Former PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has had a pretty difficult time since transitioning over to the UFC. Part of the problem has seemed to be the sheer size of the people he’s been taking on. Think about it: Gabriel Gonzaga, Cheick Kongo, Junior Dos Santos, and what had almost been a fight against Ben Rothwell.

Almost, of course, being the keyword here. You see, a Croatian site by the name of Dnevnik.hr originally reported that Pat Barry would take on Cro Cop at UFC 115. Though that report was taken down, MMAFighting.com is indicating that a source has told them that the report was accurate (though it is not official at this time).

This could be an interesting match up.  Barry comes from a kickboxing background like Cro Cop.  He’s great on his feet.  The difference between him and Cro Cop’s previous UFC opponents is that the two are pretty close in size (Cro Cop is actually taller). 

Get ready for a striking battle.

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Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic vs. Pat Barry At UFC 115 originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 18:18:05.

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We’ve seen it before- the young buck wanting to make a name for himself against a legend.  In case you were wondering, the young buck at UFC 110 was Cain Velasquez.  The legend was Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  And here’s how their fight tonight went down.

Early on, Velasquez connected with some nice kicks to the legs.  Nearing the four minute mark, he hit home with a flurry that connected beautifully.  Then came the leg kicks again.  Basically, Velasquez just started putting on a striking clinic.  But Nogueira would come back, right?

Wrong.  A left, right, left combination floored Nogueira.  Then Velasquez followed him to the ground and finished things off with several big punches. 

What a dominating performance.  Velasquez sure is the real deal.

Cain Velasquez defeats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by KO at 2:20 of round one.

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Cain Velasquez KO’s Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira In Dominating Fashion originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 00:37:03.

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With the signing of State Representative Marlin Schneider’s new bill, the state of Wisconsin has taken a big step toward making sure that the majority of martial arts instructors get to keep their good name. And much more importantly, by taking steps to make sure that sexual predators do not end up teaching martial arts to children, they’ve made a decision to keep their kids safe.

“There have been a number of cases across the country – including Wisconsin – where martial arts instructors have taken sexual advantage of the children under their charge,” Schneider said.  And because of this, Schneider’s new bill, which was signed by Governor Jim Doyle, requires that martial arts instructors be licensed by the state. 

This should go a long way toward protecting students and the good name of the far majority of outstanding instructors out there.

Reference

Bill Cracks Down on Martial Arts Instructors with Sex Crimes in Their Past

New Wisconsin Law To Keep Martial Arts Instructors With Sex Crimes In Their Past From Teaching originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 07:33:02.

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Okay, when Brock Lesnar acted like a WWF personality after defeating Frank Mir at UFC 100, many fans just couldn’t stand the disrespect.  If Mir had been angry about the whole thing, it certainly would have been understandable.  But now Mir has gone a step too far, which isn’t standard fare for him by any means.  You see, in an interview with Mark Madden on WXDX radio he went on to say the following:

“I’d rather go ahead and say what’s on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC ‘Oh, the guy is a great fighter and I have a lot of respect for him.’ If I don’t mean it, why is it even coming out of my mouth? … I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That’s what’s going through my mind.”

Whoa.  That’s crazy to say on another level.  What Mir just did was both hype a possible fight- if he’s able to defeat Shane Carwin at UFC 111- and make himself into a possible villain.  Though admittedly, even with the aforementioned, he still may have a ways to go before he catches the Lesnar-villain train in the eyes of the public. 

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Frank Mir Looking To Break Brock Lesnar’s Neck In The Ring originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 16:19:31.

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Rashad Evans beat the heck out of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as a coach on TUF 10. Of course, coaching isn’t fighting.  Interestingly, before the whole fighting thing could be ironed out Jackson dropped out of their scheduled bout in order to play the role of Mr. T on a remake of the A-Team. The UFC was so angry that there was even talk of lawsuits; not to mention, Jackson spoke of retirement.

But it appears that the two have settled their differences. Yahoo! Sports has reported that with the signing of Jackson’s contract, it’s time for he and Evans to clash at UFC 114.

Jackson is the bigger and stronger fighter. Evans is quicker and more athletic.  Can’t wait to see how it pans out when two fighters with legitimate bad blood between them throw down.

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Quinton Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans At UFC 114 originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 14:36:01.

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When Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira takes on Cain Velasquez at UFC 110 this weekend, he’ll be seeing a couple of new things.  First, the fight will be going down in Australia, which is different in and of itself.  Second, he’ll be going up against a guy that many believe is the future of the UFC heavyweight division in Velasquez. 

But Nogueira won’t be facing a style of fighting that’s new to him.  Bob Sapp, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture (to an extent), and Mark Coleman all tried to utilize ground and pound to defeat him in UFC and PRIDE contests to no avail over the past nine years- and that’s just some of the usual suspects.  In the end, the only guy to have real success with such a game plan against him during that time period was Fedor Emelianenko, and that was about six years ago.

You see, when people take Nogueira down, they tend to get submitted or turned over.  In fact, that’s likely why Couture was willing to stand with him so much in their recent encounter.  And although Velasquez’s stand up is solid, and the most recent fighter to defeat Nogueira really did so with his striking (Frank Mir), you have to think he’s going to go to his bread and butter in this one- wrestling takedowns and ground and pound.  And it’s not like Nogueira is going to feel uncomfortable on his back; he’s been there a million times.

Will Velasquez’s furious pace prove to be the difference this time?  Will he show the kind of power that Emelianenko once did against the Brazilian fighter-something he hasn’t really shown yet- and simply power out of submissions?  Is this just going to be another Nogueira submission win? Or will Velasquez surprise and try to make this a striking battle?

We’ll see.

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Antonio Minotauro Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez – Nogueira Has Seen Ground And Pound Before originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 06:02:36.

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Bellator Fighting Championships has announced that lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez (19-2) will take on UFC veteran Josh Neer (27-9-1) in May. 

Neer is a very tough and well-rounded fighter that fell short of being a championship contender while with the UFC due to several close losses.  Alvarez is one of the more talented lightweights outside of the UFC/Strikeforce.  Along with this, he’s defeated the likes of Tatsuya Kawajiri and Joachim Hansen during his career.  His victory over Hansen, in fact, will live on as one of the great fights of the past decade.

Specifics on the fight have yet to be released.

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Eddie Alvarez vs. Josh Neer For Bellator In May originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 06:09:03.

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“To be honest, in some respects, he isn’t the most difficult guy to prepare for,” Michael Bisping said on a Wednesday conference call regarding his UFC 110 opponent, Wanderlei Silva. “The striking element and the loopy punches. Outside of that, I think that that’s pretty much all he’s got to offer. Obviously he has good Muay Thai, he’s very experienced and good on the ground and stuff, but he likes to strike and so England with its background in boxing and Thai boxing, we have lots of guys to try to replicate that style.”

Of course, Bisping is right.  Silva is an easy guy to figure out.  He’s going to come at you with his Muay Thai.  He wants to strike.  That said, the San Francisco 49ers of the Joe Montana and Steve Young eras were pretty easy to figure out too.  They were going to short pass you to death in a West Coast scheme.  But that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

With Silva, it’s always been about his power and sheer fury more than his game plan.  Of course, people will point to the fact that he’s lost five out of his last six fights.  That said, four of those losses came in the light heavyweight division, not the middleweight class he’ll be taking Bisping on in.  What’s more, we’re talking about losses to Rich Franklin, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

A literal Hall of Fame.

In the end, this encounter will be about two things.  First- can Bisping get this fight to the ground and keep it there, and is that even his game plan to begin with?  Second- if the fight does stay standing, can Bisping handle Silva’s sheer ferocity and power on the feet?  If he can do either of these things, look for a great fight.  If not…

This should be interesting.

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Wanderlei Silva vs Michael Bisping – It’s Easy To Know What Silva Brings, But Hard To Deal With It originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 17:14:34.

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Okay, you’re Zoe Saldana of Avatar before Avatar actually came out.  That means you’re about to become a 10 foot tall warrior princess named Neytiri on film.  How do you get ready for such a role?  An exercise regimen that includes studying the martial arts style of Wushu, that’s how. 

For months, Saldana studied Wushu as part of her physical training regimen, the sport/style that Jet Li is known for.  And this allowed her to be the graceful and ferocious fighter she was aiming for on the screen.  Well, that and some amazing computer animation that was taken from a live action performance.  That’s right, the cast performed on stage while wired into performance-capture suits and headgear.

Wild stuff, huh?

References

Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldana Of Avatar Trained In Martial Arts Style Of Wushu For Role Of Neytiri originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at 05:54:12.

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Recently, Jose Canseco penned the following on his Twitter account: “I guess I may have to show Herschel Walker who the real bad Boy of the Sports industry is. If the powers that be are reading, I want in.”

Sure people would probably tune in to that fight; the whole thing would be a spectacle.  But in the end, Herschel Walker treated his MMA debut with class.  He trained for a significant period of time with a world class training camp.  He was a high level black belt in Tae Kwon Do before he even jumped into the fray.  And on top of it all, he donated all of his proceeds to charity.  In other words, he wanted to participate in MMA, not make money.

To be honest, Canseco’s MMA debut was hardly treated with class.  Getting in there with a fighter the caliber and size of Hong Man Choi was absolutely absurd.  Doing so with little to no MMA training was even worse.  Though people would tune in to such a fight, they would do so for all the wrong reasons.  If Canseco wants to fight Walker, he needs to follow the same path that the former Heisman Trophy winner did- get in with a big time camp and then win a legitimate fight or two.  Until then, he doesn’t deserve to fight in MMA anywhere.

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Herschel Walker Vs. Jose Canseco Could Happen – Just Kidding originally appeared on About.com Martial Arts on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 05:41:57.

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