In a sport like Mixed Martial Arts there are no certainties. As such, while Justin Lawrence may have been the #1 pick on this season of the Ultimate Fighter, making the final let alone winning the show were far from being guaranteed outcomes and for good reason.
On the latest episode Lawrence was taken out by Team Faber’s Michael Chiesa who held on after getting dropped in the second round to pick up a TKO win. Chiesa came out strong in the “sudden victory” period but was taken down. However, he was able to sweep Lawrence, ended up in mount, and rained down shots until the referee stepped in to stop things.
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Bellator crowned their latest tournament winner last night at Bellator 68 with Daniel Straus emerging from the featherweight field to earn a title-shot and nice lump of cash. To do so Straus had to beat Marlon Sandro, one of the most dangerous 145ers in the sport and a favorite to emerge the evening’s winner. Straus’ success came after avoiding a handful of submission attempts while grinding the Brazilian down over the fifteen-minute fight.
“I’m going to keep improving, I’m going to get better,” said Straus after the fight. “I have to go back to the drawing board and prepare for my title-shot.”
Straus improved his overall record to 20-4 with the victory with wins in sixteen of his last seventeen bouts.
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Last weekend’s bout at UFC on FOX 3 between Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks was unquestionably a close affair judges could have scored for either. The two talented welterweights went at it for fifteen minutes with each landing some stiff shots throughout. In the end Hendricks walked away with a Split Decision win and Koscheck seriously swollen eye-socket (as well as a bruised ego).
Now that he’s had some time to reflect on the match-up it looks like Koscheck has taken issue with the outcome and is seeking a shot at redemption.
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Light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal made news yesterday when it was revealed the former Strikeforce champion had signed with Bellator FC in addition to inking a deal with TNA Wrestling. However, it appears “King Mo” wasn’t done grabbing headlines based on his stop by the MMA Uncensored studios on last night’s episode.
On the show Lawal spoke about his decision to join the Bellator to roster where he referred to his previous employer in less-than glowing terms.
“Zuffa’s okay,” Lawal began on the topic before things took a turn towards the worst. “They’re alright if you like working long days … in a hot field, asking, begging for water. But with Bellator, I’m in the A.C., sippin’ cold lemonade, gettin’ massages. It’s a big difference.”
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When heavyweights Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos meet on May 26 in the main event at UFC 146 the gameplan for both appears to be fairly simple – if “Cigano” keeps things standing he has a solid shot of retaining his divisional title; if Mir can get things to the mat he has an above-average chance of winning the championship. Such an assessment is not a matter of guesswork but rather the take of Mir himself who recently spoke about his upcoming bout with JDS.
“I don’t think it’s any secret: he has no chance of winning the fight if it goes to the ground. The only time that I’ve ever seen him take a shot is if he’s pretty handily winning the fight and I think he just does it just for maybe a change of pace, to throw something out there,” said Mir while serving as a guest on this week’s episode of Inside MMA. “But as far as when you see people engage him, he’s a throw-punches-and-run kind of guy. He doesn’t wanna sit there and get grabbed and taken down and he’s not gonna fight that battle. If he was capable of doing it, we probably would’ve seen it already. Fact is, he avoids it like it’s poison.”
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When former Strikeforce champ Muhammed Lawal was released by the organization the question of him fighting again was a matter of “when” not “if”. However, in a strange twist it turns out Lawal will not only be continuing his MMA career in the future but will also be working as a professional wrestler for TNA.
News of both deals was confirmed earlier today during a conference call where it was said Lawal would start with TNA this summer and eventually fight for Bellator in 2013 when the organization heads to Spike TV. TNA is also broadcast on Spike.
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Though the world already knew the match-up was made it looks like UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones now has a date lined up for his upcoming title-defense against Dan Henderson.
According to UFC President Dana White, Jones and Henderson will fight on September 1 in Las Vegas at UFC 151. No other bouts have been revealed for the Labor Day Weekend event.
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UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz didn’t waste much time clarifying exactly how he tore his ACL in the wake of rumors – started by rival Urijah Faber – that Strikeforce title-holder Ronda Rousey had hurt him.
According to Cruz, the injury did occur in training but not with Rousey.
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