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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