Koppenhaver goes out fighting before hitting the big house

No one can say they're surprised. Jon Koppenhaver has been battling demons for a while. After several bar brawls, the law finally caught up with the man who changed his name to "War Machine" and he's headed to jail for a year on July 16.The former UFC fighter took a fight last week on just five days notice against former Xtreme Couture gym mate John Alessio. Before hitting the pen, War Machine made some money at Tachi Palace Fighting 5 but was put to sleep for his efforts.The final straw with a dust up in March at a San Diego bar named Thrusters. There was no "he said, he said" this time. The melee was caught on video and was a key during the trial.The UFC must love this news report describing War Machine as a "UFC fighter." The AP did the same thing in its lede. He last fought for the promotion in 2008. Machine escaped serious trouble in three other bar and party brawls.In 2008, while still under contract with the UFC, he was arrested in San Diego
for choking a man unconscious and punching him in the face as he lay
on the ground. Then, in 2009, he was arrested following a fight outside a nightclub in Las Vegas.
Later that same year, while he was working as a porn actor, he was allegedly
involved in a brawl with several people at a birthday party for an adult film
actress.After his appearance on Season 6 of "The Ultimate Fighter," Machine carved out his niche on the web. His maniacal rantings on MySpace were classic. He crossed the line several times when he suggested someone should "smoke" the president, got fired when he ripped Bellator fighting and trashed the UFC for the way it handled the death of Evan Tanner.This time, instead of a slap on the wrist, Machine is being put away.  It's a pretty scary proposition yet he was on Twitter on Saturday and Sunday waxing poetic about life. After the lousy pizza, he took in a movie and wanted to brawl with someone eating popcorn. Then someone told him to get help. On Sunday, it was time to watch some soccer. The kid is funny but he needs some serious help. Hopefully he gets the rehabilitative effects of jail and doesn't come out even more troubled and angry.  martial art mma fight mma training anderson silva

Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski: Affliction Day of Reconing picks

 




I just HAD to find time to writing at least something about this card/fight. I can not wait till tonight and am really hating the anticipation. It really doesn't matter how the fights turn out because of the fact that Fedor is fighting again just few months after fighting Sylvia and is fighting a legit threat in Arlovski.

HD Net put tugether a pretty good, not great, "get to know Fedor" show "FEDOR: The Baddest Man on the Planet". It was good to have a few fighters that have fought Fedor and give him credit that he never takes himself. I was disappointed with the fact that there really wasn't that much "new" footage. A lot of the Fedor footage was taken right out of Pride FC's "Champions" series they did on Fedor, Nogueira, Sakuraba and Silva. BUT... this is one of the few Fedor specials that actually had him LAUGH. That's right, Fedor actually laughs and it was great to see some type of emotion out of him. If you missed the show on HD Net, go visit Afflictions website and watch their promo videos, they're pretty much the gist of the whole Fedor show and you get to see some Arlovski training as well. AND if you watch the press conference, you'll get to see the surprize "superstar" that Affliction unfortunately decided to deal with, Tito Ortiz, make a total fool and tool of himself and Affliction too. The dumbass can't even read a fight card and as usual reiterated to everyone that he can't present himself in any other manner other than pound his chest before fights and then get embarrased by his inability to fight any good. Thank you Lyoto Machida! You gave me one of the most satisfying experiences when you exposed Tito Ortiz for what he is - a one dimensional never-improving hack. I just hope Affliction didn't spend a lot of money on him or sign a multi deal contract. Who's next? Ken Shamrock, just for Tito?


Oh and I just found out that Fedor apparently has an instructional book too, Fedor: The Fighting System of the World's Undisputed King of MMA, though I haven't seen it yet. Onto the fights though, besides Fedor vs Arlovski there are a few good fights that are kind of compelling to see.


Jay Hieron vs Jason High - Jay Hieron has been on a tear in IFL and looked great. Training at Xtreme Couture's has been great for him, as it is for any other fighter. Picking Hieron. (really though I just haven't seen Jason High fight. If he beats Hieron, he'll definitely be on everyone's radar)


Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Vladimir Matyushenko - hmm, kind of a tough one for me. Matyushenko rediscovered his MMA career in IFL and looked great recently. Noguiera on the other hand had a decent run in Pride but hasn't really shined. His brother's disappointing catatonic performance against Frank Mir (who's delusional by the way, Brock will TKO him and then break his leg off and then eat it) is kind of weighing on my judgement here, they're twins you know. I think the style that Nogueira's developed and used recently isn't cutting it any more and Matyushenko will hit harder standing and will most certainly get on top and then ground and pound him for decision. Picking Matyushenko.


Paul Buentello vs Kiril Sidelnikov - one of the things that kind of surprised me is that, at least according to the HD Net Fedor special i mentioned earlier, Kiril Sidelnikov is Fedor's main training partner.  It's great for Sidelnikov on one hand because training with someone better than you always make you improve more, especially Fedor. On the other hand though, many times training with someone much better than you all the time may give you a false confidence. It has happened countless times before, a fighter comes from a huge famous fight camp and is fighting another fighter from a barely known camp. Then the fighter who's sparring partners are guys that don't even fight beats a fighter that can kinda hang with a group of pro fighters. I really hope that it will not be the case for Sidelikov. He's striking looks a lot like Fedors and ground will definitely be better than Buentello's, given his success in Combat Sambo tournaments. Buentello won't be a push over, his striking is dangerous and his KO's are a pretty good testament to that. Picking Sidelnikov by being smart and taking it to the ground.


Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs Thierry Sokoudjou - Sokoudjou made a huge splash in Pride FC's 205 division by KO'ing two top guys at the time, Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. His UFC's showings however quickly took the air out of the hype he quickly build for himself in Pride. Powerful and athletic he appears to be lacking stamina and heart. Picking Sobral to weather a few hard kicks and punches from Sokoudjou early on and take over by whatever he wants, striking or submissions.


Vitor Belfort vs Matt Linland -  No matter how ugly sometimes Linlands fights turn out, I've always respected his tenacity, will to win and willingness to cross train. His striking may never be beautiful, but his jiu-jitsu is coming along very nicely. Too bad he lost a few years of fighting because of the self absorbed Dana White and is getting up there in age. Belfort's been hot and cold for years now and while still young will probably never get up to the hype level he initially garnered. Picking Linland by outworking Belfort and breaking his will and body. Hopefully beating Belfort will get Linland a couple more good and high profile fights.


Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel -  Barnett finally avenged his loss to Pedro Rizzo in a so so fight. Barnett did pretty damn good in Pride FC's last heavyweight Grand Prix getting to the finals, especially after a long stint in japanese pro-wrestling. So another win is a win. Affliction must have spend a bunch of cash on Barnett liking his quirky personality and are giving him a gift fight to set him up with the winner of Fedor vs Arlovski.  Yvel has near zero chance to beat Barnett, if Barnett just takes him down and doesn't goof off standing up. Picking Barnett with one hand behind his back.


Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski - historic fight this may be not, but a huge mega fight it sure is! Everyone is waiting for Fedor to finally to succumb to the reality of MMA - everyone loses and it's ok. There are just too many variables and ways to win that at some point you get caught. This will be a tough fight. Arlovski looked great against Rothwell, but I really think Rothwell made Arlovski look good. Sometimes certain bodytypes/styles make the same fighter look better than others. After his second loss to Sylvia, Arlovski didn't look all that great against Jake O'Brian, PeDepano or that other boring brazilian dude that trains with CroCop that made Gonzaga give up before their fight even started. So one fight where Arlovski kinda let go and looked like the former aggressive self made him into the guy that can beat Fedor? Almost everyone that fought Fedor could have beaten him, not that Heath Herring hack though. Even Tim Sylvia, while not landing a single shot on Fedor, still had a good chance of beating him. It just hasn't happened yet. Arlovski does look awesome in training, very fast, he's got a new famous boxing coach. Fedor? Fedor still trained in Starii Oskol with a handful of trainers and Kiril Sidelnikov who he just beats on. He's just special like that. I'm picking Fedor to beat Arlovski after Arlovski will put up a pretty good fight, though I think it will go to the ground where Arlovski isn't that good and Fedor really shines.


I also have to say that it's VERY PETTY of UFC to run Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture's UFC for free tonight on Spike. D$ck move. I'm sure fans are getting tired of all the UFC cards one after another and are itching for some even a little different. I think Affliction will pull through this and continue on their decent card and if they manage to have Fedor on each one, they'll be even better. I'd always pick Fedor's PPV vs Rich Franklin or Henderson, no offense to Rich.


 


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UFC 92 picks Forrest Griffin vs Rashad Evans Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Jackson Nogueira vs Mir

As usual, I say these will be super quick fight picks for UFC 92, but then I'll probably end up writing for an hour. Besides the fact that this is a really star studded event, like the old Pride year end event used to be, here are my picks.


Forrest Griffin Vs. Rashad Evans - what a tough pick this is for me, Rashad has been winning steady and last fight was a huge statement, especially for this confidence in his skills. Even though Forrest beat on Rampage a bit in their last fight, Rampage wasn't nearly at his best, but he has that advantage of going through that tough 25 minute championship fight and after being knocked down in the very first. So I like both guys, but I'm leaning towards Rashad and his power. Picking Rashad Evans.


Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Vs. Frank Mir - I'm honestly not sure what Mir can do to Nogueira. His striking is still isn't good enough for Noguiera and his latest submissions were against guys that are inexperienced at them. I give Nogueira striking advantage, stamina and submissions for that matter. He'll wear Mir out in the very first round, peper him with all kinds of striking. In the second he'll proceed to doing the same and finish Mir in the third. Picking Nogueira by just being better at everything and experience.


Wanderlei Silva Vs. Quinton Jackson - In both of their previous fights Rampage started off better than Silva and as soon as he got into any type of rhythm or a good position he was interrupted. In the first it was the ref for an odd reason, when Rampage was on top and pretty active and could have very well worn Silva out to finish him later. In the second he did great in the first round and spend good energy to get Silva on the ground and be on top before the bell rung. Silva showed why he was still great after exlusively beating up on 10+ japanese fighters and cought Rampage with some amazing forever-highlight reel shots. Again I really like both guys and both faltered lately. I hope Rampage learned from Silva-vs-Liddell, and Silva vs CroCop for that matter, that straight shots are Silva's cryptonite, Achilles's heel, whatever. Silva hopefully got some more good training in at Randy Couture's. So I want Rampage to win and hope he got whatever messed him up for the Griffin fight taken care of and is in better shape physically and metally.


CB Dollaway Vs. Mike Massenzio - picking CB Dollaway and his peruvian necktie, cause I get a feeling Massenzio is there to make CB look good again and promote him further.


Cheick Kongo Vs. Mostapha Al Turk - picking Kongo because he should be pretty hungry for a win after he basically gave away a fight he was winning a no talent hack Heath Herring.


Yushin Okami Vs. Dean Lister - So...like...wtf is Dean Lister still doing in UFC? Honestly! I know Dana hates Yushin Okami, but it is a damn sport that's already so popular that if there are a few guys that are not exiting but beat other good fighters with skill, IT IS OK. I mean, look at how boring Lyoto Machida can be, but he is damn good and in my opinion has redeemed himself when he gave Tito Ortiz the biggest humiliation of his life. Yep, and that's after Randy spaked Tito in front of millions. Anyways, hope Okami beats up Lister and moves on to the contender list for 185 right after.


Ryo Chonan Vs. Brad Blackburn- picking Ryo Chonan.


Other fights - who cares.


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Gazzy Parman Seminar at The Griphouse - 10th of August

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UFC on Versus 2 odds and betting lines for 'Jones vs Matyushenko' on Aug. 1

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Sarah Kaufman's slam-KO makes ESPN "SportsCenter" Plays of the Week

Strikeforce women's welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman's slam-knockout
of title challenger Roxanne Modafferi continues generating interest.

In fact, the Showtime-televised Strikeforce Challengers 9 co-headliner earned a spot on ESPN "SportsCenter's" Plays of the Week.

The vicious knockout earned the No. 4 spot on the internationally broadcast top-10 list.



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This weekend's Aussie fights: Daley is back, Sapp is ready to sue

The fun and crazy world of fighting has yet another promoter trying to dip his toe into the "stream" of revenue. Impact FC is grabbing every MMA fight veteran it can find in putting together three fight cards down under. Last week, Karo Parisyan, Jeff Monson, and Thierry Sokodjou were all successful at Impact FC 1. This weekend may not be such a smooth ride. The big names include Paul Daley, Ken Shamrock and Paulo Filho along with Bob Sapp. Scratch that. Sapp has become the first casuality. In what must be an omen for the rest of the fighters, the fighting behemoth was dumped from the card yesterday. The reason? Sapp, who's in Bulgaria training and making a movie, was told the cost of the plane ticket was too expensive and the promotion refused to pay his way to Sydney. "I'm not going to allow anybody to screw me over. What I never liked is that
I go to these other countries and they just treat fighters and people
like
crap. It's just rude," said Sapp.He made the mistake of not having his purse money put in escrow which gave the promoter, Tom Huyggins, the ability to walk away without losing a dime up front. 
"That's why they used the loophole, and that's why they
jumped," Sapp said. Meanwhile, Daley is back and ready to fight. He's the guy who was steaming up the UFC welterweight rankings, then lost to Josh Koscheck at uFC 113 and followed the frustrating defeat with a sucker punch just seconds after the fight. UFC president Dana White exploded and fired Daley. "For me, the whole incident has become a bit insignificant," Daley told Sherdog.
"Before I got to the UFC, I was doing just fine. My name was out there; I was
fighting top guys. Everyone's goal is to be with the UFC, and I feel like I did
myself justice. I made a mistake, but there's still paychecks out there."
Daley said if he keeps winning he may be invited back to the UFC. Check out Jordan Breen's story for a recap on the odd behavior from both Shamrock and Filho. I'm glad we missed this presser. All you need to see if this bugged-eye interview with Shamrock last week to get a feel for his mental state. And we already know Filho is fighting demons and the demons are winning. Frankly, they should be fighting each other and the loser gets fitted with a straight jacket. Impact FC 2 airs on pay-per-view on Saturday night in U.S.  Ken Shamrock v. Pedro RizzoPaul Daley v. Daniel AcacioPaulo Filho v. Denis KangMurilo “Ninja” Rua v. Jeremy
MayMurilo Bustamante v. Jesse TaylorPeter Graham v. Jim YorkeGlover
Teixeira v. Marko PeseljRichie Vaculik v. Glenn Taylor-SmithShane
Nix v. Manuel RodriguezTBD v. Soa
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