Sunday, November 6, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Four Dramatic Finishes Highlight Bellator 36 with Chandler, Woodard, Imada, & Freire advancing to the Semi-finals
This was just the beginning of an action-packed Bellator 36.
Lloyd ‘Cupcake’ Woodard impressed in his Bellator debut showing excellent balance and takedown defense on his way to a second round TKO of veteran Carey Vanier. A Woodard left hook early in the second round left Vanier noticeably shaken, ‘Cupcake’ subsequently finished him with strong ground and pound to earn the TKO just 46 seconds into the round.
Last minute replacement Josh Shockley was no match for 2009 Submission of the Year winner Toby Imada, as Imada displayed his superior ground game by submitting Shockley with a text book armbar in the first round. Shockley had some success early when on his feet, but once the fight went to the ground, Imada dominated to earn the victory.
The night’s final fight was an absolute battle that ended with a Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire highlight knockout of ‘Razor’ Rob McCullough in the closing round. Freire dominated McCullough early, but couldn’t put the veteran away. McCullough came back strong in rounds two and three, but Freire answered with a huge right hand that sends the Brazilian to the semi-finals.
“We expected great fights tonight and we were not disappointed. Our Lightweights put on a spectacular show at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium tonight,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney.
Official Main Card Results:
Rob McCullough Patricky Freire def. Rob McCullough by TKO [3:11, Round 3]
Toby Imada def. Josh Shockley by Armbar Submission [ , Round 1
Lloyd Woodard def. Carey Vanier by TKO [0:46, Round 2]
Michael Chandler def. Marcin Held by Arm Triangle Submission [3:56, Round 1]
The UFC purchases rival MMA promotion Strikeforce
By Mike Johnston @MikeyJ_MMA
Dana White and the UFC have announced that Zuffa has purchased rival mixed martial arts promotion Strikeforce. In an interview with Ariel Helwani of mmafighting.com White made the announcement that has the MMA community buzzing. This deal is different to when World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the UFC several months ago, and to when Zuffa purchased PRIDE in 2007. The UFC and Strikeforce will run as two separate entities.
White touched on the UFC’s plans to continue its expansion in Canada and across the world. “The UFC is the premiere brand of mixed martial arts. I’ve been saying for ten years, we have a plan to take this thing global and make this thing the biggest sport in the world,” said White. “We’re going into 55,000 seats in Toronto, Canada, we just sold out in Australia again and we plan on going to China… we’re going to Korea, we’re going to Japan, we’re going to India, we’re going to all these different places.”
“Up in Toronto, since we went up there and got Ontario done, there’s like 20 [upcoming MMA] shows scheduled just in Ontario now,” said White. “Strikeforce could end up in Canada and other parts of the world,” White added.
White repeatedly said in the interview that “it is business as usual” and that nothing will change in the near future. If a fighter is currently signed with Strikeforce they will not appear in the UFC. White also stated that co-promoting with Strikeforce is not something in the cards. White did however say that in the future they could make some “tweaks” to have the Strikeforce brand become more viable to a wider audience.
There were several key reasons as to why the UFC made the deal according to the UFC President: “Number one, we do acquire their library [of fight footage] and we have the largest mixed martial arts library on the planet. Number two is we continue to go into these other countries and we continue to grow and expand the business. I’ve been saying this for the past year-and-a-half, we need more fighters, we need to put on more fights.”
Strikeforce currently has some of the most high profile mixed martial artists in the world including: Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, Gilbert Melendez, Dan Henderson, ‘Jacare’ Souza, and Canadian Sarah Kaufman.
To watch the entire interview CLICK HERE.
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