MMA Hot Stuff

Nominations for 2009 World MMA Awards closes on Wednesday

Who do you think was the BreakThrough Fighter of the Year? Best MMA Promotion? 

As a reminder, the nomination stage for the 2009 World MMA Awards closes this Wednesday (tomorrow), Sept. 30. 

The World MMA Awards, which is operated by Fighters Only magazine, is viewed as one of the most prestigious awards for the sport, awarding in 18 different MMA related categories

Nominees will be announced on Oct. 5, and final voting will then run until Dec. 5. Winners will be announced at a Dec. 30 "Oscars-style" black-tie ceremony, which streams live on Versus.com (and throughout January on Versus) from The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

"Response to the World MMA Awards has been huge this year with thousands of fans worldwide taking part," Fighters Only CEO Rob Hewitt recently stated. "Nominations have been very diverse, and ... most of the categories are still wide open." 

The categories range from Fight of the Year to KO and Submission of the Year to Best MMA Brand and best MMA Media Source. MMA equipment manufactures also vie for a variety of categories. 

But before you place your vote I encourage you to take a minute and think about things. What makes someone the Best Fighter of the Year? Is it the number of wins? Is it the most vicious KnockOut? The biggest upset? Or is it because of heart and dedication?

Another category is Best MMA Journalist. I've thought a lot about this one (for obvious reasons). Always keep in mind the best Journalist may not be the one that breaks every 'story'... Sadly, fact checking has taken a back seat more often than not over being the first to the party. And then there are times the stories are known weeks before the story actually gets out but can't be discussed for confidential reasons. I personally take pride in the fact that while I consider many Fighters (UFC, WEC & Strikeforce) my personal friends, a lot of the information I hear I keep to myself. I'm so proud of what my friends have accomplished and there are times I know the information is just best left unsaid or unwritten. I want them to have time to train in private for a fight before it's publicly announced who their next opponent is. Who do you consider to be a Journalist that writes funny or interesting stories? Gives a different perspective than the 12 other sites that covered the same thing the day before.

So now that I've given you something to think about, please hurry and vote. 

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/MMAHotStuff

Strikeforce Results

Guest Writer: Salvatore DeRosalia

STRIKEFORCE 

Televised Fights: 

MAIN CARD (BEGINNING AT 7:30PM): 

Gina “Conviction” Carano (7-0) vs. Cris “Cyborg” (7-1) – 145lb Female Championship Bout 

Gina and Cyborg both look calm as they make their walk to the cage.  The crowd is certainly on Gina’s side as it roars when she enters the cage.  This is quite possibly the most important in STRIKEFORCE history.  Fighters are you ready? Fans are you ready?  “Let’s go!” 

Round one starts with Cyborg staking Gina and she takes eventually takes her down after a short flurry.  Somehow Gina ends up on top but Cyborg is goes for a heel hook.  Gina escapes and Cyborg takes her back and initiates ground and pound.  Gina gets out and gets up but only to more vicious blows from Cyborg.  Gina and Cyborg go down to the ground again and Gina ends up in full mount.  She delivers her own vicious ground and pound.  Gina and Cyborg stand up and trade heavy punches in the middle of the ring.  Both fighters are tired.  Gina lands a SUPERWOMAN punch to the face of Cyborg.  Both girls are trading blows as Cyborg takes Gina down again.  Cyborg seems to be hurting Gina more then she is being hurt.  They clinch in the middle of the cage.  Cyborg falls on Gina and lands in half guard.  Cyborg attempts an Americana twice but Gina rolls out of it.  Cyborg initiates ground and pound. Gina curls up against the cage and covers her face.  The Ref yells at Gina to fight back or he will stop the match.  The Ref warns her again.  Cyborg continues to deliver horrific blows to Gina’s face as Josh Rosenthal steps in and stops the fight as the horn sounds to end the round.  There is confusion in the ring for a moment but the fight is over.  Gina is still on the mat as Cyborg runs around the ring elated with her accomplishment.  Gina fought hard but the strength of Cyborg was just too much and she is now the STRIKEFORCE WOMANS 145LB CHAMPION. 

Renato "Babalu" Sobral (35-8) vs. Gegard Mousasi (25-2-1) - Light Heavyweight Championship Bout 

First things first, Referee BIG JOHN MCCARTHY is huge. 

Bell rings and Babalu meanders to the center of the cage.  Babalu catches Mousasi kick and clinches.  Mousasi establishes side control. Babalu tries to get up but Mousasi destroys Babalu with straight hard punches to the head.  Babalu’s body goes stiff.  Mousasi wins fight by KO at1:00 in the first round and is now the STRIKEFORCE Light Heavyweight Champion 
 
 
 

Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (15-2) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (18-5-1) – Lightweight Interim Championship Bout 

El Nino takes the center of the cage and spends the first 3 minutes of round 1 picking apart Ishida’s face with jabs, hooks and crosses.  Ishida shoots for and get a double leg takedown, almost secures a rear naked choke but Gilbert turns it around into his own takedown which is where the round comes to an end.  

Gilbert used his reach in round 2.  Gilbert sprawls on a shot attempt from Ishida and then uses the clinch to administer some dirty boxing and knees.  Gilbert lets his hands fly with bunches of punches to Ishida’s face.  Ishida starts bleeding from the top of his head. Ishida takes heavy knees to the torso with a 1:30 left in round 2. Round 2 ends with another takedown from Melendez, Ishida seems gassed. 

Round 3 opens with Melendez taking the center of the cage again.  The two fighters’ trade punches.  Both fighters are hanging their hands low which is opening them up for punches.  Gilbert takes Ishida down with 3 minutes left and jumps on top of him with a flurry of punches, and knees to the body.  Melendez mounts Ishida’s back delivering furious blows to side of head.  Fight is stopped by Herb Dean because Ishida is not intelligently defending himself.  Gilbert wins fight by TKO at 3:56 in round 3.  Melendez avenges his first loss to Ishida in convincing fashion and remains the STRIKEFORCE Lightweight Interim Champion! And now I'm off to his after party.. I MIGHT post pictures tomorrow. Might.

Mike "Mak" Kyle (12-6-1) vs. Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum (11-4-1) 

Both fighters come out to center of the ring and waste no time throwing kicks and punches.  Werdum shoots for single leg and ends up in Kyle’s guard.  Kyle almost secures arm bar from the bottom on Werdum, the Jiu Jitsu specialist, but Werdum fights out of it gets side control.  Werdum wraps the neck of Kyle with a guillotine choke.  Kyle tries hard to fight out of it but the fight ends a few seconds later by tapout.   

Preliminary Bouts:

Alex Trevino Defeated Isiah Hill via Submission (Side Choke) at 3:56 in the 1^st round

James Terry Defeated Zak Bucia via TKO at 1:23 in the 1^st round

Justin Wilcox Defeated David Douglas via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 3:16 in the 3^rd round

Jay Hieron Defeated Jesse Taylor via Unanimous Decision (30-27 on all three scorecards)

Also,  don't forget to follow me at Twitter.com/MMAHotStuff 

StrikeForce and Rockstar Energy Drink Present "Carano vs Cyborg"

In what's being said to be THE biggest female MMA fight ever, Gina "Conviction" Carano (7-0) will face Cris "Cyborg" Santos (7-1) August 15th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. The Co-Main Event will be the Lightweight Title Unification between Gilbert Melendez (15-2) and Josh Thomson (16-2). For those ladies that may not recall, Gilbert was the title holder but lost it to Josh last June. They were set to have a rematch in April but it was canceled because Josh broke his ankle while training. And interim title was created and Gilbert won the title in a fight against Rodrigo Damm April 11 2009. So this match up between Gilbert and Josh is huge in my opinion. I mean I'm thrilled to see Gina and Cyborg finally go at it but this match up between Gilbert and Josh is pretty long over due.

Also rumored to be on the card is Joe Riggs (31-11-1) and Nick Diaz (20-7-1). These two met in February 2006 while they were under contract with the UFC, in what has been deemed as being one of the craziest post-fight fights that took place at the hospital. Now that they're with Strikeforce these two very well could possibly face each other again. Joe has been calling out Jake Shields in hopes of fighting him but Jake has made it very clear he has no interest in fight Joe and is looking for "big names".

While Strikeforce has a fairly small talent pool, they've been producing some very decent cards as of late.

Hope to see you all August 15th in San Jose.