (who improved to 22-3) delivered both a win and an exciting fight. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston
ErikRuck
ErinJackson

Chad Mendes was a Division I NCAA finalist in wrestling, and he showed off those skills in his bout with Cub Swanson. Mendes won the decision, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. In the first round, Mendes utilized his wrestling background, landing an early punch before taking Swanson down. Referee Josh Rosenthal wasn’t satisfied with Mendes’ progress, so he stood the fighters up. Swanson nailed Mendes with a kick, and Mendes took him down again. Before the round ended, Mendes took Swanson down one more time after Swanson tried an unsuccessful flying knee. The second and third rounds followed the same script, with Mendes avoiding Swanson’s increasing flurry of kicks with takedowns. Swanson seemed more comfortable in the second round, doing a better job of getting out from underneath Mendes. However, any time Swanson was able to build a rhythm on his feet, Mendes took him back to the ground. "I’m a wrestler, and feel most comfortable on the ground," Mendes said after the fight. "I’m still working on my standup." Mendes, who trains with Urijah Faber’s Alpha Male team in Sacramento, notched his eighth win since starting MMA. His wrestling is impressive, but Mendes will need to grow more in his standup games as he moves up the WEC featherweight ladder.

MikeValley
NateAdams
ParksBonifay
PeterMel
PeterMendia

Daniel Cormier is taking the right path to becoming an elite heavyweight. He’s working out of a high-level MMA gym and staying as active as possible. He just won the King of the Cage heavyweight title last weekend and made quick of work of Jason Riley tonight in the final fight on the non-televised undercard at Strikeforce: Houston. In the opening seconds, Cormier (5-0) charged Riley looking for a single-leg takedown. He didn’t get it but his aggressiveness put Riley on the defensive. When the fighters stood apart for a few seconds, Cormier leapt into an overhand right and hurt Riley badly. Riley hit the deck and that’s where Cormier turned on the jets. He pounded away with a half-dozen left hands. Riley covered up and took the abuse for a few more seconds before tapping due to strikes at 1:02 of the first. Cormier, an Olympic level wrestler out of Oklahoma State, is a little short for the division at 5-foot-11 and 249 pounds but he manhandled the much bigger Riley. His work with guys like UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose is paying off. His conditioning looks better and his hands are improving with each fight. His next fight is scheduled against Soa Palelei in Australia. Odds are he’ll take a few more fights between now and Nov. 21. Riley has dropped 3-of-4 fights including losses to Tim Sylvia and Devin Cole. Jorge Patino took his fight against Andre Galvao on short notice and did all he could to steal the fight in the first round. Galvao weathered the storm and was able to wear down the fill-in. Galvao scored a takedown early in the third and wailed away with shots to Patino, who couldn’t improve position. After dozens of elbows and punches to Patino, who was just covering up, Galvao got the stoppage at the 2:45 mark of the third round. Patino did a great job in the opening round attempting several punch-kick combos. The 37-year-old would charge Galvao, fire off a left and a right followed by a head kick. He shocked Galvao by landing a huge left with 1:40 left in the round. Galvao scrambled and was hurt badly when he got drilled by another left on his knees. Patino poured it on but just couldn’t get the finish. The effort probably sapped Patino a bit for the rest of the fight. Galvao was able to score takedowns throughout the second to take back control of the fight.The 27-year-old Galvao (5-1) is a highly decorated world champion in jiu-jitsu. His ground control was impressive and so was the toughness he exhibited in withstanding a dangerous situation in the first.

DannyHarf
DannyWay
DarrenShapiro
DaveMirra
DeanRandazzo

Since an old friend told me about his climbing trips to Thailand it’s been one of my boxes-to-tick. Climbing by the beach and then relaxing in the blue seas sounds too good to be true. I’m about to find out – I’ve decided to do it later this year…

Photo kindly shared by HalonaCoast on Flickr
I’m [...]

DamienHobgood
DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
DannyHarf

Quiksilver Europe puts together a sick montage from their Skate In Visión photo contest.

TommyGuerrero
TonyAlva
TonyHawk
TrevorHanson
WesBrisco

Much of the boxing world is still pretty down on the skills of mixed martial artists. Not Bernard Hopkins. The light heavyweight great was one of the first guys to admit he’d get whupped in the Octagon fighting under MMA rules. The 45-year-old legend is fearful that James Toney has bitten off more than he can chew in his fight against Randy Couture."I think James Toney is going to get his ass kicked. James Toney is out of his league," Hopkins recently told Mauro Ranallo on Sirius’ Hardcore Sports Radio (Audio). "I believe and I’ll go on record with this, the best MMA guy or UFC guy goes up against the boxer in the world, in their arena … gets their ass kicked. I don’t care if it’s Floyd [Mayweather], [Manny] Pacquiao or Bernard Hopkins. It’s not what we do."In just over two weeks, Toney is making his MMA debut at UFC 118. Couture is a former UFC champ in two weight divisions with 28 professional MMA fights under his belt. After 83 pro boxing fights, Toney, 41, is trying MMA. Boxing heavyweight champ David Haye expanded on what he also believes is a mismatch. He told Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole: "Six months of training isn’t going to be enough." Haye said. "As a UFC fan, I know two or three years wouldn’t be enough. How many times has Toney sprawled in his life? 500? How many leg kicks has he taken in his life? 300? How many Kimura attempts has he defended? 140? Even if he’s done double that amount, he wouldn’t have nearly the experience needed to win a UFC fight."Hopkins also added that if UFC champ Anderson Silva tried to straight up box against an elite boxer, he’d struggle as well. "This is a different arena. I’m not saying he won’t have his moments," said Hopkins. "Listen, when that instinct comes in. When one guy is used to taking a guy down, using his forearm or chin or whatever and you take that away, it’s like taking his teeth out of his mouth. He’s no longer a lion."You can hear "The Fight Show" with Ranallo weekdays from 4-5 p.m. ET on Sirius Channel 98.

Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping
Flying

It’s hard to believe there’s a fighter who’s more polite and docile away from the cage than Randy Couture. We’ve found one. It’s his son Ryan. But much like his famous fighting father, the next generation Couture turns on the nasty when he steps in the cage. The 27-year-old, making his pro debut on Showtime, made quick work of Lucas Stark by forcing a tap via triangle choke less than 90 seconds into the fight.Couture is a pretty grounded kid but you could see he was wound up before the fight. There was a ton of pressure on him. After all, he was making his pro debut on a televised card on Showtime. Even he admitted in the lead up to the fight that he was getting the only opportunity because of his name. Once he got the win, he took a couple of deep breaths before his hand was raised. He didn’t jumped around like a maniac or talk trash. He was even a little embarrassed as he asked fans to come to his afterparty."Everyone come have a drink with me at Martini Ranch, please," Couture said sheepishly.He may have been nervous before and after the fight but he showed the composure of a veteran during the short fight. Stark’s striking was a bit awkward but he nailed Couture with a couple of good shots. He also landed a nice fireman’s carry to dump Couture on his back. Couture reacted quickly by throwing his right leg on Stark’s shoulder. Stark was stationary for a few seconds, Couture threw his other leg up and the choke was locked on. The 20-year-old quickly tapped at the 1:15 mark. There was no way to get out. Ryan was certainly more successful than the last Couture Strikeforce tried to throw in the cage. Randy’s ex-wife Kim had a rough time in her two Showtime fights. She leapt onto the big stage a little too quickly. The more patient Ryan fought on the amateur scene in Las Vegas for the last few years and got six matches under his belt before he decided to go pro. He’s also at his father’s gym, Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, just about everyday training with guys like Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard and Martin Kampmann.Patient Riggs blasts out TaylorJoe Riggs isn’t quite the aggressive killer he was during his UFC days but he still possesses some dangerous elements. The relatively inexperienced Louis Taylor knew that but still couldn’t resist the urge to trade with Riggs. That was a bad move. Taylor caught a huge left midway through the third round, hit the deck and found himself getting blasted in the forehead. Trapped helplessly in a crucifix, Taylor tapped due to strikes giving Riggs his 33rd career win in a catchweight fight at 182 pounds. Riggs used to be a guy who swung for the fences. He was good enough, even at the tender age of 21-to-24, to pick up four wins in the UFC and get a welterweight title shot against Matt Hughes. Now 27, Riggs has become more of a counterstriker. That approach cost him against Jay Hieron in his last fight but against a guy with only seven fights, the mindset proved to be the correct way to go. Taylor, a wrestler by trade, could only score two takedowns and was nullified by Riggs (33-11) on the bottom. In the third round, Taylor (6-2) tried to open things up but as Showtime color analyst Pat Miletich pointed out, he was leading with his head. Riggs nailed Taylor with an overhand left. The Chicago-native immediately grabbed his face and seconds later was on his back getting pounded by Riggs.This was Riggs’ first fight above 170 pounds since September of 2008. He still looked lean as a near middleweight. After the fight, Riggs lobbied for a rematch against Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz. If that doesn’t happen, he wants in the proposed Strikeforce middleweight tournament.

Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting

It takes a special kind of narcissism to wear a shirt with a picture of yourself on it. Luckily for MMA fans, James Toney is exactly that kind of narcissist. Just look at that thing. Not only is Toney wearing a shirt with a picture of himself on it, but check out his likeness on the shirt. His gloves say "MMA" while his body looks slightly more svelte than in recent pictures of the boxer-turned-mixed martial artist. Even with all that, the most ridiculous aspect of the shirt is the price. If you want it, you’ll have to cough up $49.98 for it.

JasonMurphy
JeremyMcGrath
JoshSanders
JustinHoman
KellyClark

Dogway is streaming Feel Eina or if you prefer, you can download it here.

MarkKenney
MattHoffman
MikeJones
MikeValley
NateAdams

Whitewater
kayaking
Whitewater
canoeing
Freediving

Scott Coker certainly wants to see Chad Griggs engage in a good fight against Bobby Lashley. But Coker must be thinking, "don’t get too froggy Mr. Griggs." After all, he’s taken Lashley, a big free-agent signee back in early 2009, along a slow path with the destination hopefully being some mega-money fights for the former pro wrestling star. The payoff for Strikeforce could come in the form of Lashley against another former WWE star Dave Batista or one of the big boys on top of the promotion’s heavyweight division. The tough part for Lashley is avoiding looking ahead of the little known Griggs. "The hardest thing about him (Griggs) is I don’t know much about the guy at all," said Lashley. "It’s another opponent. He has a very impressive record. It’s going to pose a good challenge for me coming back from the long break."Lashley (5-0) last fought in January making quick work of Wes Sims. Some MMA fans and bloggers have been frustrated by the slow path Lashley’s taken. Coker and Lashley seem happy with where he’s at. From the Las Vegas Sun: "I always said to myself, ‘what is Bobby going to look like in 18 months?’" Coker said. "With his athletic ability and wrestling, the sky is the limit. "One guy he has to get through is Chad. That’s got to be the first thing that’s on the top of his mind. As you all know, (Strikeforce) has a few of the top heavyweights in the world, and Bobby will fit right in there."And now Lashley is talking about moving into Strikeforce’s top five. He’s gotten a jolt of confidence from working with UFC title contender Cain Velasquez and fellow Strikeforce heavyweight prospect at the well-regarded American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. "Cain is probably the best heavyweight there is right now," Lashley said. "You’ve got to be ready training with him. The guy has got great conditioning and it’s been good mixing it up with him and [...] Cormier."We’ve had some great practice sessions, and I know my conditioning is not going to be a factor."That’s good to hear. Because much like another thickly muscled fighter Shane Carwin, there have been questions about Lashley’s cardio if fights go into the second and third rounds. Lashley has only been to the second round one time in five fights.What’s next? Should Strikeforce push a Lashley-Batista promotion just to cash in? Or at age 34, should Lashley be more concerned with furthering his legitimate MMA career?

Motorcyclerally
Watersports
Rafting
Whitewater
kayaking

It takes a special kind of narcissism to wear a shirt with a picture of yourself on it. Luckily for MMA fans, James Toney is exactly that kind of narcissist. Just look at that thing. Not only is Toney wearing a shirt with a picture of himself on it, but check out his likeness on the shirt. His gloves say "MMA" while his body looks slightly more svelte than in recent pictures of the boxer-turned-mixed martial artist. Even with all that, the most ridiculous aspect of the shirt is the price. If you want it, you’ll have to cough up $49.98 for it.

JoshSanders
JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram

NateAdams
ParksBonifay
PeterMel
PeterMendia
PhillipSoven

BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska

With another win over B.J. Penn, Frank Edgar can solidfy his reputation as one of the best fighters in the world. UFC 118 is a huge card and should do big numbers on pay-per-view, plus beating a guy like Penn twice will leave little doubt that Edgar belongs in the top 10 pound-for-pound. That said, the UFC lightweight champ still won’t be the most famous guy to come out of the Jersey Shore recently. MMA is growing but it’s still a niche sport. Meanwhile you can only hope to contain the Jersey Shore juggernaut that is Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino from the show "Jersey Shore" on MTV. Before, you say ‘who cares’ or ‘the show is stupid’, the latest news on The Sitch are pretty eye opening.Sorrentino, who hails from Staten Island, N.Y., which is really nowhere near Seaside Heights and Edgar’s hometown of Toms River, has turned out to be a marketing genius. What does that mean? While a fighter like Edgar will probably pull down $150,000-$200,000 in 2010, The Situation is going to be in a slightly higher tax bracket. As the second season of MTV’s pop-culture phenomenon "Jersey Shore" gobbles up
the biggest ratings the network has seen in seven years, breakout star
Sorrentino (a.k.a. The Situation) is astutely capitalizing on his fame. By
year’s end, the 29-year-old stands to earn more than $5 million, a source
familiar with his finances told The Hollywood Reporter. E! News reports that Sorrentino is now the highest paid reality star on television. The Situation is also cleaning house on Twitter where he has over 178,000 followers. In comparision, his Garden State compadre Edgar has just over 12,000. In fact, the most popular fighter at UFC 118 on Twitter is Randy Couture with roughly 46,000 followers. Maybe it’s time for Edgar to find "Ronnie" at Karma and take him out. Season 4 could feature Frankie along with The Situation, Pauly D and Vinnie.

canoeing
Freediving
Scubadiving
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing

Daniel Cormier is taking the right path to becoming an elite heavyweight. He’s working out of a high-level MMA gym and staying as active as possible. He just won the King of the Cage heavyweight title last weekend and made quick of work of Jason Riley tonight in the final fight on the non-televised undercard at Strikeforce: Houston. In the opening seconds, Cormier (5-0) charged Riley looking for a single-leg takedown. He didn’t get it but his aggressiveness put Riley on the defensive. When the fighters stood apart for a few seconds, Cormier leapt into an overhand right and hurt Riley badly. Riley hit the deck and that’s where Cormier turned on the jets. He pounded away with a half-dozen left hands. Riley covered up and took the abuse for a few more seconds before tapping due to strikes at 1:02 of the first. Cormier, an Olympic level wrestler out of Oklahoma State, is a little short for the division at 5-foot-11 and 249 pounds but he manhandled the much bigger Riley. His work with guys like UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose is paying off. His conditioning looks better and his hands are improving with each fight. His next fight is scheduled against Soa Palelei in Australia. Odds are he’ll take a few more fights between now and Nov. 21. Riley has dropped 3-of-4 fights including losses to Tim Sylvia and Devin Cole. Jorge Patino took his fight against Andre Galvao on short notice and did all he could to steal the fight in the first round. Galvao weathered the storm and was able to wear down the fill-in. Galvao scored a takedown early in the third and wailed away with shots to Patino, who couldn’t improve position. After dozens of elbows and punches to Patino, who was just covering up, Galvao got the stoppage at the 2:45 mark of the third round. Patino did a great job in the opening round attempting several punch-kick combos. The 37-year-old would charge Galvao, fire off a left and a right followed by a head kick. He shocked Galvao by landing a huge left with 1:40 left in the round. Galvao scrambled and was hurt badly when he got drilled by another left on his knees. Patino poured it on but just couldn’t get the finish. The effort probably sapped Patino a bit for the rest of the fight. Galvao was able to score takedowns throughout the second to take back control of the fight.The 27-year-old Galvao (5-1) is a highly decorated world champion in jiu-jitsu. His ground control was impressive and so was the toughness he exhibited in withstanding a dangerous situation in the first.

LayneBeachley
LeslieKent
LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney

A 45 day trip yields a lengthy montage with some seriously gnarly Australian shredding.

Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding
Dirtsurfing
Motorsports

JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram
LayneBeachley

I have had a few days away from climbing – in fact, my last session was 3 weekends ago at Froggatt – and so I got back to the gym this week. My local gym has an auto-belay setup so I was able to do some indoor routes without company.
And I struggled! Struggled to get [...]

Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Canyoning

by Michael David SmithIn a great fight that showcased just how exciting the lower weight classes in mixed martial arts can be, 135-pounders Scott Jorgensen and Brad Pickett brawled for 15 minutes at WEC 50, with Jorgensen winning a unanimous decision.

Pickett leveled Jorgensen with a straight right hand early in the first round and then, after Jorgensen got back up, caught a kick and knocked Jorgensen down again. Jorgensen started to come back, though, securing a takedown and then cracking Pickett in the ribs so hard that he knocked out Pickett’s mouth guard — which Pickett calmly picked up and put back in his mouth while Jorgensen kept hitting him. It was a back-and-forth battle as the first round drew to a close.

Whitewater
canoeing
Freediving
Scubadiving
Mountaineering

SkateFilms.tv has a solid euro montage.

DaveMirra
DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer

Check the latest montage from the Hard Times crew out east.

TrevorHanson
WesBrisco
ZaneSchwenk Snowboarding
Sandboarding

Once you get through the painfully long intro, this Leo Heinert part is pretty good.

TrevorHanson
WesBrisco
ZaneSchwenk Snowboarding
Sandboarding

SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow

The up-and-down career of Paul Buentello takes another turn this weekend in Southern California. Now back down in "the minors," Buentello faces another guy who is trying to recapture the results of his prime in former UFC champion Tim Sylvia. Both big men have dealt with the same issues of motivation and managing fights mentally. Sylvia probably won’t admit that he’s lost some of the fire and that walking around at 300-plus pounds is hurting his career, but Buentello is owning up to his gaffes. "I never realized how far behind I am mentally on this fight game," Buentello told FightHubtv.com (2:31 mark). "I have the heart, I have the skills, but just that one little aspect of controlling my mind over my body. Because once my body gets tired, my mind just doesn’t control what my body wants to do. It comes into the cardio and quitting."Buentello (28-12, 3-3 UFC) meets Sylvia (26-6, 10-4 UFC) Saturday night in the main event of "War on the Mainland" in Irvine, Calif. At the end of 2009, Buentello got a new lease on life. He got out of his deal with Strikeforce and after a three-year absence from the UFC he was brought him back. But the 36-year-old failed to seize the opportunity. He gassed in a slugfest against Stefan Struve at UFC 107 and then mentally broke in a loss against Cheick Kongo in March at UFC on Versus 1. Shortly after, he was dumped by the promotion. That’s when fellow fighter and trainer, Antonio McKee stepped in. Actually, he did more than step in. He lobbied Buentello and his management to allow him to try and fix the 250-pound slugger. "He was telling my manager, I’m just a mental fart away from being on top again," said Buentello. It’s all about playing to his strengths."I hit really hard and I’m fast for my size," said Buentello. "If I let my hands go, anything’s possible. And that’s the problem I’ve been having the last couple of fights, not going in there with the mental toughness." McKee, who works out of The Body Shop in Lakewood, Calif., agrees that it’s all in Buentello’s head. "If Paul goes out there and hesitates, it could be a short night for Paul," said McKee. "But I don’t see [Sylvia] knocking out Paul. Paul’s got a tough chin, he hits hard and I wouldn’t be surprised if he knocked Tim out with a jab."That’s probably a stretch but Buentello does have the speed advantage. Frankly, who knows what kind of shape Sylvia will be in. He last fought and won against World Strongman champ Mariusz Pudzianowski. A few fights before that suffered quick losses to Ray Mercer and Fedor Emelianenko.

PogoPowerbocking
Paintball
Jibbing
Parkour
AndreReynolds

There is no more polite dude in MMA than Urijah Faber. The former WEC champ has certainly done enough during his illustrious career to be a pompous jerk if he wanted. He could talk lots of trash, but it’s hard to recall Faber really smashing someone. Then there’s Dominick Cruz. The current bantamweight champ rubs Faber the wrong way, and he has no problem expressing his feelings about Cruz (2:33 mark). "There aren’t many people I don’t like out there," Faber told Larry Pepe of Pro MMA Radio. "For lack of a better way to describe him, he just seems like kind of a dope."Faber pointed to a UFC magazine piece on Cruz, where he talked about his reckless ways as a teen. Cruz told the mag that he got booted from his home for throwing parties at his mother’s apartment. "What kind of sob story is that dude? He’s throwing parties when he’s 19 when his mom leaves town so then she kicked him out and he had to be off on his own," said Faber. "I don’t know man, he just rubs me the wrong way. The way he was disrespectul when we first fought and just the way he carries himself."Faber’s teammate and friend Joe Benavidez takes a run at Cruz’s title belt next week at WEC 50. Mark it down, if Benavidez falls short, Faber will probably get a shot at Cruz down the road.

TajBurrow
TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes
TommyClowers
TommyGuerrero

When I moved into my new home, I spent a little time on reconnaissance for somewhere to train for climbing.
I initially thought a fingerboard would be the way to go. However, all the doorways were flimsy stud walls and not sturdy enough.
An alternative jumped out – Rock Rings by Metolius. If only I could find [...]

AndreReynolds
AndyIrons
AndyMacDonald
AsherNolan
BamMargera

James Toney is jumping from boxing into MMA for a UFC 118 bout with Randy Couture. If you’re going to the fights, wear a shirt that’s guaranteed to tick Toney off. "If MMA was easy, they would call it boxing." Yes, Toney would love that. Buy the shirt for $18 at Etsy.

TrevorHanson
WesBrisco
ZaneSchwenk Snowboarding
Sandboarding

by Michael David SmithBart Palaszewski earned his fourth consecutive victory Wednesday night at WEC 50, using a great stand-up display to knock out the overmatched and far less experienced Zach Micklewright.

“I’m an entertainer first and a fighter second,” Palaszewski said afterward. “I’m always here to put on a show. … I just said, ‘Screw it, let’s just slug it out.’”
More Coverage: WEC 50 Results | WEC 50 Fighter Salaries | Latest WEC News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow

From the halls of Montezuma to fighting for the WEC: Both Mackens Semerzier and Zack Micklewright started their fight careers after serving in the Marines. Both will also fight at WEC 50 on Wednesday night. Semerzier, who served in Iraq in 2003, says that the training he received in the military carried over to fight training."It’s discipline to train when you don’t want to train and push past those mental and physical barriers," he told Cagewriter. "Being deployed, you get to see a lot and be put in stressful situations, and you know quitting is not an option. You take that into training and into a fight." Micklewright caught the fighting bug while still an active Marine. While at an MMA amateur night, a fighter was needed. He answered the call and continued to be fascinated with fighting after going to Iraq to serve.After returning from Iraq, he committed to training and joined Miletich Fighting Systems in Davenport, Iowa. Heading into his bout with Bart Palaszewski, Micklewright is 8-0.Coincidentally, Semerzier trained with Palaszewski for WEC 50, where Semerzier will fight Javier Vazquez. When he found out his training partner was fighting a Marine, Semerzier laughed and said to Palaszewski, "You’re fighting a Marine. Watch out, son." Semerzier said that this is one of the few times when he won’t be cheering on a fellow Marine. He normally supports any service member. Brian Stann, a UFC fighter and a Marine, has been to Semerzier’s bouts. He said that the Marines are always concerned with representing the people who came before them."We take great pride in what we do and who we are," Semerzier said. "Because we’re such a small unit, we feel like we have to represent ourselves well in front of other people just so they know that we’re living up to the standards that were set before us with the Marines that came before us."

Hanggliding
Mountainbiking
BMX
Inlineskating
Cliffdiving

I’m pleased to claim this blog officially on Technorati so that more people will read it
This link to my Technorati Profile is all it takes.

ErikRuck
ErinJackson
FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley

Dogway has a Blue montage from the streets of Spain.

AndyMacDonald
AsherNolan
BamMargera
BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist

PhillipSoven
Pierre-LucGagnon
RobMachado
RodneyMullen
RossPowers

It wasn’t a great night for Bobby Lashley. Once again, he looked one-dimensional in his fight against Chad Griggs. He suffered a nasty cut under his left eye that didn’t exactly motivate him to fight harder. Lashley also gassed out midway into second round. Worst of all, he his first loss in MMA was to a guy no one thought had a chance. After that performance, it will be pretty tough to sell Lashley in a fight against a big name opponent. It even sounded like Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was going to need some convincing. "We’ll be talking to Bobby later. You know he’s going to have to do some soul searching and really decide what he wants to do," said Coker. "But if he decides to fight, we’ll have him back." The MMA blogosphere reacted strongly to that statement. Was it an overreaction by the MMA pundits? We’re not sure. It was a bold statement by Coker about a guy who had just lost his first fight. Lashley, 34, is still a good prospect but clearly has things he needs to work on. That certainly doesn’t mean his career is without a future. Especially if we find out that he was dealing with some kind of serious ailment going into or during the fight. Coker explained his stance on WJFK’s MMA Nation radio show (5:25 mark)."Mixed martial arts is sport where sometimes you’re going to get hit, you’re going to get hurt. It’s not like pro wrestling," said Coker. " As he’s working his way up he’s going to come to a point where he says ‘is this something I want to do?’ You’re working your way up and now you get a real clear picture of what mixed martial arts is and do you want to work through it and continue, or do you want to do something else?" Coker may have questions about Lashley’s dedication but he knows one thing, the Lashley hype machine needs to slow down. "The thing that’s not fair for Bobby is he has all these high
expectations from all these people," Coker told host Luke Thomas. "People think he should be right in
there with Fedor. I mean come on, let’s be real, he’s not at that level
right now." The PW Torch reported on what forced Lashley to the hospital after the fight.Lashley was said to be "extremely dehydrated" after his fight against Chad
Griggs on the "Showtime: Houston" fight card. At the hospital, Lashley was
treated with multiple IV bags to pump fluids back into his system.Coker said he still believes Lashley would continue his MMA career but was non-committal on a fight against fellow pro wrestler Dave Batista. Coker said on MMA Nation that Lashley had already reached out to Strikeforce and wants to fight immediately.

Motorsports
Motocross
Snocross
Rallying
Drifting

Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping

When I moved into my new home, I spent a little time on reconnaissance for somewhere to train for climbing.
I initially thought a fingerboard would be the way to go. However, all the doorways were flimsy stud walls and not sturdy enough.
An alternative jumped out – Rock Rings by Metolius. If only I could find [...]

SteveCallero
TajBurrow
TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes
TommyClowers

In the aftermath of his Strikeforce fight, the rough night continued for Bobby Lashley in the bowels of the Toyota Center. The former WWE star, who suffered his first career loss in MMA, and was taken from the Houston arena on a stretcher (Video here). The loss was part beatdown, part mental breakdown due to exhaustion. The thickly-muscled 249-pound monster was wiped out just minutes into his fight against Chad Griggs. Griggs (9-1) took advantage of a shaky stand-up by the referee and pounded away at Lashley while the formerly unbeaten MMA prospect held on for dear life against the cage. Lashley (5-1) suffered a nasty cut under his left eye in the first round and couldn’t take advantage of scoring the mount position in the second.

JasonMurphy
JeremyMcGrath
JoshSanders
JustinHoman
KellyClark

Dirtsurfing
Motorsports
Motocross
Snocross
Rallying

BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska

by Michael David Smith
Two Strikeforce belts are on the line Saturday night in Houston, with King Mo Lawal making the first defense of his light heavyweight title, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Tim Kennedy squaring off for the middleweight belt that Jake Shields vacated. We’ve got the full preview and predictions below.

What: Strikeforce: Houston

Where: Toyota Center, Houston

When: The Showtime televised card begins Saturday at 10 PM ET. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Whitewater
kayaking
Whitewater
canoeing
Freediving

by Michael David SmithIf there was any doubt that Dominick Cruz was the best bantamweight in mixed martial arts, he erased that doubt Wednesday night by defeating the tough but ultimately overmatched Joseph Benavidez in a split decision that gave Cruz his second victory over the No. 2 fighter in the division.

Benavidez is a great fighter (he’s 12-0 when fighting anyone other than Cruz), but it’s his friend and training partner Urijah Faber who has handed Cruz his only career loss, and is likely to fight Cruz again some time early next year, this time for the bantamweight title.

Once Faber makes the move down to bantamweight, I think he’ll be a Top 10 fighter in the class — and he might just beat Cruz again and move to the top. For now, he’s absent from the Cruz-dominated bantamweight rankings, which are below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes
TommyClowers
TommyGuerrero
TonyAlva

ChristianHosoi
CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez

Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing?
Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie – and there’s a new addition!
Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras.
This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]

CoryLopez
DamienHobgood
DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins

No one’s going to question Jessica Aguilar’s toughness. Well, except when it comes to facing her mother and telling her what she does for a living. That’s right Aguilar (on the right), who’ll be featured Thursday night on nationwide television during Bellator Fighting Championships 24, still hasn’t told her mother that she brawls in a cage. From the South Florida Sun Sentinel: "My mom is very old-fashioned, so I don’t think she’d like it too much," Aguilar said. "I’m just living my dream right now and enjoying it and nobody’s going to take that from me. There will be a time when she needs to find out, but right now it’s the way it is and I’m just living my dream."Aguilar says her mom’s reluctance to support her sports’ aspirations goes all the back to her childhood when she wasn’t happy about her daughter playing softball or soccer either.From the Miami Herald, on June 2: "My mother is very old fashioned," Aguilar said. "She believes women should be home and cook, clean, get an office job. She wouldn’t be happy if she found out that I get hit, and punch other girls in the face."Update: It was a successful night for Aguilar. She took out Alvarez is just over four minutes. Aguilar got her opponent to the mat early and patiently worked through a series of dominant positions on the ground before she finally latched on an arm-triangle choke forcing Alvarez to tap. Aguilar’s been able to keep her mixed martial arts career a secret because her mother lives in Houston and all but two of her pro fights have taken place in Florida. Mom isn’t the only one in the dark. "My [two older] brothers think I fight in the gym, small fights,” Aguilar said. "But they don’t know the magnitude of what I do."Aguilar knows the day will come when she has to spill the beans. "That’s what I’m waiting for,” Aguilar said. "They’ll find out when they need to find out. This is something I love; a big part of my life. When I make it big they’ll find out, and if I don’t, then it’s my own adventure."Aguilar’s mother must be a strong-willed woman because it sounds like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The 28-year-old MMA fighter was on the outside looking in when Bellator was first putting together an eight-woman tournament at 115 pounds. Aguilar wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to fight some of the world’s best and potentially appear multiple times on FOX Sports Net. "I guess you could say I did call them out," said Aguilar. She fights out of American Top Team in South Florida so she made sure her presence was noticed during Bellator 21 at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. She went to the weigh-in hoping to speak with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney and then sought him out again on fight night. "It’s not going to come get you, you have to go get it," Aguilar said. "If you want it, go for it. I wanted to be in the tournament and I had to do what I had to do to go get it."Aguilar (8-3) faces Lynn Alvarez (5-1). The biggest female draw on the card is no doubt Megumi Fujii. She’s a familiar name with hardcores who some will argue that she’s the best female fighter on the planet, not Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. Don’t blink because the Fujii fight could be over quickly. She is facing a last-second fill-in with just three pro fights under her belt. Rebney is excited knowing he may have a future star in the underpromoted Fujii (20-0). From the Sun Sentinel: "I’m not much for a lot of hyperbole," said Rebney, "but I think there’s a good argument that can be made that the woman who wins this tournament, whether it’s Jessica Aguilar or Fujii or whoever it is, can call herself the best pound-for-pound woman on earth." There are several male fights on the televised card as well. Hector Lombard (26-2-1), ranked No. 21 at middleweight in the USA Today/Bloody Elbow poll battles Herbert Goodman (15-8-1). Goodman, a former Green Bay Packer running back, fell short of gaining a spot on Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Bellator also begins its heavyweight tourney with UFC and Cage Rage veteran Neil Grove (8-2, 0-1 UFC) taking on a fellow UFC-vet in Eddie Sanchez (12-3, 3-3 UFC). Bellator 24 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Mania):Televised (FOX Sports Net 8 p.m. ET) Hector Lombard (185.5 pounds) vs. Herbert Goodman (183.5 pounds)Eddie Sanchez (244.5 pounds) vs. Neil Grove (265 pounds)Megumi Fujii (115.5 pounds) vs. Carla Esparza (115.25 pounds)Jessica Aguilar (113.5 pounds) vs. Lynn Alvarez (114.5 pounds)Non-televised Yves Edwards (154.5 pounds) vs. Luis Palomino (154.5 pounds)Eric Luke (154.5 pounds) vs. Farkhard Sharipov (144 pounds)Brian Eckstein (182 135 pounds) vs. Tulio Quintanilla (135.5 pounds)

RossPowers
RyanSheckler
ScottBirley
ShaneBeschen
ShawnMurray

No skate clip today, but the Mostly Skateboarding twitter feed is always going off and I started a tumblr blog last week with skate and non-skate stuff I think looks cool.

Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering
Canyoning
Freesoloclimbing

Matt Hughes has mauled two of the Gracies, Renzo and Royce, plus he’s defeated one their best students, Matt Serra. He’s usually willing to call guys out, but that’s not the case with the Gracies and their latest protege to step up, Ricardo Almeida. When he was asked about facing Almeida, Hughes responded by requesting that the media cut out the silly nicknames. "It’s nothing personal for me. I don’t want to be called ‘The Gracie Killer,’" Hughes said during the UFC 117 prefight press conference. "I like Renzo and Royce. They were just the guys the UFC put in front of me."Now that doesn’t mean there won’t be some passion on the side of Almeida. He was in Abu Dhabi at UFC 112 when Hughes beat down Renzo. "I was in the corner … and I asked for the fight then," said Almeida. "I thought a big part of your team is having your training partner’s back. It was definitely an emotional night for me but nothing personal. [This is] just a chance to fight a UFC Hall of Famer and someone who has done a lot for the sport." Hughes can also relate to Almeida’s desire to beat the guy who beat his coach. "I did the same thing after Pat Miletich lost a couple of times," said Hughes. "I wanted to face those same guys. So I understand where Ricardo is at and what he’s doing."Hughes (44-7, 17-5 UFC) fought Jose Landi-Jons, Carlos Newton and Renzo Gracie after Miletich had suffered losses to each member of the trio. He went 2-1, losing to Landi-Jons. Almeida (12-3, 5-3 UFC) is a recent addition to the UFC’s welterweight division. He won his debut at 170 pounds over Matt Brown via rear-naked choke.

StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow

Finally a little sun! Yesterday I went climbing in Burbage (specifically Burbage south boulders) in the Peak District near Sheffield. I’m really glad I’ve got these boulders within 15 minutes of my home.
Although in a climbing wall / gym I’m happy on 6a/6b the techniques on grit boulders are a different world: lots of smearing [...]

DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston

by Michael David SmithMiesha Tate put on a great show on Friday night, solidifying her position as one of the toughest women in mixed martial arts by defeating Hitomi Akano and Maiju Kujala, and wasting no time in starting to build her next fight by calling out the Strikeforce 135-pound champion, Sarah Kaufman.

The bad news is that Strikeforce has already announced that Kaufman’s next fight will come against Marloes Coenen, not Tate.

The good news is that there’s a simple solution to that problem: Strikeforce needs to reverse course and book Tate vs. Kaufman right away. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow

Thiago Alves can never separate himself from the weigh-in drama storyline. The stocky Brazilian is massive for the 170-pound class and it’s always an adventure in the days leading up the weigh-in. This week was no different. Alves was reportedly 190 pounds on Wednesday morning. Today, sounded bright with reports that he was 177 in the morning. But it didn’t work out, even with two weigh-in attempts. Alves missed the mark, had to forfeit 20 percent of his purse and may have cost himself the title shot promised to the winner of his fight against Jon Fitch. With the threat of Alves missing weight, it sounded like White had changed his mind overnight telling Fanhouse (7:10 mark) that Fitch, Alves, Jake Shields or Martin Kampmann could be in line for the title shot after Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck fight. Alves couldn’t have donehimself any favors by missing weight again! The energy was high as the main event combatants hit the scale. Chael Sonnen was all business while Anderson Silva had fun on the scale acting as if he was nervous that he was going to miss weight. Silva flipped the script during the staredown by refusing to look at Sonnen. The challenger has done a helluva job hyping the fight but it sounded like he made plenty of enemies amongst the fans. UFC 117 weigh-in (Courtesy MMAJunkie):Pay-Per-View card:
Champ Anderson Silva (184.5) v. Chael Sonnen (185)Thiago Alves (171.5) v. Jon Fitch (170.5)Ricardo Almeida (170.5) v. Matt Hughes (170.5)Junior Dos Santos (240) v. Roy Nelson (263)Rafael dos Anjos (156) v. Clay Guida (156)Non-televised card:
Dustin Hazelett (169.5) v. Rick Story (169.5)Phil Davis (205.5) v. Rodney Wallace (206)Charlie Brenneman (171) v. Johny Hendricks (171)Tim Boetsch (206) v. Todd Brown (206)Christian Morecraft (263) v. Stefan Struve (247)Dennis Hallman (171) v. Ben Saunders (171)

BikerSherlock
BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska

The up-and-down career of Paul Buentello takes another turn this weekend in Southern California. Now back down in "the minors," Buentello faces another guy who is trying to recapture the results of his prime in former UFC champion Tim Sylvia. Both big men have dealt with the same issues of motivation and managing fights mentally. Sylvia probably won’t admit that he’s lost some of the fire and that walking around at 300-plus pounds is hurting his career, but Buentello is owning up to his gaffes. "I never realized how far behind I am mentally on this fight game," Buentello told FightHubtv.com (2:31 mark). "I have the heart, I have the skills, but just that one little aspect of controlling my mind over my body. Because once my body gets tired, my mind just doesn’t control what my body wants to do. It comes into the cardio and quitting."Buentello (28-12, 3-3 UFC) meets Sylvia (26-6, 10-4 UFC) Saturday night in the main event of "War on the Mainland" in Irvine, Calif. At the end of 2009, Buentello got a new lease on life. He got out of his deal with Strikeforce and after a three-year absence from the UFC he was brought him back. But the 36-year-old failed to seize the opportunity. He gassed in a slugfest against Stefan Struve at UFC 107 and then mentally broke in a loss against Cheick Kongo in March at UFC on Versus 1. Shortly after, he was dumped by the promotion. That’s when fellow fighter and trainer, Antonio McKee stepped in. Actually, he did more than step in. He lobbied Buentello and his management to allow him to try and fix the 250-pound slugger. "He was telling my manager, I’m just a mental fart away from being on top again," said Buentello. It’s all about playing to his strengths."I hit really hard and I’m fast for my size," said Buentello. "If I let my hands go, anything’s possible. And that’s the problem I’ve been having the last couple of fights, not going in there with the mental toughness." McKee, who works out of The Body Shop in Lakewood, Calif., agrees that it’s all in Buentello’s head. "If Paul goes out there and hesitates, it could be a short night for Paul," said McKee. "But I don’t see [Sylvia] knocking out Paul. Paul’s got a tough chin, he hits hard and I wouldn’t be surprised if he knocked Tim out with a jab."That’s probably a stretch but Buentello does have the speed advantage. Frankly, who knows what kind of shape Sylvia will be in. He last fought and won against World Strongman champ Mariusz Pudzianowski. A few fights before that suffered quick losses to Ray Mercer and Fedor Emelianenko.

Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping

Boosh headed over to Emerica’s “Stay Gold” World Premier & got the inside scoop from some of the attendees. Including Atiba, Reynolds, Hsu, Spanky, Braydon, & more.. Video here.

FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
JasonMurphy
JeremyMcGrath

by Michael David SmithAnthony Pettis put on the best performance of his promising MMA career Wednesday night at WEC 50, dominating Roller for more than 14 minutes before finally getting him to tap out with just nine seconds remaining in the third round, earning a submission win and likely a World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight title shot.

Early in the fight the 23-year-old Pettis showed serious improvement in his takedown defense, keeping the fight standing against a good wrestler in Roller. He also showed off some creative striking, employing a variety of kicks that had Roller frustrated. As the fight wore on Pettis also showed a more sophisticated ground game than he had in the past, and the way he finished the fight was a thing of beauty, escaping from a guillotine choke and then catching Roller in the triangle that made Roller tap at the 4:51 mark of the third.

BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska
ChrisKlug
ChrisSenn

by Michael David SmithCHICAGO — Zoila Frausto advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Fighting Championships women’s tournament Thursday night at Bellator 25, easily controlling Jessica Pene to win a unanimous decision.

It wasn’t a particularly exciting fight — certainly nothing like the fireworks of Frausto’s previous fight, a first-round knockout of Rosi Sexton — but it was a dominating performance by Frausto, who won 30-27 on all three judges’ cards. Frausto said afterward that she was disappointed in her own performance and that cutting to 115 pounds had been difficult for her.

More Coverage: Bellator 25 Results | Latest Bellator 25 News
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FabioladaSilva
FroggySoven
GeoffRowley
GerryNunn
JasonMurphy

I’ve only just got chance to post about last week’s trip to Froggatt Edge. Friends tell me that a crisp spring morning is better for climbing grit but if you ask me sunshine is the way forward. I headed to Froggatt Edge (just south of Sheffield) with a few friends for my first ascents on [...]

TaraHamilton
TaraLlanes
TommyClowers
TommyGuerrero
TonyAlva

Atlanta Hates Us has a nice black & white montage from the much cooler month of March.

ShawnMurray
SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero

by Michael David SmithIf there was any doubt that Dominick Cruz was the best bantamweight in mixed martial arts, he erased that doubt Wednesday night by defeating the tough but ultimately overmatched Joseph Benavidez in a split decision that gave Cruz his second victory over the No. 2 fighter in the division.

Benavidez is a great fighter (he’s 12-0 when fighting anyone other than Cruz), but it’s his friend and training partner Urijah Faber who has handed Cruz his only career loss, and is likely to fight Cruz again some time early next year, this time for the bantamweight title.

Once Faber makes the move down to bantamweight, I think he’ll be a Top 10 fighter in the class — and he might just beat Cruz again and move to the top. For now, he’s absent from the Cruz-dominated bantamweight rankings, which are below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Freesoloclimbing
Free-fall
Parachuting
Bungeejumping
Wingsuitflying

by Michael David SmithAll 20 fighters participating in Wednesday night’s WEC 50 fight card will step on the scales Tuesday for the WEC 50 weigh-ins, and if you can’t be there in person at The Palms in Las Vegas, you can watch live here at MMAFighting.com.

In the main event, WEC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and challenger Joseph Benavidez will have to make 135 pounds.

The weigh-in begins Tuesday at 7 PM ET and the video is below. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

CJHobgood
CliffordAdoptante
CoreyBohan
CoryLopez
DamienHobgood

Matt Hughes choked Ricardo Almeida out cold at UFC 117 with a classic wrestling move, the front headlock. After the bout, Hughes said that it’s a move that Almeida probably hasn’t seen before. That is likely true, but wrestling fans everywhere recognized the move. The front headlock was perfected by Dave Schultz, one of wrestling’s most dominant athletes and an Olympic gold medalist in 1984. During the Los Angeles Games, Schultz’s headlock was so hazardous that referees were warning him as soon as he sunk his arms in on an opponent. Skip to the 2:45 mark here to see Schultz’s perfect headlock in the first period of the gold-medal match.Schultz couldn’t use his headlock to end a match like Hughes did, but he did use it to score points, fend off a takedown and control his opponent. Along with his brother Mark, Schultz was known as one of the more brutal wrestlers of his era. Though Mark defeated Gary Goodridge at UFC 9 in his one MMA bout, Dave never had the chance to transition to MMA. He was murdered in 1996. Hughes’ headlock win was a fitting tribute to a member of the wrestling family who was taken too soon.

DanPastor
DaneReynolds
DanielWatkins
DannyHarf
DannyWay

SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero
TajBurrow

The fight game is tough. Sometimes winning isn’t enough. In some circles, Jon Fitch has already taken his beating over the way he defeated Thiago Alves at UFC 117. Junior Dos Santos earned his shot at the UFC title with his victory over Roy Nelson but now he has some viewers questioning his power. JDS is now part of the growing debate over whether guys in the range of 240 pounds or smaller can thrive against the heavyweights who push the 265 limit. Dos Santos beat the snot out of Nelson but couldn’t put him down. Do we give Nelson credit for having sick ability to take a beating or is Dos Santos short on power? If he can’t take out Nelson what happens when he faces someone like Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin? On the positive side, Dos Santos’ stamina was very good. Most heavyweights who throw that many shots eventually get weary. Dos Santos outlanded Nelson
Dos Santos dominated the entire fight, outlanding Nelson 130 to 38, with 78 of those shots being power punches. According to Compustrike, he also attempted 245 punches. That’s impressive when lined up against the punch output of most heavyweight boxers. On the downside, Dos Santos was one-dimensional. He only attempted 14 kicks against a very stationary target.Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole checks in with his take on JDS’ chances against Lesnar, if the champ defends his title at UFC 123.

ShawnMurray
SheaLopez
StacyPeralta
SteveBerra
SteveCallero

JoshSanders
JustinHoman
KellyClark
KellySlater
KennyBartram

Mark Frolich helps out with Alex Fiedler’s welcome video for Jart.

DeanRandazzo
DennisMcCoy
DougParsons
EilssaSteamer
EricKoston

Savannah Skates has a full Garret Olinger check out.

Riversurfing
Surfing
Flowboarding
Skysurfing
Skateboarding

Location: Stanage Plantation
Date: Sunday 27 July
Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out.
If you’re reading this wondering [...]

Skysurfing
Skateboarding
Mountainboarding
Snowskate
Wakeboarding

by Michael David SmithIn a great fight that showcased just how exciting the lower weight classes in mixed martial arts can be, 135-pounders Scott Jorgensen and Brad Pickett brawled for 15 minutes at WEC 50, with Jorgensen winning a unanimous decision.

Pickett leveled Jorgensen with a straight right hand early in the first round and then, after Jorgensen got back up, caught a kick and knocked Jorgensen down again. Jorgensen started to come back, though, securing a takedown and then cracking Pickett in the ribs so hard that he knocked out Pickett’s mouth guard — which Pickett calmly picked up and put back in his mouth while Jorgensen kept hitting him. It was a back-and-forth battle as the first round drew to a close. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Flowboarding
Skysurfing
Skateboarding
Mountainboarding
Snowskate

For some reason in mixed martial arts, immediate rematches are usually frowned upon. The younger demographic likes new blood in the cage, especially when it comes to title fights. So when will we see Chael Sonnen get another shot at Anderson Silva? Sonnen was leading 4-0 (40-35, 40-34, 40-36) and on his way to winning the fifth round when he got caught in a triangle choke. The prefight hype was amongst the best in UFC history and the fight was dynamite. Sonnen’s willingness to put himself on the line with what seemed like outrageous guarantees, will likely pay dividends in the form of pay-per-view buys that could be in excess of 750,000. The second fight will be even bigger. So can the UFC afford to slip in another contender before Sonnen and Silva meet? And isn’t it incredibly risky to make Sonnen fight someone else in the interim? Yahoo! Sports’ MMA expert Kevin Iole thinks there’s only one choice for the UFC and we could be waiting a while before we see the rematch.Update: Silva’s manager Ed Soares sounds like he’s already lining up against giving Sonnen an immediate shot. Soares told FightHype: "I mean, I don’t necessarily think an immediate rematch is legitimate. It’s not like he won by decision. You got submitted man. You were on top of him for 23 minutes of the fight and couldn’t finish him. Anderson got a few bumps and bruises, but let’s be realistic, you’re on a guy 23 minutes and you couldn’t finish him? Why should he get a rematch?" As expected, initial reaction to this post was all over the map on Twitter @stevecofield.

BASEjumping
Flying
Paragliding
Hanggliding
Mountainbiking

On Saturday, Canadian MMA fans heard some good news. The sport was legalized in Ontario, with events starting in 2011.The UFC brass rejoiced. President Dana White Tweeted his thanks to the Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, while VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner Tweeted that, "We’re excited."They have good reason to be excited. Ontario’s capital of Toronto is the largest city in Canada, a haven for MMA fans. Shows in Montreal and Vancouver have sold out quickly, and the UFC is eager to try for another sellout at the Rogers Centre, a large arena in Toronto. White and Ratner aren’t alone in their excitement. Sportsnet’s Joe Ferraro, an Ontario native who has long covered MMA, was emotional over the prospect of finally getting to see his sport in his hometown.As I write this article, I am experiencing a heightened sensation that sees my eyesight as blurry and my veins pumping with adrenaline while I smile from ear to ear. I knew this day would come but I never anticipated the emotional rush. Many of my close friends, colleagues, peers and family members are calling this my own personal victory, comparing to having my hand raised in a title fight. UFC veteran and Canadian Jason MacDonald worries that though MMA in Toronto won’t be enough to move the sport forward considering that Vancouver shut the doors to MMA after UFC 115.That’s great news, but I must say I’m not sure it’s as huge as everybody thought it would be. Toronto’s the biggest city in Canada and it opens the doors to having a UFC event in Toronto, and it’s great to have another MMA event in Canada. But the door appears to have been slammed shut on MMA in Vancouver so as one door is opened, another closes.Jeff Joslin, a former fighter, is looking beyond Toronto. He wants to bring MMA to his hometown of Hamilton. From thespec.com:"I have family and friends who have never seen me fight," he said."I’ve never had the chance to be a hometown fighter … maybe now I can be part of bringing a fight to Hamilton."Not everyone in Canada is thrilled. A doctors group in British Columbia has called for a ban of the sport, though one writer points out the problems with such a ban. From The Province: The doctors’ concern for the health of the fighters — presumably their motivation in calling for the ban — is reasonable. After all, they’re doctors.But their call for a ban is illogical. Many sports kill and maim their participants in much greater numbers than MMA, which has lost just two fighters in its history. Compare that with the hundreds of race-car drivers or football players who have died while competing and the dozens of boxers, skiers, jockeys and soccer and hockey players who’ve perished. And that’s not counting serious injuries. By the BCMA’s logic, shouldn’t those sports also be banned? MMA fighters, like athletes in other risky sports, accept the risks they are taking.MMA is already an incredibly popular sport in Canada. Welcome to the fray, Ontario.

Scubadiving
Mountaineering
Iceclimbing
Rockclimbing
Bouldering

A commercial I just finished with AVE is now up up at Vans, as well as over here if you prefer quicktime. It’ll be airing on FOX during the August 28th Maloof Money Cup coverage. We made the entire thing last month in under two weeks. Some behind the scenes photos are also up on the Vans Syndicate blog.

BobBurnquist
BrianDeegan
BrianPatch
ChadMuska
ChrisKlug

Thiago Alves can never separate himself from the weigh-in drama storyline. The stocky Brazilian is massive for the 170-pound class and it’s always an adventure in the days leading up the weigh-in. This week was no different. Alves was reportedly 190 pounds on Wednesday morning. Today, sounded bright with reports that he was 177 in the morning. But it didn’t work out, even with two weigh-in attempts. Alves missed the mark, had to forfeit 20 percent of his purse and may have cost himself the title shot promised to the winner of his fight against Jon Fitch. With the threat of Alves missing weight, it sounded like White had changed his mind overnight telling Fanhouse (7:10 mark) that Fitch, Alves, Jake Shields or Martin Kampmann could be in line for the title shot after Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck fight. Alves couldn’t have donehimself any favors by missing weight again! The energy was high as the main event combatants hit the scale. Chael Sonnen was all business while Anderson Silva had fun on the scale acting as if he was nervous that he was going to miss weight. Silva flipped the script during the staredown by refusing to look at Sonnen. The challenger has done a helluva job hyping the fight but it sounded like he made plenty of enemies amongst the fans. UFC 117 weigh-in (Courtesy MMAJunkie):Pay-Per-View card:
Champ Anderson Silva (184.5) v. Chael Sonnen (185)Thiago Alves (171.5) v. Jon Fitch (170.5)Ricardo Almeida (170.5) v. Matt Hughes (170.5)Junior Dos Santos (240) v. Roy Nelson (263)Rafael dos Anjos (156) v. Clay Guida (156)Non-televised card:
Dustin Hazelett (169.5) v. Rick Story (169.5)Phil Davis (205.5) v. Rodney Wallace (206)Charlie Brenneman (171) v. Johny Hendricks (171)Tim Boetsch (206) v. Todd Brown (206)Christian Morecraft (263) v. Stefan Struve (247)Dennis Hallman (171) v. Ben Saunders (171)

PogoPowerbocking
Paintball
Jibbing
Parkour
AndreReynolds

Wingsuitflying
BASEjumping
Flying
Paragliding
Hanggliding

For some reason in mixed martial arts, immediate rematches are usually frowned upon. The younger demographic likes new blood in the cage, especially when it comes to title fights. So when will we see Chael Sonnen get another shot at Anderson Silva? Sonnen was leading 4-0 (40-35, 40-34, 40-36) and on his way to winning the fifth round when he got caught in a triangle choke. The prefight hype was amongst the best in UFC history and the fight was dynamite. Sonnen’s willingness to put himself on the line with what seemed like outrageous guarantees, will likely pay dividends in the form of pay-per-view buys that could be in excess of 750,000. The second fight will be even bigger. So can the UFC afford to slip in another contender before Sonnen and Silva meet? And isn’t it incredibly risky to make Sonnen fight someone else in the interim? Yahoo! Sports’ MMA expert Kevin Iole thinks there’s only one choice for the UFC and we could be waiting a while before we see the rematch.Update: Silva’s manager Ed Soares sounds like he’s already lining up against giving Sonnen an immediate shot. Soares told FightHype: "I mean, I don’t necessarily think an immediate rematch is legitimate. It’s not like he won by decision. You got submitted man. You were on top of him for 23 minutes of the fight and couldn’t finish him. Anderson got a few bumps and bruises, but let’s be realistic, you’re on a guy 23 minutes and you couldn’t finish him? Why should he get a rematch?" As expected, initial reaction to this post was all over the map on Twitter @stevecofield.

LisaAnderson
Mark\”Gator\”Rogowski
MarkKenney
MattHoffman
MikeJones

Check out Cagewriter’s exclusive pictures from Tracy Lee from UFC on Versus 2. You don’t want to miss some of the excellent punch faces and crowd shots, and Takanori Gomi’s celebration pose.

Paragliding
Hanggliding
Mountainbiking
BMX
Inlineskating

TUF 12 Cast RevealedUltimateFighter.comSee More: TUF 12 • Josh Koscheck • Georges St PierreThe next generation of potential UFC fighters has arrived. Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" has an interesting collection of lightweights. You’ve got experienced fighters like Steve Sharp, Dennis Davis and Nam Phan, who have a combined 81 pro fights. Phan (15-7) is a veteran of Sengoku, King of the Cage and Strikeforce. And then a crew of 18 fighters between 21-24 years old. For the most part, it appears Spike and the UFC stayed away from combatants just entering the sport. TUF 12 debuts Sept. 15.

Inlineskating
Cliffdiving
Stunt
PogoPowerbocking
Paintball

Just got done judging the Documentary entries of the LA Skate Film Festival. There were some amazing films, some very moving and some funny.
Check out their Event Schedule and try to make it to LA. You won’t be dissappointed.

PogoPowerbocking
Paintball
Jibbing
Parkour
AndreReynolds

Just got done judging the Documentary entries of the LA Skate Film Festival. There were some amazing films, some very moving and some funny.
Check out their Event Schedule and try to make it to LA. You won’t be dissappointed.

Sandboarding
Windsurf
Kitesurfing
Riverboarding
Riversurfing