lightweights
You are currently browsing the articles from MMA Factor matching the category lightweights.
(In Trigg’s defense, he had just gotten out of the pool.)
Sengoku’s “Fourth Battle” went down today in Saitama, Japan, featuring the long-awaited returns of Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg, and the first round of their lightweight grand prix. In a non-tourney main event bout, Gomi faced 5-1 Korean DEEP vet Seung Hwan Bang — who should have been steamrolled by the legendary “Fireball Kid” — but Bang hung in for all three rounds. Eventually, Gomi’s accurate striking and control of the fight’s pace convinced the judges to unanimously give him the win. Trigg’s opponent was Makoto Takimoto, a judoka and PRIDE vet who came into the fight with a 4-4 MMA record, and as with Gomi, the fight was a little more difficult than it should have been. Trigg dominated the standup and inflicted major damage from top positions on the ground, but Takimoto nearly caught Twinkle Toes in a kimura in the second round, and spent a lot of the third on top; still, it wasn’t enough to prevent the judges from giving Trigg the decision after the fight went the distance.
The first round of Sengoku’s lightweight tournament held some surprises as three big names were unceremoniously bounced out of the competition. The HIT Squad’s Clay French was tapped in 31 seconds via achilles lock by former Pancrase mainstay Satoru Kitaoka, and jiu-jitsu ace Rodrigo Damm also suffered a first-round submission at the hands of Eiji Mitsuoka. Former IFL lightweight champ Ryan Schultz, who was the biggest favorite to win his first GP match, got his lights put out by a superman-punch from Cage Force champ Mizuto Hirota in the second round of their fight. Full results after the jump; videos to come.
Main Event Bouts:
Takanori Gomi def. Seung Hwan Bang via unanimous decision
Frank Trigg def. Makoto Takimoto via unanimous decision
Lightweight Grand Prix Opening Round:
Mizuto Hirota def. Ryan Schultz via KO (superman punch), 4:25 of round 2
Kazunori Yokata def. Bojan Kosednar via unanimous decision
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Rodrigo Damm via submission (rear naked choke), 3:13 of round 1
Satoru Kitaoka def. Clay French via submission (achilles lock), 0:31 of round 1
Undercard:
Valentijn Overeem def. Yoshihiki Takahashi via KO (flying knee), 2:42 of round 1
Moise Rimbon def. Peter Graham via submission (rear naked choke), 0:42 of round 2
Yang Dong Yi def. Pawel Nastula via TKO, 2:15 of round 2
Written by admin on August 24th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on lightweights and Japan and grand prix and Fourth Battle and gp and Superman punch and results and Frank Trigg and Takanori Gomi and Recap and "Sengoku" and Ryan Schultz and MMA.
We’ve called it “a Fight of the Year waiting to happen” — and luckily, it’s happening. Sources have confirmed that top UFC lightweight contenders Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian will face each other at UFC 87 (August 9th; Minneapolis, MN), with the winner all but guaranteed an immediate shot at the 155-pound belt.
Huerta is 16-0 with one no-contest in his last 17 fights (22-1-1 +1 NC overall), including six consecutive victories in the UFC; by UFC 87, he will have been inactive for eight months. Kenny Florian most recently dispatched Joe Lauzon at UFC Fight Night 13, and hasn’t suffered a defeat since his title fight against Sean Sherk in October 2006. As Florian told MMAWeekly:
“[Huerta is] a game opponent, and he’s never going to quit. It doesn’t matter how tired he gets, he’s gonna keep going, and those are the kind of guys that I want to fight. He’s on a roll, he’s very confident right now. And I like the kid. I know him personally. He’s a good kid, and we get along great. He has a bright future, regardless of what happens in the fight with me.”
See, when Florian talks trash, it’s so subtle that you barely notice it.
Huerta/Florian is such an outstanding matchup because it seems like both fighters’ career trajectories have been pushing them towards each other. It’s not a title fight, but it has all the importance of one, and will help to establish a clear ranking order in the UFC’s lightweight division. (For the same reasons, Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson is also one of those fights that needs to happen.) Let us know your early predictions in the comments section and in our new poll. For those of you who have bought into the “Roger Huerta is overhyped and hasn’t faced tough competition” line, here’s my rebuttal: Winning 16 straight fights is an amazing achievement no matter who you’ve fought, because 1) every opponent represents a different style challenge that may cause problems for you, even if they’re a lesser fighter on paper, and 2) everybody gets caught once in a while. An undefeated record or a monstrous win streak like Huerta’s shows that a fighter is well-rounded enough to handle whatever he encounters in the cage, and doesn’t make the minor errors in judgment that lead to eating an unexpected right hook.
I’m not saying he’ll win; I’m just sayin’.
Written by admin on April 29th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on lightweights and Kennly Florian and UFC 87 and News and UFC and Roger Huerta and MMA.
(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)
DREAM announced today that Gesias “JZ” Calvancante and Shinya Aoki will face each other again at DREAM.2 (April 29th; Saitama, Japan), to decide which fighter will proceed to the second round of its all-star lightweight grand prix. Calvancante and Aoki’s first match, at last month’s DREAM.1, ended in a no-contest after Calvancante landed a series of illegal elbow strikes to the back of Aoki’s neck, and Aoki wasn’t able to continue fighting; Calvancante had been dominating the action up to that point, and many fans speculated that Aoki overplayed his injury in order to escape the fight and avoid a loss.
DREAM.2 will also feature the opening round of a middleweight grand prix that will feature bouts between Denis Kang and Gegard Mousasi, Kiyoshi Tamura and Masakatsu Funaki, and (possibly) Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara; Yoshihiro Akiyama and Ikuhisa Minowa are also expected to participate. The winner of the JZ/Aoki battle will have to compete again just two weeks later at DREAM.3 (May 11th; Saitama, Japan) against Katsuhiko Nagata, who defeated Artur Oumakhanov by unanimous decision in the lightweight tourney’s first round. The rest of the lightweight GP’s second-round matchups look like this:
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luis “Buscape” Firmino (note: Kawajiri and Firmino previously met at PRIDE Bushido 8 in July 2005, where Kawajiri won by unanimous decision.)
Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Caol Uno (note: Uno, a UFC/K-1 Hero’s vet, didn’t compete in the lightweight GP’s first round, and is getting an automatic bye into the second.)
Joachim Hansen vs. Eddie Alvarez (note: Joachim Hansen is a freakin’ beast.)
Written by admin on April 4th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on JZ and lightweights and DREAM.2 and DREAM.3 and Gesias Calvancante and Japan and News and DREAM and Shinya Aoki and MMA.
Many of you wanted the underdog to pull this one out, but it’s hard not to be impressed by Kenny Florian, who faced another tough opponent last night and walked away without so much as a scratch. The match certainly lived up to the hype, with a wild first round and decisive finish. Unfortunately, Lauzon was completely lost under Florian’s mount, and did very little to control Florian’s body. The better fighter won; simple as that. Let’s hope the UFC grants Ken-Flo’s wish and gives him a fight with Huerta to decide the 155-pound division’s next lightweight title contender…
Written by admin on April 3rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Kenny Florian and TKO and lightweights and Videos and Roger Huerta and UFC and Joe Lauzon and MMA.
By CagePotato Special Contributor Brian Knapp
Clay Guida had Roger Huerta reeling. Up two rounds to none in their main event showdown at the Ultimate Fighter 6 live finale in December, Guida could have taken his foot off the gas and coasted to a decision victory. No one would have blamed him. Instead, he hit the throttle.
Early in round three, Huerta rocked a shooting Guida with a jarring left knee, and the pendulum swung in his favor. Huerta took his dazed opponent’s back soon after and secured a rear-naked choke for the tapout. Their memorable bout — a strong candidate for best fight of the year — ended 10:31 after it began. Huerta was reduced to tears afterwards. Guida went back to the drawing board.
“It was an honor to be a part of that fight; Roger’s a warrior,” Guida says. “I think he and I are very similar. He fights with a lot of heart and passion, and people know when they come to watch us, they’re not going to see a lackluster fight.”
As has been his custom, Guida made certain he had nothing left to give inside the cage. The free-spirited Chicagoan vows to learn from the mistakes he made.
“I was up 2-0 and got clipped,” he says. “I learned from every exchange, from every opportunity I missed. It’s not always about the outcome. I missed six or seven chances to end that fight.”
Guida returns to the Octagon on Wednesday, when he meets French UFC newcomer Samy Schiavo at Ultimate Fight Night 13 at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colo. The lightweight tilt will take place on the preliminary portion of the 12-fight card, which airs on Spike TV (7pm ET/PT) and leads into the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 7.
“I want to start off the year right with a decisive victory,” Guida says. “He’s coming into my cage, and I’m going to send him back to the doghouse. We’ll see how I bounce back. We’ll see on Wednesday what I learned from my fight with Roger.”
(more…)
Written by admin on March 31st, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UFN 13 and Interview and lightweights and Features and Samy Schiavo and UFC and Clay Guida and MMA.
By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes
On April 2nd, Kenny Florian headlines the next edition of Spike TV’s “UFC Fight Night,” where he’ll take on lightweight up-and-comer Joe Lauzon. While most fans know that Florian, like Lauzon, got his start in the UFC with The Ultimate Fighter, what they don’t know is that his journey really began with a near-death experience that changed his outlook on life.
Florian took a trip to Brazil in the summer of 2003 with the goal of improving his jiu-jitsu. While hiking down a mountain with some friends, Florian slipped on the wet, mossy rocks and began sliding off a precipice. Friends tried to grab him, but Florian plummeted over the edge and fell “for what seemed like an eternity.” He landed on a rounded rock that stopped his fall and ultimately saved his life. The experience was an eye-opening one for Florian, and it prompted him to abandon the safety of his white-collar life and pursue his dreams.
In this exclusive interview, Florian talks about the ramifications of that incident, about being haunted and motivated by defeat, and about his impending showdown with Lauzon and what it means for his career.
CagePotato: You came into the UFC by way of The Ultimate Fighter, and you’d only had a few professional fights at that point. What’s the major difference between that Kenny Florian and the one we see in the Octagon now?
Kenny Florian: That last Kenny Florian’s a punk. No, the Kenny Florian on The Ultimate Fighter was a guy who was trying to test his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was a guy who really wasn’t sure if he wanted to become a fighter. It was just an opportunity that was presented to him at the time.
Now you’re seeing a guy who wants to learn it all and who wants to be a master of it all, and who sees the beauty in any technique that works. Whether it’s striking or wrestling or expanding my jiu-jitsu game for MMA, I’m trying to not only get good at the individual arts but find a circle of techniques that flow into each other and compliment each other. It’s an art in itself, just finding what works for MMA.
Now that you’re fighting at lightweight and having success, do you ever look back and wonder, “What was I thinking trying to be a middleweight?”
I was fat, that’s the main thing that comes to my mind. I had no concept of nutrition, of strength and conditioning. Not until after the Sherk fight did I have any concept of those things like the way I do now. I was definitely a work in progress, but I was crazy then. I was really a natural 155’er who was given an opportunity to compete at 185 and I thought, why not? I had nothing to lose.
I had no idea it would become this big, running show. I thought it could have been my only opportunity to fight for the UFC or fight on TV and help bring this sport to the masses. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and on top of that, week after week, I became more confident. I thought, with the skills I have now I’m doing well against all these experienced mixed martial artists, I may have a chance at winning this thing.
It was really one of my first experiences with mixed martial arts and it was a great chance to work out with great coaches like Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell and find out what it takes to get to that next level. Those are the guys that planted the seed in my head for what I’m doing now.
Reading past interviews with you, it seems like you’re really motivated by your losses. What’s it like after a big loss, when you get back to the dressing room and have to face that dark moment? How do you move past it?
It’s a terrible, terrible feeling. My loss to Sean Sherk haunts me to this day. At the same time it motivates me, and I can look at it as a positive experience. You can let things like that defeat you, or you put them behind you and learn from them and get better. That’s what I tried to do. There’s no such thing as a setback in life. There are only lessons. We’re made to evolve and get better and faster and stronger. You can do that within your own life.
It’s like pushing weights for the first time and your body’s sore and it sucks and it’s really hard, but after a while your muscles and your nervous system and everything gets stronger. Your muscle memory gets better. That’s the way it is with certain things in fighting. If you have a loss, you need to look at it and learn from it. What technical mistakes did I make? What strategic mistakes did I make? What mental mistakes did I make?
You cover all those bases and, if you need to, write it down and start working on patching those holes up. You can only look at it as a positive and live in the present day. If you live in the past, you’re dead.
(more…)
Written by admin on March 17th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on BJJ and jiu-jitsu and Ken-Flo and lightweights and Interview and Kenny Florian and UFC and BJ Penn and Joe Lauzon and MMA.