This looks crazy, but I had to post it. This is a real boxing match, not a joke, or scam. When I heard there was a big guy from Russia boxing I thought, 6′5″ 275lbs. This guy is 7′ and weighs over 325lbs. Thats nuts, and he’s fighting a much, much smaller guy. Makes me think of Bob Sapp of K1 and Pride fame.
I know this isn’t nerdy, or urban, but I had to post it. Sorry.
Later this month, the UFC kicks off the Summer of 2006 with a week that features two highly anticipated fight cards starring some of mixed martial arts’ most highly regarded young stars.
First, on Saturday, June 24th, at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the middleweight and light heavyweight winners of the third season of Spike TV’s ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ will be determined on a card headlined by an important lightweight meeting between Kenny Florian and Sam Stout.
Then, just four days later, on Wednesday, June 28th, also at the Hard Rock Hotel, the latest installment of Spike TV’s Ultimate Fight Night turns the heat up with a card featuring the UFC debut of world-ranked Brazilian bomber Anderson Silva, as he tackles middleweight contender Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben in a bout destined to produce its share of fireworks.
The Internet is giving one violent new sport a fighting chance.
Yesterday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship - a sport that blends martial arts with the theatrical flair of professional wrestling - topped the buzz metric on the Yahoo! search engine as the most searched term of the day.
Ultimate Fighting Championship, a frequent fixture on the Yahoo list, beat out other popular terms, including “X-Men,” “Jessica Alba” and “World Cup 2006.”
Fencing! What is it? and how did it come about?
Swordfighting as sport has existed since ancient Egypt, and has been practiced in many forms in various cultures since then. Although jousting and tournament combat was a popular sport in the European middle ages, modern fencing owes more to unarmoured dueling forms that evolved from 16th century rapier combat. Rapiers evolved from cut-and-thrust military swords, but were most popular amongst civilians who used it for self-defence and dueling. Rapiers were edged, but the primary means of attack was the thrust. Rapier fencing spread from Spain and Italy to northwest Europe, in spite of the objections of masters such as George Silver who preferred traditional cutting weapons such the English broad sword.
The Spanish school, under masters such as Narvaez and Thibault, became a complicated and mystical affair whose geometrical theories required much practice to master. Italian masters like Agrippa and Capo Ferro developed a more pragmatic school in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, introducing innovations such as linear fencing and the lunge.
By the 18th century, the rapier had evolved to a simpler, shorter, and lighter design that was popularized in France as the small sword. Although the small sword often had an edge, it was only to discourage the opponent from grabbing the blade, and the weapon was used exclusively for thrusting. The light weight made a more complex and defensive style possible, and the French masters developed a school based on defence with the sword, subtlety of movement, and complex attacks. When buttoned with a leather safety tip that resembled a flower bud, the small sword was known as le fleuret, and was identical in use to the modern foil (still known as le fleuret in French). Indeed, the French small sword school forms the basis of most of modern fencing theory.
By the mid-19th century, dueling was in decline as a means of settling disputes, partially because victory could lead to a jail term for assault or manslaughter. Emphasis shifted to defeating the opponent without necessarily killing him, and less fatal dueling forms evolved using the dueling sword, or epee de terrain, an unedged variant of the small sword. Later duels often ended with crippling thrusts to the arm or leg, and fewer legal difficulties for the participants. This is the basis of modern epee fencing.
Cutting swords had been used in bloodsports such as backsword prizefights at least as far back as the 17th century. Broadswords, sabres, and cutlasses were used extensively in military circles, especially by cavalry and naval personell, and saw some dueling application in these circles as well. Training was performed with wooden weapons, and stick fighting remained popular until Italian masters formalized sabre fencing into a non-fatal sporting/training form with metal weapons in the late 19th century. Early sport sabres were significantly heavier than the modern sport sabre and necessitated a strong style with the use of moulinets and other bold movements. As with thrusting swords, the sabre evolved to lighter, less fatal dueling forms such as the Italian sciabola di terro and the German schlager. Hungarian masters developed a new school of sabre fencing that emphasized finger control over arm strength, and they dominated sabre fencing for most of the 20th century.
Dueling faded away after the First World War. A couple of noteworthy duels were fought over disputes that arose during Olympic games in the 1920s, and there have been rare reports of sword duels since then. In October 1997, the Mayor of Calabria, Italy, publicly challenged certain Mafiosos to a duel. German fraternity dueling (mensur) still occurs with some frequency.
The first modern Olympic games featured foil and sabre fencing for men only. Epee was introduced in 1900. Single stick was featured in the 1904 games. Epee was electrified in the 1936 games, foil in 1956, and sabre in 1988. Early Olympic games featured events for Masters, and until recently fencing was the only Olympic sport that has included professionals. Disruptions in prevailing styles have accompanied the introduction of electric judging, most recently transforming sabre fencing. Foil fencing experienced similar upheavals for a decade or two following the introduction of electric judging, which was further complicated by the new, aggressive, athletic style coming out of eastern Europe at the time.
Women’s foil was first contested in the 1924 Olympic games, and Women’s epee was only contested for the first time in 1996, although it has been part of the World Championships since 1989. Women’s sabre made its first appearance in the 1998 World Championships as a demonstration sport. More recently, women’s sabre is slated to make its first appearance as an Olympic medal sport in the 2004 Athens Games.
NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Brodeur made the heads of the New York Rangers sag as low as Jaromir Jagr’s achy shoulder.
The goaltender’s job got a lot easier when Patrik Elias wrecked the long-awaited playoff party at Madison Square Garden just over a minute into the game.
Brodeur stopped 25 shots in his 21st career playoff shutout and Elias had a goal and assist within the first nine minutes to lift the Devils to a 3-0 victory Wednesday night that pushed Jagr and the Rangers to the brink of playoff elimination.
Elias set up Jamie Langenbrunner 68 seconds after the opening faceoff and then scored his third goal of the series eight minutes later. Brodeur did the rest in shutting down an already struggling Rangers offense.
The return of the injured Jagr didn’t help at all, and the Devils won their 14th straight game.
“He is a tremendous hockey player so you’ve got to know if he is going to play or not,” said Brodeur, who is two shutouts behind Patrick Roy for the NHL career record. “Regardless of him being there 100 percent or not there, it doesn’t change the approach of our game.”
New Jersey took advantage of New York’s deficient special teams in winning the opening two games of the series and then built a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven matchup by scoring three goals at even strength.
Not even the unexpected return of Jagr, who is battling a left shoulder injury, could spark the Rangers in their first home playoff game in nine years. Petr Sykora came the closest to scoring but he hit the post — for the second straight game — when facing an open net in the second period.
Read the Rest Here
Jagr sat out Game 2 after he was hurt late in the opening loss at New Jersey and said it would take a miracle for him to be ready to play Wednesday. Mission accomplished, but that was nothing compared to what the Rangers will need to rally in this series.
Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD NJD NYR
1:08 Jamie Langenbrunner
Assists: Patrik Elias, Brian Rafalski 1 0
9:20 Patrik Elias
Assists: Jamie Langenbrunner, David Hale 2 0
2ND PERIOD NJD NYR
2:48 Zach Parise
Assists: Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez 3 0
3RD PERIOD NJD NYR
No scoring this period 3 0
Arena: Madison Square Garden
Location: New York, New York
Referees: Tim Peel, Don VanMassenhoven
Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Thor Nelson
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — John Madden was on his feet in the penalty box, anxiously waiting to spring back onto the ice.
The New Jersey Devils were still shorthanded, and that is Madden’s favorite time to strike.
Madden tied an NHL playoff record with two man-down goals as part of his first postseason hat trick and led New Jersey to a 4-1 victory Monday night over the New York Rangers, who played without leading scorer Jaromir Jagr, defenseman Darius Kasparaitis and goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
“I was pretty much up for the last 40 seconds,” Madden said of the long two-man advantage the Rangers enjoyed late in the second period.
The Devils killed most of it off, and then Madden delivered a demoralizing blow by converting moments after New York’s Petr Sykora hit the post.
“I can’t say enough how good of a job they did whether we score a goal or not,” Madden said.
The Devils won the first two games of the first-round best-of-seven matchup on home ice and will carry a 2-0 advantage — one they’ve never squandered — into Game 3 at New York on Wednesday.
Jagr, the NHL’s second-leading scorer, was forced to miss his first game of the season because of a shoulder injury sustained in New York’s opening 6-1 loss on Saturday. The Rangers were also missing Kasparaitis, who aggravated a groin injury during the pregame skate.
“He’s one of the best players in the world,” forward Steve Rucchin said of Jagr. “I don’t care what team it is in the league — you lose a guy like that it’s going to be difficult.”
Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD NYR NJD
7:47 John Madden (Shorthanded)
Assists: Brian Rafalski, Jay Pandolfo 0 1
14:13 Brian Gionta (Power Play)
Assists: Paul Martin, Jamie Langenbrunner 0 2
2ND PERIOD NYR NJD
19:54 John Madden (Shorthanded)
Assists: Jay Pandolfo, Paul Martin 0 3
3RD PERIOD NYR NJD
5:41 Blair Betts
Assists: Ryan Hollweg, Marek Malik 1 3
12:46 John Madden
Assists: Grant Marshall, Jay Pandolfo 1 4
Game Information
Arena: Continental Airlines Arena
Location: East Rutherford, New Jersey
Referees: Dennis LaRue, Dan Marouelli
Linesmen: Michel Cormier, Jean Morin
Attendance: 19,040 (100.0% full)
Yesterday Spike TV.com announced the upcoming fighters for Season 3 of the Ultimate Fighter TV Show. Going into the show, we knew that Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz would be the coaches on the show. Now we know who the fighters will be competiting in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Divisions. MMAWeekly.com gives you information of what you can expect on the upcoming show.
Ultimate Fighter Season 3 Middleweights
Ed Herman - Herman has got to be considered the most decorated fighter for Season 3 of the Ultimate Fighter. Herman, a Team Quest fighter, is 10-3 and has competed against top level competition. Herman defeated Dave Menne by TKO due to corner stoppage at the Extreme Challenge event last July. Herman also has wins against Brian Ebersole and Nick Thompson. Herman battled Joe Doerksen in a tough fight as Ed came up on the short end of the stick in three tough rounds. Herman has to be considered the favorite in the competition.
Mike Stine - Stine, a middleweight has very good stand up. Very explosive but very raw. Has only one fight under his belt and that was a win over Derek Johnson at the Ring of Combat promotion. We didn’t see much of him as the fight only lasted :21 seconds.
Kristian Rotharmel - Talk about a tough professional debut, you have to give Kristian Rotharmel alot of credit as he started his career going against some guy named Jeremy Horn. What ever happened to that Horn right? After losing his first two fights against Horn and Joe Slick in Extreme Challenge, Rotharmel then fired off four straight wins taking out Aaron Pendleton, Chad Cook, Jimmy Cleaver and Sam Adkins. Rotharmel has never gone to a decision in his four wins in six tries. Kristian has spent plenty of time fighting in the midwest.
Danny Abaddi - A relative unknown he is a young aggressive fighter making his debut on the Ultimate Fighter show.
Solomon Hutcherson - Hutcherson has won 6 of his first 8 professional fights. His only losses are to UFC veteran Jorge Rivera and Emyr Bussade earlier in his career. He’s a very well rounded fighter with very good submissions with solid stand up skills as well.
Kendal Groves - Groves has spent most of his fight career in Hawaii. He has fought in big organizations like Rumble on the Rock and King of the Cage. The biggest name Groves has fought was a loss to Joe Riggs at Rumble on the Rock. Groves is very tall as he’s close to 6′4 and uses his length for some great submissions. Groves has a 6-3 MMA record.
Rory Singer - Singer has fought some very tough guys, including Dennis Hallman, Daijiro Matsui and Dustin Denes. Unfortunately he lost to all three fighters. Singer won 8 of his first 13 fights and has very solid submissions as most of his wins have come via submissions.
Kalib Starnes - Starnes is an undefeated fighter who is a perfect 6-0 in his young career. He also has a win over a good veteran in Jason McDonald. The jury is still out on this young fighter but the bottom line is in his undefeated streak he has never been out of the first round and could be the dark horse going into Season 3.
Ultimate Fighter Season 3 Light Heavyweights
Matt Hammel - The most interesting thing about this young man is the fact that he was born deaf. That’s right Matt can’t hear his corner during fights. It will be very interesting to see how he progresses through the competition in the Light Heavyweight Division.
Ross Pointon - A very interesting choice by the TUF 3 producers. Pointon is a fighter who has just a 4-6 record. He is exciting and does bring it every fight. The biggest name he faced was Valentin Overeem as he lost to him in the fight.
Mike Nichols - Nichols has won three of his first four fights. Two of the three wins have come by submission
Jesse Forbes - Forbes had just one professional fight, which was a win. Forbes won his professional debut in the Rage in the Cage organization as he hook out Arturo Segovia by armbar in two rounds.
Noah Inhafer - Maybe the most interesting stat was that he lost to fellow Season 3 member Mike Nichols by rear nake choke prior to this season of the ultimate fighter. Inhafer does have a win against Kyle Olsen to even his record at 1-1.
Josh Haynes - Haynes has won 7 of his 11 professional fights. His losses have come at the hands of veterans Shonie Carter and Scary Jerry Vrbanovic among others. All seven of his wins have come by submission.
Tait Fletcher - A very interesting fighter who has a 3-1 record and his only loss was to Scott Smith (Smith will be fighting David Terrell in the UFC) in the WEC Light Heavyweight Tournament. Fletcher trains under Eddie Bravo and is a submission specialist.
Michael Bisping - Maybe the favorite to win this competitoin with a perfect 10-0 record. Bispring also has a win over fellow TUF 3 contestant Ross Pointon. Big question though, has he fought great competition? Questions should be answered soon enough.
NOME, Alaska - Rachael Scdoris and her Iditarod sled dog team were navigating a treacherous cliff, crisscrossed with switchbacks, when her sled slammed into a thick spruce tree.
“It was the worst run I’ve ever done,” said the legally blind musher, who finished the 1,100-mile race early Saturday in Nome.
Scdoris managed to recover from the fiasco in the Alaska Range and crossed the Iditarod finish line in the post-midnight chill of the old gold rush town, becoming the first legally blind musher to bring a sled dog team more than 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome.
Scdoris is limited to seeing blurry shapes of objects more than a few feet away and is acutely sensitive to bright lights. She is color blind and has 20-200 vision.
My question is, what if this day in question falls on their anniversary??
Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko’s extracurricular sex life, or lack thereof, has become a subject of national amusement. Kirilenko’s wife, Masha Lopatova, once a pop star in the couple’s native Russia, is quoted in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine as saying she allows her husband to have sex with another woman one night a year.
“When this article comes out, girls will be lining up outside his hotel door,” she told the magazine. “When I’m aware and I let him do it, it’s not cheating.”
As reported on FoxSports.com
Once branded as human cockfighting and plagued by its own blood-soaked marketing, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the sport of mixed martial arts almost collapsed before it ever really got started.
The sport, a unique blend of wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing and kickboxing, was banned in much of the country in the late 1990s.
But through a combination of aggressive new ownership, sanctioning in pivotal states, and a hot cable television product featuring charismatic stars, UFC is undergoing a successful image remodel.
“We’re not for everyone, and we don’t try to be,” UFC president Dana White said. “If you don’t like fighting sports, great, this is America, that’s your right. All we ask is that people understand what we are.”
