No Nonsense Griggs Ready to Put The Pressure on Browne

Posted

Wes Soldier Combs  Ray Cooper  Kit Cope  Wesley Cabbage Correira  Patrick The Predator Côté 

Friday night talkback thread: Bellator and two TUFs

Posted

Another Friday night means more live fights on basic cable for your enjoyment. On MTV2, Bellator 62 will feature the opening round of the lightweight tournament. Patricky “Pitbull” Freire will take on Lloyd Woodard and his awesome mustache, J.J. Ambrose will fight Brent Weedman, Olympian Rick Hawn faces off with Ricardo Tirloni and Thiago Michel will fight Rene Nazare. They are all hoping to win the tournament to get a shot at Bellator lightweight champ Michael Chandler.

On “The Ultimate Fighter,” Justin Lawrence will fight Cristiano Marcello in a battle of two highly-touted fighters. Tune into FX for the live fight.

This weekend, fight fans can also tune into the debut of the Brazilian version of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The show will stream online at Br.TUF.tv at midnight ET.

Use this post to talk about the weekend’s MMA happenings, or go to Cagewriter’s Facebook and Twitter page.

Phil Cardella Roan Jucao Carneiro Shane The Engineer Carwin  Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan 

Bellator 64: 175,000 viewers

Posted

MMA Junkie reports Bellator 64 scored an average of 175,000 viewers last Friday night.  The viewership was tied for the current season?s best rating. This week featured one of Bellator?s most well-known fighters, welterweight Ben Askren defending his title.  The rating was a 25 percent increase over last week?s performance. Bellator 63:  140,000 viewers Bellator [...]

Rich Franklin Ian Freeman Don Frye Tony Fryklund Kazuyuki Fujita

American Top Team mining NCAA wrestling for talent

Posted

Though most of the people who set attendance records at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships in St. Louis last week were fans, at least one attendee was there to look for up-and-coming talent. Ricardo Liborio, the leader of American Top Team in Florida, headed to Missouri to find the best athletes who want to make the transition from wrestling to MMA.

Cagewriter spoke to Liborio, who has worked with such fighters as Thiago Alves and Tyron Woodley, about why he is looking to wrestling to find his next great star.

“The endpoint is to recruit guys who are done with their careers as a wrestler. Probably senior guys who want to start their MMA career. Some guys are not making it through their careers, the guys who couldn’t make the Olympic team. And, we’re open. I have some offers for athletes, depending on their caliber of what they can bring to the table. Guys like Bubba [Jenkins], we’re recruiting, we’re negotiating, and we’re willing to invest in them. We’re building them from the ground up,” Liborio said.

He said he’s been looking to wrestlers for years, but attended the NCAA championships for the first time last year. There, he watched Arizona State’s Bubba Jenkins win a national title. Not long after, Jenkins joined ATT, where he’s won both of his fights with a submission.

Liborio says wrestlers make great fighters because of the culture of the sport.

“Work ethic, athletic ability, but mental toughness of keep going, don’t quit. The culture of other sports, that’s not as exalted as it is in wrestling. There are great athletes with a great work ethic who are tough. They compete every weekend, they cut their weight.”

ATT has created a boot camp of sorts to help athletes who have excelled in wrestling transition to MMA, but it works best when future fighters will open themselves up to learn.

“Those guys who understand they’re learning a completely different discipline. Learning, striking, ground game. We have it right now as a science. All those guys who came from just wrestling and go into a kind of boot camp that makes them much better fighters.”

Though several wrestlers will pursue Olympic gold this summer or in 2016, most will not make the team. With ATT and other camps looking out for wrestlers, they have a way to “go pro” in their sport.

Spencer Fisher Jon Fitch Kenny Florian Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam

Scott Hall Arrested for beating GF

Posted

“He’d been drinking for days…”

Image: http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/04/10/0410-scott-hall-arrest-florida-mugshot-1.jpg

Wrestling legend Scott Hall was arrested Friday after allegedly choking…

Ralek Gracie Renzo Gracie Rickson Gracie Rodrigo Gracie Roger Gracie

UFC 146: Alistair Overeem’s T/E ratio at 14:1, more than double NSAC’s allowable limit

Posted

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

When news broke of Alistair Overeem’s positive test for an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio on Wednesday, it was only known that the number was greater than 10:1. Now, the actual number has come down from the lab, and Overeem’s T/E ratio tested at 14:1.

For comparison’s sake, the allowable by the World Anti-Doping Agency is 4:1, with anything over registering as a positive test. The Nevada State Athletic Commission allows for a slightly higher mark at 6:1. Regardless, Overeem was well over either of those marks.

As of last night his camp had not yet requested the testing of his “B” sample, given at the same time as this sample that was flagged following a UFC 146 press conference in Las Vegas last week. NSAC executive director Keith Kizer told MMATorch that nothing has changed on that front, and at the time of this writing Overeem’s camp has still not yet contacted them about testing that second sample.

Penick’s Analysis: Overeem’s only saving grace here will be if the first sample somehow got tainted in the lab. That’s why the B sample needs to be tested. However, if both samples show the same 14:1 T/E ratio it’s nearly impossible for there to be another explanation outside of the use of some type of performance enhancer. This is a similar situation as Chael Sonnen back in 2010, where his T/E ratio was 16.9:1, except Overeem can’t fall back on the TRT claim. At that time, Sonnen’s argument was “yes, I was taking synthetic testosterone, but it was medically prescribed as treatment for hypogonadism.” Considering Overeem’s long held stance that he hasn’t taken PEDs, and the fact that he did not attempt to get a therapeutic use exemption for TRT previously, that’s not something he’s going to be arguing. He’s in a really bad spot here, and this number looks even worse than simply seeing “more than 10:1.”

[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Jai Bradney  Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan Marcelo Brito  Rob Broughton