Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Kenny Florian trains with GSP in Canada
From MMAmania.com
Kenny Florian has traveled up north to Canada to train for a future fight against B.J. Penn for the Lightweight Championship belt. This is a smart move by Florian, since St. Pierre just successfully defended his title versus the Hawaiian. Although the fight was controversial with vaseline, the Canadian had clearly dominated Penn in all aspects of mixed martial arts.
Florian who will be entering the fight with an 11-3 record, has not lost in his last 6 fights. His last three fights have been simply large obstacle courses that he has conquered. Florian had finished off Joe Stevenson in his last fight with a rare naked choke in UFC 91 and previous to that Roger Huerta by a unanimous decision, then after Joe Lauzon by strikes.
After his win over Stevenson, he had become the number one contender for the lightweight belt. Florian's move to train with GSP in the Tri-star gym is brilliant, as GSP completely nullified Penn's attacks and implement a strategy that appeared to be near perfect (vaseline aside). The plan versus Penn was implemented by Firas Zahabi is also the head of the gym.
Kenny Florian will not be able to fight like GSP, since he does not pocess the physical abilities that GSP does, however training with GSP will only strengthen his abilities and since he had beaten Penn, it will encourage Florian to train even harder.
UFC 97 at the Bell Centre in Montreal Poster
Main Card:
Middleweight Championship bout: Anderson Silva vs Thales Leites
Light Heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs Mauricio Shogun Rua
Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs Antoni Hardonk
Light Heavyweight bout: Luiz Cane vs Steve Cantwell
Light Heavweight bout: Brian Stann vs Krzysztof Soszynski
Preliminary Card:
Middleweight bout: David Loiseau vs Ed Herman
Middleweight bout: Dennis Kang vs Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Lightweight bout: Matt Wiman vs Sam Stout
Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs Nate Quarry
Welterweight bout: Ryo Chonan vs TJ Grant
Lightweight bout: David Bielkheden vs Mark Bocek
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Cheick Kongo vs Antoni Hardonk in UFC 97 for Montreal
Two heavyweights with winning streaks are set to matchup in Montreal for UFC 97. Cheick Kongo(13-4-1) who is currently on a two fight winning streak, defeated Mustapha al Turk at UFC 92 in his latest bout, is set to square off against Antoni Hardonk (8-4). Hardonk has knocked his last three opponents by TKO.
Rematch: GSP vs PENN III in Summer 2009
From bjpenn.com
“For the past several days I have been reading statements made by St. Pierre and Greg Jackson about our fight on January 31. St. Pierre claims that he is ‘not a cheater’ and that he and Greg Jackson will have ‘no problem with a rematch in the summer of 2009.’ To the untrained eye the grease might not look like much, but every grappler knows the effect that it has. Being able to apply your submissions and sweeps or just being able to hold on to your opponent to defend yourself from being hit is absolutely critical! There is a reason why you are not allowed to put grease anywhere on your body except for the area around your eyes. Because of the grease applied to St.Pierre’s Body the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director, Keith Kizer has stated that the Penn-St. Pierre fight ‘definitely wasn’t fair.’ I hereby accept George St. Pierre and Greg Jackson’s challenge for a fight in the summer 2009. Lets call Dana now and set it up.”
BJ Penn had requested the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to investigate this "greasing" matter. GSP made claimed that they use the vaseline as part of a breathing technique. GSP has offered Penn a rematch, which would most likely take place after GSP squares off against Thiago Alves. The NASC concluded that the application of the vaseline gave GSP a huge advantage in the fight, since Penn is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artist, he focuses his fighting style on grappling and especially the ground game.
The controversy has extended to changing the rules of the cornermen.Proposed changes courtesy of SI.com:
- Cornermen associated with the fighters will no longer be allowed to handle the Vaseline used in between rounds to treat and prevent cuts.
- The UFC will now provide one cut man for each corner for the fight.
- Only two people are allowed to enter the Octagon between rounds so if a cut man is necessary to apply Vaseline or work on a cut, one of the other cornermen working with the fighter must exit the cage to allow the cut man to work.
Outside of GSP and Penn, nobody would like to see a rematch, the hype has died down and we would all like to move forward to see GSP vs Alves.
