Georges St. Pierre Works on Striking, Gymnastics to Prepare for Jake Shields

by Michael David Smith

With just a week and a half to go before UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre puts his title on the line against Jake Shields at UFC 129, the Official GSP YouTube channel is offering up some inside looks at St. Pierre's preparation.

Some of the videos, like the one above of St. Pierre working on his striking, are about what you'd expect from any MMA fighter. But a few of the videos show how unique GSP is when it comes to his strength and conditioning work.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/19/georges-st-pierre-works-on-striking-gymnastics-to-prepare-for/

Aleksander Emelianenko Fedor Emelianenko Yasubey Enomoto Mark Epstein

5 Oz. MMA Link Club

Welcome back to another ediition of ?MMA Link Club?, Five Ounces of Pain?s weekly smorgasbord of offerings from our brothers and sisters in the MMA community. Enjoy? A Breakdown of the Top 10 Most Awkward Nick Diaz Interviews (MiddleEasy.com) A Look at the Bond Between Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez (MMAFighting.com) Dan Henderson Wants Fedor [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/04/14/5-oz-mma-link-club-38/

Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao  Josh Barnett 

Ultimate Fighter's Ramsey Nijem Talks Tension on Team Dos Santos

by Michael David SmithRamsey Nijem is a contestant on this season of the Ultimate Fighter.On this week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Junior dos Santos had some trouble in the ranks of his coaching staff, and he had to reprimand his assistant, Lew Polley, for pushing his fighters too hard in practice.

Ramsey Nijem, a member of Team Dos Santos, said in his weekly interview with MMAFighting.com that he was glad dos Santos said something, because Polley had been taking his intense coaching style to extreme lengths.

Nijem also discussed the new member of Team Dos Santos and this week's fight between Len Bentley and Ryan McGillivray, and he offered an interesting preview of his own (not quite) nude scene in next week's episode. The full interview is below.

 

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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/14/ultimate-fighters-ramsey-nijem-talks-tension-on-team-dos-santos/

Viacheslav Datsik Marcus Davis  Tony DeSouza  Edwin Dewees 

What's Next For The Winners And Losers Of Bellator 41?

Bellator 41 succeeded on all fronts: not only was it another live, weekly show on the MTV2 network in a month where most major MMA companies have put on or will put on only a handful of events, it was also a night filled with dramatic stoppages and fantastic finishes. Now once again it?s time [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/17/whats-next-for-the-winners-and-losers-of-bellator-41

Tony DeSouza  Edwin Dewees  Nick Diaz  Tadhg Steamfist Dixon

Should the UFC allow Tito Ortiz to drive racecars?

One can only imagine Dana White's reaction when he heard Tito Ortiz wrecked his car. The good news is that Tito came away unscathed and it was a race car he was driving during a practice run for a celebrity event. But it's begs the question - why is one of the most injury-prone guys in MMA putting himself at risk?

TMZ posted the photo of Tito's trashed Toyota Scion. The gossip website claims Ortiz wrecked the car twice during a Tuesday practice run for the "Fueled by Fame" Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on Apr. 16.

Ortiz, who has a history of neck and back problems, already bailed on a 2011 fight against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Ultimate Fight Night 24. He's scheduled to face Ryan Bader in July at UFC 132.

If Tito goes through with the race it is for a good cause.

On behalf of each celebrity racer, Toyota donates $5,000 to Racing for Kids every year and another $5,000 to the winning racer's charity of choice. Racing for Kids, a national nonprofit program benefiting children's hospitals throughout the country, (in this case, Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach and Children's Hospital in Orange County, Calif.), was created as a way to connect sick children with their favorite celebrities and race-car drivers. Toyota has donated more than $1.9 million to various children's hospitals since 1991, on behalf of this race and its participants.

Additionally, a $15,000 donation will be made in conjunction with the 14th-annual "People Pole Award." Sponsored by People magazine, the award honors the pole-position winner of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race qualifying session on Friday, April 15.

Other celebrities racing include Anthony Anderson, Jillian Barberie Reynolds, Tyson Beckford, Kevin Eubanks, Dennis Haysbert, Megyn Price and Kimora Lee Simmons. The race takes place on the downtown streets of Long Beach, Ca. Insert your Quinton Jackson joke here.

Tip via Cage Potato

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Should-the-UFC-allow-Tito-Ortiz-to-drive-racecar?urn=mma-wp1004

Kenny Florian Jesse Forbes Xavier Foupa Pokam Hermes Franca

What you need to know from this week on “The Ultimate Fighter”

Welcome to the second week of "The Ultimate Fighter: Lesnar vs. dos Santos." Read on for spoilers, a fight recap, and the reason why Brock is choking that poor bunny.

Apocalyptic drill of the week: At Team dos Santos practice, Junior has his fighters put on gas masks and train. Keon Caldwell struggles through the practice, saying that he had a hard time leaving his family.

Lesnar teaches what he knows: wrestling. He corrects his fighters in their grappling ways and says that he expected to lose the last fight because of the picks. He also uses his favorite phrase: "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken [expletive]."

Gut check the week: Caldwell talks with dos Santos, and says that he wants to go home to see his daughter. Dos Santos tries to talk Caldwell through the indecision, and his teammates point out that he needs to stay for his daughter, but in the very next frame, Dana White walks in. He asks for Keon, and Keon looks like he soiled his pants.

White gives him a surprisingly compassionate speech, reminding Keon that he needs to fight for his daughter. No f-bombs were dropped in the making of this motivational speech.

Fight pick of the week: Javier Torres (Team dos Santos) vs. Chris Cope (Team Lesnar)

Lesnar isn't surprised by the pick, as he thinks that Junior is matching up his best against Lesnar's weakest fighters. An odd wrinkle in this fight is that Cope trained with Lew Polley, dos Santos' assistant coach. Polley tells Torres all the wrinkles of Cope's game, particularly that he doesn't like working against the cage.

Gut check that didn't work of the week: Keon still isn't focused in practice, and he decides to go home. He mentions that knows it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but feels like it's the right thing to do.

Many will look at Caldwell as a crazy man, but he did the right thing. Fighting takes 100 percent of your effort and focus. To give anything less is downright dangerous both to himself and his teammates. Saying, "I want to be a fighter," and actually doing it are two totally separate things. When faced with the actual life of being a fighter, he realized it wasn't for him and left the door open for someone else to take over.

Wait, Brock is human? of the week: Sensing that Cope is an underdog, Lesnar sits his fighters down to remind them that no one is indestructible. Everyone can lose fights. Lesnar brings up his own loss to Cain Velasquez as proof of that, opening up to his team and showing a vulnerable side.

Stuffed animal of the week: Before the fight, a nervous Cope reads and rereads a letter from his girlfriend. He pulls out a stuffed animal, a good luck charm from his girlfriend's daughter. Torres' motivation comes from home, as well, as he learned that he was going to be a father before he left for the show.

Fight of the week: Torres (Team dos Santos) vs. Cope (Team Lesnar)

Round 1: Just as his coaches instructed, Torres takes Cope into the fence and grinds him out there for nearly two minutes. When they separate, Cope tries to land strikes and pushes Torres into the cage. Torres responds with a hip toss take down. Cope works back to his feet, and the two continue to work against the cage for much of the round. Just before Cope pushes away, Torres lands a knee that opens a cut underneath Cope's eye in the final seconds of the round.

Round 2: Cope starts strong by throwing kicks, but Torres takes him into the fence again. When Cope can break free, he does well and lands kicks and strikes, but Torres does a good job at keeping him clinched against the fence. Torres tries in vain to get a takedown, but remains in the clinch.

After two rounds, the fight is called a draw, and they head to a third round.

Round 3: After tons of clinching, Torres tries for another hip toss takedown but it misfires, and Cope falls on top of him. Neither fighter seems interested in the ground, and they return to their feet and the clinch. Two odd moments happen when the fighters get confused by referee Herb Dean's instructions. First, he tells them to fight or he will break them apart. They stop fighting, and he has to tell them, "No! Fight!" Next, Cope throws an inadvertent knee to the crotch. Torres is given time to recover, but it's Cope who picks up a second wind. He has an easier time breaking free of Torres' clinches, and lands knees and kicks. Dos Santos begs Torres to take Cope down, but he never listens. Cope dominates the standup for the remainder of the fight.

Judges decision: Cope wins it two rounds to one. That makes Lesnar a happy man, because his fighters just made chicken salad out of chicken [expletive]. He tosses the bunny to Cope in glee.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/What-you-need-to-know-from-this-week-on-The-Ult?urn=mma-wp935

Marcus Aurelio  Mikhail Avetisyan Luiz Azeredo  Luciano Azevedo