UFC 141: The Return Of Lesnar

UFC 141 is just one week away! Minnesota heavyweight and former UFC Champion Brock Lesnar makes his return to the cage after a 14-month layoff due to a rare illness. His opponent is former Strikeforce and DREAM Heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem. Overeem (35-11) was also crowned the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, a prestigious standup combat sport tournament that may have come to an end in its current form.

Also fighting on the undercard will be another former Minnesota Gophers wrestling standout, Jacob Volkmann. A chiropractor practicing in White Bear Lake, Volkmann (13-2) is looking for his fifth-straight UFC victory against Efrain Escudero (18-3).

MAIN CARD (PPV)

• Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
• Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz
• Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
• Alexander Gustafsson vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
• Jim Hettes vs. Nam Phan

PRELIMINARY CARD(SpikeTV)

• Junior Assuncao vs. Ross Pearson
• Danny Castillo vs. Anthony Njokuani

(Facebook)

• Dong Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson
• Efrain Escudero vs. Jacob Volkmann
• Luis Ramos vs. Matt Riddle
• Manny Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes

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Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Returns Tonight!

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix returns to action tonight with some local fighters in action. Brett Rogers will be facing Josh Barnett in a tourney quarterfinal. Also, Jeff Monson, born in St. Paul, faces Daniel Cormier.

The event will be highlighted by the return of Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem, who will face BJJ ace Fabricio Werdum.

Fans can watch the Strikeforce undercard at 7 PM live on HDNet. The main card will be broadcast live on Showtime beginning at 9 PM.


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K-1 Dynamite!! Quick Results

K-1 Dynamite results:

• Andy Ologun def. Katsuaki Furuki by decision.
• Kazuyuki Miyate def. Caol Uno by decision.
• Hideo Tokoro def. Kazuhisa Wantanabe by R3 sub (arm bar).
• Hiroshi Isumi def. Ikuhisa Minowa by R3 TKO.
• Sergei Kharitonov def. Tatsuya Mizuno by R1 KO.
• K-1: Gegard Mousasi def. Kyotaro by decision.
• K-1/MMA: Yuichiro Nagashima def. Shinya Aoki by R2 KO.
• DREAM Heavyweight Title: Alistair Overeem def. Todd Duffee by R1 TKO.
• Satoshi Ishii def. Jerome LeBanner by decision.
• DREAM Welterweight Title: Marius Zaromskis def. Kazushi Sakuraba by R1 TKO.
• K-1 MAX: Akiyo Nishiura vs Tetsuya Yamato declared majority draw.
• Jason High def. Hayato Sakurai by split decision.
• Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Josh Thomson by decision.
• DREAM Featherweight Title: Hiroyuki Takaya def. Bibiano Fernandes by decision.

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Alistair Overeem Is The 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix Champ

Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem has a new title: K-1 World Champion. Overeem defeated three opponents in Tokyo in just his second K-1 GP Final 8 appearance, including 3-time K-1 GP Champion Peter Aerts.

K-1 GP results:
Peter Aerts def. Mighty Mo by R1 KO.
Semmy Shilt def. Kyotaro by decision.
Gokhan Saki def. Daniel Ghita by decision.
Alistair Overeem def. Peter Spong by decision.


Semifinals:
Peter Aerts def. Semmy Schilt by decision.
Alistair Overeem def. Gokhan Saki by R1 TKO.


Final:
Alistair Overeem def. Peter Aerts by R1 TKO.

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First Fedor, Now Lesnar Fall Among Heavyweight Champs

How quickly the MMA heavyweight picture has changed over the past six months. Pound-for-pound king Fedor Emianenko was submitted by Fabricio Werdum in June. UFC champion Brock Lesnar then submitted undefeated Shane Carwin in July to claim the top of the heavyweight division ranks. And now: Lesnar loses to another undefeated fighter in Cain Velazquez to again scramble the rankings.

In a most impressive performance, Velasquez may have proven one thing: any fighter can be beaten on any night. Lesnar had destroyed the one person who defeated him, Frank Mir, in a rematch and then showed he could survive adversity by coming back to defeat Carwin. All of this after nearly losing his life to a rare intestinal disorder that required surgery and nine months of recovery. But now it will be Cain Velasquez with the target on his back.

The first challenger to the UFC champ Velasquez is reportedly going to be Junior dos Santos. Expect Lesnar to get one fight (possibly a third fight against Mir) and the winners to face off.

Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem has mostly been competing in K-1 the past year. His lone MMA fight was a dominating TKO victory over Minnesota heavyweight Brett Rogers in May. Overeem will be competing in the K-1 World Grand Prix on December 11, so expect an early 2011 return to MMA. That is the same timetable for Werdum and Emelianenko.

Strikeforce also contracts Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in their strong heavyweight stable. Silva is expected to face Valentijn Overeem, the older brother of Alistair, at the December 4 Strikeforce event in St. Louis.

In a wide-open division, here are my unofficial rankings of the top dozen heavyweights in the world:

1. Cain Velasquez (9-0)
2. Fabricio Werdum (14-4-1)
3. Fedor Emelianenko (31-2)
4. Brock Lesnar (5-2)
5. Junior dos Santos (12-1)
6. Alistair Overeem (33-11)
7. Shane Carwin (12-1)
8. Frank Mir (14-5)
9. Antonio Rodrigo Noguerira (32-6-1)
10. Antonio Silva (14-2)
11. Josh Barnett (29-5)
12. Brett Rogers (11-2)

Fighters in red are contracted by Strikeforce.
Fighters in blue are contracted by UFC.

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Rogers fighting Overeem For Strikeforce Heavyweight Title

Local heavyweight fighter Brett Rogers (10-1) will be challenging Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem (32-11) tonight in a show broadcast live on Showtime.  Telecast begins at 9 PM (CT).

Fightcard:
ALISTAIR OVEREEM VS. BRETT ROGERS
ANDREI ARLOVSKI VS. ANTONIO SILVA
JACARE SOUZA VS. JOEY VILLASENOR
ROGER GRACIE VS. KEVIN RANDLEMAN
ANTWAIN BRITT VS. RAFAEL FEIJAO

Dynamite!! 2009 Quick Results

 Here are the results from Dynamite!! 2009 from Saitoma, Japan.

• K-1 Koshien semifinal: Shota Shimada d. Katsuki Ishida by dec.
• K-1 Koshien semifinal: Masaaki Noiri d. Hiroya by dec.
• DREAM Super Hulk final: Minowa d. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou by R1 TKO
• K-1: Ray Sefo d. Yosuke Nishijma by dec.
• K-1 Koshien final: Shota Shimada d. Masaaki Noiri by dec.

• DREAM vs. SRC
• Hiroshi Izumi d. Katsuyori Shibata by dec.
• Michihiro Omigawa d. Hiroyuki Takaya by R1 TKO.
• Akihiro Gono d. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai by R2 Sub (arm bar)
• Melvin Manhoef d. Kazuo Misaki by R1 TKO
• Hideo Tokoro d. Jong Man Kim by dec.
• Tatsuya Kawajiri d. Kazunori Yokota by dec.
• SRC Featherweight Champ Masanori Kanehara d. Norofumi "Kid" Yamamoto by dec.
• Alistair Overeem d. Kazuyuki Fujita by R1 KO.
• DREAM Lightweight Champ Shinya Aoki d. SRC Lightweight Champ Mizuto Hirota by R1 sub (broken arm)

• Gegard Mousasi d. Gary Goodridge by R1 TKO.
• Hidehiko Yoshida d. Satoshi Ishii by dec.
• K-1 MAX:  Masato d. Andy Souwer by dec.

Catch the replay on HDNet tonight beginning at 9 PM (CT).

Dynamite!! 2009 Live On HDNet

The biggest combat sports event of the year will take place on New Years Eve in Tokyo, when K-1, DREAM, and Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) team up to present Dynamite!! 2009.

The 18-fight card will feature fighters from the MMA world as well as K-1 fighters.  The main event of the show will feature the career-ending fight of Masato. He will face 2-time K-1 World MAX GP Champion Andy Souwer, the only fighter to defeat Masato twice (June 30, 2006 and October 3, 2007).

HDNet will broadcast the entire event live beginning at 2 AM (CT).

FIGHTCARD
K-1 Koshien reserve: Tsukasa Fuji vs. Ryuya Kusakabe
K-1 Koshien semifinal: Katsuki Ishida (2-0) vs. Shota Shimada (5-1)
K-1 Koshien semifinal: Hiroya (14-1) vs. Masaaki Noiri (2-0)
DREAM Super Hulk final: Minowa (43-30-8) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (7-5)
K-1: Yosuke Nishijima (0-1) vs. Ray Sefo (54-20-1)
K-1 Koshien final: Hiroya/Noiri winner vs. Ishida/Shimada winner
*DREAM vs. SRC*
Katsuyori Shibata (4-6-1) vs. Hiroshi Izumi (0-1)
Michihiro Omigawa (8-8-1) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (12-7-1)
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (35-9-2) vs. Akihiro Gono (30-15-7) 
Melvin Manhoef (23-6-1) vs. Kazuo Misaki (22-9-2)
Hideo Tokoro (25-21-1) vs. Jong Man Kim (21-10-3)
Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2) vs. Kazunori Yokota (11-2-3)
Norofumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-2) vs. SRC Featherweight Champ Masanori Kanehara (15-7-5)
Alistair Overeem (31-11) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (15-8)
DREAM Lightweight Champ Shinya Aoki (22-4) vs. SRC Lightweight Champ Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1)
Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1) vs. Gary Goodridge (23-19-1)
Satoshi Ishii (0-0) vs. Hidehiko Yoshida (8-7-1)
K-1 MAX:  Masato (54-6-2) vs. Andy Souwer (134-8-1)

Schilt Crowned K-1 World Grand Prix Champion

Early this morning, Semmy Schilt became the second fighter (Ernesto Hoost was the first) to win a fourth K-1 World Grand Prix title by winning three bouts in the first round early.  Schilt recorded KO victories over Jerome LeBanner, defending champion Remy Bonjasky, and K-1 bad boy Badr Hari.

Schilt also broke the record for fastest K-1 Grand Prix victory, winning his three bouts in a total of 5 minutes, 52 seconds.  The previous record was held by Peter Aerts, who won the 1998 Grand Prix in a total of 6 minutes, 43 seconds.

Reserve Bout:
-Peter Aerts d. Gokhan Saki by unanimous decision.

Quarterfinals:
-Badr Hari d. Ruslan Kaev by 1R TKO (0:38).
-Alistair Overeem d. Ewerton Teixiera by 1R KO (1:06)
-Semmy Schilt d. Jerome LeBanner by 1R TKO (1:27)
-Remy Bonjasky d. Errol Zimmerman by decision.

Semifinals:
-Badr Hari d. Alistair Overeem by 1R TKO (2:14).
-Semi Schilt d. Remy Bonjasky by 1R TKO (2:38).

Final:
-Semi Schilt d. Badr Hari by 1R TKO (1:48).

Undercard:
-Tyrone Spong d. Kyotaro by unanimous decision.
-Daniel Ghita d. Sergey Kharitonov by 3R TKO (0:36).
-Jan Soukup d. Tsutomu Takahaji by unanimous decision.
-Jai "Heart" Singh d. Makoto Uehara by 2R KO (1:36).
-Ryugi Kajiwara d. Keiichi Samukawa by unanimous decision.

DREAM 12 in a cage and on HDNet

Be sure to set your DVR or plan up staying late this weekend when HDNet broadcasts Dream 12, live from Osaka, Japan.  The show begins early Sunday morning (Saturday night) at 1 AM (CT).

The event features the debut of the white cage, the first major promotion in Japan to feature a cage.  Bellator FC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez (18-2) will face DEEP lightweight champion Katsunori Kikuno (12-1-2).  This fight could be a fight-of-the-year candidate

Heavyweight Alistair Overeem (30-11) is also expected to face James Thompson (14-10).  Overeem fought in his home country of Holland a week ago by defeating Ohio native Tony Sylvester (11-3) in just 1:23 by guillotine choke.  Prior to that fight, Overeem defeated K-1 legend Peter Aerts by unanimous decision on September 26 in South Korea.  That victory gained the Strikeforce heavyweight champ a spot in the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals to be held on December 5 in Tokyo.

Brett Rogers post-fight on Sherdog

Local heavyweight Brett Rogers took one giant step towards reaching the top of the MMA heavyweight world last night be defeating former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski (15-7). The fight took place as the co-main event of Strikeforce on Showtime.

The win improved his record to 10-0 and potential shot at Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem (29-11). That fight could take place on the next Showtime show on August 15.