MMA News and UFC Betting Odds

History was made in Columbus, Ohio when UFC champion Anderson Silva and PRIDE champion Dan Henderson met to not only unify the middleweight championship, but to battle it out for pound for pound supremacy.

Plus, longtime heavyweight contender Heath Herring tries to keep his title hopes alive against devastating French striker Cheick Kongo. Also in action are UFC stars Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leben, Yushin Okami and the comeback of former middleweight champion Even Tanner.

Fight Card:
Anderson Silva Vs. Dan Henderson
Cheick Kongo Vs. Heath Herring
Chris Leben Vs. Alessio Sakara
Evan Tanner Vs. Tushin Okami
Jon Fitch Vs. Chris Wilson
Andrei Arlovski Vs. Jake O’Brien
Luke Cummo Vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Josh Koscheck Vs. Dustin Hazelett
Diego Sanchez Vs. David Bielkheden
Jorge Gurgel Vs. John Halverson

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion is now available for purchase in our DVD store for $19.99 by clicking here.

To check out our massive library of MMA DVD titles, including PRIDE DVD and UFC DVD click here. We also have Elite XC, WEC, Cage Rage, IFL, King of the Cage and other products for sale in our store. Looking for a title but don’t see it in our store? Email us and we’ll be happy to check its availability. Please keep in mind that we are only able to ship within the continental United States at this time.

MMA News, UFC 82, UFC DVD, UFC DVDs, dan henderson

Anderson Silva Fightography - Meca Vale Tudo

Link to download

Anderson Silva started his MMA career at age 25 in Meca Vale Tudo 1.  Over the succeeding events and through his performances in Shooto (interleaved with his MVT4, 5, and 6 fights), he worked his way onto Japan’s biggest stage, Pride
FC.

1. Anderson Silva vs. Luiz Azeredo (Meca Vale Tudo 1)
2. Anderson Silva vs. Jose Barreto (Meca Vale Tudo 2)
3. Anderson Silva vs. Claudionor Fontinelle (Meca Vale Tudo 4)
5. Israel Albuquerque vs. Anderson Silva (Meca Vale Tudo 5)
7. Roan Carneiro vs. Anderson Silva (Meca Vale Tudo 6)

Sorry for the video quality on some of these fights.  They are all new DVD rips from the best sources that I currently have available to me, sadly in some cases they just aren’t very good.  The fights from MVT 2 and 4 are from a commercial disk (previously posted, MVT KOs Vol 1), while the others are from multi-gen boots.  The poor quality of these other fights is why the file sizes are so large.  To get even half decent files, the compression needed to be cranked down because otherwise the noise in the sources lead to intolerable blocking.

 Anderson Silva Fightography - Shooto

Link to download

Anderson Silva’s earliest fights were in Meca Vale Tudo, but before he went to Pride, he fought in one of the lower tier Japanese promotions: Shooto.

Shooto, like Pancrase, is one of those Japanese promotions that just keeps on ticking, unlike their bigger, flashier, brethren.  Shooto debuted as a shoot wrestling promotion in the mid 1980s, and, like Pancrase, later evolved into a “hybrid wrestling” MMA promotion.

In any case, it was a good place for Silva’s winning streak (after his loss in his first fight) to continue, and an opportunity for him to take home his first Middleweight title belt.

04. Middleweight Anderson Silva vs Tetsuji Kato (Shooto to the Top 2)
06. Middleweight Anderson Silva challenges Hayato Sakurai (Shooto to the Top 7)

Sorry that the quality isn’t perfect, but I hope you’ll enjoy these two early Anderson Silva fights.

 Anderson Silva Fightography - Pride

Link to download

Anderson Silva had already managed to bring himself into the upper tier of Meca Vale Tudo and gained his first middleweight title in Shooto, he was an attractive target for Pride’s Japan vs the World machine.  Their philosophy was simple, bring in foreigners, let them fight each other to prove dominance, and then set them up as heels to Japanese baby face fighters.

Although Pride unquestionably contained many of today’s greatest fighters in it’s heyday, Pride’s results have been questioned in the past, with managers of some fighters who have returned to the US suggesting that some fights were works or that fighters were bribed or threatened to throw fights.  This wasn’t unknown or unprecidented in Japan.  The venerable Pancrase suffered a similar reputation in it’s early days, as a worked shoot outfit.

Whether the results were real or questionable, Anderson Silva’s rise to fame met a snag in Pride.  After completing his contract he turned to Brazil and Europe to rebuild his reputation and continue his rise to dominance.

08. Alex Stiebling vs. Anderson Silva (Pride 21)
09. Alexander Otsuka vs. Anderson Silva (Pride 22)
10. Anderson Silva vs. Carlos Newton (Pride 25)
11. Anderson Silva vs. Daiju Takase (Pride 26)
15. Ryo Chonan vs. Anderson Silva (Pride Shockwave 2004)

These are all new 640×480 (Q40, original AC3 audio) rips from full Pride DVDs posted here previously (I believe all by marvincastro).  If you would like a repost of one of these full DVDs, please PM me or the original poster.  Full event avi files are available as well, please use the search function.

Anderson Silva Fightography - Cage Rage

Link to download

Anderson Silva mysteriously did not thrive in Pride as he had in every other promotion that he had fought for to date.  After suffering his first Pride loss in 2003, he went back to his roots in Brazil for a match in Conquista Fight 1, and followed it up with another win in South Korea at Gladiator FC Day 2.

Rolling with that success, he traveled to the UK to fight, like many Pride fighters in the second tier, in Cage Rage.  He was immediately given a title shot, and defended it three times over the next year and a half while racking up a second consecutive loss in Pride at their New Year’s Eve show (Shockwave 2004) and a disqualification at Rumble on the Rock 8.  He’d take his success from the UK and travel onward to the happier hunting grounds of UFC in mid-2006.

14. Middleweight Anderson Silva challenges Lee Murray (Cage Rage
16. Middleweight Jorge Rivera challenges Anderson Silva (Cage Rage 11)
17. Middleweight Curtis Stout challenges Anderson Silva (Cage Rage 14)
19. Middleweight Tony Fryklund challenges Anderson Silva (Cage Rage 16)

Anderson Silva Fightography - Rumble on the Rock

Link to download

Anderson Silva only fought once in Rumble on the Rock in their middleweight tournament.  He was expected to win it, but something unexpected happened in his fight with Yushin Okami.

With Yushin Okami almost certainly next in line for a UFC middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, this is an interesting and relevant fight.

18. Middleweight Anderson Silva vs Yushin Okami (Rumble on the Rock

Anderson Silva Fightography - UFC

Link to download

20. Middleweight Anderson Silva vs Chris Leben (UFN 5)
21. Middleweight Anderson Silva challenges Rich Franklin (UFC 64)
22. Catchweight Travis Lutter vs Anderson Silva (UFC 67)
23. Middleweight Nate Marquardt challenges Anderson Silva (UFC 73)
24. Middleweight Rich Franklin challenges Anderson Silva (UFC 77)
25. Middleweight Dan Henderson challenges Anderson Silva (unification) (UFC 82)

More UFC Videos at Pancrase.org.
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Anderson Silva Torrents - Anderson Silva Fightography Torrent

MMA Fighting Videos, PRIDE, UFC, UFC 82

Team Tanner website:

Just talked with Joe Silva, the UFC matchmaker. He gave me a date and an opponent. Looks like I’ll be back in the Octagon this summer.

It’s good to have a fight scheduled. The last two weeks have been really rough. I’ll tell the story on that in the next few days.

Evan Tanner was knocked out by Yushin Okami on March 2 at UFC 82

Evan Tanner, MMA News, News, Rumors, UFC 82, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Yushin Okami

Heath Herring, MMA News, UFC 82

The more I hear Jon Fitch talk, the more I like this guy. I really have to question the judgment of anyone who at one point felt Fitch wasn’t marketable.

Jon Fitch, MMA News, UFC 82

UFC Video: UFC 82 Post Fight Interviews

More UFC Videos.

UFC Video: UFC 82 Post Fight Interviews

Heath Herring, Jon Fitch, MMA Fighting Videos, UFC, UFC 82

For those who like to watch absolutely everything.

Part 1


Part 2

MMA Fighting Videos, UFC 82

UFC Interview: Jake O’Brien on Disappointing Loss at UFC 82

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UFC Interview: Jake O’Brien on Disappointing Loss at UFC 82

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UFC 82 “Pride of Champion” Fighter Payouts
March 2 from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

MAIN CARD

Anderson Silva: $140,000 ($70,000 to fight, $70,000 to win)
Dan Henderson: $100,000 ($100,000 to fight)
Heath Herring: $140,000 ($70,000 to fight, $70,000 to win)
Jon Fitch: $60,000 ($30,000 to fight, $30,000 to win)
Chris Leben: $50,000 ($25,000 to fight, $25,000 to win)
Cheick Kongo: $30,000 ($30,000 to fight)
Yushin Okami: $28,000 ($14,000 to fight, $14,000 to win)
Evan Tanner: $25,000 ($25,000 to fight)
Alessio Sakara: $17,000 ($17,000 to fight)
Chris Wilson: $12,000 ($12,000 to fight)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Andrei Arlovski: $170,000 ($65,000 to fight, $65,000 to win)
Diego Sanchez: $60,000 ($30,000 to fight, $30,000 to win)
Josh Koscheck: $20,000 ($10,000 to fight, $10,000 to win)
Luigi Fioravanti: $16,000 ($8,000 to fight, $8,000 to win)
Luke Cummo: $16,000 ($16,000 to fight)
Jorge Gurgel: $14,000 ($7,000 to fight, $7,000 to win)
Dustin Hazelett: $12,000 ($12,000 to fight)
Jake O’Brien: $11,000 ($11,000 to fight)
David Bielkheden: $8,000 ($8,000 to fight)
John Halverson: $3,000 ($3,000 to fight)

Total Fighter Payout: $932,000

FIGHT BONUSES

1. “Fight of the Night” - Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson 60k each
2. “Submission of the Night” - Anderson Silva 60k
3. “Knockout of the Night” - Chris Leben 60k

The reported figures do not include bonuses, taxes, fees and other sponsorships.

Cheick Kongo, Diego Sanchez, Dustin Hazelett, Evan Tanner, Heath Herring, Jon Fitch, Jorge Gurgel, Josh Koscheck, Luke Cummo, MMA News, News, UFC 82, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Yushin Okami, dan henderson

Hey everyone! My name is Ryan and I’m from a Web site called Fightlinker.com. We do all sorts of wacky MMA-related content like funny news, funny radio shows, funny comics, and … well, you get the idea.

The guys at MMAmania were kind enough to accept my offer to write a special column for you all on the condition that I don’t swear too much or talk about penises. It’ll be difficult, but I’m up for the challenge! Penis. Shit! Aw man. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Anyways, UFC 82 was this weekend and I think we can all agree that it was a pretty awesome show. For those of you who disagree, check your TIVO … perhaps you were watching the IFL season opener by accident?

Now most people are usually pretty clinical with their event reviews, but that’s not really how we roll. So let’s break this event down Fightlinker stylez:

The “Hardest Head” award
Oh, how far Chris Leben has come since his early days on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) where he lost (and cried) repeatedly. Although his recent success has very little to do with his ability to avoid getting punched in the face over and over. And over. And over. Alessio Sakara threw everything but the kitchen sink at Leben, but Leben kept on coming like some kind of creepy ginger Terminator. It’d be nice to say I think Chris could be a contender someday, but at the moment I’ll just upgrade him from ‘punching bag’ to ‘punching bag that punches back.’ Another year will see if he develops further or his brain turns to mush from all the blunt force trauma. Either way, it should be entertaining.

The “Where the hell did this guy come from?” award
This definitely goes to Mr. McLovin himself, Dustin Hazelett. The guy looks exactly like a kid I used to beat up in high school, so I really should consider myself lucky that my victim didn’t also have super secret striking abilities. The bookies basically wrote Hazelett off with “Snowball’s chance in hell” odds, and even people in the know were counting on his jiu-jitsu to be his main weapon. I don’t think anyone expected the one-two head kick and flying knee he unleashed at the beginning of his fight. Anderson Silva would have been proud.

The “Broken Dreams” award
I’m still going to give Evan Tanner the “Most Inspirational” award as well. But you can’t deny that his storybook return to the UFC was completely ruined by Yushin Okami, who apparently didn’t get the memo telling him he was supposed to lose. Jerk. Everyone and their mother warned me that Tanner might be coming in with some serious ring rust, but I ignored them. Smashing people’s faces in is like riding a bike! You never really forget how to do it. Of course, Evan’s performance looked like he’d left his bike buried in a snowbank for seven months. Anyways, this is nothing a few fights against poor TUF riff-raff won’t fix. Even Rocky lost in the first Rocky movie, right?

The “Largest breasts” award
Goes to Diego Sanchez, who’s extra bulk has resulted in some serious pectoral growth. Even Octagon girl Edith Labelle was said to be jealous of Diego’s supple smooth mammories. Me, I just couldn’t get past the jheri curl.

And that’s it for me this week, people. Make sure to send all mail bombs to the MMAmania guys — we’ve already got enough of that where I’m from. And if you’re down with the idea that maybe it’s okay to laugh at the world of MMA from time to time, come check out my site, Fightlinker.com.

It’s really quite not very terrible at all! And that’s a guarantee. Penis.

MMA News, UFC 82, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)