Bellator CEO Rooting For Eddie Alvarez, But Unlikely To Bend On Tourney Format


Former Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez has two fights remaining on his contract and could be with the promotion for at least another year.

While he's often defended the promotion, he's also expressed a desire to fight the best in his class, who largely reside in the UFC. Alvarez also has campaigned for an immediate rematch with Michael Chandler, who took his belt this past November.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney wants to re-sign Alvarez (22-3 MMA, 6-1 BFC), who was his first big acquisition five years ago when the promotion was getting started in 2008. But at this point, Rebney is committed to the tournament format that separates Bellator from other fight promotions.

"Is there the potential that at some point there could be some alteration or adjustment to that format? I doubt it, but ... we'll see," Rebney told MMAjunkie.com Radio (http://www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

A pivotal fight for Alvarez's career is on the horizon. Next month, he meets DREAM champion Shinya Aoki (30-5 MMA, 0-0 BFC) at Bellator 66, which takes place April 20 at I-X Center in Cleveland. Beating Aoki would give Alvarez leverage in cutting a better deal with his longtime employers. It would also make him more attractive to the competition.

If they want to keep Alvarez, Bellator is required to give him the last fight on his contract within six months of the Aoki booking, which foreseeably could be in early 2013.

But Rebney is waiting to see what happens with Aoki.

"If he wins it, it will lead to one scenario, and if he loses it, it will probably lead in a different direction," Rebney said. "I'd love to keep him under the Bellator banner, but I'd also love for Ed to have nothing but the best success and make the most money he can."

The UFC has expressed interest in Alvarez, who won seven consecutive bouts prior to his recent setback. But the fighter's contractual status has prevented the promotion from making any public overtures.

"I like this kid," UFC president Dana White previously told MMAjunkie.com. "He's probably a tough guy, (but) you'd have to get him in here to really find out how good he really is."

One thing is for certain: Alvarez wouldn't have to worry about tournaments if he were to move to the UFC. His sometime training partner, UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar, is on the cusp of his third title rematch after campaigning to avenge his loss to current champ Benson Henderson.

Alvarez recently balked at the prospect of competing in another one of Bellator's eight-man competitions to earn a rematch with Chandler. Instead, he chose Aoki, who submitted him just prior to his Bellator debut.

Rebney said he supports Alvarez whether he ends up in Bellator or in the UFC. But that's a choice the fighter isn't facing just yet.

"Eddie wanted the Aoki fight, and that's a good business decision," Rebney said. "He didn't want to go and rewrite the book. He wanted to get right back in and against one of the top-five lightweights in the world and reestablish himself.

"If he wins that fight, Ed's going to be in a terrific position to negotiate with us, as well as the UFC. So as counterintuitive as it sounds for a CEO that actually writes the check to say it, I hope that's the position he's in. Because the guy deserves it."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/27810/bellator-ceo-rooting-for-eddie-alvarez-but-unlikely-to-bend-on-tourney-format.mma

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will begin the next phase of his post-UFC career in 2012 with Titan Fighting Championships.

The former UFC welterweight and middleweight hopeful has signed with the promotion and will debut there later this year. Sources close to the promotion confirmed the signing to MMAWeekly.com on Monday. The fighter first revealed the news on “The MMA Hour.”

Johnson was a mainstay in the UFC for several years, picking up more than a few key wins including victories over Dan Hardy and Charlie Brenneman, but it was not without a few hiccups along the way.

Johnson struggled to keep his weight in check when he was making the cut down to 170 pounds, and because of his massive frame he missed weight on more than one occasion.

The UFC believed they found the answer for Johnson’s weight cutting woes by placing him in a middleweight bout against Vitor Belfort at UFC 140, but that backfired as well.

Johnson missed the 186-pound cutoff for the middleweight division as well, and following a loss to Belfort at the event, he was released from the promotion.

Now the fighter who trains with the Blackzilians will make his first appearance for the Kansas City based promotion, whose shows air on HDNet.

There’s been no official word on which weight class Johnson will compete in at this time.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/anthony-johnson-signs-with-titan-fighting

While it's not quite at the level of mainstream interest of when Gina Carano was on top, women's MMA is experiencing a boom after two great fights on the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey card. Both the main event between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey and the undercard fight featuring Alexis Davis against Sarah Kaufman were spectacular fights and with Rousey now the champion, there's a marketable star on top again.

While UFC president Dana White has always said that the biggest issue with women's MMA isn't the fights, it's the lack of depth, CEO Lorenzo Fertitta thinks they could create a great WMMA league right now (Via MMA Fighting):

"Dana is right. Historically there has been an issue with the depth of talent in the talent pool, but it seems to me like that is starting to change and the one argument I make when we talk about it, and this might sound a little self-serving, but we've never been in the women's game, so we've never had our matchmakers do this. Let Joe Silva and Sean Shelby develop a women's league. I guarantee you they can do it. They're that good."

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/3/15/2873551/lorenzo-fertitta-is-a-believer-in-womens-mma

Rampage Jackson To Undergo Double Knee Surgeries, Shogun Fight Delayed


Quinton “Rampage” Jackson still has one final fight to go in the UFC and it is slated to be against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but not before he goes through surgery.

The former Pride fighter took to his Twitter account on Thursday with news that the knee injury that hampered him in the fight with Ryan Bader will require him to go under the doctor’s knife.

As a matter of fact, both of Jackson’s knees will need to be surgically repaired.

“To keep it real, the Shogun fight will have to wait. I just found out that I have to get surgery on both knees,” wrote Rampage. “But I heal fast, don’t trip.”

Jackson didn’t specify the nature of the surgery, but from the tone in his post it doesn’t sound like major reconstructive surgery like the one UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre just had to undergo.

Jackson first revealed the nature of his injury after missing weight for his fight with Ryan Bader at UFC 144 in Japan. He stated that a nagging knee problem forced him to miss out on much of the road work that would have allowed him to get his weight down prior to the trip overseas.

Jackson ended up losing the fight to Bader by unanimous decision.

Over the past several weeks, Jackson has been on a rampage via Twitter and a separate interview with HDNet’s Bas Rutten complaining about his status with the UFC and going as far as asking for his release.

With one fight left on his current deal, the UFC offered to appease his wish after he fulfilled that final bout.

The plan was for Rampage to face Shogun later this year in a rematch of their 2005 bout in Pride, but the double knee surgeries will at least delay the timing of that fight for now

http://www.mmaweekly.com/rampage-jackson-to-undergo-double-knee-surgeries-shogun-fight-delayed

Nevada Rebukes Nick Diaz Suspension Defense, Claims He Lied On Pre-Fight Questionnaire


Yesterday, an attorney representing Nick Diaz formally challenged Nick's marijuana metabolites suspension by submitting a response to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. But it appears that the NSAC has already rebuked the defense by claiming Diaz lied on his pre-fight questionnaire (via Yahoo Sports):

Christopher Eccles, a Nevada deputy attorney general who represents the state athletic commission, referred telephone calls and email messages to public information officer Jennifer M. Lopez.

In a written statement, Lopez said, "Not only did Nick Diaz violate the law by testing positive for marijuana metabolites, but he also lied to the Commission on his Pre-Fight Questionnaire when he swore that he had not used any prescribed medications in two weeks before the fight."

Along with the article is an unverified document claiming to be a copy of Diaz's pre-fight questionnaire where he checked "no" to "have you taken/received any prescribed medications in the past two weeks". Here is a link to that document. Nick's attorney, Ross Goodman, stated in his report that Diaz stopped using marijuana (which is prescribed to him by a California physician for his ADHD) eight days before his UFC 143 bout with Carlos Condit.

Will this change anything in regards to how the situation is handled? We'll have to wait and see.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/3/14/2872295/nevada-rebukes-nick-diaz-suspension-defense-claims-he-lied-on-pre

The Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title resides with newly crowned champion Ronda Rousey, but former titleholder Sarah Kaufman plans to return the belt to Canada after the two meet later this year.

Kaufman seemed poised to take on Miesha Tate in a rematch for the Strikeforce women’s 135-pound title. She holds a win over Tate, but Rousey bypassed Kaufman in line for the title through effective campaigning and creating a buzz around the match-up. Rousey’s Olympic medal winning background in judo and undefeated MMA recorded didn’t hurt either.

Tate vs. Rousey headlined the March 3 Strikeforce event at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Kaufman competed on the undercard, winning a hard-fought decision over Alexis Davis. The win over Davis secured a title shot for the former champion, and Kaufman plans to return to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with belt in hand.

“The fight between Ronda and myself is a huge fight and I think it’s a great stylistic fight for me,” Kaufman told MMAWeekly.com.

“You know what Ronda’s going to do. Ronda knows what I’m going to do. It’s going to be who can do it better and I honestly don’t see her doing it better than I’m going to do to her. So I’m looking for that title to come back to Victoria,” said Kaufman.

Leading up to her title bout with Tate, Rousey regularly fed the media with sound bites of smack talk. Somewhere along the way it became personal. Kaufman isn’t concerned with what is said leading up to the impending showdown. She does her talking in the cage.

“You can’t have the same build-up for every fight. If every build is, oh these two are, Ronda’s at it again. She’s shocking and Sarah is trash talking back; I think that gets old,” she said.

“It’s good to have the different type of characters if you will. Ronda is a little bit more of a trash talker. She’ll just say anything whereas I’m the person that’s going to say what I believe and say what I think is the truth, but in a little bit more of a calculated way — just a little bit more caution with the awareness of who my fans are and how I represent myself. I think that’s a really good thing for the sport. You get to see the different sides of people,” continued Kaufman.

“I’m this nice person and in the cage I’m an animal. That’s what I want. I want people to know me for my fighting.”

Kaufman wants to become known as a two-time Strikeforce champion. She’s earned that opportunity. All that stands in her way is Ronda Rousey.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/sarah-kaufman-fight-with-ronda-rousey-will-be-huge

Roger Gracie Officially Drops To Middleweight, Joins Black House


In an interview with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani, Ed Soares has confirmed that Roger Gracie is signing with Black House management and more importantly, he is dropping to the 185 pound Middleweight Division.

This is not the most shocking news as it has been rumored Gracie had been mulling a weight drop for some time and he has reportedly being working members of Black House, including UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva on Tatame.com a few months ago.

Roger's run at Light Heavyweight sparked some hope for the resurgence of the Gracie family legend, but his biggest wins were over an aged Kevin Randleman and Trevor Prangley. In his most recent fight with Muhammed Lawal, Gracie was knocked out within the first round.

For Gracie, this move makes a great deal of sense, for while he is long and tall, he lacks the heft and mass that the majority of elite Light Heavyweights enjoy. It is likely in any major fight Gracie entered at 205 lbs he would have been at a serious strength and size disadvantage. Furthermore, the top of the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight division is populated by strong wrestlers, who would likely be able to stop the Brazilian's attempts to take him down and win the striking battle decisively, as Lawal did.

At Middleweight, Gracie will be on the tallest fighters in the division at 6'4" and be on more equal footing in terms of physical strength. Throw in that the talent pool is a bit shallower at Middleweight and Gracie's grappling abilities could make him a real contender at that weight.

As of right now, Gracie is still in Strikeforce which is searching for new Middleweight talent to challenge current champion Luke Rockhold after the likely Tim Kennedy title shot. The arrival of Gracie opens up the possibility of a rematch of sorts with Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, one of the handful of men to beat Gracie in a Brazilian jiu jitsu match. The match at the 2004 Mundials was a controversial one though, as Gracie broke Jacare's arm in the match only to see Jacare, who was up on points, stall out the rest of the time limit to claim the "win". It is a fight that could be an excellent and exciting title eliminator for a promotion looking for any way to generate excitement amongst a fan base that may have written certain divisions of Strikeforce off as dead.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/3/15/2874579/roger-gracie-middleweight-drop-black-house-official-strikeforce

Strikeforce’s Roger Gracie On Signing With Black House MMA

John Alessio Admits To Past PED Usage, Against Them Now


In a surprising and refreshing move, an MMA fighter has been open and honest about his past performance-enhancing drug usage. John Alessio, a Canadian fighter that has competed all over the map and once challenged Pat Miletich for the UFC welterweight title, was a guest on Sherdog's Beatdown Radio and opened up about his usage in the past:

"I’ll be honest with you," he said. "I’m an honest person. When I was young -- in my 18, 19, 20s, you know, 22 -- I dabbled in a few of them. I tried them out [to see] how it is, so I know what they can do, and I know how they can work against you also."

"There are proven facts [that] it can make you faster and stronger," Alessio said, "but there are proven facts [that] it can gas you out eventually." "I’m not in a weightlifting competition. I’m not in a bodybuilding show," he said. "I’m in a mixed martial arts fight."

The 32-year-old fighter states that he is against PED usage now though:

"In the dark ages of the sport, I tried [PEDs]," he said, "but I also became a firm believer in ‘let’s make this sport natural.’"

"A lot of people have become dependent upon performance-enhancing drugs and stuff because of the mental factor," Alessio said. "They don’t feel as strong; they don’t know if they’ll be as mean out there. And I’m definitely against performance-enhancing drugs. I think it’s kind of silly. I don’t think it is necessary at all. I think you can get everything you need naturally."

The topic came up because Alessio said he was a hyperbaric chamber at the time, and the idea of science helping athletes advance in sport led to him talking about his own experiences. He did make it clear that he never used them for a major fight though:

"I never did [PEDs] for a UFC fight, or any major organization."

Why would he admit to past usage?

"I’m trying to take a stand."

While some might believe it's not the wisest move for Alessio to admit this, I applaud him for his honesty. As a guy who has been actively trying to get back into the UFC though, this might hurt his chances. Alessio, who recently dropped to lightweight, fights this weekend at Score Fighting Series 4 in Hamilton against Ryan Healy

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/3/14/2869477/ufc-john-alessio-past-ped-usage-mma-news

Fight Path: From Hockey To Grappling To MMA For Score Fighting Series 4's Josh Hill


About two years ago, Josh Hill got an offer to earn good money for a short work day. All he knew was they needed a guy to pose for a book cover, and that's about all he asked.

He showed up, worked for about 40 minutes and took home $400. He kept an eye out for whatever book it might be, but he didn't see it.

Until one of his MMA training partners came into the gym one day and chuckled. He presented Hill with a copy of a stereotypical romance novel – "Avenger's Angel" – that featured Hill with digitally added wings.

"But there was a hot chick on my arm beside me," Hill told MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com), "so they couldn't say too much."

It was good-natured ribbing from the group that Hill considers crucial to his MMA success. A longtime hockey player, the native Canadian has transferred the team aspects of hockey to the often-viewed individual nature of MMA to rush to a 7-0 professional record.

Hill will try to stay undefeated when he takes on Eric Wilson (5-1) in a 135-pound bout at the Score Fighting Series 4 show on Friday in Hill's hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. With the fight, which streams on thescore.com with a John Alessio vs. Ryan Healy headliner, the 25-year-old Hill will continue his transition from hockey to grappling tournaments to MMA that has made the volunteer firefighter a quick success in his current sport.

Some think a win would put Hill on the fast track to a bigger promotion, perhaps even the UFC. For his part, Hill said he is focusing on his upcoming fight with the help of the support group at his three gyms and the variety of his training.

"If you get into all that (what can happen in a career), you lose focus on the fight," Hill said. "I just need to do my best and sit down afterward and look at what I can do from here on out."

Hockey family

Hill comes from a large extended family in Hamilton that has a strong background in hockey – so strong, in fact, that his first memory of the sport came as a young boy with an early present.

"My dad bought me a pair of skates, the double-bladed kind, and he strapped those on me and dragged me around the ice," Hill said. "I was probably 2 and a half or 3 (years old)."

That turned into a career that lasted through his youth and that was shared by his brother and sister. His father worked as a firefighter, and his mother was a nurse, which gave Hill an appreciation for those who help others. Their influence would later lead him to also working for the fire department.

But as a youth, his focus was hockey.

"I was like every other kid that played hockey, thinking I would be an NHL player," Hill said. "When you're a kid, 99 percent of the players think that. Then once you get into your teens, you get a little more realistic."

So Hill dabbled in other sports, and he even stopped into a few jiu-jitsu classes when he was about 15 years old. But he didn't have the time outside of hockey to commit to any combat sports.

By the time he was about 21, Hill figured his hockey career was winding down, and he looked for other ways to stay in competition. He was working out in his gym one day when he heard a pair of brothers was teaching some sort of MMA class in the building, and he was intrigued.

Then his new career began.

"The first day, I was able to say no," Hill said of attending the class. "Then the next day I signed up, and it started."

Smooth progression

Even when he started taking the MMA classes, Hill's goal was not to compete in the sport. He eyed submission-grappling tournaments, and he made a name for himself in them. In the 10 tournaments he entered, he won nine and finished second in his one non-victory.

It was part of Hill's smooth progression into MMA.

"Everyone thinks of it as an individual sport, but it's your team that makes you the fighter you are," Hill said. "They help you get up at 6 a.m. for early-morning practices and keep you focused."

After success in the grappling tournaments, Hill faced an obvious transition into MMA. It began on short notice, when Hill's coach told him in October 2009 that he could have a fight with two weeks to prepare. He took it and won in the second round.

By his fifth fight, Hill won his first title. He earned the Aggression MMA bantamweight belt by topping previously undefeated Diego Wilson via unanimous decision, the first of three straight wins by decision entering Friday.

Along the way, Hill has collected a variety of training options, from his local gym to a once-a-week drive of 90 minutes each way to head to a different gym. With an opportunity to continue his undefeated career, Hill said he has been leaning even more on his de facto teammates while preparing for the upcoming fight.

"I definitely think it would be harder (to be more individual in preparation)," he said. "You always have somebody there to pick you up when you're down or push you, and that's a big help. It's a big reason I have opportunities like this one."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/27845/fight-path-from-hockey-to-grappling-to-mma-for-score-fighting-series-4s-josh-hill.mma