Starting with UFC 100's gigantic fights, this upcoming summer stretch is the busiest and most important in the history of the sport. Maybe we're saying things like that too much lately, but they're true.
Though there was no shortage of fights over the past four weeks, SI.com's mixed martial arts rankings remain fairly stable as a packed couple of months near.
No matter who wins, who loses and who leaves the UFC, most of us are still stuck on one scenerio: Fedor Emelianenko signing with the leading organization.
ST. LOUIS -- Continuing on his mission to prove jiu-jitsu, aggressive submission-seeking jiu-jitsu, is a mighty fine and effective way to win a fight, Jake Shields snagged Robbie Lawler's neck and strangled him in front of 8,867 fans Saturday at the Scottrade Center.
With newly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida supplanting Rashad Evans atop the deep division, volatility is once again the story of SI.com's monthly mixed martial arts rankings.
As Lyoto Machida walked through the corridors of the MGM Grand Garden Arena back to the locker room after knocking out previously undefeated Rashad Evans in the second round of their main-event fight Saturday, tears welled up in his eyes as he looked down at the new UFC light heavyweight championship belt wrapped around his waist.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Lyoto Machida proved to be both precise and extremely efficient as he used his unorthodox fighting style to dismantle Rashad Evans and claim the UFC light heavyweight title on Saturday night. With no wasted movement and a patient, minimalist attack, Machida devastated Evans with a second-round knockout that made an indelible impression on the 12,606 fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
'Round and 'round we go, Machida or Evans nobody knows. Well, not for another hour or so.
Saturday in Las Vegas, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida will call upon generations of martial arts wisdom and practice as he attempts to defeat Rashad Evans and claim the UFC light heavyweight title.
Upon hearing that Roy Jones Jr. had offered to step into the cage to face Anderson Silva, one of the world's best MMA fighters, under MMA rules, I had just one question: Is he serious?
Starting with UFC 100's gigantic fights, this upcoming summer stretch is the busiest and most important in the history of the sport. Maybe we're saying things like that too much lately, but they're true.
Though there was no shortage of fights over the past four weeks, SI.com's mixed martial arts rankings remain fairly stable as a packed couple of months near.
No matter who wins, who loses and who leaves the UFC, most of us are still stuck on one scenerio: Fedor Emelianenko signing with the leading organization.
ST. LOUIS -- Continuing on his mission to prove jiu-jitsu, aggressive submission-seeking jiu-jitsu, is a mighty fine and effective way to win a fight, Jake Shields snagged Robbie Lawler's neck and strangled him in front of 8,867 fans Saturday at the Scottrade Center.
With newly crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida supplanting Rashad Evans atop the deep division, volatility is once again the story of SI.com's monthly mixed martial arts rankings.
As Lyoto Machida walked through the corridors of the MGM Grand Garden Arena back to the locker room after knocking out previously undefeated Rashad Evans in the second round of their main-event fight Saturday, tears welled up in his eyes as he looked down at the new UFC light heavyweight championship belt wrapped around his waist.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Lyoto Machida proved to be both precise and extremely efficient as he used his unorthodox fighting style to dismantle Rashad Evans and claim the UFC light heavyweight title on Saturday night. With no wasted movement and a patient, minimalist attack, Machida devastated Evans with a second-round knockout that made an indelible impression on the 12,606 fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
'Round and 'round we go, Machida or Evans nobody knows. Well, not for another hour or so.
Saturday in Las Vegas, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida will call upon generations of martial arts wisdom and practice as he attempts to defeat Rashad Evans and claim the UFC light heavyweight title.
Upon hearing that Roy Jones Jr. had offered to step into the cage to face Anderson Silva, one of the world's best MMA fighters, under MMA rules, I had just one question: Is he serious?
You really don't need to look further than the style matchup generated by Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin to get excited by their August fight. But if you did, it's not difficult to find scenarios that make Silva-Griffin meaningful beyond the mere potential of a great fight.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva isn't bored. Nor is he frustrated. About his decision win over Thales Leites at UFC 97 on Saturday, Silva is said to be satisfied. And criticism following the contest, in which Leites refused to engage while trying anything he could to avoid the champion's infrequent attacks, has fallen on deaf ears.
MONTREAL -- UFC President Dana White knew this would be Chuck Liddell's last fight before it ever began. He knew the moment that Liddell stepped into the Octagon at the Bell Centre to fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua that it would be the last time he would ever see "The Iceman," who helped build the UFC into the giant it is today, hit the mat with his signature Mohawk and tattooed scalp.
Win or lose Saturday in Montreal, Thales Leites finds himself a partner to history.
In a world of celluloid action stuffed with CGI fights and sci-fi gadgetry, thank heavens for Jason Bourne, the amnesiac assassin who's so lethal that he can turn a hardback book into a weapon.
Ranking mixed martial artists is, to be fair, an inexact science. Rules across the sport are dissimilar, weight classes don't always conform and fighters have been known to jump from division to division. And all such factors played into SI.com's latest MMA rankings.
So long as Quinton Jackson is healthy following his three-round scrap with Keith Jardine at UFC 96 on Saturday, the former light heavyweight champion will return to the cage in May for his third fight in five months.
(From the comfort of his living-room recliner, SI.com's MMA guru Josh Gross breaks down all the UFC 96 action from Columbus, Ohio -- including the two main events: Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (heavyweights) and light heavyweights Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson vs. Keith Jardine.)
On one hand, Keith Jardine is a terrible businessman. On the other, nearly everything the 33-year-old mixed martial artist does is geared with an eye toward the future, when fighting can no longer sustain him as it has over the past nine years.
With so many stories unfolding in the last 10 days, it felt appropriate to hit on a bunch of topics. Judging from the emails in my inbox, fight fans aren't sure where to focus. There's plenty of clutter from St. Pierre-Penn 2, some positive and negative reaction to my latest rankings, and a sense of excitement following news that MMA would return to CBS and Showtime.
One month down, 11 more to go. If they're all as busy as January, we're in trouble. Of course, an active schedule means plenty of fights between ranked competitors, and as we pause to see how the world's best mixed martial artists stack up, a sense of stability seems to be setting in.
James Johnson last entered the cage on May 13, 2006. Since then the Wake Forest sophomore has competed exclusively on a basketball court, but just pose the question -- "When you were a fighter... " -- and he's visibly offended by the verb tense. He slides forward in his seat at the Demon Deacons' practice facility. "I'm not done fighting," he says, throwing a few air jabs while exhaling sharply for effect. "I think about fighting all the time." His last fight seems as fresh in his mind as the previous night's 92-89 home court upset of North Carolina, an outcome that had fans storming the court and, for one week anyway, made Wake Forest the No. 1 team in the nation.
Minutes after telling the press he felt "totally comfortable" with a 6-foot-5, 237-pound speed merchant buzzing rights and lefts past his ears, Fedor Emelianenko decompressed in the Honda Center's aptly named Red Room.
Stepping into a new year seems like a fine time to pause for a snapshot of mixed martial arts' weight classes. MMA has sprouted vibrant divisions from heavyweight down to 135, creating scenarios for relevant fight after relevant fight. And a look at seven of the most widely utilized classes reveals just how rich Zuffa has become with elite fighters.
My final column of 2008 comes with the help of SI.com's MMA readers. We've got reaction to UFC 92, a look ahead for Rashad Evans, my latest pound-for-pound top 10 and Andrei Arlovski's plan to defeat Fedor Emelianenko.
LAS VEGAS -- It was billed as one of the deepest and most anticipated fight cards that the UFC had staged in its 15-year history. With two title fights, a third grudge match amongst MMA legends and a bevy of up-and-coming stars littered throughout the under card, Saturday's UFC 92 pay-per-view not only showed the depth of the company's talent pool but highlighted the impact that The Ultimate Fighter reality television show has had on the sports' growth since TUF premiered four years ago next month.
Purity doesn't own a monopoly on sport's best moments. On thankfully rare occasions, absurdity can do an equally wonderful job reminding us what greatness looks like.
Three headline fights. Three definitive endings. Once again, parity and power made a wonderful mess of things.
Sada Jacobson may be a world champion fencer with three Olympic medals, but dressed in a T-shirt and sweats, she looked like any other student getting a lesson at the gym.
Cutting remarks, "helpful" suggestions, subtle (or not-so-subtle) stabs -- how to handle these verbal ambushes?
Just as the neighborhood drag racing champ isn't necessarily NASCAR material, winning a bunch of no-holds-barred brawls -- no matter how spectacularly -- doesn't make you a professional mixed martial arts fighter. Yet after his back-alley Miami street-fighting prowess had rendered him a YouTube sensation, Kevin Ferguson (nom de guerre: Kimbo Slice) wasn't merely offered a hefty contract in 2007. The founders of EliteXC based their entire fighting organization and its TV deal with CBS on Kimbo's menacing presence.
Saturday marks two weeks since Golden Boy Promotions and Affliction Entertainment announced four cards conjoining boxing and mixed martial arts in 2009. On Friday, both groups will finally sit down to hammer away at the details of their budding relationship.
Jet Li, the multi-talented star who counts martial arts, acting and extensive humanitarian work among his many accomplishments, joined CNN's Anjali Rao for a special edition of Talk Asia filmed in front of a live audience in Hong Kong.
Phew. If you haven't already, you may want to take a moment and catch your breath. In June I wrote the "summer of 2008 could go down as a tremendously important stretch for the sport" -- it sure didn't disappoint.
Rich Franklin used to spend his days teaching math to high school students. Today, he spends his evenings in an octagon-shaped cage grounding and pounding fighters into submission in front of thousands of screaming fans.
Boxing and mixed martial arts attract different audiences. In coming together Saturday, Golden Boy Promotions and Affliction Entertainment hope to fuse generations connected by little more than the love of a good fight.
Much has happened since my last mailbag. I received a lot of reaction to the passing of Evan Tanner, some of which are posted here. Thanks to all of you who shared your thoughts. I also received some questions about Rashad Evans' knockout of Chuck Liddell and the impact of Randy Couture's return to the UFC.
Randy Couture isn't used to having people root against him. During his 10-year career in the UFC the man nicknamed "The Natural" and "Captain America" has been one of the biggest fan favorites in mixed martial arts. It's one of the reasons Couture took on the role of Sargon, the villain in The Scorpion King 2: Rise Of A Warrior, which is being released on DVD Aug. 19 and is the prequel to the 2002 film The Scorpian King starring Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson.
Tito Ortiz believes he is in line to become the highest paid MMA fighter in history when a "ground-breaking" deal between the free-agent fighter and Affliction is announced as early as Wednesday during a press conference for Affliction's next card, which will be held Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Although they live on opposite sides of the world, Charlotte Craig and Luo Wei share the consumer habits typical of their generation. Craig, a shy 17-year-old from Murrieta, Calif., texts her friends on her cell. She goes to the mall. She paints her fingernails black and her toes pink.
Hoping to erase the disappointing no-contest that marred Robbie Lawler's EliteXC middleweight war against Scott Smith in May, the pair met again Saturday -- in primetime on CBS -- picking up where they left off.
As introductions go, Fedor Emelianenko's encounter with Tim Sylvia was terse.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The first sanctioned world title fight in mixed martial arts history became official Friday afternoon when Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia made weight at the Honda Center.
More and more, mixed martial arts -- not boxing -- has sports fans asking, "Did you see the fight?" But after July 19, such an inquiry could have double meaning.
After turning down a lucrative offer to fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship last fall, Fedor Emelianenko has since changed the face of mixed martial arts' heavyweight division.
From reality TV star to UFC champion, Forrest Griffin's mixed martial arts ascendancy hit its highest mark Saturday in Las Vegas.
Evan Tanner came to mixed martial arts looking for adventure. He found fame, success and a UFC championship.
Of the things that might work up a sweat this summer, simply flipping channels between mixed martial arts events may be one of them.
Rodolphe Guenoden, 39, originally from Noyon, France, is an animator at Dream Works, and a martial arts veteran. He's worked on blockbusters like Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, and Madagascar.
Ever since Robin Williams' turn as the Genie in "Aladdin," voice artists who specialize in character work for animated movies have been sidelined by celebrities, no doubt tickled to do something they can show to their children.
DreamWorks' latest ani-movie offers sublime kung-furious panda-monium
The classical music blasting over the phone as I waited on hold for a World Extreme Cagefighting conference call was a real disconnect.
Angelina Jolie is the talk of the Cannes Film Festival.
Two very different animated features stake their own ground at Cannes.
Bad dubbing, angry men with extraordinary facial hair, balletic fighting and more blood than you can shake a nunchuck at: just some of the key ingredients to make a perfect kung fu flick.
Ringside seats don't necessarily guarantee the best view of a fight. Especially, thought Renato Verissimo, if you don't know what you're watching.
David Mamet's homage to jiu-jitsu plays a little too rushed and breathless
One of the questions I'm often asked is this: When today's kids, who love the so-called Extreme Sports -- that's the X Games, like skateboarding -- grow up, won't that mean that traditional sports will tumble in popularity?
He's the butt-kicking, karate-chopping, kung fu superstar who rose from nowhere to conquer Hollywood in a spectacularly visual style.
Western cinema's relationship with martial arts has been a rocky one. Like many genres, kung fu has drifted in and out of fashion, but it has never regained the same popularity as its glorious heyday in the early 1970s.
Now is your chance to quiz Jackie Chan. The superstar of martial arts blockbusters hits Talk Asia in full force next month, and we'd like to know what question you'd like him to answer.
AR: Gordon, welcome to Talk Asia. Now you've been famous in this part of the world for many, many years now, but you only recently came to international attention in "Kill Bill." Tell us how that came about.
If you ever questioned the adage "looks can deceive," check out Chris Horodecki. Though Horodecki just turned 20, he resembles an unimposing high school freshman who hasn't quite lost all of his baby fat. Yet in ten professional mixed martial arts fights, he is undefeated, mauling some of the baddest dudes on the planet. Just check out the kick at the end of this sequence.
The bridge had been dangling in the river for less than a week, but it had already become a macabre civic landmark, the Twin Cities' answer to Manhattan's Ground Zero. On a scorching day last August, Roger Huerta was piloting his Jeep Commander from downtown Minneapolis to the St. Paul YMCA, where he trains in mixed martial arts. He drove slowly as he crossed the Mississippi River, pointing out the remnants of the I-35W bridge, whose collapse had caused the deaths of 13 Minnesotans six days earlier. When Huerta saw a slab of folded highway bobbing in the water, his eyes widened, and he rested a hand on his beard. "Unbelievable," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "One second you're driving home from work, wondering what you're going to eat for dinner. Then wham! In the snap of a finger you're underwater."
There are many interesting facts in Chuck Norris' resume. He is a six-time undefeated karate world champion. He is the first man in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded an 8th Degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in Tae Kwan Do. He is Walker, Texas Ranger. Yet, his most famous facts are nowhere to be found.
How should Gabriel Gonzaga explain his nickname? "Napao. It means in Portuguese, uh...big nose," Gonzaga says.
For UFC fans looking for the newest up-and-coming fighters, World Extreme Cagefighting's TV special from Las Vegas on Sunday, with a double headliner of Paulo Filho vs. Joe Doerksen and Carlos Condit vs. Brock Larson is a must-see. The promotion, owned and operated by UFC parent company Zuffa, focuses on lighter weight classes and fighters on the rise.
This Where Are They Now feature and others like it can be found in the July 2nd issue of Sports Illustrated.
The controversial sport now has female participants -- with Brazil in the lead
Saturday night was all right for fighting. But the pageantry for the 69th card in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's tough-and-rumble existence began much earlier that week. Long before the fighters unhinged the latch of the steel Octagon on April 7 and fought on a card titled UFC 69: Shootout, thousands of fans had converged on Houston, tribalists on a pilgrimage. The prefight weigh-ins drew massive crowds. The line for the fighters' autograph show wreathed the girth of the Toyota Center, the venue for UFC 69. The downtown bars and restaurants were overrun by fight fans.
Heart problems? Me?
On TV, Michael Imperioli honors the godfather. Off-screen, he bows to a martial arts grandmaster.
At 21 years of age, Ng Wai-Sze has decided that the 9-to-5 grind in an office is not for her.
Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid" earned him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 73.
• Martial Artist | Bruce Fenton
Hero, Crouching Tiger and House of Flying Daggers -- Chinese martial arts movies have been making some breathtaking moves on the international cinema circuit in recent years.
For Ralph Macchio, there's just no escaping "The Karate Kid."
When it comes to working out, no exercise regimen is "one size fits all," but one particular martial art form comes pretty close.
Surfing isn't fun unless it's dangerous. I got injured last Easter at my house on the north shore of Hawaii. I pulled my hamstring--tore it two inches off the bone. I'm still recovering from that. ...
Spurred by the pizza-tossing Ninja Turtles and action heroes like Chuck Norris and the late Bruce Lee, children ages four to 17 have given a kick to enrollment in karate classes. Some 60% of the es...
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