Wednesday, 1 June 2011
UFC 132 Becomes Official, And Should Be One Of The UFC's Best Summer 2011 Events
Jake Rosholt appeals disqualification loss at Titan Fighting Championships 18
Jake Rosholt believes officials made the wrong call this past Friday. The ex-UFC middleweight fought John Ott at Titan Fighting Championships 18 and was disqualified after he threw an illegal knee in the third and final round.
But Rosholt today told MMAjunkie.com that the knee was unintentional and the fight should have been ruled a technical decision or no-contest rather than a disqualification.
Yoshihiro Takayama Daiju Takase Oleg Taktarov Akitoshi Tamura
UFC 130 draws announced 12,816 attendance and $2.57 million live gate
LAS VEGAS - Saturday's "UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill" event drew an announced attendance of 12,816 and a live gate of $2.57 million. UFC president Dana White announced the figures in the night's post-event press conference.
Featuring Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's lopsided unanimous-decision victory over Matt Hamill in the pay-per-view headliner, UFC 130 took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Joe Son Chael Sonnen Krzysztof Soszynski George Sotiropoulos
Nelson?s wife reports that he had pneumonia before UFC 130
Roy Nelson's performance against Frank Mir was nothing short of terrible. He looked out of breath throughout the second and third rounds, and was unable to generate offense for much of the bout. According to his wife, Nelson's problems were from a bout with pneumonia, not a lack of conditioning.
Via text messages with Cagewriter, Jessy Nelson said that her husband had walking pneumonia during the first two weeks of May, and that he spent Monday in a Las Vegas hospital. "He described the feeling like someone is taking a big scab off of his lungs," Nelson wrote.
That would certainly explain the wheezing that went on during the Mir match. It would be easy to blame his conditioning on his appearance, as Nelson flaunts his beer-bellied figure. He even walks out the Octagon to the "Weird" Al Yankovic song, "I'm Fat." UFC president Dana White said that he was unhappy with Nelson's performance and planned to meet with him about it.
But Nelson was just as full-figured in his bout with Junior dos Santos, which also went all three rounds. Though he tired near the end of that bout, it was nothing like the exhaustion Nelson showed in the Mir bout.
His other two bouts in the UFC were both first-round knockouts. Before that, his last three-round bout was a loss to Jeff Monson in March of 2009. His last decision win was nearly four years ago.
Pellegrino, 32, walking away from MMA career
Later in their careers, even with a lack of desire to train hard, most prize fighters will take a few extra fights past their prime. Kurt Pellegrino, 32, doesn't want to be one those guys and is doing something about it.
It was just last March, that Pellegrino (16-6, 7-5 UFC) was riding a four-fight win streak, but now he's leaving the sport as an active fighter.
"At this time I am choosing to take some time off and step away from the sport as a fighter. Over my most recent fights I have come to the realization that at this point I no longer can, nor want to make fighting my first priority," Pellegrino said on his website. "[...] Even last year when i was on a 4 fight win streak I still was questioning myself. This has made me reconsider what my next step will be competitively. I have spoken at length with [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva about my decision and have decided not to renew my contract with the UFC."
Pellegrino wants to make his family his first priority.
"Most importantly I want to spend more time with my family. My daughter is four years old and I can't tell you how much of her life I've missed dedicating my life to training for fights. I did so willingly and I've made a lucrative career with the UFC, but I'm not sure I could ever say any amount of money was worth it," Pellegrino said. "My wife and I just welcomed a baby boy and I can't bare the thought of missing as much of his 'firsts' as I did my daughters."
It looks like Pellegrino set himself up nicely. In his native New Jersey, he's got a gym in Belmar, a town on the Jersey Shore. He just expanded the Kurt Pellegrino Mixed Martial Arts Academy.
The future isn't certain for Pellegrino. He may not be completely through with active fighting, but he wants to step back and see if he can regain the hunger that's missing.
"I want to take the time to regroup, refocus, and rethink what it is that I want to do going forward. I want to do things that I enjoy right now and refresh my mind. I want to concentrate on my BJJ game and improve it. I want to work on my boxing game and improve that also," Pellegrino said. "I'd like to compete in some grappling tournaments again like the old days and maybe even try my hand at a pro boxing fight. I want to have fun training again, bottom line."
Pellegrino put on some entertaining shows in the UFC. In 12 fights, he earned a postfight bonus on five occasions.
From a media standpoint, Pellegrino was an interesting guy to cover. Fighting at the highest level always seemed to be more mental than physical for Pellegrino.
His debut in the UFC against Drew Fickett was a prime example. Through two-plus rounds at UFC 61, Pellegrino smoked Fickett, only to make a silly mistake and get submitted in the third round. The same thing happened against Nate Diaz at Ultimate Fight Night 13.
Pellegrino was brutally honest about his failures. That included admitting that he'd taken his education less than seriously and still couldn't read well into his late 20's.
One of the best moments of his career came at UFC 88. Before the fight, Pellegrino spoke about living with his in-laws. He needed to win a fight bonus in order to buy his dream house for his wife and young daughter. Pellegrino beat Thiago Tavares that night, received a $60,000 Fight of the Night award and got his new house.
Jeff Big Frog Curran Dai Shuanghai Mac Danzig Karen Darabedyan