ROUNDTABLE: Which performance at UFC 125 was the most surprising? Hansen, Hyden, Hobaugh, Williams and Penick

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Which performance at UFC 125 was the most surprising?

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Despite the fact that I did not for one second think Mike Brown or Josh Grispi were going to lose, I'm eliminating those fights because the featherweight division is such a crap-shoot right now.  It will take a couple of years before we know where everyone falls in the pecking order.  Well, we know they all fall behind Jose Aldo, but from #2 on down, we know NOTHING.  Don't believe me, just ask Marlon Sandro, Bibiano Fernandes, and Josh Grispi, who were the #2, #3, and #4 ranked featherweights for many people before Sandro lost on December 30, Fernandes lost on December 31, and Grispi lost on January 1.

So, once we take the great featherweight variable out of the loop, Brian Stann is the only choice.  I'm eating a lot of crow on this one (as are 95% of the people reading this, so SHUT UP!).  On our Tuesday Night Conversation leading into UFC 125, I ranted and raved wildly against not only Stann's chances, but the hypocrisy of even booking such a lousy match in the first place.  I didn't for one second think that Stann was anywhere close to Leben's league, and I wasn't a guy who thought Leben was more than just a 'guy' who got hot at the right time.  I've never in my life been more wrong about a matchup.

FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I've got to go with Brian Stann. Not because I'm surprised that he has knockout power, I remember his WEC fights. The most surprising aspect of Stann's win was his opponent. Chris Leben has an iron chin, and Stann smashed him. The only other person to have beaten Leben like that was Anderson Silva, and it was damn impressive for Stann to do the same.

ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST

Takanori Gomi's performance was the most surprising to me.  His KO of Tyson Griffin was a nice win.  The loss to Clay Guida was not a surprise, but the way he was dominated says a lot about where he is at in his career with the UFC. Kenny Florian controlled him in their fight as well.  Gomi is long past his prime and I am sad about that fact.  I loved him in his Pride days. One of my all time favorite fights is his fight against Nick Diaz at Pride 33 in February 2007. In 2007 he was the best lightweight in the world when he lost to Diaz (that result was overturned by NSAC after Diaz failed a drug test for marijuana). He is one of the all time greats in Pride.  The reality of his career is that if he can not get by fighters like Guida and Florian, he will never compete at the highest levels in MMA again.

ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Dustin Poirier's performance was the most surprising.  He was supposed to be a stay-busy foe for Josh Grispi, but instead he easily handled the UFC's heavily-hyped number one contender.  I've read that Poirier's knocking off Grispi may mean that Jose Aldo's next foe will be Mark Hominick.  I'd rather see Poirier get the shot at Aldo's belt.

JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The most surprising performance, for the positive and negative connotation of that word, came from the Dustin Poirier-Josh Grispi fight. The 21-year-old Poirier was extremely poised and handled his first fight under the lights of the UFC like a longtime veteran. The way he handled Grispi standing and continued to make Grispi get to his feet after wearing him out was highly impressive, and he picked up a win against the fighter the UFC was going to put into a title fight. For Grispi, he was brought down to earth against an unheralded up and comer, and a number of holes in his game were exposed after a string of first round victories in the WEC. He's now got to get back to action, try to close up those holes and come back stronger in his second UFC fight, but overall that fight was the most surprising of the entire event.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_8096.shtml

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STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Alistair Overeem's title will not be contested in Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, all but finals will be three rounds

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker clarified the set up for the upcoming Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix during a conference call on Thursday, and revealed that all quarterfinal and semifinal bouts will take place as three, five-minute round fights.

In addition, the tournament will crown the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Champion, who will then meet the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. However, the latter Champ is taking part in the tournament, so should Alistair Overeem win the tournament, Coker says he will be a "dual Champion."

"To make it simple... the Tournament Champion will stand on his own, and we'll have our Tournament Champion and the Heavyweight Champion," Coker said. "[If Overeem wins] then he'll be the dual champion, and at that point there will be some fighters that he didn't fight in the tournament, and we'll look at having some of those fighters face him down the line."

Coker also clarified what would happen if a fight ended in a draw, or if an alternate needed to be used in the course of the tournament.

"If any fight results in a draw, an independent fourth judge will determine who advances or who wins based on the fighter's overall performance in the fight," Coker said. "We will have a fourth judge on hand scoring the fight independently of the three that we normally have."

"If a fighter qualifies to advance in the tournament but for any reason can not advance, we're forming a five-person tournament-review committee who will select a fighter to advance in his place. This fighter will be chosen from a pool of fighters that will include the previous opponent and the winners of reserve matches."

The tournament begins on February 12 when Fedor Emelianenko meets Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, and Andrei Arlovski meets Sergei Kharitonov in quarterfinal action.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_8150.shtml

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Catching up with Bellator's latest moves: Riggs and welterweights

As we near the start of Bellator's fourth season in March, the promotion has had a busy start to 2011, making several announcements about the new season.

-- Season four will feature a welterweight tournament, with the winner earning $100,000 and a shot at Ben Askren and his championship belt. Askren has been busy coaching the Arizona State wrestling team and winning a wrestling "super match" with freestyle world silver medalist Jake Herbert. 

-- Dan Hornbuckle will return to Bellator and fight in the welterweight tournament. He will be joined by Olympic judo player Rick Hawn and Brent Weedman, who has fought on three Bellator cards.

-- They also announced the signing of Strikeforce and UFC veteran Joe Riggs. The last time the middleweight fought was with King of the Cage in Canada. Before that, he beat Louis Taylor at Strikeforce: Challengers and lost to Jay Hieron, another Bellator signee. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Catching-up-with-Bellator-s-latest-moves-Riggs-?urn=mma-305770

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Takedowns and Takedown Defense for MMA

Takedowns and Takedown Defense for MMA UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world. In TAKEDOWNS & TAKEDOWN DEFENSE FOR MMA, Anderson breaks down and examines one of the most important aspects of the sport dictating where the fight takes place. In addition to demonstrating [...]

Takedowns and Takedown Defense for MMA is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/mma/takedowns-and-takedown-defense-for-mma-53064/

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