Bleacher Report - Articles by Anthony Ascue

UFC Fantasy Pool Results (V. 6.5)

Anthony Ascue — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:27:11 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the UFC Fight Night 19 event.

*Remember when/if you make a trade with someone, neither of the fighter's points carry over to the new team. Meaning if one fighter was up 20 points, as soon as he lands in the new team, said fighter will have his points reset to zero.*

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 19 RESULTS

Diaz def. Guillard via SUB
Maynard def. Huerta via SD
Condit def. Ellenberger via SD
Quarry def. Credeur via UD
Stann def. Cantwell via UD
Wilson def. Pyle via SUB
Dollaway def. Silva UD
Stephens def. Buchholz via TKO
Pierce def. Larson via UD
Jensen def. Steinbeiss via SUB

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS

TOP THREE TEAMS

1) MITCH CICCARELLI 53
2) LUNATIC FRINGE 47
3) MIKE LEANZA 41

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS

1) UNCLE-JOE S -44
2) MARCO YANITELLI -43
3) KEN FOSS -33

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS

ANTHONY ASCUE = 13pts
-Demian Maia (0)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (0)
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (0)
-Thiago Silva (0)

MARK HOPPS = 9pts
-Paul Daley (0)
-Dan Hardy (0)
-Kenny Florian (0)
-Terry Etim (0)
-Ross Pearson (0)

LUNATIC FRINGE = 47pts
-Brock Lesnar (0)
-Anderson Silva (0)
-Brandon Vera (0)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Denis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -43pts
-Thiago Alves (0)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (0)
-Maurico "Shogun" Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = -12pts
-Cain Velasquez (0)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Randy Couture (0)
-Mark Munoz (0)
-Dan Henderson (0)

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 33pts
-Lyoto Machida (0)
-Jon Jones (0)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (0)
-Marcus Davis (0)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = -11pts (2-13)
-Georges St-Pierre (0)
-Phillipe Nover (0)
-BJ Penn (0)
-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (-13)

MIKE LEANZA = 41pts
-Jon Fitch (0)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (0)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (0)

KEITH K = -9pts (-26+17)
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (0)
-Wanderlei Silva (0)
-Nate Diaz (17)
-Ricardo Almeida (0)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 53pts (29+24)
-Diego Sanchez (0)
-Nate Marquardt (0)
-Rich Franklin (0)
-Gray Maynard (12)
-Carlos Condit (12)

MIKE D = 39pts
-Frankie Edgar (0)
-Mike Swick (0)
-Joe Stevenson (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Sam Stout (0)

UNCLE-JOE S = -44pts
-Frank Mir (0)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (0)
-Clay Guida (0)
-Forrest Griffin (0)
-John Howard (0)

BOB FLETCHER = -2pts
-Pat Barry (0)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (0)
-Tito Ortiz (0)
-Todd Duffee (0)
-Anthony Johnson (0)

JESSY MORRIS = 26pts
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Tim Hague (0)
-John Hathaway (0)
-Dong Hyun Kim (0)
-Chris Lytle (0)

NATE LAWSON = -19pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (0)
-James Irvin (0)
-Amir Sadollah (0)

MMA SURVIVAL = -17pts (-4-13)
-Chris Leben (0)
-Jim Miller (0)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (-13)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = 38pts (8+30)
-Ed Herman (0)
-Spencer Fisher (0)
-Nate Quarry (13)
-Kurt Pellegrino (0)
-Jeremy Stephens (17)

KEN FOSS = -33pts
-George Sotiropoulos (17)
-Vitor Belfort (0)
-Jason Brilz (0)
-Shannon Gugerty (0)
-Edgar Garcia (0)

JAMIE MORENO = 1pts (13-12)
-Johny Hendricks (0)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (0)
-Roger Huerta (-12)
-Frank Trigg (0)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

(None)

Please continue to next page to see a full list of fighters unavailable for selection.

The following fighters are currently on a roster, and are therefore UNAVAILABLE to be picked up through waivers.

Akiyama, Yoshihiro
Alexander, Houston
Almeida, Ricardo

Alves, Thiago

Bader, Ryan
Barry, Pat
Belfort, Vitor

Bradley, Kyle
Brilz, Jason

Cane, Luiz
Cantwell, Steve
Carwin, Shane
Condit, Carlos
Couture, Randy

Daley, Paul
Davis, Marcus
Diaz, Nate

Dos Santos, Junior
Duffee, Todd

Edgar, Frankie
Escudero, Efrain
Etim, Terry

Filipovich, Mirko "Cro Cop"
Fisher, Spencer
Fitch, Jon
Florian, Kenny
Franklin, Rich

Garcia, Edgar
Gonzaga, Gabriel
Gouveia, Wilson
Griffin, Forrest
Griffin, Tyson
Gugerty, Shannon

Guida, Clay

H

Hague, Tim
Hardonk, Antoni
Hardy, Dan
Hathaway, John
Henderson, Dan
Hendricks, Johny
Herman, Ed
Howard, John
Huerta, Roger
Hughes, Matt

Irvin, James

Jackson, Quinton "Rampage"
Jardine, Keith
Johnson, Anthony

Jones, Jon

Kampmann, Martin
Kang, Denis
Kim, Dong Hyun
Kongo, Cheick

Koscheck, Josh

Larson, Brock
Lauzon, Joe
Leben, Chris
Lesnar, Brock

Lytle, Chris

Machida, Lyoto
Maia, Demian
Marquardt, Nate
Maynard, Gray
Miller, Cole
Miller, Jim

Mir, Frank
Munoz, Mark

Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio
Nogueira, Antonio Rodrigo

Nover, Phillipe

Okami, Yushin
Ortiz, Tito

Palhares, Rousimar
Pearson, Ross
Pellegrino, Kurt
Penn, BJ

Q

Quarry, Nate

Riley, Aaron

Rua, Mauricio "Shogun"

Sadollah, Amir
Sanchez, Diego
Silva, Anderson
Silva, Thiago
Silva, Wanderlei
Sonnen, Chael
Soszynski, Krzysztof
Sotiropolous, George
Stout, Sam
St-Pierre, Georges
Stephens, Jeremy
Stevenson, Joe

Swick, Mike

Trigg, Frank

Velasquez, Cain

Vera, Brandon

Y

Z

Professional Boxing Promoter Calls MMA "Homosexual"

Anthony Ascue — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:04:07 -0400

It's 2009, and despite the plethora of problem's around the world that plague humanity, the one problem you would think could easily be erased by now, still exists: An intolerance to others, and to things that we ourselves do not understand or relate to.

The old saying is, "We fear that which we do not understand."

The new saying is, "If I don't understand it, it must be gay." —At least that is according to long time professional boxing promoter, Bob Arum.

Here's a quote from Bobby himself:

“I look at the UFC audience and the boxing audience as being two different audiences entirely. Our audience in boxing is ethnic, Hispanic, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Mexican and the hard core boxing fan who can't watch, like me, UFC. The UFC are a bunch of skinhead white guys watching people in the ring who also look like skinhead white guys. 90% of the people in the audience wear tattoos.

For me and people like me, it is not something they ever care to see. They watched it, it’s horrible, guys rolling around like homosexuals on the ground. I mean it's not a sport that shows great, great talent. The guys who throw punches can’t throw a punch to save their ass, when the punches land, the guys have no chins. These guys are not like boxers. There is no way the (UFC 100) pay-per-view generated the kind of numbers they put out.

I know what the numbers were—south of one million. They’re not a public company. Who's to check?”

There are many things said in Bob's statement that portray a terrible lack of knowledge of the sport of mixed martial arts. And beyond that, there is also his atrociously bigot remarks regarding MMA's ground game as "homosexual," and it's fighters and fans being nothing more than "skinhead white guys."

It's clueless public comments like this that still hold this sport back from being recognized as a legit form of professional competition. A complete and utter lack of understanding and a refusal to educate ones self onto the sports rules and techniques, still make the legalization of MMA across America, and to the world for that matter, a long uphill battle.

However, fortunately for us, MMA has one thing on it's side that it's most ignorant of detractors will never see coming...educated fans who know better.

How about them apples?

To Mr. Bob Arum, did you not know that current UFC LW champion BJ Penn was the fastest American to win a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? He accomplished that feat in an astonishing three years. Something the average black belt in BJJ takes nine to ten years to accomplish.

Did you also know that BJ Penn is also a former World Jiu-Jitsu Champion?

Or that former UFC MW champion, Rich Franklin was a math teacher in high school?

Or for good measure, how about the fact that current UFC MW title contender, Dan Henderson, actually represented America in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman Wrestling.

Those seem to be pretty heavy accomplishments for the average "white skinhead."

I'm not familiar with a lot of clan members representing America in the Olympics...or teaching math in high school.

But hey, to each his own. When the UFC first started in 93-94, no boxing promoter gave this sport the time of day. Now it seems that more and more boxing promoters seem to have more and more opinions about it. It's a shame that some of them have to be as bigoted and ignorant as the ones that Bob Arum made.

Maybe in a not so distant future, people will actually educate themselves first before they publicly spout off an opinion on an issue they know almost nothing about. But then again if that were the case, FOX news would be dead, and outspoken democrat, Bill O'Rielly would be with out a job.

And if I can't see Bill O'Reilly freak out and scream at teenagers on live television for disagreeing with his opinions, then quite frankly I'm not sure I'd want to live anymore.

To Bob Arum and the rest of the people on the planet who are still consumed with ignorance and intolerance of things they do not understand, I hope you all one day are able to release that burning hatred you have in your heart to those different from you.

Or, that one day you all just suffer slowly from dysentery.

Till then, I hope you all enjoy this upbeat video of Bill O'Reilly losing it. Now dance!

UFC Fantasy Pool Results (V. 6)

Anthony Ascue — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:14:45 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the UFC 102 event.

UFC 101 RESULTS

Nogueira def. Couture via UD
Silva def. Jardine via KO
Marquardt def. Maia via KO
Rosholt def. Leben via SUB
Vera def. Soszynski via UD
Simpson def. Herman via TKO
Gonzaga def. Tuchscherer
Russow def. McCully via UD
Duffee def. Hague via KO
Munoz def. Catone via SD
Dunham def. Aurelio via SD

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS

TOP THREE TEAMS

1) LUNATIC FRINGE 47
2) MIKE LEANZA 41
3) MIKE D 39

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS

1) UNCLE-JOE S -44
2) MARCO YANITELLI -43
3) KEN FOSS -33

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS

ANTHONY ASCUE = 13pts (0+13)
-Demian Maia (-17)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (13)
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (0)
-Thiago Silva (17)
******************************
Dustin Hazelett (0): RELEASED

MARK HOPPS = 9pts
-Paul Daley (0)
-Dan Hardy (0)
-Kenny Florian (0)
-Terry Etim (0)
-Ross Pearson (0)

LUNATIC FRINGE = 47pts (34+13)
-Brock Lesnar (0)
-Anderson Silva (0)
-Brandon Vera (13)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Denis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -43pts (-26-17)
-Thiago Alves (0)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (-17)
-Maurico "Shogun" Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = -12pts (1-13)
-Cain Velasquez (0)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Randy Couture (-13)
-Mark Munoz (12)
-Dan Henderson (0)
******************************
Marcus Aurelio (-12): RELEASED

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 33pts
-Lyoto Machida (0)
-Jon Jones (0)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (0)
-Marcus Davis (0)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = 2pts
-Georges St-Pierre (0)
-Phillipe Nover (0)
-BJ Penn (0)
-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (0)
******************************
Josh Neer (0): RELEASED

MIKE LEANZA = 41pts
-Jon Fitch (0)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (0)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (0)

KEITH K = -26pts
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (0)
-Wanderlei Silva (0)
-Nate Diaz (0)
-Ricardo Almeida (0)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 29pts (12+17)
-Diego Sanchez (0)
-Nate Marquardt (17)
-Rich Franklin (0)
-Gray Maynard (0)
-Carlos Condit (0)
******************************
Martin Kampmann (0): RELEASED

MIKE D = 39pts
-Frankie Edgar (0)
-Mike Swick (0)
-Joe Stevenson (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Sam Stout (0)
*****************************
Sean Sherk (0): RELEASED

UNCLE-JOE S = -44pts (-31-13)
-Frank Mir (0)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (-13)
-Clay Guida (0)
-Forrest Griffin (0)
-John Howard (0)

BOB FLETCHER = -2pts (-34+32)
-Pat Barry (0)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (15)
-Tito Ortiz (0)
-Todd Duffee (17)
-Anthony Johnson (0)

JESSY MORRIS = 26pts (43-17)
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Tim Hague (-17)
-John Hathaway (0)
-Dong Hyun Kim (0)
-Chris Lytle (0)

NATE LAWSON = -19pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (0)
-James Irvin (0)
-Amir Sadollah (0)
******************************
Mike Pyle (0): RELEASED

MMA SURVIVAL = -4pts
-Chris Leben (-17)
-Jim Miller (0)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (0)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = 8pts (23-15)
-Ed Herman (-15)
-Spencer Fisher (0)
-Nate Quarry (0)
-Kurt Pellegrino (0)
-Jeremy Stephens (0)

KEN FOSS = -33pts (-50+17)
-George Sotiropoulos (17)
-Vitor Belfort (0)
-Jason Brilz (0)
-Shannon Gugerty (0)
-Edgar Garcia (0)
******************************
Paulo Thiago (0): RELEASED

JAMIE MORENO = 13pts (-15+28)
-Johny Hendricks (0)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (0)
-Roger Huerta (0)
-Frank Trigg (0)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

*NEW* MIKE D swapped Sean Sherk for Martin Kampamann
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

*NEW* ANTHONY ASCUE swapped Dustin Hazelett for Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

*NEW* FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Marcus Aurelio for Dan Henderson
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

*NEW* KEN FOSS swapped Paulo Thiago for Jason Brilz
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

*NEW* NATE LAWSON swapped Mike Pyle for Amir Sadollah
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

*NEW* MITCH CICCARELLI swapped Martin Kampmann for Rich Franklin
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

*NEW* GG U swapped Josh Neer for BJ Penn
(transactions suspended until Oct. 1)

Please continue to next page to see a full list of fighters unavailable for selection.

The following fighters are currently on a roster, and are therefore UNAVAILABLE to be picked up through waivers.

Akiyama, Yoshihiro
Alexander, Houston
Almeida, Ricardo

Alves, Thiago

Bader, Ryan
Barry, Pat
Belfort, Vitor

Bradley, Kyle
Brilz, Jason

Cane, Luiz
Cantwell, Steve
Carwin, Shane
Condit, Carlos
Couture, Randy

Daley, Paul
Davis, Marcus
Diaz, Nate

Dos Santos, Junior
Duffee, Todd

Edgar, Frankie
Escudero, Efrain
Etim, Terry

Filipovich, Mirko "Cro Cop"
Fisher, Spencer
Fitch, Jon
Florian, Kenny
Franklin, Rich

Garcia, Edgar
Gonzaga, Gabriel
Gouveia, Wilson
Griffin, Forrest
Griffin, Tyson
Gugerty, Shannon

Guida, Clay

H

Hague, Tim
Hardonk, Antoni
Hardy, Dan
Hathaway, John
Henderson, Dan
Hendricks, Johny
Herman, Ed
Howard, John
Huerta, Roger
Hughes, Matt

Irvin, James

Jackson, Quinton "Rampage"
Jardine, Keith
Johnson, Anthony

Jones, Jon

Kampmann, Martin
Kang, Denis
Kim, Dong Hyun
Kongo, Cheick

Koscheck, Josh

Larson, Brock
Lauzon, Joe
Leben, Chris
Lesnar, Brock

Lytle, Chris

Machida, Lyoto
Maia, Demian
Marquardt, Nate
Maynard, Gray
Miller, Cole
Miller, Jim

Mir, Frank
Munoz, Mark

Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio
Nogueira, Antonio Rodrigo

Nover, Phillipe

Okami, Yushin
Ortiz, Tito

Palhares, Rousimar
Pearson, Ross
Pellegrino, Kurt
Penn, BJ

Q

Quarry, Nate

Riley, Aaron

Rua, Mauricio "Shogun"

Sadollah, Amir
Sanchez, Diego
Silva, Anderson
Silva, Thiago
Silva, Wanderlei
Sonnen, Chael
Soszynski, Krzysztof
Sotiropolous, George
Stout, Sam
St-Pierre, Georges
Stephens, Jeremy
Stevenson, Joe

Swick, Mike

Trigg, Frank

Velasquez, Cain

Vera, Brandon

Y

Z

The Long Story Of The MMA Fan

Anthony Ascue — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:29:22 -0400

At the conception of the organization that is now known world wide as the “Ultimate Fighting Championship” (UFC), there was only one clear and simple rule: There were no rules.

From it’s humble, albeit raw beginnings, fight fans were treated to a unrelenting bare knuckle spectacle of pure unadulterated violence. Matter of fact that was the selling point. The violence. And living up to it’s marketing campaign, were some of the worst and most barbaric display of hand to hand combat ever seen on pay per view (see Paul Varelans).

Fighters with minimal skill were paired up against each other, exchanging punches and wild flurries of strikes that are as visually sloppy and embarrassing to watch as a fight scene from the movie Mortal Kombat... 2. And yet on the other side of the spectrum were fighters of greater skill that were eating up the weaker competition in almost effortless fashion.

For every Tank Abbott and Keith Hackney, there was a more skillfull and masterful tactician in Royce Gracie and Marco Ruas. Fighters that were clearly miles and leagues ahead of the competition. And what started out as basically a commercial for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which quickly became the redneck version of rock’em sock’em idiots, eventually became the breeding ground for some of the worlds best fighters.

And in the process the firing squad for some of the world's worst fighters (see Paul Varelans, again).

Through the evolution of newly adopted rules, the balance of good to bad fighters shifted almost immediately. Consider this the natural selection of MMA. The good fighters evolved with the sport and began to train in multiple disciplines becoming what is now known as a “complete fighter,” where as the weaker fighters got stuck in the past and were left behind.

In the words of Bob Dylan, “the times they are a-changing.” And with the change of fighters inevitably came a change of fans. As the UFC continued to grow and prosper and really form itself into a legit sporting event, the grassroots fans of the old events, began to disengage with the product.

So just like the fighters that couldn’t evolve with the sport, the fans that chose not to evolve with the sport got left behind in the past as well.

I suppose you could say that the big question is, how does the new fan base affect the grand scheme of things for the sport? And I suppose the simple answer is, by education. By learning and tolerating all aspects of the sport, and all of it’s techniques & disciplines. Something the original fans of the sport didn't do.

Now with years and years of slowly building a new fan base, and with the help of the Internet, more and more people started to become aware of the sport. Naturally through watching the events, more and more people started to become hooked on the sport and started to educate themselves (gradually) on all the different strategies and moves.

The “triangle choke” and “kimura” became as synonymous with the MMA fan, as the “touch down” and “blitz” is to the football fan. And through all of this learning from the sport's newer fans, came even more learning about the sport from people who aren’t even fans of it.

What started out as a spectacle buried in backwoods USA, steadily became one of the fastest growing and biggest money making sports around the world.

I assure you the old grassroots fans of the sport did not accomplish this with their support...the new generation did. We did.

The sport is where it is today because in time the fighters got better, and because in time the fans got better too. MMA is nothing with out it’s fans. And if the fans didn’t evolve and grow with the sport, all the talented fighters that rose from the all the weaker and lesser talented fighters, would have never had a big stage to showcase their abilities.

Which is what makes right now the best time to be a fan of mixed martial arts.

The fighters keep getting better and better. The young guys that came in toward the beginning of the sport, that cleaned house with all the old guys...are now the old guys themselves being tested by younger and hungrier fighters. It’s a whole new ball game now.

And everyone caught in between that next generation gap, is only breeding the home coming of the fighters that will replace them and take that next step forward for the sport.

Fighters like Damien Maia, Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre and Lyoto Machida. A new breed of fighters that have proved to be leagues above the competition. And with these new breed of fighters, come new fans. Learning the ropes. Watching the fights. Educating themselves and the world in the process.

So with the next evolution of the mixed martial artist right in front of our eyes, just how far are we to the next evolution of the mixed martial arts fan?

The rabid, and long left behind, fans of yesteryear may not have shaped the new fans that came after them, but the same cannot be said for the fans of today, and how we are opening the doors for the fans of tomorrow.

Truthfully, the MMA fan may not be perfect...but I’ll be damned if they don’t know what a gogoplata is.

UFC Fantasy Pool Results (V. 5)

Anthony Ascue — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:10:29 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the UFC 101 event.

Penn def. Florian via SUB
Silva def. Griffin via KO
Riley def. Nelson via UD
Hendricks def. Sadollah via TKO
Almeida def. Grove via UD
Pellegrino def. Neer via UD
McCrory def. Howard via SD
Sakara def. Leites via SD
Ridde def. Cramer via UD
Sotiropoulos def. Roop via SUB
Lennox def. Villefort via TKO

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS

TOP THREE TEAMS

1) JESSY MORRIS = 43PTS
2) MIKE LEANZA = 41PTS
3) MIKE D = 39PTS

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS

1) BOB FLETCHER = -34PTS
2) KEN FOSS = -33PTS
3) UNCLE-JOE S = -31PTS

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS

ANTHONY ASCUE = 0pts
-Demien Maia (0)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (0)
-Dustin Hazelett (0)
-Thiago Silva (0)

MARK HOPPS = 9pts (26-17)
-Paul Daley (0)
-Dan Hardy (0)
-Kenny Florian (-17)
-Terry Etim (0)
-Ross Pearson (0)
******************************
Michael Bisping (0): RELEASED

LUNATIC FRINGE = 34pts (17+17)
-Brock Lesnar (0)
-Anderson Silva (17)
-Brandon Vera (0)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Denis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -26pts
-Thiago Alves (0)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (0)
-Maurico "Shogun" Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = 1pts (13-12)
-Cain Velasquez (0)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Randy Couture (0)
-Mark Munoz (0)
-Marcus Aurelio (0)
******************************
Dan Miller (0): RELEASED
Thales Leites (-12): RELEASED

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 33pts
-Lyoto Machida (0)
-Jon Jones (0)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (0)
-Marcus Davis (0)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = 2pts (15-13)
-Georges St-Pierre (0)
-Phillipe Nover (0)
-Josh Neer (-13)
-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (0)

MIKE LEANZA = 41pts
-Jon Fitch (0)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (0)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (0)

KEITH K = -26pts (-39+13)
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (0)
-Wanderlei Silva (0)
-Nate Diaz (0)
-Ricardo Almeida (13)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 12pts
-Diego Sanchez (0)
-Nate Marquardt (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Gray Maynard (0)
-Carlos Condit (0)

MIKE D = 39pts
-Frankie Edgar (0)
-Mike Swick (0)
-Joe Stevenson (0)
-Sean Sherk (0)
-Sam Stout (0)
******************************
Mark Coleman (0): RELEASED

UNCLE-JOE S = -31pts (-27-4)
-Frank Mir (0)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (0)
-Clay Guida (0)
-Forrest Griffin (-17)
-John Howard (13)

MARIO NOVA = 15pts (13+2)
-Rich Franklin (0)
-BJ Penn (17)
-Rashad Evans (0)
-Dan Henderson (0)
-Amir Sadollah (-15)

BOB FLETCHER = -34pts
-Pat Barry (0)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (0)
-Tito Ortiz (0)
-Todd Duffee (0)
-Anthony Johnson (0)
******************************
Patrick Cote (0): RELEASED
CB Dollaway (0): RELEASED

JESSY MORRIS = 43pts (56-13)
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Tim Hague (0)
-John Hathaway (0)
-Dong Hyun Kim (0)
-Chris Lytle (0)
******************************
Kendall Grove (-13)

NATE LAWSON = -19pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (0)
-James Irvin (0)
-Mike Pyle (0)

MMA SURVIVAL = 13pts
-Chris Leben (0)
-Jim Miller (13)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (0)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = 23pts (10+13)
-Ed Herman (0)
-Spencer Fisher (0)
-Nate Quarry (0)
-Kurt Pellegrino (13)
-Jeremy Stephens (0)
******************************
Brad Blackburn (0): RELEASED
Hermes Franca (0): RELEASED
Tamdan McCrory (-12): RELEASED

KEN FOSS = -33pts (-50+17)
-George Sotiropoulos (17)
-Vitor Belfort (0)
-Paulo Thiago (0)
-Shannon Gugerty (0)
-Edgar Garcia (0)
******************************
Gleison Tibau (0): RELEASED

JAMIE MORENO = 13pts (-15+28)
-Johny Hendricks (15)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (13)
-Roger Huerta (0)
-Frank Trigg (0)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

*NEW* JESSY MORRIS swapped Kendall Grove for Tim Hague
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* JASON ALLEN swapped Tamdan McCrory for Ed Herman
(transaction was contractually based, no suspension has been given)

*NEW* MARK HOPPS swapped Michael Bisping for Paul Daley
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Thales Leites for Marcus Aurelio
(transaction was contractually based, no suspension has been given)

*NEW* BOB FLETCHER swapped CB Dollaway for Todd Duffee
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* BOB FLETCHER swapped Patrick Cote for Tito Ortiz
(transaction was medically based, no suspension has been given)

*NEW* JASON ALLEN swapped Hermes Franca for Nate Quarry
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Dan Miller for Mark Munoz
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* KEN FOSS swapped Jake O'Brien for Vitor Belfort
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* MIKE D swapped Mark Coleman for Sam Stout
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* JASON ALLEN swapped Brad Blackburn for Kurt Pellegrino
(transaction was medically based, no suspension has been given)

Please continue to next page to see a full list of fighters unavailable for selection.

The following fighters are currently on a roster, and are therefore UNAVAILABLE to be picked up through waivers.

Akiyama, Yoshihiro
Alexander, Houston
Almeida, Ricardo

Alves, Thiago
Aurelio, Marcus

Bader, Ryan
Barry, Pat
Belfort, Vitor

Bradley, Kyle

Cane, Luiz
Cantwell, Steve
Carwin, Shane
Condit, Carlos
Couture, Randy

Daley, Paul
Davis, Marcus
Diaz, Nate

Dos Santos, Junior
Duffee, Todd

Edgar, Frankie
Escudero, Efrain
Etim, Terry

Evans, Rashad

Filipovich, Mirko "Cro Cop"
Fisher, Spencer
Fitch, Jon
Florian, Kenny

Franklin, Rich

Garcia, Edgar
Gonzaga, Gabriel
Gouveia, Wilson
Griffin, Forrest
Griffin, Tyson
Gugerty, Shannon

Guida, Clay

H

Hague, Tim
Hardonk, Antoni
Hardy, Dan
Hathaway, John
Hazelett, Dustin
Henderson, Dan
Hendricks, Johny
Herman, Ed
Howard, John
Huerta, Roger
Hughes, Matt

Irvin, James

Jackson, Quinton "Rampage"
Jardine, Keith
Johnson, Anthony

Jones, Jon

Kampmann, Martin
Kang, Denis
Kim, Dong Hyun
Kongo, Cheick

Koscheck, Josh

Larson, Brock
Lauzon, Joe
Leben, Chris
Lesnar, Brock

Lytle, Chris

Machida, Lyoto
Maia, Demian
Marquardt, Nate
Maynard, Gray
Miller, Cole
Miller, Jim

Mir, Frank
Munoz, Mark

Neer, Josh
Nogueira, Antonio Rodrigo

Nover, Phillipe

Okami, Yushin
Ortiz, Tito

Palhares, Rousimar
Pearson, Ross
Pellegrino, Kurt
Penn, BJ

Pyle, Mike

Q

Quarry, Nate

Riley, Aaron

Rua, Mauricio "Shogun"

Sadollah, Amir
Sanchez, Diego
Sherk, Sean
Silva, Anderson
Silva, Thiago
Silva, Wanderlei
Sonnen, Chael
Soszynski, Krzysztof
Sotiropolous, George
Stout, Sam
St-Pierre, Georges
Stephens, Jeremy
Stevenson, Joe

Swick, Mike

Thiago, Paulo

Trigg, Frank

Velasquez, Cain

Vera, Brandon

UFC Fantasy Pool Results (V. 4)

Anthony Ascue — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:50:38 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the UFC 100 event.

Fitch def. Thiago via UD
Lesnar def. Mir via KO
St. Pierre def. Alves via UD
Henderson def. Bisping via KO
Akiyama def. Belcher via SD
Coleman def. Bonner via UD
Miller def. Danzig via UD
Jones def. O'Brien via SUB
Hyun Kim def. Grant via UD
Lawlor def. Dollaway via SUB
Gugerty def. Grice via SUB

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS

TOP THREE TEAMS

1) JESSY MORRIS = 56PTS
2) MIKE LEANZA = 41PTS
3) MIKE D = 39PTS

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS

1) KEN FOSS = -50PTS
2) KEITH K = -39PTS
3) BOB FLETCHER = -34PTS

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS

ANTHONY ASCUE = 0pts
-Demien Maia (0)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (0)
-Dustin Hazelett (0)
-Thiago Silva (0)

MARK HOPPS = 26pts (43-17)
-Michael Bisping (-17)
-Dan Hardy (0)
-Kenny Florian (0)
-Terry Etim (0)
-Ross Pearson (0)

LUNATIC FRINGE = 17pts (0+17)
-Brock Lesnar (17)
-Anderson Silva (0)
-Brandon Vera (0)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Denis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -26pts (-13-13)
-Thiago Alves (-13)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (0)
-Maurico "Shogun" Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = 13pts
-Cain Velasquez (0)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Randy Couture (0)
-Mark Munoz (0)
-Thales Leites (0)
******************************
Dan Miller (0): RELEASED
Paul Kelly (0): RELEASED

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 33pts (3+30)
-Lyoto Machida (0)
-Jon Jones (17)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (13)
-Marcus Davis (0)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = 15pts (2+13)
-Georges St-Pierre (13)
-Phillipe Nover (0)
-Josh Neer (0)
-Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (0)

MIKE LEANZA = 41pts (28+13)
-Jon Fitch (13)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (0)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (0)

KEITH K = -39pts
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (0)
-Wanderlei Silva (0)
-Nate Diaz (0)
-Ricardo Almeida (0)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 12pts
-Diego Sanchez (0)
-Nate Marquardt (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Gray Maynard (0)
-Carlos Condit (0)

MIKE D = 39pts (26+13)
-Frankie Edgar (0)
-Mike Swick (0)
-Joe Stevenson (0)
-Sean Sherk (0)
-Sam Stout (0)
******************************
Mark Coleman (13): RELEASED
Mustapha Al Turk (-15): RELEASED

UNCLE-JOE S = -27pts (3-30)
-Frank Mir (-17)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (0)
-Clay Guida (0)
-Forrest Griffin (0)
-John Howard (0)
******************************
Stephan Bonnar (-13): RELEASED

MARIO NOVA = 13pts (-4+13)
-Rich Franklin (0)
-BJ Penn (0)
-Rashad Evans (0)
-Dan Henderson (17)
-Amir Sadollah (0)

BOB FLETCHER = -34pts (-17-17)
-Pat Barry (0)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (0)
-Patrick Cote (0)
-CB Dollaway (-17)
-Anthony Johnson (0)

JESSY MORRIS = 56pts (43+13)
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Kendall Grove (0)
-John Hathaway (0)
-Dong Hyun Kim (13)
-Chris Lytle (0)

NATE LAWSON = -19pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (0)
-James Irvin (0)
-Mike Pyle (0)

MMA SURVIVAL = 13pts (0+13)
-Chris Leben (0)
-Jim Miller (13)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (0)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = 10pts
-Tamdan McCrory (0)
-Spencer Fisher (0)
-Hermes Franca (0)
-Kurt Pellegrino (0)
-Jeremy Stephens (0)
******************************
Brad Blackburn (0): RELEASED

KEN FOSS = -50pts (-37-13)
-George Sotiropoulos (0)
-Vitor Belfort (0)
-Paulo Thiago (-13)
-Shannon Gugerty (17)
-Edgar Garcia (0)
******************************
Jake O'Brien (-17): RELEASED
Gleison Tibau (-12): RELEASED

JAMIE MORENO = -15pts
-Johny Hendricks (0)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (0)
-Roger Huerta (0)
-Frank Trigg (0)
******************************
Mike Ciesnolevicz (-15): RELEASED

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

*NEW* FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Dan Miller for Mark Munoz
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* KEN FOSS swapped Jake O'Brien for Vitor Belfort
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* MIKE D swapped Mark Coleman for Sam Stout
(transactions suspended until Sept. 1)

*NEW* JASON ALLEN swapped Brad Blackburn for Kurt Pellegrino
(transaction was medically based, so no suspension has been given)

*NEW* FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Paul Kelly for Randy Couture
(transactions suspended until Aug. 1)

*NEW* UNCLE-JOE S swapped Stephan Bonnar for John Howard
(transactions suspended until Aug. 1)

*NEW* KEN FOSS swapped Gleison Tibau for Jake O'Brien
(transactions suspended until Aug. 1)

*NEW* JAMIE MORENO swapped Mike Ciesnolevicz for Roger Huerta
(transactions suspended until Aug. 1)

*NEW* MIKE D swapped Mostapaha Al-Turk for Mark Coleman
(transactions suspended until Aug. 1)

Please continue to next page to see a full list of fighters unavailable for selection.

The following fighters are currently on a roster, and are therefore UNAVAILABLE to be picked up through waivers.

Akiyama, Yoshihiro
Alexander, Houston
Almeida, Ricardo

Alves, Thiago

Bader, Ryan
Barry, Pat
Belfort, Vitor

Bradley, Kyle

Cane, Luiz
Cantwell, Steve
Carwin, Shane
Condit, Carlos
Couture, Randy

Cote, Patrick

Dalloway, CB
Davis, Marcus
Diaz, Nate

Dos Santos, Junior

Edgar, Frankie
Escudero, Efrain
Etim, Terry

Evans, Rashad

Filipovich, Mirko "Cro Cop"
Fisher, Spencer
Fitch, Jon
Florian, Kenny
Franca, Hermes

Franklin, Rich

Garcia, Edgar
Gonzaga, Gabriel
Gouveia, Wilson
Griffin, Forrest
Griffin, Tyson
Grove, Kendall
Gugerty, Shannon

Guida, Clay

Hardonk, Antoni
Hardy, Dan
Hathaway, John
Hazelett, Dustin
Henderson, Dan
Hendricks, Johny
Howard, John
Huerta, Roger

Hughes, Matt

Irvin, James

Jackson, Quinton "Rampage"
Jardine, Keith
Johnson, Anthony

Jones, Jon

Kampmann, Martin
Kang, Denis
Kim, Dong Hyun
Kongo, Cheick

Koscheck, Josh

Larson, Brock
Lauzon, Joe
Leben, Chris
Leites, Thales
Lesnar, Brock

Lytle, Chris

Machida, Lyoto
Maia, Demian
Marquardt, Nate
Maynard, Gray
McCrory, Tamdan
Miller, Cole
Miller, Jim

Mir, Frank
Munoz, Mark

Neer, Josh
Nogueira, Antonio Rodrigo

Nover, Phillipe

Okami, Yushin

Palhares, Rousimar
Pearson, Ross
Pellegrino, Kurt
Penn, BJ

Pyle, Mike

Riley, Aaron

Rua, Mauricio "Shogun"

Swick, Mike

Thiago, Paulo

Trigg, Frank

Velasquez, Cain

Vera, Brandon

Lyman Good: MMA's Best Kept Secret...Revealed (Pt. Two)

Anthony Ascue — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:23:14 -0400

In this conclusion to the two-part exclusive one-on-one interview with Bellator Welterweight (WW) champion, Lyman Good, Lyman talks about almost singing with EliteXC, the Bellator WW tournament and his favorite MMA fighters and fights today.

Part two: (Continued from Pt. one)

ANTHONY ASCUE: Now most people may not have known this, but you were actually scheduled to sign a contract with the now defunct MMA organization, EliteXC. And this was shortly before they went under.

Of course, to the MMA world, I don’t think it was much of a surprise that Elite ultimately went under, clearly they had financial and credibility problems as well. It was a disaster, seemingly almost from the start.

Now when Elite did go under, how did you find out about this? How was this whole catastrophe presented to you?

LYMAN GOOD: A friend of mine who was aware of their financial status pretty much warned me that they were going to have a falling out. He came to me literally just before I was about to sign the contract.

I was set to ink the deal, I had everything cleared and ready and at the time I was thinking, ‘do I have any other options?’ In my head I was thinking if this was it or not.

So we were about a day from making it official and my friend came to me and presented me with an opportunity. Which was the Bellator WW tournament. He really pitched that this would be a major opportunity for me and if I take it and run with it that I could become a champion. And he literally said that I could become a champion. So now, I was thinking, what direction do I take?

I mean you either take a chance on something that you know inevitably will fall apart, or you take a chance on something that hasn’t really started and flourished yet. It wasn’t an easy choice to make. And I admit, at first I was a little skeptical about the whole tournament thing, cause in my head at the time I was thinking ‘what could be better for me than Elite [XC] right now?’

But in the end I put my trust in the guy and believed him when he said that this would be a much better and sound opportunity. And he was right.

AA: Now you were talking about the Bellator WW tournament that your friend had presented to you, which you ended up winning, defeating another up and coming MMA prospect in Omar De La Cruz in the finals. Also getting victories over Jorge Ortiz and Hector Urbina in the quarter and semifinal rounds, respectively.

Talk about how you felt going into the third and final fight of the tournament? I mean were you nervous? Were you excited? Were you just ready to get it over with? How were you going into the fight with De La Cruz?

LG: It’s hard to explain, really. It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel. You put everything to the fullest and go pedal to the metal, it’s all out and you don’t look back. You take every chance that you can possibly get at wanting to win and you take it now.

You know in your head you're thinking, I gotta try and kill this guy just to win because you’re trying to survive and you have a family that’s depending on you. And you have students that look up to you, and you have friends that root for you, and they’re all depending on you to win.

With all that there it gives you such a sharp mentality, that you’re like a blade and you just want to go there and cut through everything and just win.

AA: And how much of your thoughts going into the fight was focused on your opponent, and how much of your thoughts was focused on the belt? Cause now you were fighting for a legit and inaugural championship title.

You know there might be many other champions after you to hold that belt, but no matter what you’ll always be the first. I mean that’s forever and that’s something no one can ever take away from you. That’s a lot of pressure. Was that ever a factor for you at all?

LG: Yeah it definitely was, I’m not going to lie about that. Cause it’s you see yourself winning. You see your hand getting raised at the end of that fight. And the only thing that’s standing in the way of that is this guy. That’s what creates adversity. That drive to just want to plow your way through this kid and get that belt.

AA: Now I know most casual MMA fans probably aren’t too familiar with Omar De La Cruz, your opponent going into the finals for the tournament. But he’s a very tough guy. Purple belt in BJJ, really solid kicks, and prior to your fight with him he was coming off four straight wins, one of which was a TKO win against seasoned MMA vet, Dave Menne.

I mean there’s a lot of credibility in beating a guy like Dave, even now. You know Dave’s a former UFC fighter, and really at one point in time was considered one of the elite in the world. And Omar had a very impressive TKO win over him.

So Omar to his credit, is a very worthy and I think, credible fighter to be challenging for the title and to compete in the tournament. And of course with you knowing all of that going in, what was your game plan for him? Did you have anything specific in mind?

LG: Well for every fight you have there’s always a course of action. You don’t just go there swinging every time. And as far Omar goes, he has a very solid ground game, he’s very lanky.

He has good kicks because he comes from a taekwondo background. So my game plan with him was just to nullify all of his strengths by just going out there and being aggressive.

If there’s one big strength of mine that I have that I feel is better than what he has, it’s my wrestling. So because he’s got good strikes and kicks and jiu-jitsu, well then I have to utilize my wrestling and look for take downs and an opportunity to apply my ground and pound on him.

AA: Which you were able to do successfully, absolutely. Now I know some fighters don’t like to do this, but on your time off from fighting, do you watch much MMA at all? I know some fighters just try to focus on their own thing and don’t really watch other fighters work.

Is that the same for you too or do you find yourself just watching MMA as a fan, like the rest of us?

LG: Yeah definitely I love to watch. I mean besides the physical aspect of learning the sport, there will always be the visual aspect of learning it as well. So what better way to learn then to do it both visually and physically?

They’re both great ways to further educate yourself about the sport and different techniques involved in it.

I think in your off time you should always be learning, if not physically doing it, then visually watching it at least. You gotta learn what works, what doesn’t work, who’s the top fighter out there. There’s a lot you can take in from just watching fights.

AA: And who do you think are the top fighters out there right now?

LG: I think it’s pretty undebatable, for example in the UFC you got your Anderson Silva’s and your Georges St. Pierre’s. There’s always much respect to them because clearly they’re champions for a reason. So I would have to say them. I think they’re definitely top level. Definitely amongst the top in the world. And they’re always putting that to the test. So right now I think it’s absolutely those two guys.

AA: Speaking of those two guys, both of which as you know are locked onto upcoming blockbuster fights, you know is there a fight out there right now that’s coming up that you’re looking forward to watching?

LG: Yeah actually, that Thiago Alves fight versus St. Pierre, on the next UFC. That one I’m excited for. I’m expecting a war for that one. That should be good.

AA: And is there a fighter out there right now that has become a favorite of yours? I mean do you have a favorite?

LG: My favorite fighter was always Wanderlei Silva. But Wanderlei at his prime, you know? I’m not sure if he’s a little past his time right now, but in his prime he was definitely bad ass. I’ll always love watching him fight.

AA: Absolutely. He has definitely been involved in some of the most entertaining and memorable fights in MMA history.

LG: No doubt.

AA: So with entertaining and memorable fights in mind, has there been any fights that you’ve seen recently that you were really impressed by?

LG: The Clay Guida and Diego Sanchez fight. It was interesting to see Guida just take a bit of a beating, but he just wouldn’t stop. He kept coming after Diego. It was very entertaining to watch. I mean the action was just non stop. It was incredible.

I mean in the first round the Guida got kicked in the face and was dropped and he just refused to stay down. That’s heart, man. And also to see the level of composure on Sanchez’s part not to let that waste his momentum in the fight, was interesting to watch as well. It was a really amazing fight.

AA: And with that said, our interview is starting to wind down. Closing up, what’s next for Lyman Good?

LG: I’m in the process of moving so I guess just starting a new life with my family. And aside from that, also just getting back to my teaching. I’ve been gone for six months because I’ve been fighting and training for the tournament that it’s just good to finally get back in the gym and take my students under my wing again.

AA: And do you have anything to say to say to young kids that are maybe looking into martial arts and looking to get in a school like yours to learn about the sport?

LG: Yeah, same thing I told myself when I first got into the sport. If your heart’s not in it, it might not be for you. I mean the determining factor on whether you’re going to successful at something, is always going to be if your mind, your body, your heart and your spirit are in in sync with it.

You need all of them to be on the same page. It’s a very general statement and I know that, but the reason it’s general is because it applies to everything. And if I were to do something in my life besides fighting, I would use that same mentality to become successful at that.

AA: And lastly, Lyman do you have a website or Myspace or Facebook or Twitter that you want to give out to your fans to get in contact with you? Anything you’d like to plug?

LG: Yeah I got a Facebook account. I’m under my name, Lyman Good. And if you really want to check me out, as well with other fighters out there, there’s always www.tsk.com. That’s a very solid martial arts website. Make sure to check that out. And of course there’s www.mytsmma.com; don’t forget to check that one out too.

AA: And there it is. Lyman thank you again for doing this.

LG: Thank you for having me. I look forward to do this again.

AA: As do I. And that concludes our interview with WW mixed martial artist, Lyman Good. A top 25 WW around the world, one of MMA’s fastest rising stars and first ever Bellator WW champion. If you get a chance, check out his fight with Alex Aquino; a great bout, an absolute war and definitely something worth your time. So hit up the old MMA archives and make sure to look out for that one.

So get to it. And don't forget to support your local MMA community.

I’m Anthony Ascue, thanks for reading.

Lyman Good: MMA's Best Kept Secret...Revealed (Pt. One)

Anthony Ascue — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:48:57 -0400

In one of MMA’s most talent rich and exciting divisions, competition is fierce and bouts are often times heart breaking in defeat. Fortunately defeat is something that Bellator’s newest young gun WW champion, Lyman Good is yet to be familiar with.

Still youthful in his early 20’s and with an impressive undefeated record of 10-0. The future is bright and potentially limitless for one of MMA’s fastest rising stars.

Recently crowned the first ever Bellator WW champion after winning the Bellator WW tournament, heavy hitting and never quitting, Lyman Good talks about his career, childhood and fighting outside the UFC in this one on one exclusive two part interview.

Part One:

ANTHONY ASCUE: And we are joined here today with Bellator WW champion, Lyman Good. Lyman thank you very much for doing this.

LYMAN GOOD: Thank you for having me.

AA: Now you are born and raised in the city that never sleeps, the big apple, New York. Which is on the cross hairs of every MMA org and fan right now. That is on every MMA promoter’s Christmas list. I have to ask, what’s the MMA scene like in New York right now?

LG: As far as fan base goes I feel it’s starting to integrate. People are definitely starting to learn more about it and become educated in the sport and the rules. It’s definitely growing here.

AA: Do you feel as though mixed martial arts will have a solidified place in New York in the immediate future? I know that is what many promotions and people are trying to get accomplished right now.

LG: Yeah, I would think the next big change for MMA would be going to New York. It would be great for the sport and the city, and financially it would help the city out as well. So it’s something that definitely needs to and will happen.

AA: Well said, now you are a fighter in a city that doesn’t regulate the sport that you fight in. And with you and guys like Matt Serra being fighters in a city that doesn’t support the sport that you’re in, to you…what does it mean to be a fighter? And does it change anything for you at all to not get the home town support?

LG: To be honest, being a fighter means more to me than the actual fight itself. And wherever that fight may take place. Fights last 15-25 minutes and are a representation of every moment that you had to go through to get to where you are. That’s the fight.

But it’s all the things that you go through to get there that really boil down the core of the fighter. The discipline, the respect, the honor, the humility, every aspect that you’re instilled upon to get to the fight, that’s what being a fighter means to me. Everything else is secondary.

AA: Now of course you are one of MMA’s fastest rising stars. Your name is starting to get thrown around, and there’s a bit of a buzz starting to generate toward you. 10 straight wins, first ever Bellator WW champion, very impressive accolades for someone who is still under the age of 25.

Have you started to notice anything different about your career now that you’re starting to gain some public interest?

LG: Yeah. My last fight definitely got me a little notoriety as a fighter. But it’s not the be all, end all or anything. I do feel though that there is a difference in credibility between where I’m at now and where I was at the start of my career.

AA: Do you feel more pressure to put on better performances now with more eyes paying attention to you?

LG: I think so. But I also think it all depends on the fighter. Some fighters will let that bother them, some fighters won‘t. There’s always going to be pressure, it just depends on how you handle it. For me it’s just a matter of staying on the task at hand. It’s about me, my training and my opponent.

AA: And speaking about you, where do you feel you stand in the overall WW scheme of things? I mean ranking wise, where do you feel you stand right now?

LG: I don’t know, I want to say that I’m at the bottom, only because it’ll make me work harder to get to the top. But as far as rankings go, I don’t really pay much attention to that.

AA: Fair enough. And now to change gears a bit, as I understand, you’re not only a fighter but you’re a coach as well for a martial arts school in Manhattan, is that correct?

LG: Yes. That is correct.

AA: And how long have you been coaching for now?

LG: About three years now. It’s going on three.

AA: So what got you into coaching?

LG: It’s one of those things that early on as a student you start to learn the benefit of having a good coach. And in the process it makes you want to learn more from the community and give more back to the community as well.

AA: And how are things working out with the gym?

LG: It’s going good. Everyday we got new students coming in and acquiring about classes and wanting to enrol and learn more about martial arts. And the great thing about it is that it’s not always about fighting.

You know we get students of all caliber that come here to participate in martial arts for many reasons. Maybe it’s stress release, or to learn self defense, or to gain some confidence, so there’s many reasons.

And the great thing about what I do is now I get to give back all the teachings that was taught to me. You know all the things that I’ve learned I try to instill onto my students. So it’s very rewarding.

AA: And is this something that you see yourself doing after your fight career is over?

LG: Definitely. That’s both my short and long term goal in life. I always want to teach. Like I’ve said earlier, I always want to give back all the things that were given to me.

AA: Now it’s well documented that while growing up, you’ve had a bit of a rough childhood. And it was actually your mother that got you into martial arts, at a young age. I mean coming from your experience with all the things you’ve had to over come and go through as a kid, how did martial arts begin to change you as a person?

LG: Martial arts, I think, is really about the diligence of someone’s character. So for me, when I got off the streets and started training, there was just a lot of things that really tested me as a person. It’s a matter of learning and as a kid I learned a lot from martial arts, and from my mother.

I learned never to give up from my mom. And that lesson and mentality has really tested me as a person. It tested my tenacity to want to get better. It tested my patience. It tested me both as a person and as a fighter.

You know as much as being a fighter is both physical and mental, I believe that as human beings that we’re all mental and emotional creatures. So those lessons you learn that shape your character, definitely define you as a person in whatever it is you do with your life. For me it was fighting.

AA: And in the midst of all that training and evolution into adulthood, was there ever a moment where you felt that this was something that you could do as a living. That competing in martial arts and MMA was a viable option to financially support yourself?

LG: Yeah. The longer I kept doing this the more my path became clear to me. As I started getting better, I felt as though that I was good at it and this was what I had to be doing. Not just because I was good at it but because this was where my heart was at.

And you should always follow what your heart is leading you to. If your heart’s not into something you definitely shouldn’t be doing it.

AA: And when you came to this realization, and maybe even before, who were the guys that you looked up to? I mean as a young man, who were your role models that you saw and said, "That’s who I want to be like."

LG: To be honest, very few people. I’ve had very few role models in my life. It’s been written about me that I’ve had a very rough childhood and as far as role models go, I didn’t have many to look up to. But if there was one source of light that I had at the time, it would always be my mother.

She raised three kids on her own, she busted her ass and worked hard as hell just to make sure that we were fed, for at least that one day, at a time when we were getting tossed around from shelter to shelter.

I mean there was never any question or doubt about it, she always gave herself to us, and for me it was always like damn you know, where did she get that type of strength from?

AA: So with clearly all of the positive changes that your mother and martial arts have given you in your life, I mean what do you say to the parents and people that still look at a sport like MMA as a barbaric bloodsport and as a bad image for kids and society?

LG: I think they’re wrong. Completely. A lot of what goes into a fight, between the people who take part in one professionally, is heart and conditioning and sacrifice. It’s a lot of the things that make a person strong.

All this sport really is, is two people at their best being put against each other. It’s years and months of training for the opportunity to showcase your abilities and reward yourself for your hard work and sacrifices.

I don’t see it as barbaric at all.

AA: And speaking of people’s views on the sport, what do you think of the fans of MMA today? Do you feel that they’re progressing and evolving with the sport and learning what they should about it?

LG: Absolutely. Like I said earlier, I feel that MMA is definitely starting to integrate. It’s definitely more broadcasted, more advertised. People are getting more accustomed to it and they’re starting to learn more about it. Which is important because it helps them learn more about what goes into the fight. So yeah people are definitely learning more about the sport now.

AA: Now I think it’s safe to say that most casual MMA fans are mostly just familiar with the UFC. As they seem to be the flagship for mixed martial arts right now. What’s it like to fight in one of the organizations outside of the giant that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship?

Do you ever feel as though you’re fighting under their shadow?

LG: I wouldn’t say that I feel under their shadow, no. The UFC just has its course and notoriety for how long it’s been around. But fighting for the UFC and fighting outside of the UFC all lead you on the same road. It’s just a different course you’re taking to the end.

I mean in the UFC, you can have a fighter that has that credibility because he’s in that company, and it’s seen by an executive in the back that’s mulling over who is going to fight who and how they’re going to market it. And you have that versus a smaller org where maybe the fans are maybe more connected to the fighters in the bouts. And they know the backgrounds and story and you’re able to have a household name because of that.

I mean take Bellator for example. They’re a company that gives the fighters a lot of control. Then in the UFC, which I have nothing against, but over there I feel that it has more to do with strings being pulled, and who’s more famous and all that stuff. Compared to who really deserves it. You know, who really deserves that title shot.

AA: And with Bellator in mind, seeing organizations like Bellator, Affliction, Dream, StrikeForce, and whatever have you, seeing those organizations open up shop and put on big events, do you feel as though more MMA fans are starting to open their eyes to more MMA outside of the UFC?

LG: Yeah I do. I mean with all the new organizations opening up, you know if anything it creates great adversity between the fighters. And per organization with great fights and notoriety because of them, it singles out who is the best. Or at least the best in that organization. Which can create a household name.

And to the fans credit, they are doing a great job of getting to know more about the fighters and where they’re fighting in and who they’ve fought. So that knowledge can lead to more overall depth in talent and spawn more household names. Which is always good for business.

AA: And with that in mind, and speaking of household names, you yourself are at the cusp of possibly being one in the very near future. Certainly an organization like the UFC can help with that process. Tell me, what are your thoughts on possibly fighting for the UFC one day?

LG: I’m still thinking about that. It’s an ongoing thought process in my head as far as that being a possibility in my career. Right now I’m just taking it one step at a time.

To tie this in with one of the things I’ve said before, I’ll never be complacent. I’ll always put myself at the bottom because it makes me work that much harder to get to the top. So if the UFC is the pinnacle then I feel like I have time to achieve it. Like there’s always going to be time further down my career. For now I need to improve, and get better.

But when the time is right, it will definitely happen.

... (to be continued in Pt. two)

UFC Fantasy Pool Results (V. 3)

Anthony Ascue — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:06:33 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the TUF 9 season finale event.

Sanchez def. Guida via SD
Wilks def. Johnson via SUB
Pearson def. Winner via UD
Lytle def. Burns via UD
Stevenson def. Diaz via UD
Guillard def. Tibau via SD
Blackburn def. Garcia via SD
Drwal def. Ciesnolevicz via TKO
Osipczak def. Lester via SUB
Dent def. Dollar via SUB

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS:

TOP THREE TEAMS
1) MARK HOPPS = 43PTS
2) JESSY MORRIS = 43PTS
3) MIKE LEANZA = 28PTS

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS
1) KEITH K = -39PTS
2) KEN FOSS = -37PTS
3) NATE LAWSON = -19PTS

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS:

ANTHONY ASCUE = 0pts
-Damien Maia (0)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Rodrigo Nogueira (0)
-Dustin Hazelett (0)
-Thiago Silva (0)

MARK HOPPS = 43 pts
-Michael Bisping (0)
-Dan Hardy (13)
-Kenny Florian (0)
-Terry Etim (17)
-Ross Pearson (0)
******************************
Paul Taylor (13): RELEASED

LUNATIC FRINGE = 0pts
-Brock Lesnar (0)
-Anderson Silva (0)
-Brandon Vera (0)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Dennis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -13pts
-Thiago Alves (0)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (0)
-Shogun Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)
******************************
Matt Serra (-13): RELEASED

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = 13pts
-Cain Velasquez (13)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Paul Kelly (13)
-Dan Miller (-13)
-Thales Leites (0)
******************************
Shogun Rua (0): RELEASED

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 3pts
-Lyoto Machida (17)
-Jon Jones (0)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (0)
-Marcus Davis (-12)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = 2pts
-Georges St. Pierre (0)
-Philippe Nover (-15)
-Josh Neer (0)
-Quinton Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (17)

MIKE LEANZA = 28 pts
-Jon Fitch (0)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko Cro Cop (15)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (13)

KEITH K = -39 pts (-26-13)
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (-13)
-Wanderlei Silva (-13)
-Nate Diaz (-13)
-Ricardo Almeida (0)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 12pts (0+12)
-Diego Sanchez (12)
-Nate Marquardt (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Gray Maynard (0)
-Carlos Condit (0)

MIKE D = 26 pts (13+13)
-Frankie Edgar (13)
-Mike Swick (15)
-Joe Stevenson (13)
-Sean Sherk (-13)
-Mark Coleman (0
******************************
Mustapha Al Turk (-15): RELEASED
Matt Hughes (13): RELEASED

UNCLE-JOE S = 3pts (15-12)
-Frank Mir (0)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (15)
-Clay Guida (-12)
-Forrest Griffin (0)
-Stephan Bonnar (0)

MARIO NOVA = -4pts
-Rich Franklin (13)
-B.J. Penn (0)
-Rashad Evans (-17)
-Dan Henderson (0)
-Amir Sadollah (0)

BOB FLETCHER = -17 pts
-Pat Berry (-17)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (0)
-Patrick Cote (0)
-CB Dollaway (0)
-Anthony Johnson (0)

JESSY MORRIS = 43 pts (30+13)
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Kendall Grove (0)
-John Hattaway (13)
-Dong Hyun Kim (0)
-Chris Lytle (13)
******************************
Stefan Struve (17): RELEASED

NATE LAWSON = -19 pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (15)
-James Irvin (0)
-Mike Pyle (-17)
******************************
Brandon Wolff (-17): RELEASED

MMA SURVIVAL = 0 pts
-Chris Leben (0)
-Jim Miller (0)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (0)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = 10 pts
-Tamdan McCrory (0)
-Spencer Fisher (13)
-Hermes Franca (0)
-Brad Blackburn (12)
-Jeremy Stephens (0)
******************************
Ben Saunders (-15) RELEASED

KEN FOSS = -37 pts (-13-24)
-George Sotiropoulos (0)
-Jake O'Brien (0)
-Paulo Thiago (0)
-Shannon Gugerty (0)
-Edgar Garcia (-12)
******************************
Caol Uno (-13): RELEASED
Gleison Tibau (-12): RELEASED

JAMIE MORENO = -15 pts (0-15)
-Johny Hendricks (0)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (0)
-Roger Huerta (0)
-Frank Trigg (0)
******************************
Mike Ciesnolevicz (-15): RELEASED

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

*NEW* Ken Foss swapped Gleison Tibau for Jake O'Brien
(transactions suspended until August 1)

*NEW* JAMIE MORENO swapped Mike Ciesnolevicz for Roger Huerta
(transactions suspended until August 1)

*NEW* MIKE D sweapped Mustapaha Al Turk for Mark Coleman
(transactions suspended until August 1)

JESSY MORRIS swapped Stefan Struve for Kendall Grove
(transactions suspended until July 1)

MARK HOPPS swapped Paul Taylor for Ross Pearson
(transactions suspended until July 1)

JASON ALLEN swapped Ben Saunders for Brad Blackburn
(transactions suspended until July 1)

KEN FOSS swapped Caol Uno for George Sotiropoulos
(transactions suspended until July 1)

MIKE D swapped Matt Hughes for Mustapha Al Turk
(transactions suspended until July 1)

FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Shogun Rua for Paul Kelly
(transactions suspended until July 1)

NATE LAWSON swapped Brandon Wolff for Matt Hughes
(transactions suspended until July 1)

MARCO YANITELLI swapped Matt Serra for Shogun Rua
(transactions suspended until July 1)

Cro Cop Done With The UFC?

Anthony Ascue — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:44:55 -0400

Here's a quote from Dana White: (Yahoo!Sports.com)

“Isn’t that a dirty [expletive] thing to do? He [ expletive] me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [ expletive] me…. He didn’t keep his word. He talked about honor and all this other [expletive] and he [ expletive] me. He fed me this bull [expletive] about wanting to take a run for the title, and what I think he did was, he went out and did this. He turned down every other [expletive] fighter I offered him, because I needed him to fight Cain. He didn’t just poke Al-Turk; he poked me, too.”

After beating Mustapha Al-Turk via TKO, and talking briefly about making another run for the UFC HW title, Mirko Cro Cop is rumored to have left the UFC to sign a three-fight contract with rival MMA organization, DREAM.

With the news of the Croatian's return at UFC 99, Mirko was still only signed to a one fight deal, the deal expiring after his fight with Al-Turk. However, according to Dana, he and Mirko had talks over the phone about signing a contract extension after/if he beats Al-Turk, which he did... so what happened? Where did things go wrong?

Prior to this fiasco, Mirko has said that he feels he owes it to Dana White to make up for his last couple of outings inside the octagon, and that he is in debt to him for giving him another chance with the UFC.

Which is what makes this whole turn of events so disheartening.

Simply (and frustratingly) put, If the rumors are accurate then Mirko Cro Cop broke his word. Not just to Dana, but also to us, the fans of the UFC. After his win he talked about taking another shot at the UFC HW championship, and he really did what he could to hype up and solidify his UFC "come back."

Mirko promised the fans that he was here to stay, and now there is word that he has opted to walk away from the very fans that embraced his almost heroic return.

Maybe Cro Cop felt that he didn't have it in him anymore to compete at the UFC's highest level?

Maybe he was just taken by the amount of money DREAM threw at him?

Maybe none of the rumors are true and Dana overreacted off false information. Who knows, maybe we'll wind up seeing this mess on MTV's next episode of Punk'd, season no one gives a damn cause no one actually watches this show.

Whatever the case is, you can rest assured that if Mirko has signed with DREAM... Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" will never be heard in a UFC arena again.

UFC 2009 Fantasy Pool Results V. 2

Anthony Ascue — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:46:22 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the UFC 99 event.

Franklin def. Silva via UD
Velasquez def. Kongo via UD
Cro Cop def. Al-Turk via TKO
Swick def. Saunders via TKO
Fisher def. Uno via UD
Hardy def. Davis via SD
Etim def. Buchholz via SUB
Hartt def. Siver via SUB
Taylor def. Sobotta via UD
Kelly def. Delgado via UD
Struve def. Stojnic via SUB
Hathaway def. Story via UD

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS:

TOP THREE TEAMS
1) MARK HOPPS = 43PTS
2) JESSY MORRIS = 30PTS
3) MIKE LEANZA = 28PTS

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS
1) KEITH K = -26PTS
2) NATE LAWSON = -19PTS
3) BOB FLETCHER = -17PTS

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS:

ANTHONY ASCUE = 0pts
-Damien Maia (0)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Rodrigo Nogueira (0)
-Dustin Hazelett (0)
-Thiago Silva (0)

MARK HOPPS = 43 pts
-Michael Bisping (0)
-Dan Hardy (13)
-Kenny Florian (0)
-Terry Etim (17)
-Paul Taylor (13)

LUNATIC FRINGE = 0pts
-Brock Lesnar (0)
-Anderson Silva (0)
-Brandon Vera (0)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Dennis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -13pts
-Thiago Alves (0)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (0)
-Shogun Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)
******************************
Matt Serra (-13): RELEASED

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = 13pts
-Cain Velasquez (13)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Paul Kelly (13)
-Dan Miller (-13)
-Thales Leites (0)
******************************
Shogun Rua (0): RELEASED

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 3pts
-Lyoto Machida (17)
-Jon Jones (0)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (0)
-Marcus Davis (-12)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = 2pts
-Georges St. Pierre (0)
-Philippe Nover (-15)
-Josh Neer (0)
-Quinton Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (17)

MIKE LEANZA = 28 pts
-Jon Fitch (0)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko Cro Cop (15)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (13)

KEITH K = -26 pts
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (-13)
-Wanderlei Silva (-13)
-Nate Diaz (0)
-Ricardo Almeida (0)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 0pts
-Diego Sanchez (0)
-Nate Marquardt (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Gray Maynard (0)
-Carlos Condit (0)

MIKE D = 13 pts
-Frankie Edgar (13)
-Mike Swick (15)
-Joe Stevenson (0)
-Sean Sherk (-13)
-Mustapha Al Turk (-15)
******************************
Matt Hughes (13): RELEASED

UNCLE-JOE S = 15pts
-Frank Mir (0)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (15)
-Clay Guida (0)
-Forrest Griffin (0)
-Stephan Bonnar (0)

MARIO NOVA = -4pts
-Rich Franklin (13)
-B.J. Penn (0)
-Rashad Evans (-17)
-Dan Henderson (0)
-Amir Sadollah (0)

BOB FLETCHER = -17 pts
-Pat Berry (-17)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (0)
-Patrick Cote (0)
-CB Dollaway (0)
-Anthony Johnson (0)

JESSY MORRIS = 30 pts
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Stefan Struve (17)
-John Hattaway (13)
-Dong Hyun Kim (0)
-Chris Lytle (0)

NATE LAWSON = -19 pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (15)
-James Irvin (0)
-Mike Pyle (-17)
******************************
Brandon Wolff (-17): RELEASED

MMA SURVIVAL = 0 pts
-Chris Leben (0)
-Jim Miller (0)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (0)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = -2 pts
-Tamdan McCrory (0)
-Spencer Fisher (13)
-Hermes Franca (0)
-Brad Blackburn (0)
-Jeremy Stephens (0)
******************************
Ben Saunders (-15) RELEASED

KEN FOSS = -13 pts
-George Sotiropoulos (0)
-Gleison Tibau (0)
-Paulo Thiago (0)
-Shannon Gugerty (0)
-Edgar Garcia (0)
******************************
Caol Uno (-13): RELEASED

JAMIE MORENO = 0 pts
-Johny Hendricks (0)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (0)
-Mike Ciesnolevicz (0)
-Frank Trigg (0)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

JASON ALLEN swapped Ben Saunders for Brad Blackburn
(transactions suspended until July 1)

KEN FOSS swapped Caol Uno for George Sotiropoulos
(transactions suspended until July 1)

MIKE D swapped Matt Hughes for Mustapha Al Turk
(transactions suspended until July 1)

FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Shogun Rua for Paul Kelly
(transactions suspended until July 1)

NATE LAWSON swapped Brandon Wolff for Matt Hughes
(transactions suspended until July 1)

MARCO YANITELLI swapped Matt Serra for Shogun Rua
(transactions suspended until July 1)

UFC 2009 Fantasy Pool Results V. 1

Anthony Ascue — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:51:00 -0400

Here are the current results for the UFC 2009 Fantasy pool and the results for the UFC 98 event.

*Remember when/if you make a trade with someone, neither of the fighter's points carry over to the new team. Meaning if one fighter was up 20 pts., as soon as he lands in the new team, said fighter will have his points reset to zero.*

UFC 98 RESULTS:

Roop def. Kaplan via SD
Yoshida def. Wolff via SUB
Soszynski def. Gusamo via TKO
Bradley def. Nover via TKO
Hague def. Barry via SUB
Larson def. Pyle via SUB
Edgar def. Sherk via UD
Sonnen def. Miller via UD
McFedries def. Foupa-Pokam via TKO
Hughes def. Serra via UD
Machida def. Evans via KO

FANTASY POOL TEAM LEADERS:

TOP THREE TEAMS

1) SHARAPOVA'S BIKE SADDLE = 17PTS
2) UNCLE-JOE S = 15PTS
3) MIKE LEANZA = 13 PTS

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS

1) NATE LAWSON = -19PTS
2) BOB FLETCHER = -17PTS
3) MARIO NOVA = -17PTS

OVERALL TEAM BY TEAM FANTASY POOL RESULTS:

ANTHONY ASCUE = 0pts
-Damien Maia (0)
-Tyson Griffin (0)
-Rodrigo Nogueira (0)
-Dustin Hazelett (0)
-Thiago Silva (0)

MARK HOPPS = 0pts
-Michael Bisping (0)
-Dan Hardy (0)
-Kenny Florian (0)
-Terry Etim (0)
-Paul Taylor (0)

LUNATIC FRINGE = 0pts
-Brock Lesnar (0)
-Anderson Silva (0)
-Brandon Vera (0)
-Houston Alexander (0)
-Dennis Kang (0)

MARCO YANITELLI = -13pts
-Thiago Alves (0)
-Ryan Bader (0)
-Keith Jardine (0)
-Shogun Rua (0)
-Cole Miller (0)
******************************
Matt Serra (-13) RELEASED

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN = -13pts
-Cain Velasquez (0)
-Junior Dos Santos (0)
-Paul Kelly (0)
-Dan Miller (-13)
-Thales Leites (0)
******************************
Shogun Rua (0) RELEASED

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE = 15pts
-Lyoto Machida (17)
-Jon Jones (0)
-Yoshihiro Akiyama (0)
-Marcus Davis (0)
-Joe Lauzon (0)

GG U = 2pts
-Georges St. Pierre (0)
-Philippe Nover (-15)
-Josh Neer (0)
-Quinton Jackson (0)
-Brock Larson (17)

MIKE LEANZA = 13pts
-Jon Fitch (0)
-Josh Koscheck (0)
-Mirko Cro Cop (0)
-Luiz Cane (0)
-Chael Sonnen (13)

KEITH K = 0pts
-Shane Carwin (0)
-Cheick Kongo (0)
-Wanderlei Silva (0)
-Nate Diaz (0)
-Ricardo Almeida (0)

MITCH CICCARELLI = 0pts
-Diego Sanchez (0)
-Nate Marquardt (0)
-Martin Kampmann (0)
-Gray Maynard (0)
-Carlos Condit (0)

MIKE D = 13pts
-Frankie Edgar (13)
-Mike Swick (0)
-Joe Stevenson (0)
-Sean Sherk (-13)
-Mustapha Al Turk (0)
******************************
Matt Hughes (13): RELEASED

UNCLE-JOE S = 15pts
-Frank Mir (0)
-Krzysztof Soszynski (15)
-Clay Guida (0)
-Forrest Griffin (0)
-Stephan Bonnar (0)

MARIO NOVA = -17pts
-Rich Franklin (0)
-B.J. Penn (0)
-Rashad Evan (-17)
-Dan Henderson (0)
-Amir Sadollah (0)

BOB FLETCHER = -17pts
-Pat Berry (-17)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (0)
-Patrick Cote (0)
-CB Dollaway (0)
-Anthony Johnson (0)

JESSY MORRIS = 0pts
-Efrain Escudero (0)
-Stefan Struve (0)
-John Hattaway (0)
-Dong Hyun Kim (0)
-Chris Lytle (0)

NATE LAWSON = -19pts
-Antoni Hardonk (0)
-Matt Hughes (0)
-Kyle Bradley (15)
-James Irvin (0)
-Mike Pyle (-17)
******************************
Brandon Wolff (-17) RELEASED

MMA SURVIVAL = 0pts
-Chris Leben (0)
-Jim Miller (0)
-Yushin Okami (0)
-Steve Cantwell (0)
-Rousimar Palhares (0)

JASON ALLEN = 0pts
-Tamdan McCrory (0)
-Spencer Fisher (0)
-Hermes Franca (0)
-Ben Saunders (0)
-Jeremy Stephens (0)

KEN FOSS = 0pts
-Caol Uno (0)
-Gleison Tibau (0)
-Paulo Thiago (0)
-Shannon Gugerty (0)
-Edgar Garcia (0)

JAMIE MORENO = 0pts
-Johny Hendricks (0)
-Wilson Gouveia (0)
-Aaron Riley (0)
-Mike Ciesnolevicz (0)
-Frank Trigg (0)

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

MIKE D swapped Matt Hughes for Mustapha Al Turk
(transactions suspended until July 1)

FLYIN' HAWAIIAN swapped Shogun Rua for Paul Kelly
(transactions suspended until July 1)

NATE LAWSON swapped Brandon Wolff for Matt Hughes
(transactions suspended until July 1)

MARCO YANITELLI swapped Matt Serra for Shogun Rua
(transactions suspended until July 1)

UFC 2009 Fantasy Pool Draft Update

Anthony Ascue — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:28:28 -0400

Here are the fantasy draft results, and current team selections.

Please note that current teams with open spots on their roster have priority over new teams coming in filling out their roster. Meaning that if a current team with an open spot on their roster fills out that spot with a fighter that someone new coming in selects, that he gets priority over said fighter.

I will updating this article until all teams are finalized so please check back often to see which fighters are taken and are no longer available for fighter selection.

Please remember that if you want to join the pool, to e-mail me at manbranch@hotmail.com with your list of 5 fighters that you want on your team. Along with your main five, please have a back up list of 10 fighters in case one or more of your fighters selected have been selected by someone else. There are still plenty of great fighters available, so don't be shy!

The current team rosters are as followed:

ANTHONY ASCUE
-Damien Maia
-Tyson Griffin
-Rodrigo Nogueira
-Dustin Hazelett
-Thiago Silva

MARK HOPPS
-Michael Bisping
-Dan Hardy
-Kenny Florian
-Terry Etim
-Paul Taylor

LUNATIC FRINGE
-Brock Lesnar
-Anderson Silva
-Brandon Vera
-Houston Alexander
-Dennis Kang

MARCO YANITELLI
-Thiago Alves
-Ryan Bader
-Keith Jardine
-Shogun Rua
-Cole Miller

FLYIN’ HAWAIIAN
-Cain Velasquez
-Junior Dos Santos
-Paul Kelly
-Dan Miller
-Thales Leites

SHARAPOVA’S BIKE SADDLE
-Lyoto Machida
-Jon Jones
-Yoshihiro Akiyama
-Marcus Davis
-Joe Lauzon

GG U
-Georges St. Pierre
-Philippe Nover
-Josh Neer
-Quinton Jackson
-Brock Larson

MIKE LEANZA
-Jon Fitch
-Josh Koscheck
-Mirko Cro Cop
-Luiz Cane
-Chael Sonnen

KEITH K
-Shane Carwin
-Cheick Kongo
-Wanderlei Silva
-Nate Diaz
-Ricardo Almeida

MITCH CICCARELLI
-Diego Sanchez
-Nate Marquardt
-Martin Kampmann
-Gray Maynard
-Carlos Condit

MIKE D
-Frankie Edgar
-Mike Swick
-Joe Stevenson
-Sean Sherk
-Mustapha Al Turk

UNCLE-JOE S
-Frank Mir
-Krzysztof Soszynski
-Clay Guida
-Forrest Griffin
-Stephan Bonnar

MARIO NOVA
-Rich Franklin
-B.J. Penn
-Rashad Evans
-Dan Henderson
-Amir Sadollah

BOB FLETCHER
-Pat Berry
-Gabriel Gonzaga
-Patrick Cote
-CB Dollaway
-Anthony Johnson

JESSY MORRIS
-Efrain Escudero
-Stefan Struve
-John Hattaway
-Dong Hyun Kim
-Chris Lytle

NATE LAWSON
-Antoni Hardonk
-Matt Hughes
-Kyle Bradley
-James Irvin
-Mike Pyle

MMA SURVIVAL
-Chris Leben
-Jim Miller
-Yushin Okami
-Steve Cantwell
-Rousimar Palhares

JASON ALLEN
-Tamdan McCrory
-Spencer Fisher
-Hermes Franca
-Ben Saunders
-Jeremy Stephens

KEN FOSS
-Caol Uno
-Gleison Tibau
-Paulo Thiago
-Shannon Gugerty
-Edgar Garcia

JAMIE MORENO
-Johny Hendricks
-Wilson Gouveia
-Aaron Riley
-Mike Ciesnolevicz
-Frank Trigg

TRANSACTIONS:

MIKE D: Swapped Matt Brown for Joe Stevenson.
-Because Matt Brown was injured, this move will not count against MIKE D's monthly transaction cap.

*****NEW*****

MIKE D: Swapped Matt Hughes for Mustapha Al Turk.
-MIKE D is suspended from making another transaction (unless medical/contractual) until July 1.

FLYIN' HAWAIIAN: Swapped Shogun Rua for Paul Kelly.
-FLYIN' HAWAIIAN is suspended from making another transaction (unless medical/contractual) until July 1.

NATE LAWSON: Swapped Brandon Wolff for Matt Hughes.
-NATE LAWSON is suspended from making another transaction (unless medical/contractual) until July 1.

MARCO YANITELLI: Swapped Matt Serra for Shogun Rua.
-MARCO YANITELLI is suspended from making another transaction (unless medical/contractual) until July 1.

UFC 2009 Fantasy Pool

Anthony Ascue — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:22:43 -0400

Alright kiddies, first and foremost this is open to everyone. And this will be updated to keep up with recent events, transactions and statistics. Also this fantasy pool is made strictly for the UFC and will follow UFC events and current fighters only.

The rules of this fantasy pool are simple, pick five fighters and keep track of their win/loss record, starting from this date and on.

A point system will be applied for wins and method of wins and at the end of the pool, which will last for 16 UFC events (till UFC 114). This pool will also include stats from UFC's Fight Night, but will end immediately after UFC 114.

The person with the most amount of points, wins. No cash involved, just bragging rights.

Here are the details:

Wins = 10 pts
Losses = -10 pts
Draws = 0 pts

Wins by KO = 7 pts
Wins by TKO = 5 pts
Wins by Submission = 7 pts
Wins by Unanimous Decision = 3 pts
Wins by Split Decision = 2 pts

Losses by KO = -7 pts
Losses by TKO = -5 pts
Losses by Submission = -7 pts
Losses by Unanimous Decision = -3 pts
Losses by Split Decision = -2 pts

Each participant is allowed to make one trade with another participant per month. That trade can be made at any time, except for seven days before a UFC event if the fighter/fighters in question are fighting on the card. ALL trades have to be presented to me from BOTH participants before the transaction can be finalized.

If one of your fighters gets injured or released from their UFC contract, you are free at any given time to replace them with another fighter. This will act like sending your fighter down through waivers, making him (if still under UFC contract) eligible to be picked up by anyone at any given time.

Also if you release a fighter, you are not allowed to pick him up again until the start of the next month. So if you release a fighter in late May, the soonest you can get him back is June 1.

As for releasing a healthy/in contract fighter in favour of another fighter, you are allowed to do this as well, but only once a month. And once your fighter is out of your roster, he will be considered a free agent and can be picked up by anyone at anytime. Also, you once again will have to wait until the start of the next month if you wish to resign him.

Alright, now to get down to business. For everyone that wants to participate in this pool, please sign your name in the bottom. Once entered your name will be entered in the draft. This is first come, first serve so for the people who sign first, will get first pick. And yes seeing as this is my draft, I do get first pick :)

For the draft, once all names are entered we will systematically go through them (in order of appearance) until each participant has filled out their five-man roster. Please keep in mind that due to the difference of time zones, this draft will take roughly one to two days to complete.

I will be contacting each participant informing them it’s their turn to pick a fighter, and then will post the latest signings here until all the roster selections are done. Hopefully we can get this done before UFC 98.

This is, like I said before all in fun. I’am taking the time out of my schedule to organize and update this thing so I do hope you all end up enjoying this. This is just a little something I thought would be fun to do for this community.

Remember all transactions must be presented to me before they can be made official. I will keep everyone updated of all the stats and transactions that come up and will keep everything tracked for reference.

Ok, now enough with the chit chat and lets get some names down on the dotted line. And by the way, even when the draft begins, if someone else wants to join in… contact me through my profile page and I will let you join. Although your selection for fighters might not be the greatest.

Now sign up!

Take the MMA Quiz 1.0

Anthony Ascue — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:37:20 -0400

Alright for a change of pace I decided to do something fun. For all you die hard MMA fans out there, here is a short quiz to test your knowledge of the sport! try and do this with out the use of google, yes I know it is tempting. Have fun and best of luck :)

1) Who is the UFC's first and only bantamweight champion?

2) Which UFC event saw the end of "The Dark Ages?"

3) What is the dirty/illegal fight move that has been coined "The old Maurice Smith trick?"

4) What was the first MMA fight to be broadcasted on US cable television?

5) What was the first UFC event to start hosting entrance music for each fighter?

6) The "Atomic butt drop" was a move, coined by Randy Couture, and used in what fight?

7) Which former UFC fighter was quoted to saying that he was "The gweatest eva, eva"

8) The "FIRST" staredown between Wanderlei & Liddell took place in which UFC event?

9) In the Pride 2000 GP, what was the total amount of time that Kazushi Sakuraba fought in?

10) The man nick named "Cabbage," in the UFC almost had a contract ending post fight altercation against which former UFC fighter?

11) Which one of these gyms was Anderson Silva, not formerly a part of:
A) Chute Box
B) Gracie JiuJitsu Academy
C) Brazilian Top Team

12) The first time Cro Cop fought Wanderlei Silva, the match was a draw and was contested by "Special rules." What were the stipulations of those rules?

13) Who is the former UFC fighter, rumoured to have etched his name in the back of the UFC's MW/LHW belt?

14) The only loss on Fedor's record was because of an unintentional cut with in the first couple of seconds in the fight. Why was the fight not ruled a NC?

15) Which former UFC fighter was the first and only UFC fighter to be included in SI's 100 most sexiest bachelor's list?

16) Pride's LW division was adjusted to 160, reportedly because of which former top ranked Pride LW stand out? (and his constant failure to make 155)

17) During the Pride era, while these two never locked horns, Josh Barnett once publicly called out Fedor to challenge him to a fight, but did so speaking in Japanese. Roughly translated, what did Barnett say to Fedor?

18) Which former Pride fighter earned the most yellow cards overall during his tenure in Pride?

19) Who was the only Pride fighter to ever get kissed during the pre-fight staredown?

20) In the 2000 Pride GP, the fight between Sakuraba and Mezger was considered a draw and was set to go to an overtime round. What stopped the fight from going to this overtime round?

Feel free to post your answers down. I'll post the correct answers on my page later!