Fight Passport

The Redemption of Fedor

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 20:35:02 +0000

Back in June, Fedor Emelianenko found himself in somewhat of a lose/lose situation. He was fighting Fabricio Werdum – who’s a multiple time World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion, but who was also a huge underdog going into the fight. Most people were overlooking Werdum and viewed him as only a minor hurdle in route to the Fedor vs. Overeem super fight that they were thirsting for.

Facing a dangerous underdog isn’t a new thing to Fedor. Throughout his career, he’s knocked off multiple world champions and yet, in the words of the haters, “he hasn’t fought anyone”. The Fedor debates always piss me off. How any educated fan of the sport dismiss his opponents as being “cans” is beyond me.

New fans to the sport will look over his record and since the majority of the guys he’s defeated are washed up TODAY, they’ll try to discredit his accomplishments despite the fact that they were in their prime when Fedor beat them. Heath Herring for example. Today, the victory doesn’t look very impressive but back in 2002 (when the fight occurred), Herring was a heavy favourite and one of the top dogs in the PRIDE organization.

It’s the same story with Randleman and Coleman (both former UFC heavyweight champions), Sylvia and Arlovski (also former UFC champs), Matt Lindland (who was the number 1 ranked middleweight at the time), Brett Rogers (also ranked in the top 10 when they fought) then a slew of k1 level kick boxers such as Mirko Cro Cop and Semmy Schilt (who’s the current K1 champion).

Of course, let’s not forget about his dominant victories over a prime Nogueira, who later went on to capture the UFC heavyweight title. Werdum, though overlooked by most, was an extremely dangerous opponent and while Dana White will say that “Fedor got beat by a guy who couldn’t hack it in the UFC”, the fact is that Werdum went 2-1 in his UFC career with victories over Brandon Vera and Gabriel Gonzaga. His only loss in the UFC was to Junior Dos Santos, who has dominated everyone that the UFC has put in front of him.

As mentioned above, Werdum also happens to be one of the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters in the world so the fact that he was able to catch Fedor in a triangle/arm bar combination shouldn’t be that discrediting. It happens. One submission loss, at the hands of one of the best submission grapplers in the world and all of a sudden Fedor is “finished” and “exposed”? Give me a fucking break.

That was his first official loss in over a decade of competition and immediately following the defeat, a lot of sites completely wiped him off their “pound for pound” rankings. It doesn’t make sense to me, especially when Rashad Evans (got decimated by Machida) and BJ Penn (even following his loss to Edgar) remained on most of the lists.

So where does Fedor go from here and what potential match ups does the Strikeforce organization have for him? I believe that a rematch with Werdum or a fight with Overeem are the only two potential match ups that will restore Fedor’s credibility. Antonio Silva is waiting for whoever steps up but that’s an extremely dangerous fight that will do nothing to restore Fedor’s image.

That’s not to knock Antonio Silva either. It’s more of a compliment to him than anything. He’s huge, he’s incredibly strong, he has crisp, technical striking and he’s a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. He’s a complete fighter and in my opinion, I think he has what it takes to beat a guy like Brock Lesnar. However, since his skill set surpasses his current credibility, if Fedor were to beat him (which wouldn‘t be an easy task for anyone), people would immediately discredit the victory (much like they would have done had he ended up beating Werdum).

Strikeforce has a few other decent fighters on their roster but only victory over Werdum or Overeem will restore Fedor’s “perceived” credibility. His loss to Werdum hasn’t changed my opinion of him, but then again, I’m not a brainwashed UFC fan boy.

MMA Gear Reviews: The purpose of this site is to help consumers make educated buying decisions when it comes to selecting the products that best suit their training needs. You can read reviews on products that you’re thinking of buying or if you’ve used any of the products featured on the site, you can write about your experience and leave your own reviews on them.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

Thai Boxing Tube, as the name indicates, is a Youtube style website that’s home to a collection of awesome Muay Thai videos. You’ll find highlights reels from the greats such as Saenchai Sor Kingstar, Yodsanklai Fairtex, Buakaw Por Pramuk, Namsaknoi and many others. You’ll also find Thai boxing documentaries, training videos, fights, footage shot from the gyms throughout Thailand and soon enough, there will be exclusive Muay Thai instructional videos as well.

Machida vs Rampage

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:27:33 +0000

Lyoto Machida vs. “Rampage” Jackson has been announced as the headliner for UFC 123 and what a fight this is going to be! Both of these guys have huge marketability so if the rest of the card ends up being solid, the pay per view buys for this one are going to be insane despite the fact that both of these guys are coming off losses.

“Rampage” Jackson is coming off an embarrassing loss to Rashad Evans while Machida ate a devastating shot from “Shogun” Rua and got knocked out for the first time in his career. Both of these guys are looking to rebound from the losses and get back into title contention.

It’s a must win fight for both fighters as the loser will have consecutive losses. Actually, in Machida’s case, a defeat would be his third defeat in a row, though only his second “loss”. We all know that he was defeated in his first fight against Shogun, but of course, the judges, who were probably paid off, are the only ones who would disagree.

As for how these two fighters match up, well, it may be a bad night for Rampage. Rampage had a hard time dealing with the speed and illusiveness of Rashad Evans. Machida, as he proved when he fought Rashad, is a lot quicker and that will likely give Rampage some problems.

Rampage, unquestionably, is the stronger of the two but that’s not going to matter if he’s unable to get a hold of Machida or land any big shots. In terms of grappling ability, Machida has his black belt, Rampage doesn’t. However, Rampage hasn’t been submitted in nearly a decade dispute facing some top notch jiu jitsu guys. He’s strong enough to just power out of most submission attempts and his wrestling ability is good enough to keep the fight standing.

However, if Machida wants to get his opponents to the ground, he usually does so using unorthodox leg sweeps and upper body takedowns so he may be able to get Rampage down if need be. I doubt he’ll bother though considering how fluid he is on his feet.

On paper, this seems like a bad match up for Rampage but with Machida coming off the first knockout loss of his career, there’s no telling how he’s going to come back from that. Once a fighter gets knocked out the way he did back in May, their fighting style may be forever changed. It oftentimes presents a huge mental block for the fighter, but we’ll see how Machida rebounds in November. The hype videos for this fight are already popping up..

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

Belfort vs Okami

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:02:00 +0000

Vitor Belfort was presumed to be next in line for a shot at Anderson Silva’s middleweight title based on how easily he dispatched Rich Franklin back at UFC 103. Well, things change and since Chael Sonnen put on an incredible performance – though in a losing effort – against Silva, the UFC is going to give him an immediate rematch and market the hell out of “Silva vs. Sonnen 2”.

Vitor Belfort got moved to the back seat so to speak but considering that he originally earned the “presumed” title shot off a single UFC win, it’s understandable. Yushin Okami has won 5 of his last 6 fights in the octagon so this is the perfect match up to determine the number 1 contender.

As for how these two match up, well, it goes without saying that Vitor Belfort is the better striker. Known as “the phenom” for a reason, his hand speed, power and overall boxing skills are unrivalled in the division. One shot from Vitor and you’ll be laid out on the canvas – just ask Matt Lindland or Rich Franklin.

Given the power in his hands, the obvious game plan with Vitor would be to get him to the ground but even once you do, you’re not entirely out of the water since he’s a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If anything, the blueprint to defeating Vitor Belfort would be to control him using superior wrestling skills the way that Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz did.

Yushin Okami is a pretty decent wrestler, but he’s certainly not on the level of Couture, Ortiz or as we witnessed at UFC 104, Chael Sonnen. So, whether or not he’s going to be able to outwrestle Belfort is an issue. Vitor Belfort has never been out-struck either and I doubt that Okami will be the guy to do it.

When the odds come out for this, I predict that Yushin Okami, even being as talented as he is, will be the underdog. Okami is one of the top ranked fighters in the world but today’s Vitor Belfort, under the tutelage of Shawn Tompkins, has looked unstoppable. Even Chael Sonnen admitted to being a Belfort fan and said that he would be a much harder fight for him than Anderson Silva. Keep in mind of course, that Chael is the guy who absolutely dominated Okami at UFC 104.

Regardless of who’s better at a certain element of fighting, both of these guys fight with a lot of heart and neither has ever been involved in a boring fight. This is a awesome number 1 contender fight and to make it even better, it’s not even going to be a pay per view. So, on November 13th, make sure you’re tuned into Spike TV to watch Belfort and Okami throwing bombs at each other in front of the German crowd.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

GSP vs Koscheck 2

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:22:48 +0000

It was just announced today that the next time the UFC comes to Montreal, GSP will get to defend his title in front of his hometown crowd. On December 11th, it’ll be Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck once again. Since their last meeting back at UFC 74, Koscheck has gone 6-2 while St. Pierre hasn’t lost at all in route to a 7 fight win streak.

Both of these guys show a huge improvement every time they fight. While their fighting styles are similar today, they were the complete opposite of each other when they first got into the sport. Koscheck came from an extensive wrestling background while St. Pierre didn’t wrestle at all throughout high school or college.

St. Pierre came from a Karate and Muay Thai background so his main strength was his striking. Today though – despite having not wrestled throughout his early years – he’s considered by many to be the best wrestler in the sport.

Koscheck, as mentioned, is just the opposite. While entering the sport as a pure wrestler, he’s now feared for his knockout power and it seems as though he likes to use his wrestling ability for takedown defence and keep his fights on the feet – his last fight against Daley is an obvious exception.

In their first fight, St. Pierre shocked the world and actually beat Koscheck at his own game – wrestling. He took Koscheck down at will and when Koscheck shot on GSP, his attempts were stuffed with ease. GSP really made a statement that night since Koscheck was widely considered to be one of the best wrestlers in the division, if not the entire organization.

So the big question is; how will the rematch differ from their first fight? Their first fight was extremely decisive. I don’t even think that GSP lost a single a round (GSP losing rounds is pretty uncommon these days). Both of these guys have improved a great deal since their last fight but it seems as though they’ve both been improving at an equally impressive pace.

The key to victory for Koscheck would be to keep it on the feet and hope to land that crushing right hand of his. Matt Serra was able to land a shot and put GSP out so Koscheck certainly stands a chance at doing so as well. In terms of grappling, I really don’t see GSP losing in that realm of the fight. He didn’t lose in their first meeting and judging by who far his wrestling has come, I don’t see him being manhandled in this fight, or any of his upcoming fights for that matter.

GSP, being the intelligent fighter that he is, will likely take the fight to the ground as soon as he can in an attempt to minimize the risk involved with engaging in a slug fest with Koscheck. If he’s able to carry that out, then it’s hard to see Koscheck winning this one. However, this is MMA and with 4 oz gloves, anything can happen.

Koscheck has started the trash talk early for this one. At UFC 113, following his victory over Paul Daley, he told the fans on Montreal that the “Habs” were going to lose in the playoffs and then he was going to beat GSP. He later said at the post fight press conference that he wasn’t going to be going to his after party out of fear that an angry mob might show up. These two guys have also been selected to be the coaches of the “Ultimate Fighter” season 12, which is set to air soon. The hype videos for this fight are already popping up. Here’s a good one..

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

“Such Great Heights” Documentary

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:11:08 +0000

“Such Great Heights” is an upcoming documentary that follows Jon Fitch and his team mates from the American Kickboxing Academy as they train for their fights and pursue their dreams. Judging by the brief preview above, it looks like it’s going to be incredible. Here’s a more in depth description of it..

“Such Great Heights” gives an intimate look inside the world of mixed martial arts fighting. The film follows top UFC Welterweight Contender Jon Fitch, both inside and outside of the cage, as he prepares to do battle with Champion Georges St. Pierre. Intensity and emotion move toward critical mass as fight night approaches and a tight knit team rallies around Jon.

While Fitch prepares for this climactic moment in his life, the story weaves through the daily triumphs and challenges of the other fighters at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA). The film explores the grueling lifestyles of these fighters as they deal with everything from their personal demons to finding a place to sleep at night.

We’ll keep you updated as to when it’s released. This is definitely the sort of documentary that you would want to buy to support the producers and everyone involved. If this goes on to sell a lot of copies, then more and more of these sort of behind-the-scenes documentaries will be popping up – which is obviously a good thing.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

Lumpinee (The Movie)

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:01:39 +0000

Normally we would post videos like this on Thai Boxing Tube, but this is an upcoming documentary that deserves some additional attention. As soon as it becomes available, I suggest you pick up a copy immediately to support the producers of it. Here is the “treatment”..

The story takes place at a boxing camp in a small community in
southern Thailand. Destiny leads kids of varied backgrounds and
purposes to travel to the boxing camp.

Some join the camp because they love boxing. Some are homeless
…drifters; impoverished, drug addicted, or charged with filching. Some
simply need a shelter, kids who view Thai boxing as lifeʼs last resort.

They live together in this boxing camp that turns into a small society
filled with both friendship and conflict – all centering and leaning on
Thai boxing and Uncle Sak, the campʼs owner. The boxing camp thus
resembles a juvenile rehab home or a mental rehab center. Its strict
rules of behavior and rigid boxing training serve as potent medicines in
rectifying the kidsʼ mind and body, and Uncle Sakʼs loving kindness
towards the kids inspires them to look up to him as an adopted father.

Uncle Sak, in turn, aims to breed the supreme Thai boxing from the
South, so that one day his boxers could make their way up the rank and
have the chance to fight against Bangkok giant campsʼ boxers. His
ultimate dream: Lumpinee Stadium Thai Boxing Championship Belts.

A budding boxing life not only gives the kids a new life but also grants
them the vision of hope. They open up their mind, revealing their
dream, on a journey that the only thing available for them to hold on to
is determination and faith.

They journey ahead in a quest for victory and
social acceptance, perhaps attainable in the short moment when the
winnerʼs hand is help up high on the ring, the only lifeʼs greatest merit
they want to seize.

When the film is complete, it will most likely be available for purchase here.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

Fight Life! Dan Hardy

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 06:52:07 +0000

Here is another installment of the “Fight Life” series by Fight! Magazine. So far we’ve posted up the Bas Rutten series, Urijah Faber series, Frank Mir series, the Jose Aldo series and now, you have the chance to get to know Dan Hardy a little better. This concept of “fight life” is awesome because it gives fans an inside look into the daily lives of their favorite fighters.

In these videos, you get to meet his girlfriend, get his opinions on “tapping out” and giving up in a fight, hear what he has to say about his fight with GSP, hear what he says to say about Daley’s cheapshot on Koscheck and pretty much everything else in between – his cars and his lifestyle in Nottingham included. He seems like a pretty cool guy and after watching all these videos, you can’t help but like the guy. While on the topic of Dan Hardy, check out this 30+ minute Dan Hardy tribute series.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

Batista To Fight Early 2011

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:14:34 +0000

In this interview that Dave Batista did for Fight! Magazine, he discusses is mindset and preparation leading up to his mixed martial arts debut, which will likely be early 2011 and under the Strikeforce promotion. The whole pro wrestler to MMA thing is sort of gimmicky at this point but that’s not to say that it’s not entertaining. Brock Lesnar is the biggest draw in the UFC right now and that’s because of the crossover effect from pro wrestling. So, with that many people tuning in to see Brock, it only stands to reason that the pro wrestling fanboys will also tune in and pay their 50 dollars to see Batista as well. It’s actually a good thing for MMA because it puts more money in everyones pockets and draws more attention to the sport.

As for Batista and his chances, well, he’s not coming from an impressive amateur wrestling background like Brock Lesnar did. He mentions that he’s studied Kali, which is a weapons based martial art that originated in the Philippines. Unfortunately for him though, he won’t be able to bring those Kali sticks into the Strikeforce cage. On the plus side, he’s a huge, physically imposing individual that seems to be taking his training seriously.

He’s studying under the tutelage Cesar Gracie in an effort to develop his grappling skills. Throughout the interview, he doesn’t say one thing that would indicate cockyness or that he’s not taking the transition seriously. He recognizes the fact that there will be a lot of people that will criticize him for what he’s doing but he’s willing to prove himself and earn their respect. From start to finish, he seems like a class act throughout this entire interview.

When comparing mixed martial arts to pro wrestling, he says that MMA is a better fit for him because the hard part about pro wrestling, according to him, is the travelling and the wear and tear on your body. With MMA, he says, the training is enjoyable and if he can stay stationary, fight a few times a year and settle into a routine, then that would be a “dream come true”. He says he “doesn’t mind earning peoples respect” and based on the way he comes across in this video, it’s hard to criticize him. Actually, it’s even hard not to root for him. Seems like a class act all the way so it should be interesting to see how his Strikeforce debut pans out.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

Insider Training Camp (Ep. 1)

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:35:12 +0000

“Genghis Con” is doing an amazing job producing videos that take viewers behind-the-scenes into the lives and training routines of their favorite fighters. Here is the first episode of the “Insider Training Camp” series and in it, he followed Raphael Assuncao as he prepared for his fight against Diego Nunes at WEC 49.

Dispite all the hard training, Raphael ended up on the losing end of a split decision but given his mentality and work ethic displayed in this video, he’ll likely end up putting together another string of wins.

There’s so many noteworthy quotes and scenes in here to point out but after watching it, you’ll definently be in the mood to train. Hopefully “Genghis Con” will continue making the “insider training camp” series. You can check out his other videos by visiting his website. Check it out..

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.

St. Pierre’s 1st Fight (Video)

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:38:38 +0000

It’s always interesting to have a look at a fighters past fights to see how they’ve developed their skill sets. As mentioned over and over during the UFC broadcasts, Georges St. Pierre is one of those constantly improving fighters who looks like a more developed version each time we see him. He’s widely considered to be the best wrestler in MMA and what makes that so impressive is that he never wrestled in high school or college.

The fight that’s posted above was filmed back in 2002 and it was GSP’s first professional fight. It ends with some controversy but the main difference that you’ll see between the GSP of 2002 and the GSP of 2010 is his wrestling ability. In 2002, he was struggling in the scrambles against Ivan Menjivar and today, he’s out wrestling guys like Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes. Not to knock Ivan though, he was 4-0 going into that fight and throughout his career, he’s fought guys like Matt Serra, Caol Uno, Joe Lauzon and Jeff Curran. Anyway, check out the fight.

Purchasing products through the links on this site, which no extra cost to you, will help support FightPassport as well.