Tag: WMMA

UFC184: A history making night 

As most of you may know we here at WNB are huge advocates of the females in the sports industry. More specifically in the world of Professinal wrestling and MMA.

This Saturday at UFC184 at the Staple Center in Los Angeles history will be made. For the first time ever both Co Main & Main events feture women.  The co main will feature the #12 athlete in the women’s Batemweight divison Requel Pennington vs the #13 seed and former 10 time boxing Champion Holly Holm.

The co main event is just as high profile as the main event and that is because Holly Holm has been one of the most talked about athletes in awhile. Not to mention her KO victories serve as a human highlight reel. Many people believe Holm is the favorite to win this fight.

Raquel Penninton on the other hand is coming off a recent victory at UFC182. She defeated Ashley Even’s smith impressively in the last 10 secs of the 1st round via Bulldog choke. Not to mention Pennington is an alumni of The Ultimite fighter season 18. Her fight with Jessamyn Duke is highly regarded as one of the best WMMA fights and it was a fight that earned the title “fight of the season”.

If that’s not enough Dana White spoke highly of Pennigton telling her she was one of the best in the divison. Pennington made it to the semi finals but then lost to the seasons winner Juliana Peña. Many people see Pennington as the underdog in this fight but that’s a situation Pennington is comfortable with.

In the main event we have two undefeated athletes Ronda Rousey holds a record of (10-0) while Cat Zingano holds a record of (9-0) Both athletes are coming off wins. Zigano earned a TKO victory against Amanda Nunes back in September as where Rousey is coming off an impressive record setting 16 sec TKO in the women’s Batemweight divison against Alexis Davis from UFC175

Let’s not forget this is a fight that has been a year in the making. In late 2013 Zignano beat standout Miesha Tate via TKO earning her a future title shot. She was also slated to couch opposite Rousey of TUF18 but all of that was put on hold after she suffered an ACL injury. Her return was then pushed back further when tragedy struck in her personal life after her husband/couch took his own life.

Both athletes in the main event have battled their fair share of injuries and personal struggles. They both have something to prove and neither of them want to see that 0 disappear from the record. Wether you’re Team Rousey or Team Zingano, the fight fans are in for a treat.

The full fight card is as follows:

Early preliminary Card live on UFC Fight pass 4P:30T/7:30ET

James Kruse vs Valmir Lazaro

Masio Fullen vs Alxander Torres

Preliminary Card live on FoxSports1 5PT/8ET

Derrick Lewis vs Ruan Potts

Dhiego Lima vs Tim Means

Romam Salazar vs Norifumi Yamamoto

Mark Muñoz vs Roan Carnieo

UFC184 live on PPV 7PT/10ET

Lightweight bout: Tony Furgeson vs Glieson Tiabu

Welterweight bout: Alan Joban vs Richard Walsh

Welterweight bout: Jake Ellenberger vs Josh Koscheck

Co main event women’s Battemweight Raquel Penninton vs Holy Holm

Main event for the women Battwmweight title: Ronda Rousey (C) vs Cat Zingano

I will be doing play by play coverage starting with the prelims at 5PT/8ET @WrestlingNewsBlog on Twitter so you won’t want to miss it.

If this didn’t hype you to enough feel free to watch countdown to UFC184 here http://youtu.be/jRVNn3RM8O8

 

Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

UFC announces drug testing changes

In the wake of Anderson Silva’s 3 failed drug test for PED’s followed by a failed drug test by Hector Lombard, the UFC had no choice then to take action.

A press conference was held this afternoon where UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Feritta discussed the matter.

White had this to say at the press conference. “”What happened was we started spending half a million dollars on out of competition testing,” White said. “And I think when a guy like Anderson Silva gets caught, it definitely sends a message. I think that shocked the entire MMA community and the sports world. It shocked me. We were pretty blown away by it. And now we’re going to dig in.”

Feritta later echoed Dana’s statement by saying this. “We’ve been working on this for a couple of years,” “We’ve been in conversation with third parties for at least six or seven months. We made a lot of progress.

“What the Anderson Silva thing has prompted us to [do is] come out and address these issues, to make sure we’re speeding up the process. We don’t have the luxury of kind of sitting back and being academic and debating all these legal points. We just got to go. And however the cards fall they’re going to fall. But we’re going to make sure that fighters are being tested, and the results will be what the results will be.”

Epstein added that the UFC still supports Silva, who is entitled to his due process with the Nevada Athletic Commission, and that his they would continue to do so as things unfold.

“Regardless of what happens, Anderson Silva has been a great champion and he’s been a great representative of the sport,” Epstein said. “If something bad happened here, the Nevada Athletic Commission will handle that. But, he does have, he had a great career, and we’ll continue to honor that and stand behind him regardless of what happens with the athletic commission.”

It was also said that from this point forward every single fighter on the roster would be tested for PED’s and if it cost extra the UFC wok be willing to cover the cost. Dana also pretty much said “if you’re using PEDs your going to get caught” he went on to say that if you need PEDs to fight then maybe you shouldn’t be here” it was also said that if champions fail test that they would be stripped of their title.

I think this is a positive step for the UFC. Now maybe the sport will start gaining the respect of the naysayers. What do you guys think of this ground breaking announcement? Do you agree or disagree?

The audio from the press conference can be heard here http://youtu.be/I8B6wKg5gT8

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

WMMA at the forefront

Once upon a time we lived in a world where WMMA was unknown and a time where UFC president Dana White Said women would NEVER fight in the UFC.

The year is 2015 and man have times changed. On February 28th at UFC 184 for the first time in history BOTH the co main and main event feature women! In the co main event you have a debuting Holy Holm who’s a former boxing champion taking on one of the standouts in the women’s Battwmweight division Raquel Pennington. I’m going to make a prediction and say this is going to be a slug fest between two future title contenders.

Then of corse you have the main event that features two undefeated athletes. One who’s defeated the likes of Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes both by KO to earn herself a 9-0 record. Cat Zingano has proved she’s a fighter both in the cage and in her personal life. However on the 28th she faces the biggest challenge yet in trying to take down the reigning defending undisputed women’s Battemweight Champion Ronda Rousey. A women who holds a professional fight record of 10-0, 4-0 in the UFC and 13-0 overall record, a women who medaled in the Olympics, a women who’s also overcome personal issues and a women who if you watch all her fights back to back the running time would be around 35 mins!

Wether you’re expecting an upset and wanting Zignano to take the title or rooting for Rousey’s dominance to continue this bout should be one for the ages and a treat for all fight fans.

It seems that 2015 is the year of the ladies. On the 27th Invicta fighting championship will be holding their 12th event in LA where the card will be headlined by a returning Chris Cyborg defending her title against Charmaine Tweet. Let’s not forget the numerous women bouts announced for this year.

Carla Esparza will defend her newly won strawweight title against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 185 on March 14th. On March 21st WMMA pioneer Shayna Baszler is set to return to the octagon to face a Brazilian standout in Amanda Nunes, on April 4th at UFC fight night 63?Liz Carmouche will take on Lauren Murphy; plus on that same card the winner of TUF18 Juliana Pena returns after suffering an ACL injury to face Milana Dudieva. Thats not all for April because on April 11th at UFC fight night 64 TUF 20’s Asling Daily will square off against Claudia Gadelha. On April 18 two fan favorites in the strawweight division Felice Herrig and Paige VanZant will face off against one another at UFC on Fox 10. Then on April 25th at UFC 186 we have two WMMA bouts. One featuring a returning Jessica Rekozy as she competes in the strawweight division for the first time against Valerie Letourneau and then we get what should be an epic battle between two fellow Canadian veterans as Sara Kaufman and Alexis Davis clash in the octagon

And those are just the fights that have been officially announced! I’m excited that these women are finally getting their time to shine and I look forward to see what Dana and company have in mind for future WMMA bouts.

Are you happy with these upcoming fights? I know that the wmma fan in me is. Further more are there any ladies you want to see fight this year? For me it’s Jessamyn Duke, she’s coming off a hand injury from July and there’s a bunch of potential opponents.

Let me know how you feel about the ladies leading the pack and what you look forward too in the comments below.

-Vanessa (GreatLove91)

A moment for the fans

You know those moments we all live for as fans? Those moments that cause you to either smile from ear to ear or mark out like you’ve never marked out before? Wether it be while watching the Super Bowl, the World Series, the World Cup, the indie 500, WrestleMania, WrestleKindom, Bond for Glory or a UFC event as fans it’s what we live for. We live to cheer and live to boo!

This moment in particular should cause MMA fans and pro wrestling fans alike to rejoice. As you may know it was recently announced that Shayna Baszler will be fighting Amanda Nunes in Rio on March 21st and some of you may also know Shayna is a HUGE wrestling fan. I mean after all she’s a catch wrestler which has adapted into what we know as pro wrestling today. She’s an ongoing supporter and it looks like she’s getting that support in return.

ROH and PWG star Adam Cole sent out a tweet to the queen of spades in support of her upcoming bout

There you have it folks Adam Cole says that the pro wrestling family has Shayna’s back which means as wrestling fans (and if your reading this that means you) SO SHOULD YOU. Even if MMA isn’t your cup of tea I encourage you to tune into this fight on March 21st it’s our duty as a wrestling/MMA community to do so.

More details on start time and how to view the fight are coming soon.

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

Exciting news for UFC Fight Night 62

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I bet the followers of this site and people who know me were wondering when this story was going to go up? I apologize its taken me two days to do so but never fear because here it is.

The UFC announced on Thursday that two very intriguing bouts have been added to the March 21st card of Fight Night62. Fight Night62 will take place in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and will be headlined by a Battwmweight bout featuring Uriajh Faber and Raphael Assuncao

Now as for the two fights added to the card those fights include a match up in the featherweight division between Godofredo Pepey and team alpha male’s Andre Fili and of corse the fight that has yours truly marking out like any fan should, a bout in the women’s Battwmweight division between standout Amanda Nunes and WMMA pioneer (and an ongoing supporter of this site and someone who I call a friend) the one and only Shayna Baszler

Ok I know that intro may be a bit bias and journalism isn’t suppose to have any bias but can you blame me?

Ok moving on. On a serious note both women in this fight are looking for redemption. Amanda Nunes is coming off a lost over Cat Zingano from September as where Shayna Baszler is coming off a lost against Bethe Correia from August.

Many people also believe this is a must win situation for Baszler having lost her last two fights. Either way this fight should be a good one. Might I add that this is the 2nd time in less then a year Baszler has been matched up against a Brazilian and with the event taking place in Brazil Baszler is sure to be met with boos but that’s ok though since the Queen of Spades likes to embrace the HEEL character she should feel right at home.

So tell me which of these two bouts are you most excited to see? Or is it another bout on the card that your excited for? The full fight card can be seen here:

155 lbs.: Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Burns
170 lbs.: Erick Silva vs. Ben Saunders
170 lbs.: Demian Maia vs. Ryan LaFlare
170 lbs.: Ryan LaFlare vs. Demian Maia
155 lbs.: Leonardo Santos vs. Matt Wiman
155 lbs.: Cain Carrizosa vs. Leonardo Mafra
170 lbs.: Drew Dober vs. Leandro Silva
155 lbs.: Akbarh Arreola vs. Francisco Trinaldo
145 lbs.: Andre Fili vs. Godofredo Pepey
135 lbs.: Shayna Baszler vs. Amanda Nunes

You know that yours truly will be rooting for the Queen of Spades all the way and in truth is the only reason I’ll be tuning in to this event, and who knows maybe you guys can expect an interview with Baszler before or after the fight so STAY TUNED for more details.

The match up order has yet to be announced but the main card will take place on Fox Sports1 as the prelims will take place on UFC FIGHT PASS

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

BREAKING NEWS regarding UFC184

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It was just announced on UFC’s official website that due to a rib injury UFC’s middleweight champion Chris Weidman will be unable to defend his title against challenger Vitor Bellfort.

Due to this untimely injury the championship bout between Women’s Battwmweight champion Ronda Rousey and Challenger Cat Zingano will now be the main event, and the bout between debuting Holy Holm vs Raquel Pennington will now be the co main event!

This is huge news because this is the first time in the history of the UFC that wmma bouts have been both co main and main event on a card. Well I’m sad that Chris Weidman will be unable to compete I’m also overjoyed over this chance that the women in the sport are getting. It’s been a long time coming and it shows that the sport has come a long way.

UFC184 is set to take place Saturday February 28th live from the staple center in Los Angeles California. The event will be live on PPV and UFC fight pass at 7pmPST/10pmEST.

With all that being said on behalf of everyone else we would like to wish Chris Weidman a speedy recovery.

How do you feel about this announcement? Are you happy that it’ll be a night for the ladies to prove that they belong? Let us know what you think.

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

TUF20 Finale fight card

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If you’re not a fan of WMMA or MMA in general Friday December 12th 2014 is the perfect day to become one because that is the night HISTORY will be made. The 1st ever UFC Women’s strawweight champion will be crowned as Carla Esparza and Rose Namajunas go head to head after what was an amazing seasons of fights. These two ladies have earned the spot and I couldn’t be any happier for the both of them. In fact all the ladies deserve a tip of the hat.

If you didn’t see the semi final fights last night I would advise you check them out! They were epic and they made me proud to be a fan of WMMA.

The TUF20 final will take place at the Palms Resort in Las Vegas. (Below is the full card with start times)

MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1) 6pmPST/9pmEST

Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas – for inaugural strawweight title

Charles Oliveira vs. Jeremy Stephens

Daron Cruickshank vs. K.J. Noons

Yancy Medeiros vs. Joe Proctor

Randa Markos vs. Jessica Penne

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1) 4pmPST/7pmEST

Felice Herrig vs. Lisa Ellis

Heather Jo Clark vs. Bec Rawlings

Joanne Calderwood vs. Seo Hee Ham

Angela Magana vs. Tecia Torres

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)3pmPST/6pmEST

Alex Chambers vs. Aisling Daly
Angela Hill vs. Emily Kagan

These are some pretty amazing fights on what sure promises to be an historic night, so tune in you won’t want to miss it

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

Ronda Rousey memoir set to drop in May

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It was announced today by a Regan Arts publisher that a Ronda Rousey memoir titled “My fight/your fight” will drop in may of next year. The book will be co written by Ronda Rousey’s sister Maria Burns Ortiz who is a sports journalist for “fox sports Latino” and “ESPN”

My fight/Your fight will be the first official book written about women’s batemweight champion (preciously there was an unofficial biography called “Ronda Rousey” but that piece of work had tons of errors so it will be great to get an official piece of Literature.

This is huge news for Rousey because she just keeps adding to her bag of tricks. Not only is she a professional ass kicker and an up and coming actress but now shes a writer too! This is also very exciting news for Ronda Rousey fans. Are you one of those excited people today? I know forsure I am! Will you be picking up the book when it drops? Let us know in the comments

Source: (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/ronda-rousey-memoir-coming-2015-27480397)

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

Leslie Smith Update

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Unless your not an MMA fan or you’ve been living under a rock for the last 5 days then you would know about the gruesome injury women’s battemweight fighter Leslie “The peacemaker Smith sustained at UFC180 at the hands of Jessica “Evil” Eye. I mean that’s all social media was talking about… But if your not let’s catch you up to speed shall we? Feel free to (click on the link to see the injury happen)

But there’s good news for Smith fans. With only 5 days removed from injury the “peacemakers” ear looks almost as good as new. So props to the doctors that stitched her back together. Further more props to Smith for wanting to continue the fight and even props to Eye for finding a target and working on it.

It’s always good news when you see fighters heal up just fine. I look forward to what’s next for both Leslie Smith and Jessica Eye

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)

A decade of badassery

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Do you remember what you were doing on October 31st 2003? My 12 year old self was trick or treating in my neighborhood dressed as the infamous Jason Voorhees. I remember I used my brothers Friday the 13th mask covered in blood, my ensemble included a gray long sleeve thermal, with a jean jacket over it, topped off with some ripped up jeans splattered in blood. (Fake of corse) it wasn’t the best but my mom made do and honestly it’s a moment I treasure especially because my mom is no longer with me.

I’m sure some of you where trick or treating as well. Or maybe you were taking your kids out for candy? Maybe you were at a party or watching scary movies?

That is unless you were Shayna Baszler. October 31st 2003 is when Shayna Baszler made her pro mma debut at the age of 23, in a barn in the middle of nowhere for a local MMA show then known as NHB (no holds bard) for an organization called RCF (Reality Cage Fighting). Her opponent? Tina Johnson a girl that had been running her mouth because no one had beaten her. Shayna coming from a family of wrestlers wanted nothing more then to put an end to the trash talk. Little did she know it would become something she loved and through that love become the “queen of spades.

Of corse Baszler went on to defeat Johnson that night and has been proving since then that she is one of the best time and time again. Defeating the likes of Alexis Davis, Sarah D’alellio, Julie Kedzie, Roxanne Modaferri, Megumi Yabyushita and so much more. I mean some people even say she should’ve got the decision win over Sara Mcmann. Nonetheless her 15-9 record speaks for itself.Sure it’s been a battle of highs and lows even a few injuries but that doesn’t take away all Baszler has accomplished in the sport and done for the sport as a whole. Today she is regarded as one of the pioneers who paved the way for WMMA

Sure I may have not been there since Baszler’s humble beginnings but I have been there for 416 days and those are days that I am proud of. After all I’ve gotten the nickname “the general of the queens army” on social media.

A lot can change in 11 years but one thing that hasn’t changed is Shayna’s passion and drive for what she does, so here’s to a bright future of epic battles, awesome promos, twitter wars and just straight up badassery.

-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)