Category: News

The UFC will be throwing MMA fans another freebie with the UFC live: Sanchez versus Kampmann fight event, scheduled for March 3, 2011. The Sanchez versus Kampmann fight card will be the third UFC event broadcast live on versus. Here are my predictions for the UFC live: Sanchez versus Kampmann MMA event.

Diego Sanchez versus Martin Kampmann

The main event of the night, this MMA fight is a classic striker versus grappler matchup. Sanchez is a solid wrestler that should have no problems dominating the grappling. Kampmann is clearly the better striker. Despite the fact that Kampmann has showed decent takedown defense in the past, Sanchez should be able to secure takedowns and finish off Kampmann on the ground. Sanchez wins by TKO

C.B. Dollaway versus Mark Muñoz

Tough fight to call, both men are solid MMA fighters. Muñoz has faced tougher fighters in the past, and that experience will help against the well rounded Dollaway. Muñoz wins by decision.

Alessio Sakara versus Chris Weidman

Undoubtedly the toughest fight in Weidman's short fight career, Weidman will try to keep his undefeated MMA record intact. He will have a hard time against the tough veteran Alessio Sakara, who is currently on a three fight win streak. Alessio's experience will prove too much for Weidman, and Weidman will suffer his first loss in professional MMA. Sakara wins by TKO.

Brian Bowles versus Damacio Page

Both MMA fighters will look to make good impressions with the fans in their UFC debut. Given the fact that Bowles has only lost to one of the best MMA fighters in Dominick Cruz, he should have no problems taking care of Damacio Page. This fight ends just like the first one, Brian Bowles wins by submission.

Joe Stevenson versus Danny Castillo

The UFC didn't do Danny Castillo any favors, when they matched him up with Joe Stevenson in his first appearance in the octagon. Joe Stevenson is coming of tough losses to Mac Danzig and George Sotiropoulos, and is hungry for a win. He will come out aggressively against Castillo, and should overwhelm the UFC newcomer with some serious ground and pound. Joe Stevenson wins by decision.

Undercard

Thiago Tavares defeats Shane Roller

Erik Koch defeats Cub Swanson

Takeya Mizugaki defeats Reuben Duran

Dong Yi Yang defeats Rob Kimmons

Rousimar Palhares defeats Dave Branch

Todd Brown defeats Igor Pokrajac

David is a Brazilian Jiu jitsu and boxing practitioner that has watched and studied MMA for the past 6 years.

Sources:

Fight and fighter information from sherdog.com and ufc.com

*Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Strikeforce challenger 14 event turned out to be a decent MMA fight card, with every single fight besides the main event ending before the final bell. Here are the results for the Strikeforce challenger 14 MMA fight event which took place in Austin Texas.

Pat Healy defeats Lyle Beerbohm

The main event of the evening was an entertaining MMA fight that went the full distance. Beerbohm came out strong and seemed to the more imposing fighter. Healy was able to withstand Beerbohm's initial assault. He turned the fight around in the second round and ended up pulling off the unanimous decision.

Carlo Prater defeats Bryan Travers

Prater immediately takes Travers down and secures a tight anaconda choke. The entire MMA fight only lasts 38 seconds.

Ryan Couture defeats Lee Higgins

Couture second MMA fight was significantly tougher than his first. Couture seemed to be the better MMA fighter, dominating Higgins in both the striking and grappling department. Couture finally secures a rear-naked choke and forces the tap in the final minutes of the final round.

Ryan Larson defeats Erik Apple

For a moment it seemed like Apple had no problems defending against Larson's takedown attempts. Larson eventually scores a takedown, and dominates Apple on the ground. Larson eventually ends the MMA fight in the second round with a triangle choke from back control.

David Douglas defeats Nick Gonzalez

Douglas jumps all over Gonzales, never giving Gonzales a chance to recover. Douglas rushes Gonzales to the floor and finishes him off with a rear-naked choke.

Aaron Franco defeats Ousmane Thomas Diagne

Franco takes Diagne to the ground early in the MMA fight, but is unable to pass his opponents guard. Diagne goes for an ankle lock, and Franco uses the opportunity to improve his position. He secures the mount and finishes the MMA fight with some brutal ground and pound.

Drew Pendleton defeats Dennis Dombrow

Pendleton looks good at first, taking Dombrow to the ground and punishing him. Dombrow eventually gets back on his feet, catching Pendleton a few times with punches of his own. Dombrow continues to dominate the striking in the second round. He gets careless on a takedown attempt and finds himself trapped in a guillotine choke.

Former UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn addressed questions regarding the future of his MMA career. After losing his second fight to Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn moved up in weight class to fight former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes. Ever since, many have speculated BJ would be staying permanently at the welterweight division. In a video blog, BJ Penn informed MMA fans about his plans to return to the UFC lightweight division.

When Penn returned to the UFC in 2006, he tasted defeat in his first two fights against Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. Penn went on to capture the lightweight belt, and for a moment seemed to be unstoppable. Unfortunately for BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar took away a lot of his mystique with his upset victory over Penn at UFC 112. The rematch at UFC 118 was just as shocking as their first match. Edgar seemed too quick and too good a wrestler for Penn to deal with. Edgar's ability to stuff Penn's attempts at takedowns and keep the fight standing really shocked MMA fans, given the fact that Penn has had so much success against great wrestlers like Matt Hughes in the past.

Whether Penn will be better off in the lightweight division is a matter of opinion. The jump to the welterweight division isn't a big deal for a fighter like BJ, who once fought Lyoto Machida as a light-heavyweight. On one hand you can argue fighters in the welterweight division won't be as fast as Frankie Edgar, something that has given BJ problems in their previous encounters.

The fact that a solid number of MMA fans still say BJ Penn won his first fight against Georges St. Pierre, is another reason the welterweight division might be better for BJ Penn. BJ bloodied Georges St. Pierre early in the fight and was able to dominate the striking. The judges ended up giving the decision to GSP, based on takedowns he was able to secure later in the fight. With Matt Hughes and GSP being the only two fighters to defeat BJ Penn at the welterweight division, staying at welterweight might actually be the best thing for his career.

Sources:

MMA News," Penn Clarifies Comments on 155 division, Plans... "

BJ Penn," keeping the fans updated...no more 155 fights?? " bjpenn.com

COMMENTARY | UFC Fight Night 36 wasn't much different from the Ultimate Fighting Championship's previous event, with only two finishes on the entire card.

Lyoto Machida used the opportunity to strengthen his bid for the next shot at the UFC's middleweight strap after Vitor Belfort and the defending champion, Chris Weidman, settle their differences on May 24 at UFC 173.

A few others fighters also used the opportunity to cement their standing in their respective divisions, while others weren't able to get much going.

Here are the biggest winners and losers from the UFC Fight Night 36 card held on Feb. 15 at the Arena Jaragua in Santa Catarina, Brazil:

WINNERS:

1. Lyoto Machida

Machida is well known for his low output during fights, but he turned a corner at UFC Fight Night 36. Despite the fact a majority of his five-rounder with Mousasi was spent standing up, Machida entertained fans with his diverse arsenal of strikes, putting a lot more pressure on Mousasi than many expected.

Lyoto kept up the pace for the entire duration of the bout, making it clear the drop down to 185 pounds doesn't affect his cardio negatively.

It was a dominant performance by Machida against a game opponent, so it wasn't much of a surprise when all three judges gave him the nod afterwards. The UFC's brass was just as impressed with Machida's performance, dubbing it the "Fight of the Night."

2. Erick Silva's heel kicks

It's hard to give Silva any credit for his performance at UFC Fight Night 36 given the fact his opponent, Takenori Sato, was pretty much brought in to lose to the Brazilian. However, "Indio" deserves all the credit in the world for the reverse heel kicks he used to soften Sato up before the explosive TKO finish early in the first round.

If you missed the action, here's a replay of the unorthodox strikes.

It was a nifty little technique I don't recall ever seeing inside the Octagon, and it certainly got all the hardcore MMA fans and weekend warriors talking.

3. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza

Souza passed another tough test at UFC Fight Night 36, using his solid positioning and control to edge out a decision against Francis Carmont. The performance wasn't enough to leapfrog Jacare past Machida in the race for a middleweight title shot, in my opinion, but it was enough to prove the Brazilian's days of struggling against athletic wrestlers are over.

Notable mentions: Charles Oliveira, Nicholas Musoke, Ildemar Alcantara, and Gegard Mousasi.

LOSERS:

1. Viscardi Andrade

Andrade hurt Musoke early in their UFC Fight Night 36 encounter, but, instead of aggressively pursuing the finish, he elected to celebrate prematurely.

Not surprisingly, that turned out to be a huge mistake as Musoke took over the action from that point, dominating Andrade for the remaining two and a half rounds.

2. Mario Yamasaki

A poor call by Yamasaki almost tainted the results of a rather competitive fight between Maximo Blanco and Felipe Arantes -- which was even on my scorecard heading into the final round. An inside leg kick thrown by Blanco strayed from its target and found Arantes' family jewels, and Yamasaki made a bad situation even worse, taking a point away from Blanco for his first infraction of the night.

Fortunately, Arantes ended up getting the better of the exchanges, edging out the third round, so Yamasaki's bad call didn't affect the outcome of the bout.