My Sports News Digest

This video is worth the 1:05 it will take you to watch. In fact, it’s worth the 5:25 it will take you to watch it five times in a row, because you will. You will want to watch UFC fighters and once opponents Pat Barry and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic sing along to the Mamas and the Papas classic “California Dreaming.” The two fought at UFC 115, but Barry never kept his fandom of Filipovic a secret. That may explain why he’s grinning like a jack o’lantern throughout the video. What impressed me most is that Cro Cop knew the [...]

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Artist Ray Villafane created a pumpkin that reminds me of MMA’s best punch-faces. That is an impressive work of art, particularly the flying pumpkin teeth. Could you do any better? Here’s the challenge. Create an MMA-inspired pumpkin and post it on the Cagewriter Facebook page. It can be a fighter, a fight, a logo, whatever. It just needs to be obviously related to mixed martial arts and made from a pumpkin, and not obscene, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. We will award the best ones DVDs, fight programs and whatever else we can pull from the Cagewriter prize closet. Read on [...]

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Next week at UFC 137, Matt Mitrione is back and he’s facing his toughest test to date. The former Big 10 defensive tackle and NFL veteran, has raced out to a 5-0 start, but now he faces another big puncher in Cheick Kongo. Mitrione doesn’t sound like he’s afraid to bang with the Frenchman, but also pointed out that he’s been working on his ground game as well. Listen to a very confident Mitrione with Kevin Iole and myself on ESPNRadio1100/98.9 FM’s “The MMA Insiders” show. You’ll be shocked to find out who “Meathead” from Season 9 of the “Ultimate [...]

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Through the end of the year, the MMA world will go on a massive run of fights, taking time off only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nearly every weekend will feature events from the UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator. Ben Askren vs. Jay Hieron at Bellator 56: Askren and Hieron have been jawing at each other over this bout since Hieron won the right to fight Askren for the Bellator welterweight belt. Askren’s been working on his striking with Duke Roufus and his band of strikers in Milwaukee. Will that, combine with his world-class wrestling, be enough to hold off Hieron? Clay [...]

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Only one guy counts in the discussion and that’s referee Herb Dean, but anybody watching last night’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” saw Akira Corassani tap and Dustin Neace robbed of a victory. Late in the first round, Neace caught Corassani in heel hook/knee bar and it was pretty clear that he tapped, once, if [...]

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Carlos Condit has been through a roller coaster while preparing UFC 137. He started out by preparing for a bout with B.J. Penn. After Nick Diaz’s no-show for multiple press obligations, Condit was given the title shot. Today, he found out Georges St. Pierre was injured, and that Condit’s title shot would have to wait until December or January. Still, Condit told Cagewriter that he’s not angry about the turn of events. “It’s a letdown, but it’s the nature of the sport. I’m going to stay positive, keep training, and be even better when the fight comes.” He said taking [...]

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Chael Sonnen is still waiting and he’s beginning to lose his patience. On Saturday, the middleweight title challenger sent out a cryptic tweet directed at UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva basically saying accept the fight or beware. Silva’s manager Ed Soares appeared with the folks on HDNet’s “Inside MMA” and hasn’t changed his stance on giving Sonnen a second shot. “I think Chael’s delusional,” Soares said of Sonnen’s claim that he’s the real champ and that the loss at UFC 117 was less than legitimate. “At the end of the day, he tapped, he quit, he gave up. Take a [...]

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Alexander Shlemenko battled through an absolute slugfest to advance to the Bellator middleweight tournament finals, but he’ll have a beast awaiting him. Right before Shlemenko finished off Brian Rogers, Vitor Vianna sent a resounding message by running over Bryan Baker with a first round TKO finish at Bellator 54 in Atlantic City. Vianna (13-1-1), who trains at Wanderlei Silva’s Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas, decided to stand and bang with Baker. The jiu-jitsu ace showed he has thunder in his hands. Vianna floored Baker with a well-placed right hook to the temple. Once Baker went down, Vianna sat on [...]

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