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Dream 8 Live Stream

Former NFL’ers At TUF 10 Try-Outs

There was an NFL presence at Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter 10″ tryouts today in Seattle. Former NFL defensive lineman Marcus Jones (Tampa Bay Bucs) and former standout Texas Tech defensive lineman and Indianapolis Colts practice squad player Rex Richards were among the approximately 250 aspiring contestants. Jones opted to attend the tryouts instead of watching his alma mater, North Carolina, play in tonight’s NCAA men’s basketball championship. Former Green Bay Packers’ running back Herbert Goodman is also trying out.

The new season starts this fall.

Lesnar, Escudero To Appear At Extreme Beatdown on April 11th

PHOENIX (April 6, 2009) – A pair of former Arizona high school wrestlers, featherweights Yaotzin Meza and Jamie “The Headhunter” Schmidt, will fight for one of two Sovereign Nations Mixed Martial Arts (SNMMA) title belts being contested for Saturday night, April 11 in “Extreme Beatdown” at Apache Gold Casino, located five miles east of Globe in San Carlos, Arizona. MMA heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will be a special guest at “Extreme Beatdown.”

SNMMA links federally recognized tribes throughout the United States and Canada. SNMMA’s mission is to develop, promote and help regulate mixed-martial-arts in a fair and professional manner by federally recognized tribes that are sovereign nations.

Show sponsors include MTX Audio, Respek MMA Fight Gear, Catch 22 Sports Grill, and Hacienda Harley. Highlights of “Extreme Beatdown” will be taped and later shown on HD Net’s Inside MMA Show.

Meza (11-4-0), fighting out of Phoenix and representing Southwest MMA, takes on Schmidt (7-2-0), now fighting out of Denver for N.E.S.T., in the main event (5 five-minute rounds) for the first SNMMA featherweight title belt. Meza and Schmidt have similar fighting styles due to their wrestling backgrounds.

“It’s going to be a good experience,” Meza said. “I’m really excited to be in the main event for the first time and fighting for the SNMMA title. I’m finally in the last fight of the night. I’ll go the way the fight goes. I’m a wrestler who likes to ground and pound, but I’m also comfortable fighting on my feet. If I’m not doing too well on my feet, I’ll push for a takedown.

Schmidt’s tough and I never underestimate anybody. I think he’s a wrestler who likes to fight on his feet. It’s going to be an exciting fight. We’re both wrestlers and that makes for a great match-up.”

Schmidt was born and raised in Arizona, where he first started free style wrestling when he was only six. “I turned my life around fighting,” the 24-year-old Schmidt explained. “I started out wrestling but now I’m a better stand-up fighter. I have heavy hands. I practice kick boxing and Jiu-Jitsu, too. This is a big fight for me. Basically, a win will push me to the next level, and I’ll be able to make MMA fighting more of a career. I really like to stand-up and bang but, if we go down to the mat, he’s in even more trouble. I’m comfortable in either situation. Meza’s a wrestler and I don’t think he likes to get hit. I want to stand and bang, he wants to go to the ground, where I’ll submit him even faster because my Jiu-Jitsu is much better than his.”

In the other SNMMA championship match, the first super heavyweight (266-pounds or more) belt will be on the line in the co-feature (5-five minute rounds) between local hero Chance “King of the Street” Williams (6-2-0), who hails from nearby Globe (AZ), and Las Vegas invader Brice Ritani-Coe (2-0-0).

Lesnar will be at “Extreme Beatdown” to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans, as well as to support his friend and Minnesota Martial Arts Academy workout partner, Chris Tuchscherer (16-1-0), the first and reigning SNMMA heavyweight champion. The former 2-time NCAA, Division II All-America wrestler, Tuchscherer, from Fargo (ND), is slated to fight in a non-title match against an opponent to be determined.

Phoenix-based MMA rising stars on hand at “Beatdown Extreme” for a meet-and-greet with the public include Efrain Escudero, Danny Martinez, Ben Henderson and others.

Phoenix’ hybrid MMA/boxing star Elena “Baby Doll” Reid (2-0-0), who is a 2-time world boxing champion with a 19-5-6 (5 KOs) pro record, meets Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson (7-2-0), from Albuquerque, in a special female 112-pound catch-weight attraction bout.

Also on the undercard is Phoenix bantamweight Jesse “Arturo” Moreng (8-1-0) vs. Brandon Miller (3-3-0), of Fresno (CA); Phoenix light heavyweight Jesse “Kid Hercules” Forbes (8-3-0) vs. Shane De Zee, of Minneapolis; Phoenix middleweight Ray “C4” Steinbeiss (11-5-0) vs. Chris Hugh (6-2-0), of Bismarck (ND); Phoenix lightweights Chris Gruetzemacher (0-2-0) vs. Josh Gaskins (4-1-0); Phoenix middleweight Jeremy Larsen (3-1-0) vs. Jeff Horlatcher (6-16-0), of Globe (AZ); York (ND) heavyweight Seth Harrison (2-1-0) vs. TBA.

All fights and fighters are subject to change. All fights excluding the two SNMMA title matches feature 3 five-minute rounds.

Tickets, priced at $20.00 (bleachers), $30.00 (floor) and $50.00 (ringside), are available at the Apache Gold Gift Ship (1.800.272.2438 X3277) or at www.TicketWeb.com (21 years of age or older requirement to attend). Go to www.ApacheGoldCasinoResort.com or www.snbcmma.com for additional information. Doors open at 6 PM/MST, first bout at 7 PM.MST.

OFFICIAL WEIGH-IN – OPEN TO PUBLIC

The official weigh-in for “Extreme Beatdown” will be held Friday, April 10 at 11 AM at Catch 22 Sports Grill (18725 North 32nd St., Phoenix, Arizona 85050 – 602.482.9222 – www.catch22phx.com).

Passionate cornermen are fine, but this is ridiculous

Anyone who saw Ariel Helwani's interview with Kurt Pellegrino before the Miguel Torres-Takeya Mizugaki fight last night at WEC 40 was probably taken aback by the amount of praise "Batman" heaped on his buddy. I was thinking that there can't be a more passionate cornerman/training partner in the business than Pellegrino until Fightlinker found this dude in Japan who's way too in touch with his feelings:

Nam Phan must be a helluva guy. Make sure you watch the Pellegrino interview, he even pulls out the "pisses excellence" line with regards to Torres.

The Aoki myth comes crashing down at Dream 8

That should be a short stay in the pound-for-pound top 10 for Japanese wunderkind Shinya Aoki. He was destroyed inside of 30 seconds attempting a move up to welterweight. Aoki scored a takedown within the first three seconds of the fight but did nothing with top control. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai easily executed a sweep and then crushed Aoki's face with four knees, followed by five punches in five seconds. Aoki was out at 0:27 at Dream 8 in Japan.

Aoki, 25, was ranked No. 2 in the world at lightweight by many pundits. He may be the nastiest submission fighter in the world but he needs to improve his strength and striking. This was a big step back. Sakurai has appeared to lose some focus recently when he was nabbed doing some amateur porn but he's rolling along with a 12-2 mark since the middle of 2005. This was the second win of his career over Aoki.

American John Alessio, who always seems to be on edge of taking the next step, got manhandled by jiu-jitsu world champ Andre Galvao. Galvao scored a takedown via suplex and immediately took Alessio's back. He worked for a choke for three minutes and then switch to an armbar. He got the win with just over two minutes left in the first. It was only Galvao's third MMA fight while Alessio drops to 24-13.

Just two weeks after beating Roy Nelson, Jeff Monson beat Sergei Kharitonov with Nelson in his corner. Murilo Rua lost to Riki Fukuda while Vitor Ribiero decisioned Katsuhiko Nagata.

MMAMania has all the results.

Wacky church says Jesus was like Forrest Griffin

Apparently Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr. moved on from NASCAR and are now pastors in Missouri. The Riverfront Times reports that The Spirit of St. Louis Church is trying to spice up Easter by holding "Easter in the Octagon":

"For years the church has taught us to be "the nice guy" when we have really been called to be Ultimate Fighters," says the flyer on the church's Web site. "But what do we fight for? Join us on Easter and throughout April, as we "jump into the Octagon of Life" and learn how to be the 'The Ultimate Fighter!'"

Tom Skiles, who started this "church" in his basement 1 1/2 years ago likes to think of Christ as a ninja fighting off evil samurais ... sorry that's Walker Bobby (1:56 mark). Skiles thinks Jesus was a rough, tough customer but a common man like:

Hmm, I don't' know. I think he'd be a Forrest Griffin type. Vicious but yet forgiving. I always make fun of people's images of Christ. The hippie Christ. The Christ with the long flowing air, like he came straight from the salon. I make fun of that. I don't think he was that kind of man. I think Jesus was a man's man. Him and his disciples. I tell people they probably had teeth missing.

Skiles' "church" is up to 200 members closing in quickly on Peter Griffin's Church of the Fonz.

Tip via SportsbyBrooks

Tributes for Mask abound at WEC 40

Sunday's night's WEC 40 was dedicated to Tapout founder, Charles "Mask" Lewis, Jr., who was killed in a car accident earlier this year. His name was written on the upper bar of the cage, his Tapout cohorts kept an empty seat for him, and as shown below, a large group of fans wore a shirt in tribute to him. A tribute video was also shown that visibly moved Punkass and Skyskrape, the other members of the Tapout crew. It was quite jarring to see them as a duo, and not a trio. 

Sights from WEC 40: Coffee is for closers, and Miguel Torres

Wrapping up WEC 40, $10,000 bonuses were given to Miguel Torres and Takeya Mizugaki for fight of the night, Anthony Njokuani for knockout of the night, and Rani Yahya for submission of the night. Over the course of the weekend, Cage Writer took some pictures of the random happenings around any fight. For more pictures from the weekend, check out Combat Lifestyle.

Miguel Torres runs on Dunkin'.

Kurt Pellegrino, UFC fighter and Miguel Torres training partner, with a nifty mustache. He shaved it off the next day.

Bart Palaszewski had the best underwear of weigh-ins. The fabric was a crossword puzzle and the waistband read, "Blah, Blah, Blah."

Apparently, no one told Urijah Faber that in Chicago, it's still cold in April. Sandals are not the best idea. Donald Cerrone, on the other hand, was probably warm and comfy in his cowboy boots.

At the weigh-ins, Miguel Torres' students were there in full force to cheer on their leader.

UFC 97: Redemption Preview

UFC middleweight champion Anderson The Spider Silva returns to the Octagon on Saturday, April 18th to defend his crown against number one contender Thales Leites in the main event of UFC 97. The pound for pound king has already defended his title more times than anyone in UFC middleweight history and will battle Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Leites - winner of five in a row.

Also featured in the UFC’s return to Canada is the light heavyweight showdown fans have waited for years to see, as UFC legend Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell squares off against Brazilian superstar Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in what promises to be one of the most explosive bouts of 2009.

Dana White Video Blog – Nashville

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