The staff at MMASlayer.com is happy to announce Lance Young as our newest contributor to the site. Lance has previously had his own MMA column call “The Third Round”.
Here are two articles written by Lance.
Interview with former PRIDE FC commentator ”The Fight Professor” Stephen Quadros.
Interview with Cam McKid.
Look for upcoming articles from Lance in the next couple of weeks.
Bonnar plans to contest UFC 110 loss to Soszynski
Feb 24, 2010 | by MattE |
http://www.caged-in.com/?p=1697
By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com
Munster native Stephan Bonnar plans to contest the result of his loss at UFC 110 in Sydney, he told Caged In on Tuesday.
Stephan Bonnar connects with Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 110 in Sydney. (Photo courtesy of UFC)
In the third round of his light heavyweight bout against Krzysztof Soszynski, Bonnar and “The Polish Experiment” accidentally clashed heads. The result was a cut on Bonnar’s forehead that was deep enough for the doctor to stop the fight.
Soszynski was awarded a TKO victory, which Bonnar believes should be overturned. It was Bonnar’s third straight loss, dropping him to 5-6 in the UFC and 11-7 overall.
“It’s only fair to get this overturned to a no contest or draw,” Bonnar said. “In the rules, if after two rounds a fighter suffers a cut from an illegal blow, they go to the scorecard. The judges had it one round a piece, which would have made it a draw.”
Bonnar said the fight’s referee, John Sharp, missed the head butt and claimed the cut came from a legal strike.
“Right after (it) happened, I pointed to my head and told him, ‘Head butt,’” Bonnar said. “Why he didn’t look up at the replay, which they showed about 30 times, I have no idea.”
After the decision was announced, Bonnar pulled his arm away from Sharp, clearly disappointed in the official result. Soszynski, after the fight, went to Bonnar and even lifted him up to show his respect. Bonnar said both he and Soszynski want a rematch.
“Krzysztof acknowledged the cut was from a head butt and would like to finish the fight as well,” Bonnar said. “He was a good sport and a class act. We gave each other credit for a great fight. He knew the clash of heads opened the cut, and like myself would like a rematch. It just shows what kind of sportsman he is. He earned my respect as well.”
Bonnar, who first came to international MMA prominence for his fight with Forrest Griffin to close out the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, said UFC president Dana White spoke to him after the bout.
“He just told me it was a great fight and sorry I got screwed like that,” Bonnar said.
Bonnar said this situation is a first for him.
“I have never been wronged so bad in a situation that was so obvious,” he said. “I still can’t understand the referee. Yes, I will appeal this decision. I just want what is fair. How do 20,000, people including my opponent and the commentators, see that a clash of heads occurred and the referee not see it? I feel like I’m in a pro wrestling match, where one of the wrestlers hits his opponent over the head with a chair when the referee’s back’s turned. Everyone in the arena sees what happened but the ref, then the ref gets down and gives the three-count and gives the guy the win. It really feels like that.”
Craig Waller, executive officer for Combat Sports Authority, the New South Wales-based commission that oversaw UFC 110, said Tuesday that Bonnar had not yet filed anything to contest the result, but did say a draw would be possible.
“A technical points draw would be the only result if a protest was received and upheld,” Waller said.
Bonnar said he expects to remain in Australia for another week before returning to his home in Las Vegas.
By BRIAN LINDER, T&D Sports Editor Monday, February 15, 2010
http://www.timesanddemocrat.com/articles/2010/02/15/sports/doc4b78cf93f3d75306612783.txt
A glance at the lineup for UFC 112, and it was quickly evident that Zuffa meant business with its show, scheduled for its April 10 show in Abu Dhabi.
The original card featured lightweight champion B.J. Penn taking on Frankie Edgar, Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie and some guy named Anderson Silva, maybe the best fighter in the world, defending his middleweight title against the quick, heavy handed striker Vitor Belfort.
But, last week, Belfort was forced to pull out of the anticipated matchup with Silva due to an injury. In his place, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Demian Maia, fresh off a decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 109, has agreed to fill in against Silva.
The selection of Maia as Belfort’s replacement is an interesting one. Potentially, the UFC could have pulled a young, up-and-coming and exciting fighter like Jon “Bones” Jones, who is scheduled to take on Brandon Vera at the company’s Fight Night, scheduled for March 21, or perhaps legendary fighter Randy Couture, who took minimal damage in his victory over Mark Coleman in the main event of UFC 109 to face Silva.
Instead, the company chose Maia, which makes for a vastly different fight than a Silva-Belfort matchup would have. Silva-Belfort figured to be an exciting standup battle. Maia, on the other hand, has displayed, at best, average standup skills. At worst, as he displayed in his stunning knockout loss to Nate Marquardt, his standup is very poor. So, it figures that Maia will try to take Silva to the ground.
In the end, that could be interesting. If the fight does go to the ground, Maia has the advantage. In fact, the only round that Silva has ever lost came in a fight against Dan Henderson, in which Henderson took him to the ground. Of course, if it stays standing, well, it doesn’t figure to be a long fight.
UFC 110
UFC 110 will take lace Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.
The card is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez and a middleweight fight between Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva. Also, former heavyweight star and talented striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will take on Ben Rothwell on the card and Ryan Bader and Keith Jardine will do battle in a light heavyweight battle.
Spike TV will air the “Countdown to UFC 110: sow Feb. 18 at 11 p.m.
Johnson injured
UFC welterweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was forced to pull out of his “UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones,” fight against John Howard this week with a knee injury.
Please no, please no
Here’s one for the “something nobody wants to see” department.
Jose Canseco reportedly met with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker regarding Canseco’s MMA future.
Strikeforce doesn’t have the star power that the UFC has, but they have been putting on great shows. The company certainly doesn’t need a freak show fight in Canseco. Yes, the company did just put Herschel Walker into a cage for a fight, but Walker is a legit freak of nature. He also is a long-time MMA practitioner.
And, Walker is the guy that Canseco wants to fight. The two are not even in the same area code in terms of in-cage ability. Walker as asked about fighting Canseco, and he took it for what it was and should be – a joke.
In short, Walker said “I will hurt him.”
Do you feel Canseco stands a chance against Walker?