Congratulations to MMAJunkie

I just wanted to congratulate MMAJunkie.com for going 2-0 at the 2009 World MMA Awards, which was held last night at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

John Morgan from MMAJunkie.com/Dallas Morning News took home the Best MMA Journalist award, beating out the following nominees:

Gareth A. Davies, Telegraph.com;
Joe Ferraro, MMA Connected;
Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports;
Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports/Wrestling Observer

MMAJunkie.com took home the Best Media Source award for the second year in a row, beating out the following nominees:

"Inside MMA" on HDNet
"MMA Connected" on Sportsnet
MMAWeekly.com
Sherdog.com

I've been a longtime follower of MMAJunkie.com and have become a huge John Morgan fan while listening to MMAJunkie Radio over the last year. Well deserved guys, well deserved!


Other notable winners from last night courtesy of MMAJunkie.com (really, best gloves and shorts?):

GYM OF THE YEAR
Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting

BEST MMA GLOVES MANUFACTURER
UFC

BEST OVERALL MMA CLOTHING MANUFACTURER
TapouT

BREAKTHROUGH FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Brock Lesnar

COACH OF THE YEAR
Greg Jackson

BEST MMA BRAND
TapouT

FEMALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos

KO OF THE YEAR
Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping, UFC 100

LEADING MAN OF THE YEAR
Dana White

BEST MMA SHORTS MANUFACTURER
TapouT

SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR
Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal, Bellator 5

BEST PROMOTION
UFC

RING GIRL OF THE YEAR
Arianny Celeste

SPECIAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Charles "Mask" Lewis

EUROPEAN FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Gegard Mousasi

FIGHT OF THE YEAR
Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez, Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale

FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Georges St-Pierre

Snip Snip Snip

The Underground is reporting the following UFC fighters recieved their walking papers this week:

Shane Nelson
Kevin Burns
Edgar Garcia
Darill Schoonover (Returned to active duty in U.S. Army)
Marcus Jones (Retired from MMA after Ultimate Finale loss)

The only one that surprises me out of these cuts is Edgar Garcia. Yes, Garcia went 0-2 in his 2 UFC fights. But his first loss was a controversial split-decision to Brad Blackburn, which many belive should have gone Garcia's way. He then got caught in a 1st-round triangle choke in a fan-favorite fight against DaMarques Johnson at UFC 107. However, the UFC roster is a revolving door for those on the bottom of the ranks and you have to win to stay. Garcia is a young fighter at 25 and could make his way back to the UFC soon with a few wins in outside promotions. I would imagine the UFC may take another look at him if they are serious about their Mexico City ambitions as well.

UFC 108 Pickem

MAIN CARD
Light-Heavyweight
#4 Rashad Evans vs. #5 Thiago Silva(evans desc)
Pearce- Silva rd 2 sub
Volkart- Suga rd 2 tko-1 pt

Welterweight
#17 Paul Daley vs. #7 Dustin Hazelett(daley tko rd 1)
Pearce- McLovin rd 1 sub
Volkart-Daley rd 1 tko-3 pts

Lightweight
#10 Joe Lauzon vs. #29 Sam Stout(stout desc)
Pearce- J-Lo desc
Volkart-J-lo rd 2 sub

Lightweight
#9 Jim Miller vs. #47 Duane Ludwig(miller sub rd 1)
Pearce- Miller desc-1 pt
Volkart- Miller rd 1 sub-3 pts

Heavyweight
#6 Junior Dos Santos vs. #24 Gilbert Yvel(dos santos tko rd 1)
Pearce- Junior desc- 1 pt
Volkart- Junior rd 3 tko- 2 pt

PRELIMINARY CARD
Welterweight *Free on Spike T.V. tonight
#8 Martin Kampmann vs. #41 Jacob Volkmann(martin sub rd 1)
Pearce- hitman kampmann desc- 1 pt
Volkart-Kampmann desc-1 pt

Lightweight *Free on Spike T.V. tonight
#44 Dan Lauzon vs. #17 Cole Miller(miller sub rd 1)
Pearce- Miller rd 2 sub-2 pts
Volkart-Miller rd 2 sub-2 pts

Middleweight
#24 Ryan Jensen vs. #19 Mark Munoz(munoz sub rd 1)
Pearce-Jensen desc
Volkart-Munoz desc- 1 pt

Welterweight
#38 Jake Ellenberger vs. #26 Mike Pyle(jake tko rd 2)
Pearce- Pyle rd 2 tko
Volkart- Jake rd 2 tko- 3 pts

Lightweight
#43 Rafaello Oliveira vs. #46 John Gunderson(raf desc)
Pearce-Rafi rd 1 sub-1 pt
Volkart- Rafi rd 2 sub- 1pt

Heavyweight Rankings 12/16/09

Top Ten (rest of fighters after the jump)
Rank, Name, Overall Record, (past 5 fights), Win/Loss Streak

1. Champion Brock Lesnar 4-1 (4-1) 4W
2. Frank Mir 13-4 (4-1) 1W
3. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 32-5-1-1 (4-1) 1W
4. Cain Velazquez 7-0 (5-0) 7W
5. Shane Carwin 11-0 (5-0) 11W
6. Junior Dos Santos 9-1 (4-1) 4W
7. Gabriel Gonzaga 11-4 (3-2) 1W
8. Stefan Struve 19-3 (4-1) 3W
9. Patrick Berry 5-1 (4-1) 1W
10. Cheick Kongo 14-6-1 (3-2) 2L
    

Light-Heavyweights 12/16/09

Top Ten (rest of fighters after the jump)

Rank, Name, Overall Record, (past 5 fights), Win/Loss Streak

1. Champion Lyoto Machida 16-0 (5-0) 16W
2. Mauricio Rua 18-4 (3-2) 1L
3. Quinton Jackson 30-7 (4-1) 2W
4. Rashad Evans 13-1-1 (3-1-1) 1L
5. Thiago Silva 14-1 (4-1) 1W
6. Forrest Griffin 17-6 (3-2) 1W
7. Rich Franklin 26-5-1nc (3-2) 1L
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 18-3 (5-0) 6W
9. Randy Couture 17-10 (3-2) 1W
10. Chuck Liddell 21-7 (1-4) 2L

Middleweight Rankings 12/16/09

Top Ten (rest of fighters after the jump)
Rank, Name, Overall Record, (past 5 fight), Win/Loss streak

1. Champion Anderson Silva 25-4 (5-0) 11W
2. Nate Marquardt 29-8-2 (4-1) 3W
3. Michael Bisping 18-2 (4-1) 1W
4. Vitor Belfort 19-8 (5-0) 5W
5. Damian Maia 11-1 (4-1) 1L
6. Chael Sonnen 24-10-1 (4-1) 2W
7. Yoshihiro Akiyama 13-1-2n.c. (4-1n.c.) 3W
8. Wanderlei Silva 32-10-1-1n.c. (1-4) 2L
9. Alan Belcher 15-6 (3-2) 1W
10. Nate Quarry 12-3 (4-1) 2W

UFC 113 Card

May 08, 2010
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

MAIN CARD
Champ Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (for Light-Heavyweight title)
Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley
Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
Jeremy Stephens vs. Sam Stout
Patrick Cote vs. Alan Belcher

Tom Lawlor vs. Tim Credeur
Jonathan Goulet vs. Marcus Davis
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Mike Guymon
T.J. Grant vs. Johny Hendricks
Joey Beltran vs. Chad Corvin
Nick Catone vs. John Salter

UFC 112 Card

Apr 10, 2010
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

MAIN CARD
Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia (Middleweight Championship)
B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar
(Lightweight Championship)
Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie
Terry Etim vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz

Prelims
Phil Davis vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Paul Taylor vs. John Gunderson

Paul Kelly vs. Matt Veach
Nick Osipczak vs. Rick Story
DeMarques Johnson vs. Brad Blackburn
Jon Madsen vs. Mostaphpa Al-Turk

UFC 111 Card

With the next UFC event only 6 days away check back Monday for the profiles and updates from UFC Live on Vs.

Saturday March 27, 2010

UFC 111

Main Card
Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Dan Hardy (for welterweight title)
Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir (for interim heavyweight title)
Jake Ellenberger vs. Ben Saunders
Thiago Alves vs. John Fitch
Mark Bocek vs. Jim Miller
Prelims
Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham
Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown
Kurt Pellegrino vs. Fabricio Camoes
Rousimar Palhares vs. Tomasz Drwal
Jared Hamman vs. Rodney Wallace
Matthew Riddle vs. Greg Soto

UFC 110 Card

Feb 20, 2010
Sydney, Australia

MAIN CARD
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva
George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson
Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Ben Rothwell

PRELIMINARY CARD
Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic
Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster
James Te Huna vs. Igor Pokrajac

UFC 109 Card

Feb 06, 2010
MAIN CARD
Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture
Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago
Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller
Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg


PRELIMINARY CARD
Justin Buchholz vs. Mac Danzig
Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres
Phil Davis vs. Brian Stann
Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Rob Emerson vs. Phillipe Nover
Rolles Gracie vs. Mostapha Al Turk

UFC 108 Card (updated 12/21/09)

UFC 108

Jan 02, 2010

*Sean Serk injured replaced by Duane "Bang" Ludwig
$ fights will be shown Live on Spike T.V.

MAIN CARD
Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
Paul Daley vs. Dustin Hazelett
Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout
Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig
Junior Dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel

PRELIMINARY CARD
Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann $
Dan Lauzon vs. Cole Miller $
Steve Cantwell vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
Ryan Jensen vs. Mark Munoz
Jake Ellenberger vs. Mike Pyle
Rafaello Oliveira vs. John Gunderson

Welterweight Rankings 12/16/09

Top Ten (rest of fighters after the jump)
Rank, Name, Overall Record, (past 5 fights), Win/Loss Streak

1. Champion George St. Pierre 19-2 (5-0) 6W
2. Jon Fitch 21-3-1nc (4-1) 3W
3. Thiago Alves 16-6 (4-1) 1L
4. Dan Hardy 23-6 (5-0) 7W
5. Mike Swick 14-3 (4-1) 1L
6. Josh Koscheck 14-4 (3-2) 2W
7. Dustin Hazelett 12-4 (4-1) 2W
8. Martin Kampmann 15-3 (3-2) 1L
9. Carlos Condit 24-5 (4-1) 1W
10. Matt Hughes 43-7 (2-3) 1W

Lightweights Rankings 12/16/09

Rank, Name, Overall Record, (past 5 fights), Win/Loss streak

1. Champion B.J. Penn 15-5-1 (4-1) 2W
2. Tyson Griffin 14-2 (4-1) 2W
3. Gray Maynard 9-0-1nc (5-0) 6W
4. Frank Edgar 11-1 (4-1) 3W
5. Kenny Florian 12-4 (4-1) 1W
6. Sean Sherk 33-4-1 (3-2) 1L
7. Diego Sanchez 21-3 (4-1) 1L
8. Joe Stevenson 31-10 (3-2) 2W
9. Jim Miller 14-2 (4-1) 2W
10. Joe Lauzon 18-4 (4-1) 2W
11. Kurt Pellegrino 14-4 (4-1) 3W
12. Clay Guida 25-11 (3-2) 2L
13. Nate Diaz 11-4 (3-2) 1W
14. Spencer Fisher 23-5 (3-2) 1L
15. Dennis Siver 15-6 (4-1) 4W

UFC 107 Picks

Champion B.J. Penn Vs. Diego Sanchez (5th rd tko)
Swede- Penn 2nd rd sub-1 pt
Yuri- Penn 3rd rd tko- 2 pts
pearce- penn 3rd rd sub- 1 pt
andy- penn 4th rd sub- 1 pt

Frank Mir Vs. Cheick Kongo (mir 1st rd sub)
Swede- Mir 1st rd sub- 3 pts
Yuri- Kongo 2nd rd tko
pearce- Mir 2nd rd sub- 2 pts
andy- kongo 1st rd tko

Jon Fitch Vs. Mike Pierce (fitch desc)
Swede- Fitch 3rd rd tko- 1 pt
Yuri- Fitch 1st rd sub- 1 pt
pearce- Fitch desc- 3 pts
andy- fitch desc- 3 pts

Kenny Florian Vs. Clay Guida (florian 2nd rd sub)
Swede- Florian 3rd rd sub- 2 pts
Yuri- Guida desc
pearce- Florian desc- 1 pt
andy- florian desc- 1 pt

Paul Buentello Vs. Stafan Struve (struve desc)
Swede- Struve 2nd rd sub- 1 pt
Yuri- Struve 2nd rd sub- 1pt
pearce- buentello desc
andy- buentello 2nd rd tko

Preliminary Card
Alan Belcher Vs. Wilson Gouveia (belcher 1st rd tko)
Swede-Belcher 2nd rd sub- 1 pt
Yuri-Wilson 2nd rd sub
pearce- belcher desc- 1 pt
andy- belcher desc- 1 pt

Matt Wiman Vs. Shane Nelson (wiman desc)
Swede- Nelson desc
Yuri- Nelson desc
pearce- wiman 2nd rd sub-1 pt
andy- nelson desc

Johnny Hendricks Vs. Ricardo Funch (hendricks desc)
Swede- Funch 1st rd tko
Yuri- Hendricks 2nd rd sub- 1pt
pearce- hendricks desc-3 pts
andy- hendricks 2nd rd tko-1 pt

Rousamir Palhares Vs. Lucio Linhares (palhares 2nd rd sub)
Swede- Linhares 2nd rd sub
Yuri- Palhares 1st rd sub -2 pts
pearce- linhares 1st rd tko
andy- palhares desc -1 pt

DeMarques Johnson Vs. Edgar Garcia (johnson 1st rd sub)
Swede- Garcia 2nd rd tko
Yuri- Garcia 2nd rd sub
pearce- Garcia 1st rd tko
andy- garcia 2nd rd tko

Kevin Burns Vs. T.J. Grant (grant 1st rd tko)
Swede- Grant 1st rd sub-2 pts
Yuri- Grant desc-1 pt
pearce- Burns desc
andy- burns desc

Snip Snip Snip

The following fighters recieved their walking papers from the UFC this week:

Jason Dent
Rolando 'Roli' Delgado
Dennis Kang
Houston Alexander
Justin Wren

Alexander- Obviously tough to see a guy like Houston let go, especially given the family situation (raising 6 kids as a single father). But you can't say he didn't have his chances... not too many fighters have gotten another fight after being on a 3 fight losing streak. Had he won against Kimbo, I would still imagine he would have been cut with one more loss.

Kang- we'll probably see him in Strikeforce/Dream. Not a total shock I guess, but would have thought he'd get one more chance.

Dent- A little surprising, especially considering that he put up some decent striking against a beast like Soteropolis. But you gotta prove yourself, especially when it's your second stint in the UFC.

Delgado- See ya.

Wren- Again, not shocked, but a young guy who could make a comeback with a few wins outside the UFC. I have to imagine that Marcus Jones will soon be walking right behind Justin, but maybe the UFC has some hope in the ratings he could draw being brought back for one more fight.