Israel FC Results and Shonie Carter's Upsetting Announcement

Israel FC took place this afternoon-possibly the oddest schedule for us in America to watch. The card had exciting fighters, UFC veterans, and only a few fights went the distance. The full results are listed below:

Main Card:
Ricco Rodriguez def. Daniel Tabera (98 KG/215 Pounds catchweight) via decision
Jeff Monson def. Sergey Shemetov (120/265 - Monson's last fight at heavyweight) via submission (Kimura) in Round 1
Frank Trigg def. Roy Neeman (82/181 catchweight) via TKO Round 1
Moshe Kaitz def. Hermes Franca (70/155 lightweight) via decision
Rameau Sokoudjou def. Valdas Pocevicius (93/205 light-heavyweight) by decision
Daniel Gracie def. Martin Wojcik (93/205 light-heavyweight) via submission (rear naked choke) in Round 1
Jeremy Knafo def. Shonie Carter (80/176 catchweight) via decision
Prelim Card:
Alexandre Ceconi def. Vitaly Shemetov (93/205 light-heavyweight) via submission (triangle choke) in Round 1
Thiago Meller def. Ariel Abargel (70/155 lightweight) via submission (armbar) in Round 1
VItali Krabresky def.. Serob Minasyan (70/155 lightweight) by decision
Ido Pariente def. Joshua Hewlett (70/155 lightweight) via submission (armbar) in Round 1
Roy Peretz def. Fabrice Riconneau (70/155 lightweight) via submission (triangle choke) in Round 1
Now onto the upsetting news: 'Mr. International' Shonie Carter lost for the 5th straight time today to Jeremy Knafo (who holds a professional record of...0-0...). Immediately after losing the decision after a solid 3 round fight, Mr. International stepped into the cage and anounced his retirement:
"You may all have just witnessed my retirement, but it has been my pleasure to give this world, all of me."
We've seen many fighters go into retirement only to come back and fight again later, but after a 5 fight losing streak and losing to a 0-0 fighter who you have much more experience over, it may be safe to assume Shonie will be out for good now.

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Jens Pulver's Return to the Cage

Jens Pulver, the original UFC lightweight champion and formerly the only man to defeat BJ Penn at lightweight (now Frankie Edgar has done that as well), is scheduled to make another appearance in the cage in 2011. He is scheduled to fight in the main event (opponent TBD) of a CFX/Extreme Challenge co-promoted event. A loss in this fight would mark the 7th straight loss in a row for Pulver, and it’s fair to assume Pulver just wants to end his career with a win, hence this fight. A little more background on Pulver for those of you who don’t know much about him: first ever UFC lightweight champion, and once he defended his title twice, he left the UFC causing them to take out their lightweight division altogether. I hope everyone will join me in wishing Pulver luck, because I don’t think anyone wants the former dominant UFC champion rack up a 7th loss in a row.

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Gilbert Melendez Looking To Move To UFC?

Gilbert Melendez recently stated he would like to face the best lightweights in the world, and those fighters are in the UFC. El Nino was recently quoted saying:
       
"It's something on my mind. It's not so much the UFC as it is the fighters out there. I think I've taken out most of the guys outside of the UFC."
"The guys I'd like to fight in the UFC are obviously Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Kenny Florian, BJ Penn, those are all the guys I'd like to fight out there. So, yeah, it's definitely on my mind."

With his teammate at Cesar Gracie's camp, Jake Shields, recently making his move to the UFC, we could be seeing El Nino in the UFC in the near future.  I definitely think Melendez has what it takes to hang with the best lightweights out there, especially after his win over Shinya Aoki at Strikeforce: Nashville. Melendez should be ranked in the top 5 lightweights, and a move to the UFC would solidify his place as one of the top lightweights in the world.

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WEC/UFC Merger

Sure feels great to be back! Now this is a little more than a week old, but still a relevant and important topic to discuss. The WEC/UFC merger announced by UFC President Dana White on Ocotber 28. Now although this seems like great news, and really is not terrible news for MMA fans, there are some drawbacks. UFC is synonymous with MMA, along with TapouT, and not many casual fans even know of the existence of the WEC, hence the merger. Zuffa wants to bring more popularity to the lighter weight fighters, and this is great for the WEC fighters. For us fans, however, the merger is not great news. Yes, UFC cards will be even more stacked with the absorbed talent, but this means no more stacked and action packed WEC cards filled with fights that are all potential Fight of the Night candidates. Also, NO MORE FREE WEC CARDS! The last WEC card will be WEC 53 on December 16 of this year, and after that all WEC fighters (and ring card girl, Brittany Palmer!) will be televised under the UFC banner. The first lighter weight fight we will see under the UFC banner will be Jose Aldo vs Josh Grispi at UFC 125 on New Year's Day. Can't wait to see how this pans out, but this merger oddly reminds me of PRIDE...and most fans would agree that MMA would be better off with PRIDE as a separate entity.
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MMA Blogg is Back!

After a long respite, MMA Blogg is back and revamped! A new look and a new partner, PUML Clothing. Of course, the content will remain MMA related! Check back daily for up to date MMA updates, and discuss them in the comments.



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Joe Rogan Comments On Who He Wants to See in the UFC

If someone says MMA, the common association is UFC. And for a good reason-they have the best fighters. Lately though, other promotions are gaining more fighters who are proving to be the best in the world. Strikeforce evolved from a Kickboxing promotion to an MMA promotion in 2006 and since then, they have been able to host events that rival the UFC in popularity, and they host some of the best fighters in the world right now. Joe Rogan issued a comment after UFC 114 on who he would like to see fight in the UFC. Video Below:


Rogan stated that he would like to see Alistar Overeem fight the best fighter the UFC has to offer because of his technical striking skills (he competed very successfully in K-1). And he also stated the UFC should bring back the brother of Nate Diaz, Nick Diaz. Fighting out of Cesar Gracie's camp in California, Nick is the current Strikeforce welterweight champion and Joe Rogan believes he is one of the world's top P4P best right now. Seeing these two fighters face the heavy competition in the UFC would be great for us fans, and there are many other fighters we would all like to see compete in the UFC to see how they compare to the great fighters the UFC has to offer (ahem...FEDOR!)

Pummel Clothing Company

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Post UFC 113

It seems every MMA event (with the exception of WEC 48) in the past month have had some controversy. UFC 111 left many opposed to GSP's tactic to grind out a victory despite his attempts to finish the tough Dan Hardy. UFC 112 had a main event that showed Anderson Silva lacking in performance once again-he could have finished off Maia many times in the fight but instead he chose to dance and mock Maia, then run around the Octagon away from Maia causing the crowd to chant GSP instead of Silva or even Maia. Strikeforce Nashville, of course, had the post fight brawl. And now, UFC 113 had Daley sucker punching Koscheck directly after the fight ended. Video Below:

Koscheck laid and prayed his way to victory after (seemingly) faking an injury from an illegal knee from Daley. Daley immediately got up after the buzzer and threw a left hook to Koscheck's face which did not even phase Kos. Koscheck then offended every fan in attendance during his post fight interview with Joe Rogan, claiming the Pittsburgh Penguins will beat Montreal next week in their hockey match, and that he will beat GSP and they will lose twice. When Daley was asked about this mishap after the fight by Dana White, Daley replied he did not hear the buzzer. Then, after being asked if he would like to fight in the UFC again, he simply shrugged. Needless to say, Dana booted him out of the UFC roster with no questions asked. Dana also released Kimbo Slice after his loss to Matt Mitrione (who utilized his game plan well and took out Kimbo in the second round) claiming he is a great persona and has grew as a fighter, but can not keep up as an MMA fighter. It seems Dana's publicity stunt to attract more viewers and fans has drawn its course...
And of course, Mauricio Rua proved to the world he deserved the title by knocking out Lyoto Machida in the first round. Check back for fight videos soon!

Robbie Lawler vs Renatu Babalu Sobral

Strikeforce: Los Angeles was originally scheduled to be headlined by Jason Miller vs Robbie Lawler. This bout was, of course, scheduled before the Strikeforce: Nashville post fight brawl. The Tennessee state athletic commission is still in the process of investigating the brawl, and it will take time to complete. The time the investigation will take along with the possible suspension of Miller led Strikeforce to cancel his fight with Lawler. The fight will be a catchweight bout at 195 pounds. Although Miller caused the spark to start the brawl, the real punishments should go to the fighters at the Gracie camp. Miller came into the cage and asked "where's my rematch, buddy?" and his question was followed up with shoving from Jake Shields and his cronies from the Gracie camp (Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez, Weleterweight champ Nick Diaz, and Diaz's brother Nate Diaz). A suspension from the Tennessee state athletic commission will most likely be given because he was involved in the brawl and he walked into the cage at a terrible time and interrupted Jake Shield's time to shine after a career defining win over Dan Henderson. But giving a suspension to Miller and not to Shields, Melendez, and Diaz (Nick not Nate as Nate fights in the UFC) is completely unfair. We will have to wait and see how this investigation unfolds, but seeing Miller fight anytime soon is highly unlikely.

Tito Ortiz Charged With Assault

The former UFC Light Heavyweight champion was charged with assault
against his girlfriend Jenna Jameson today, and was hauled off to
jail. Jameson will be pressing charges and has already gotten a
restraining order against Ortiz. But what I'm sure you readers are
curious about (since this is an MMA blog) is how this will affect his
status in the UFC. Well it didn't take long for UFC president Dana
White to step in and issue a comment and stated the UFC can cut Ortiz,
but White has not made an official decision yet. But let's face it-
Ortiz is no longer very popular in the UFC and his fighting career is
nowhere as exciting as it was earlier and his attitude and actions are
not what the UFC or MMA needs now. We may not see Ortiz fighting in
the UFC again (especially because he is in jail now). And if the UFC
cuts Babalu and Nick Diaz, it is very probable they will cut Ortiz.