Ze Grapplez: Grappling & MMA News + Commentary

Monday, January 14, 2013

Heavyweight Copa Podio Results

Here they are, from over at BJJHeroes.com:

If and when you wanted to see how Keenan Cornelius fared against Rodolfo (arguably one of the top 3 in the world alongside Buchecha and the inimitable Roger Gracie, click HERE).
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Winner (or Draw)	Loser (or Draw)	Result
Alexandre de Souza “Pop”	Lucio Rodrigues “Lagarto”	Points: 2×0
Antonio Braga Neto	Bruno Bastos	Points: 11×0
Joao Gabriel Rocha	Alexandre de Souza	Points: 2×0
Antonio Braga Neto	Lucio Rodrigues “Lagarto”	Advantages: 3×0
Alexandre de Souza	Bruno Bastos	Points: 11×0
Joao Gabriel Rocha	Lucio Rodrigues “Lagarto”	Points: 7×0
Antonio Braga Neto	Alexandre de Souza	Points: 2×2
Joao Gabriel Rocha	Bruno Bastos	Points: 3×0
Antonio Braga Neto	Joao Gabriel Rocha	Points: 2×0
Group 2
Winner	Loser	Method
Leonardo Nogueira	Keenan Cornelius	Points: 2×2 (draw)
Rodolfo Vieira	Alexandre Ceconi	Submission: Choke
Alexandre Ribeiro “Xande”	Keenan Cornelius	Points: 4×2
Rodolfo Vieira	Leonardo Nogueira	Points: 9×0
Alexandre Ceconi	Keenan Cornelius	Advantages
Leonardo Nogueira	Alexandre Ribeiro “Xande”	Advantages: 2×1
Rodolfo Vieira	Keenan Cornelius	Points: 10×0
Alexandre Ribeiro “Xande”	Alexandre Ceconi	Submission: Armbar
Leonardo Nogueira	Alexandre Ceconi	Submission: Choke
Rodolfo Vieira	Alexandre Ribeiro “Xande”	Advantages: 6×0

After the group stage, Alexandre de Souza and Braga Neto advanced to the semi finals of the tournament from the 1st group and Rodolfo Vieira and Leo Nogueira advanced from the second group.

Copa Podio Results / Semi Final (Heavyweight Tournament)

Semi Finals
Winner	Loser	Result
Leonardo Nogueira	Antonio Braga Neto	Points: 7×0
Rodolfo Vieira	Alexandre de Souza	Submission: Armbar

Copa Podio Results / Final (Heavyweight Tournament)

Note: There was no 3rd place fight as Antonio Braga Neto injured himself on the fight with Leo Nogueira and could not compete.

Final
Winner	Loser	Result
Rodolfo Vieira	Leonardo Nogueira	Advantages: 3×0

MMA Multimedia Monday + Upcoming Weekend Events

First off, like that friend you had in college that was your buddy until he got amped out on coke and amphetamines then crashed and burned and now is a husk of his former self.....Strikeforce is dead.

Watching it limp along with half meaningful fights and half mismatches ~~like the final event~~ was tough to watch indeed, but yet, ~~like watching two girls fight in your first period homeroom....~~there was entertainment to be had...and in true MMA fashion, a surprise or well, one kinda.

Saffiedine leg kicked his way to a WW belt that stopped existing as soon as the card ended, but upset Marquardt who had looked dynamic and solid whilst dropping down to welterweight to beat Woodley and stopping him decisively while showing improved takedown defense.

Cormier and Barnett did what you do to overmatched guys no one's ever heard of and got some hype and highlight real stoppages to boost their credit when they get exported/imported/whatever over to the UFC (though Barnett's 3 hot piss tests, having the ignominious title of the first UFC Xship belt forfeited due to a piss test, and the fact that he sunk affliction....and his willigness to talk tough about Dana means that I'd say it's 50/50 he gets brought over. Dana has decided to make money and use while also eventually burying you with tough match-ups then rob you with your last fight's decision - see Tito Ortiz - so there's always the chance Barnett does get brought over b/c the heavyweight division is always a fight or two away or a retirement away from growing stagnant especially b/c they'll need some time to rebuild Dos Santos for another title run).

At any rate, the card was entertaining regardless and we have finally begun to strip down Strikefarce for its spare parts which will make for some different match-ups in some of the already stagnant UFC divisions.

Beyond that on Thursday Bellator comes to SpikeTV with its tournament format, exciting fights and solid match-ups. I'm very very very very much excited about this.
Here's the card via MMAJunkie.com:

- I'm interested to see how Chandler's stand-up has improved as has Hawn's who's finally gotten some time off after his tournament run. I see Hawn as having the more varied stand-up which he establishes with his jab and in the clinch I'm interested to see if any of his foot sweeps catch Chandler's wrestling base off guard.
Babalu will have another chance to show he's still the top of the heap when it comes to not A level competition and Pat Curran and Freire will throw down in what I'm sure will be a very entertaining scrap.
The undercard is a who's who of guys that washed out of other organizations at one time or another and are now still plugging away on undercards.

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MAIN (Spike TV, 10 p.m. ET)

Michael Chandler vs. Rick Hawn - for lightweight title
Renato Sobral vs. Mikhail Zayats - light heavyweight tournament opening round
Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire - for featherweight title

PRELIMINARY (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)

Cleber Luciano vs. Mario Navarro
Jacob Noe vs. Seth Petruzelli - light-heavyweight tournament opening round
Jason Lambert vs. Hector Ramirez
J.J. Ambrose vs. Brian Warren
Atanas Djambazov vs. Emanuel Newton - light-heavyweight tournament opening round
Mike Guymon vs. Savant Young
Joe Williams vs. Jamie Yager
Joe Camacho vs. Aaron Miller "

And this weekend we have more free TV action from the UFC with UFC on FX 7 (cool title, no?)
Also via MMAJunkie.com:

Belfort will try to Dan Henderson Michael Bisping, Dolloway will try to right hand/wrestlef*&k Sarafian. Gonzaga will probably flake as he always does after he wins a few and gets our hopes up. And Khabib will likely blast out Tavares who was once hyped as the next big thing.
I've been betting for awhile a bunch of these sambo/mma/combat/whatever Russian guys were going to start showing up on our shores and making serious waves. It has begun.
On the undercard I'll be rooting for Miltinho Vieira to win b/c I've been following his career for a long time now.
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MAIN (FX, 9 p.m. ET)

PRELIMINARY (FUEL TV, 6 p.m. ET)

PRELIMINARY (Facebook, 5:35 p.m. ET)

C.J. Keith vs. Francisco Trinaldo "

Two free events this week with some entertaining match-ups, though I'm willing to bet in terms of entertainment value, Bellator will deliver a bit more bang for the figurative buck of your free viewing pleasure.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

It's Good to be Eddie Alvarez

Read the specifics here

"An eight-fight deal would start Alvarez at $70,000 to show and $70,000 to win and raises in $5,000 increments with each win until it tops out at a guaranteed $210,000 for a win, the exhibit states. Alvarez would also be guaranteed a $250,000 signing bonus, payable in two installments of $85,000 and one of $80,000.

When Alvarez fights on a UFC PPV broadcast, the offer states it entitles him to $1 for each "buy" between 200,000 and 400,000 buys, $2 per buy between 400,000 and 600,000 buys, and $2.50 per buy over 600,000 buys.

Additionally, Alvarez is guaranteed a fight on a UFC on FOX card and three appearances as a commentator at UFC-branded events.

The exhibit confirms a previous claim from Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney that his promotion merely changed window dressings on the UFC's offer. Mentions of UFC parent company Zuffa are simply crossed out and replaced with Bellator."

Congrats to the man fighting his way to such offers from not 1 but 2 organizations.
You deserve it after a lifetime of face-punching/human cockfighting.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Upcoming Questions for 2013's Crystal Ball of MMA and Jiu-Jitsu

MMA:
Will Babalu's entry into Bellator show he remains a cut above all but the A list in MMA or is his career waning?

Will Alvarez make the jump into the UFC and was the loss to Chandler a matter of getting caught or are his best days behind him?

Jon Jones vs Chael Sonnen: no elaboration necessary.

How will Lombard fit into the Middleweight division this year and assuming he wins a few more, how many excuses will Anderson make to avoid fighting him?

Will Frankie Edgar get cut into pieces by the varied attack of Jose Aldo or will Edgar prove he is the Cinderella Man of MMA and take the 145 strap.

Who will challenge GSP after Nick Diaz? I lose track of all the interim/title challenger/no.1-no.2.8 ranked challengers thanks to Dana White's refusal to ever actually say if a fight is for the no. 1 contender spot.
How many fights does Jim Miller need to win to get a title shot?

How will Cormier and Melendez fare in the UFC?

Will anyone watch Demetrious Johnson defend his belt against another version of him in John Dodson?

Will Ronda Rousey's import be a boom or bust? So far the ticket sales are less than awe-inspiring. Faber gets his 14,346th title shot on the same card I believe.

Will Overreem pass his drug tests and actually fight in the UFC more than once or just continue to eat horse meat and fight mismatches in MMA between K-1 Grand Prix's?

On steroid news, will John Barnett get a shot in the UFC after being the first guy to get popped for it in the UFC and lose his HW belt he won over Randy Couture and after sinking Affliction by pissing hot before his fight with Fedor?

Jiu-Jitsu:
How will Keenan Cornelius fare in the Copa Podio as a brown belt, moving up from middleweight to heavyweight, in 6 minute matches, and in the so called "group of death" with Rodolfo and Xande among others?

When will the Mendes brothers return to competition?

How will Cobrinha fare coming off that spectacular armbar loss to Rafael?

Will Buchecha continue as the world's best or will Rodolfo reclaim the throne?
Where does Roger fit into the above burgeoning rivalry?

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Completely Unrelated MMA & Grappling News

Lombard to face Yushin Okami at UFC on Fuel 8.

Yushin hasn't looked the same since his loss to Anderson Silva ~~not that he's the only one with that post traumatic stress.~~
Lombard will continue to knock off any UFC jitters and look more impressive with each fight I do believe. I am curious to see how/if Anderson Silva will rationalize not wanting to fight an explosive puncher (much the way Anderson ballyhooed and ducked and dived and bitched about fighting Belfort).

Sonnen vs Jon Jones booked for April 27th.

That guy who wrote the book about travelling and doing Jiu-Jitsu around the world has an article up about why competing is good for you (*ahem* Rener and Ryron).

Lex's chosen best unknown BJJ competitor in the world

Jacare to UFC. One of the better transitions over to the UFC for which I'm glad there will be some match-ups other than Fitch not fighting Koscheck, or GSP fighting guys he's already beaten in dominant fashion.

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If you need some more BJJ/Grappling related news, head on over to BJJNews.com

Monday, January 7, 2013

BJJ Kumite Episode 1: Monday's Grappling Mailbag

Haters gonna hate but Lloyd Irvin is out there makig things happen, making waves, and settling doubts about who is willing to step up and compete no time limits, submission only.

Respect.