Brock Lesnar is set to defend his heavyweight championship belt Saturday night in Anaheim at UFC 121 and HeavyMMA.com was gracious enough to share a ton of great videos for this huge event, which you can find below.

Enjoy!

UFC 121 Pre Fight Press Conference Highlights:

More videos after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

From HeavyMMA.com:

Jake Shields hasn’t stepped in the Octagon one single time, but he’s already being spoken of as the next contender to Georges St. Pierre‘s welterweight throne.

Shields, who faces Martin Kampmann at UFC 121 next week, signed with the UFC this summer after leaving Strikeforce. He was the Strikeforce middleweight champion at the time, fresh off a win over former UFC star Dan Henderson.

UFC President Dana White confirmed that a Shields victory over Kampmann will likely earn him a shot at the winner of the St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck fight that takes place in December.

“If Jake Shields wins against Martin Kampmann, it’ll probably be him next,” White said at today’s UFC 124 press conference in Montreal.

Shields is in the midst of a 14-fight win streak, with victories over notable names such as Yushin Okami, Robbie Lawler, Jason Miller, Paul Daley, Carlos Condit and Henderson. He’s dropping to welterweight for his entrance into the UFC after ruling the Strikeforce middleweight class.

White originally promised a title shot to the winner of the Jon Fitch/Thiago Alves bout in August, but Fitch’s slow and plodding victory that night may have changed White’s mind. Shields will instead get the rare chance to jump right to the front of the competition and earn a UFC title shot in only his second bout for the promotion.

Read more MMA news.

Jeremy Botter of HeavyMMA.com is reporting that UFC 121 has been finalized and the fight card will feature 11 fights.

UFC officials confirmed the complete lineup this morning. The event, headlined by a heavyweight title clash between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez, takes place Oct. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Ca.The co-headlining feature will see Jake Shields make his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann.

In addition to the already-announced main card bouts, UFC officials finalized six preliminary card bouts, including two that will be televised on Spike TV.

In the headlining Spike TV bout, TUF 11 winner Court McGee will make his return to the Octagon to take on Ryan Jensen. McGee defeated Kris McCray in June to capture the TUF 11 championship. Jensen is coming off a 1-minute submission victory over Jesse Forbes at UFC 114.

Two more TUF veterans will meet when Patrick Cote and Tom Lawlor face off in the first Spike-televised bout. Both fighters will attempt to break two-fight losing streaks, and the loser of this fight is likely to be released from his UFC contract.

Four non-televised bouts were also announced for the preliminary card: Mike Guymon vs. Daniel Roberts, Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor, Chris Camozzi vs. Dongi Yang and Jon Madsen vs. Gilbert Yvel.

Get more MMA news here.

My hands were sweaty, my face was red but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.

“Dana, could you tell me where you see Jose (Aldo) on your pound-for-pound list.”

The question was simple enough. I mean I ran it through my head a million times in a little over two minutes. The wording, the timing, the tone all needed to sound just right. After all, this question was directed at Dana White, President of the UFC and WEC.

Following Saturday’s WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber pay-per-view event, which was sponsored by AMP Energy, White and select fighters addressed the media. And there I was, covering my first MMA live event thanks to the people at AMP Energy.

At 27, I have been a dedicated MMA fan for seven years. Having seen the early days of Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, I was re-introduced to the UFC with Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture at UFC 43 and have been hooked since.

But I am not just a fan, I am a sports writer, and have been for about 10 years now.

I knew that the opportunity of covering MMA for Bullz-Eye.com and The Scores Report was one I wanted to be a part of because I knew that I could do it objectively and with the respect and knowledge that MMA fans want from their writers. I’m not just a fan. Still, even having interviewed some of the top athletes in the world, my eyes were locked in with White’s as he awaited my question.

As any MMA fan knows, if White thinks you asked him a stupid question, he will let you know and he will probably sprinkle in a few expletives to describe his feelings.

So I asked my question.

Read the rest of this entry »

MMA Promotion Strikeforce hosts its second CBS televised event tonight with Strikeforce: Nashville. The main card has just three fights set, but all three are title fights. Here are my picks for tonight’s event.

Middleweight Champion Jake Shields (24-4-1) vs. Dan Henderson (25-7)
Dan Henderson is making his first appearance in Strikeforce after leaving the UFC in a contract dispute. He immediately steps in to fight Jake Shields, the middleweight champion who is a natural welterweight. Shields has had success at the bigger weight class, but in this fight, he will have trouble controlling Henderson on the ground like he has past opponents. Henderson is a very solid all around fighter and his bigger size should allow him to get the win by either knockout or decision.

Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi (28-2-1) vs. Muhammed Lawal (6-0)
Two very different people meet in this fight as Mousasi is like a silent killer. He stays composed and just runs through opponents while Lawal is very loud and cocky despite having just six professional fights. Lawal is good on his feet with powerful strikes, but in this fight, he will need to fight off his back against Mousasi, who can take the fight anywhere. Lawal has a puncher’s chance, but Mousasi will be smart enough to get the fight to the ground, where he will win by submission.

Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez (-160) vs. Shinya Aoki (+130)
This fight should be very competitive. Melendez has won his last three, but all of his fights have been fast paced and close. His win over Josh Thompson won him the title, but now he faces Aoki who bounces around to different weight classes and finds success in each. Melendez will look to use boxing and wrestling to win while Aoki will try to use quickness and submissions. Look for Melendez to win a hard-fought five-round decision over Aoki, but each fighter will have their chances to finish the fight.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira conquered fellow MMA legend Randy Couture at UFC 102 last Saturday, while Nate Marquardt, Thiago Silva, and Todd Duffee scored some memorable knockouts. Despite his loss, Couture signed a new contract with the UFC that will keep him fighting in the Octagon until he’s damn near 50 years old.

- MTV “Bully Beatdown” host Jason Miller vowed to “beat the piss out of Jake Shields” when the two fighters meet, and explained his obsession with Twitter.

- We came across an MMA sponsor that’s even more embarrassing than Condom Depot.

- Former NFL player Marcus Jones will be battling for a UFC contract on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. He credits his start in MMA to one fateful “man-cation.”

- Mike Swick dropped out of UFC 103 due to injury, Sean Sherk dropped out of UFC 104 due to “injury,” and Quinton Jackson dropped out of UFC 107 due to the demands of his movie career. Luckily, BJ Penn will fill in for Rampage as a headliner.

- Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers has come up with the worst strategy possible for beating Fedor Emelianenko.

- Former UFC ring girl Edith Labelle said she was fired over a bout of food poisoning that just happened to *look* like a bad hangover.

- We watched a life-affirming MMA highlight reel, Anderson Silva’s dead-on Randy Couture impression, and a behind-the-scenes look at King Mo’s demolition of Mark Kerr.

One month ago I had a lot of debate as to who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

After UFC 101, my questions were answered.

Long have I felt Fedor Emelianenko was the best in the world no matter the weight class, but that honor I now give to Anderson Silva following his absolutely flawless win over Forrest Griffin.

The Silva victory combined with Emelianenko opting to sign with Strikeforce puts Silva at No.1 in my book. When making this list I am considering the fighters as they are today, not as they were five years ago. Emelianenko looked a little sloppy in his last fight and is now going to have much easier competition as a whole in Strikeforce, whereas Silva and Georges St. Pierre have fought the best and looked impressive doing so.
So, here is my list. As always, I encourage healthy discussions.

1. Anderson Silva (24-4) – Middleweight/Light Heavyweight – UFC
If you really look at, the Silva vs. Griffin fight was every bit as big as St. Pierre vs. Penn from a standpoint that you had a champion from one weight class facing a bigger fighter that was one fight removed from being the champion in that weight class as well. Silva made Griffin look like Glass Joe from Mike Tyson Punch Out and basically made Griffin quit out of embarrassment (which has caused me to stop reading Forrest’s book, as he know seems to look like a hypocrite). After that display, I truly feel that Silva could not only be Light Heavyweight champion, I have serious beliefs that he is the kind of guy that could actually beat a guy like Brock Lesnar. His accuracy and power while backing up would be a problem for Lesnar in more ways than one. Brock wouldn’t be able to get a takedown without eating a solid knee or punch that could put him down. I know many of you think I am crazy probably, but that is the way I feel.

2. Georges St. Pierre (19-2) – Welterweight – UFC
I used to think GSP could give Silva a fight, but I don’t feel so good about that now. If Silva was to move to Light Heavyweight on a permanent basis, I would like to see GSP move up to middleweight for a new set of challenges. Guys like Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann don’t seem to present much of a challenge and nobody is going to be excited to see rematches with Jon Fitch or Thiago Alves. Middleweight could present some intriguing fights and would really test GSP.

3. Fedor Emelianenko (30-1-1) – Heavyweight – Strikeforce
Well, again this is all about present day and Fedor hasn’t done anything as of late to keep his top ranking while guys like Silva and St. Pierre are beating some of the best. Fedor had no control over what happened with Affliction: Trilogy, but the option to sign with the UFC was there and he turned it down. He has to know that UFC has better overall talent and hosting an exhibition sparring match with Gegard Mousasi is not going to get me excited. I think Fedor’s career is probably the best of anyone, but in terms of best fighter in the world today, I don’t see him as No. 1.

Read the rest of this entry »

At one point following UFC 100 this past weekend, I felt like there are a lot of new questions about who the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is.

Georges St. Pierre certainly raised his stock with a definitive win over Thiago Alves, who was considered to be GSP’s toughest fight to date prior to UFC 100.

Brock Lesnar also deserves some consideration for his dominant performance over Frank Mir, which left many wondering who can beat him.

Here is my personalized top 10 ranking of who I feel are the top 10 overall fighters in the world. In making this list, I consider win-loss record, how convincingly the fighters have won their most recent fights, and their appeal to other fans. Well, here we go:

1. Fedor Emelianeko (30-1-1) – Heavyweight – Affliction
About a year ago, I was one of those people that claimed that Fedor was overrated and didn’t fight the best. Well, after two quick KO’s of Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, you can’t argue that Fedor is not the best. The guy has virtually never lost, with his lone loss coming on a cut. The guy never changes his expression and never makes a mistake in his fights. Until someone beats him cleanly, Fedor will be at the top of my list.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Jake Shields choked out Robbie Lawler, Nick Diaz dominated Scott Smith, and Brett Rogers scored a 22-second KO over Andrei Arlovski at the Strikeforce show last Saturday. Afterwards, Rogers shared his feelings about Kimbo Slice and Nick Diaz humiliated a reporter.

- A day later, the WEC one-upped Strikeforce by putting on one of the greatest cards of the year, highlighted by Mike Brown’s five-round war with Urijah Faber, Jose Aldo’s latest highlight-reel finish, and possibly the last appearance of Jens Pulver. If only the fighters got paid what they’re worth…

- Team U.K. swept the lightweight bracket on Wednesday’s episode of the Ultimate Fighter; Andre Winner and Ross Pearson will throw down at next Saturday’s finale show on Spike.

- The upcoming title fight between Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will be contested at 145 pounds. Cross your fingers.

- EA is prepping its own MMA video game to compete with “UFC Undisputed.” Can they succeed without the involvement of MMA’s most powerful brand?

- We looked back at MMA’s first superstars.

- Wanderlei Silva explained to us how life was like a bicycle.

- UFC 99 goes down today [Saturday] in Cologne, Germany, starting at 3 p.m. ET. Swing by CagePotato.com for our liveblog, and get familiar with some of the storylines here.