Wednesday, July 29, 2009

UFC Welterweight Contender Mike Swick At Fan Expo In Vegas

Strikeforce's Gina Carano Talks About Her Period And Breast Padding

Click the below link for more Gina Carano articles, pictures, and videos.
http://dwizzlesworld.blogspot.com/search?q=gina+carano

Strikeforce's next big event on August 15 will feature a main event between Gina Carano and Cyborg Santos for the first ever Strikeforce 145 pound women's title. Carano is currently in the new issue of ESPN The Magazine with St. Louis Cardinals' catcher, Yadier Molina, on the cover. There is a one-page feature on Carano titled "6 Things You Should Know About Being A Female MMA Fighter."

Carano briefly mentions about how she doesn't like to schedule fights the week of her period. In the feature, she says, "Making weight is hard enough, and during our period we may retain around seven pounds of water weight. Plus bruises hurt more, you're bloated and cramping, and emotionally, it's tougher to battle through the training."

She talks about how some states require the women fighters to wear breast padding so she wears three sports bras in her fights.

While most fans and some female fighters have been lobbying for five minute rounds for women, Carano doesn't seem to like that concept. She said, "I liked the old length. It's hard to get in shape for a 25-minute fight!"

She also mentions in the article that she can beat guys up who don't train MMA and that male MMA fighters are not that great to date. Another interesting tidbit she gave was that there are a lot of talented women fighters out there who have the potential to be headliners like her as well.

Although she is adored by a lot of men, Carano states that "It's not uncommon for women to start with me." She gave an example of a tense situation at a bar that almost got her into trouble.

Carano will be the overwhelming crowd favorite in San Jose at the HP Pavilion when she fights Santos. The crowd in San Jose erupted loudly when they showed her face on the big screen at Strikeforce's last event at the HP Pavilion a few months ago. She has come a long way in popularity since she made her San Jose debut in 2006 against Elaina "Beef" Maxwell. Back then, the crowd was rooting for the local girl Maxwell and no one really knew who Carano was. Carano did get a lot of cheers after the fight though as she and Maxwell had a great fight.

The women fighters always seem to steal the show at MMA events and fans will be expecting the fight between Carano and Santos to be one hell of a fight. The question is if Carano loses, will her star still shine bright? Carano is the face of women's MMA right now and it will be interesting to see if she will fold under the pressure on August 15 when she faces her toughest opponent yet in Santos.

For more Gina Carano articles, pictures,and videos, click the link below:
http://dwizzlesworld.blogspot.com/search?q=gina+carano

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Strikeforce "Carano Vs.Cyborg" Press Conference Notes: "We're Female, No Penis"

Strikeforce had a big press conference recently at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden to promote their August 15 event in San Jose, California.

The main event that evening will be a women's championship match-up between Gina Carano and Cyborg Santos. Both of these women were in attendance last week at the press conference to meet with the media, and to also have a public workout for the fans in New York.

Carano spoke first at the press conference and thanked the fans and the media for covering the event, and for giving her a job. She also thanked Randy Couture and all the trainers at Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas.

She thanked Strikeforce and Showtime for putting her and Cyborg on as the main event on August 15. She said, "It takes a lot of balls to put something like this on."

Couture is now Carano's head trainer and he will be cornering her for the fight. She said her looks won't help her out inside the cage and thinks it's a compliment when people always tell her she is too pretty to be fighting.

Carano also said this will be the toughest fight so far in her career and that it is not her style to talk trash. She claims the fight will speak for itself.

She is not worried about getting taken down by Cyborg to the ground, as she said as much. Carano also feels that the winner of this fight should be considered the best fighter in women's MMA.

Cyborg said she doesn't mind that the media is calling it "The beauty vs. the Beast."

Carano said she feels that men and women are two completely different animals and she said, "We're females, no penis," which got a big chuckle out of the people inside the WaMu Theater.

Carano was the big star of the whole event and most of the questions were directed at her.

Both women also did a public workout. They did not do much but hit the pads.

Strikeforce's August 15 MMA show will be shown on the cable network Showtime.

Fans Don't Want To See Franklin Vs. Henderson II

The UFC surprisingly announced that the main event at UFC 103 will be a rematch between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin. These two fought a close fight this past January in Dublin, Ireland at UFC 93, with Henderson winning the fight by split decision.

What was UFC matchmaker thinking in signing this rematch for Sept. 19 in Dallas? The fans on the MMA Web sites and forums are chastising the UFC for having these two fighters as the headliners for UFC 103.

BloodyElbow.com, a very popular MMA Web site, polled their readers asking them if they thought this fight is a good headliner for UFC 103 and 78 percent of the readers voted "no."

Franklin is coming off a nice win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99 and Henderson brutally knocked out Michael Bisping at UFC 100.

I would rather see a Franklin vs. Silva rematch or a Henderson vs. Bisping rematch than have Franklin and Henderson go toe-to-toe once again.

Franklin wants this rematch because he wants to avenge his close loss to Henderson. I don't see a good reason why Henderson would want the rematch, though.

Henderson should be fighting a top contender in the middleweight division or having a rematch against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. I would even rather see Franklin vs. Silva for the third time than Franklin vs. Henderson again.

There are close to 40 light heavyweights in the UFC and this is the best main event the UFC could get for their first show in Dallas in years?

I would have loved to see Chuck Liddell come back to fight Franklin but Liddell is still taking a break from MMA.

The hardcore MMA fans might be somewhat interested in Franklin vs. Henderson II but the average fan will not be buying the pay-per-view to watch these two guys duke it out again. There is a very good chance that this rematch will once again go three rounds and end up in the judges' hands.

The good news for the fans in Dallas is that the co-main event between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann should be very exciting and action-packed. The winner of this fight will probably get the next crack at UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

I am disappointed in the UFC having Franklin vs. Henderson II as a main event in the United States and fans can tell the UFC how disappointed they are by not buying the show in September.

Strikeforce News and Notes: Cung Le Getting Married And Overeem Injured

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker recently was interviewed by Ariel Helwani of Fanhouse.com and Coker said that he plans on signing a lot of women fighters for their 135-pound and 145-pound divisions. He mentioned a fighter from Belgium with a judo background that they are looking at.

Coker also stated to Helwani that he wants to have stacked cards for every show and that he plans on having tournaments for the women in order to crown a champion in the 135 pound division.

He wants to have five good fights for the fans each time instead of just having a good main event and a co-main event like how the UFC usually does with their pay-per-view shows.

Cung Le is getting married on Aug. 8 to his girlfriend and should be fighting by the end of the year, according to Coker. He wants to have a match with Jake Shields and another opponent for the interim middleweight title and the winner of that fight would go on to fight Le.

Nick Diaz wanted the fight against Joe Riggs on Aug. 15 to be a title fight, and he got his wish.

Coker also said that he has interacted with UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in the past and that he is a very nice guy who was probably just caught up in the moment when he went on his tirade after his UFC 100 victory over Frank Mir.

Strikeforce heavyweight fighter Levar Johnson was shot on July 4 at a family party and is recovering from his injuries.

There will only be three title fights on Aug. 15 on the Showtime event in San Jose because Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem still has not recovered fully from a hand injury suffered in a brawl a few months ago. Overeem was scheduled to fight Fabricio Werdum.

MMAjunkie.com has reported that Jorge Gurgel will take on Billy Evangelista in a lightweight fight on Oct. 25 in Fresno, CA. This show will be a Strikeforce Challengers show which highlights up-and-coming fighters.

MMAjunkie.com also reported that former UFC fighter Jason Von Flue might be taking on Cung Le student, James Terry, on Aug. 15 as part of the undercard. Strikeforce will probably announce more undercard fights soon.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Why Women Journalists In Sports Are Not Respected

Erin Andrews might be a good looking woman but that does not make her a great sideline reporter or sports journalist. The primary reason she got her job at ESPN was because of her looks. The major reason women like her, Ashley Russell of Yahoo Sports, Heidi Watney of NESN, and Clarissa Thompson of Fox Sports got their jobs is because they are blonde and considered to be "hotties."

These blondes are sexy, attractive, and very easy on the eyes. It doesn't matter that they might not know a lot about sports. They don't have to. Their job is to dress nice and look hot on camera.

It is never hard for a sexy young woman to find a job even in this tough economy. ESPN and other sports networks are always looking for the next Erin Andrews. Andrews might be hot but she might not even be the hottest woman on ESPN as Molly Qerim has a lot of male fans as well.

Why should fans respect these women as journalists? Are they great at their jobs? Do they have great knowledge of sports and provide in-depth analysis? We all know the answer to that. Let's face it, a lot of people can do their jobs and do it well. Unfortunately I don't look anything like any of these babes.

I know many young women who aim to be the next Erin Andrews. One woman even told me that Andrews was her idol and is hoping to get a job just like hers in the future.

One female that fans do respect and like is Doris Burke of ESPN. She covers a lot of different sports for ESPN and she does an excellent job. She doesn't try to wear scantily clad outfits, short skirts, or high heels but she is highly effective in doing her job.

It is too bad that Burke is an anomoly and that most women in sports are not as good as her.

One of the worst in-game reporters is Amy Gutierrez who covers the San Francisco Giants on their broadcasts. Giants' fans can't stand her and she is often ridiculed on Giants message boards. Gutierrez doesn't seem to have much knowledge of baseball and she asks the players stupid questions. She once did not know she was live yet and started to count down from five before she started to speak, and she recently gave a hug to a player after a great outing.

99% of the female sideline reporters are hired because they are eye candy and nothing else. You don't have to know anything about sports but if you were in a beauty pageant, you just might get hired.

From the days of Phyllis George in the 1970s to Erin Andrews in 2009, not much has changed when it comes to female reporters and sports.

Andrews is now supposedly very angry because some so-called pervert filmed her without her permission when she was alone and naked in a hotel room. How do we know that she did not leak the video herself? How do we know that this "pervert" is a man and not a woman?

I have read numerous articles online by writers and bloggers on the peephole incident and everyone assumes that the person behind the videos is a man. It probably is a man but you also have to look into the possibility that the "pervert" is a woman as well.

Some people even have suggested that Andrews leaked the videos herself in order to boost her popularity. A lot of people in America now know who Erin Andrews is thanks to all the media coverage of the videos.

I saw all six or seven videos last week and I didn't think much of them at all. She doesnt' do anything interesting at all and is just walking around the hotel room naked. She has a typical figure that you would expect from a tall and slender woman. There was nothing special about the videos at all.

I can see how someone might be excited about checking the videos if they never seen a naked woman in their life but it was probably a big disappointment to even the biggest fans of Andrews.

Of course, the videos were a terrible invasion to her privacy and she might truly be traumatized at this moment. She has her fans but she also has her detractors who think she kisses up to the athletes and coaches she interviews.

Andrews is a public figure and one of the most popular employees on ESPN. She should know that all her actions are scrutinized but she does not deserve to be captured naked in videos without her consent and knowledge.

Unfortunately for her, she has and now every fan does not have to imagine what she looks like under her revealing outfits.

As for the future of women covering sports on TV, I don't see any changes in the near future. The head honchos at networks such as ESPN probably would hire Tila Tequila over a more qualified person and that is a scary thought.

When it comes to females like Andrews, Russell, Thompson, and Watney, it's all about sexual appeal and let's not pretend it isn't.

Jordan Crawford Dunks On LeBron James Video

Friday, July 17, 2009

MMA Event In San Francisco On July 18 at Kezar Pavilion


Another exciting MMA event is happening in San Francisco on Saturday night with Cage Combat FC's "Rush" event.

This event takes place at Kezar Pavilion and  there will be 12 fights in total featuring a lot of up and coming local fighters from California.

A lot of the top MMA schools in the Bay Area will  have their fighters participate in this event.

For tickets, please go to http://www.virtualboxoffice.com 


Pure Pankration Pictures

A bunch of pictures from 1015 Folsom's MMA event will be on this blog in a few days.  Here are a few now.




Thursday, July 16, 2009

MMA Fights at El Dorado Fairgrounds On July 18


There will be exciting MMA action this Friday night at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville, California when Rebel Fighter prsents an MMA event entitled "Ruthless." 

Lots of up and coming fighters will be in the cage Friday night and if you would like tickets to this event, please check out the link below -



Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Pure Pankration MMA Event In San Francisco On July 18




There will be a MMA event in San Francisco this Thursday night, July 16. The event is Pure Pankration and it will be held at 1015 Folsom.

Since it is a Pankration competition, there will be no shots to the face allowed. Shots to the body is allowed and submissions.

Strikeforce fighter Jake Shields will be the special host and there will be a lot of fighters from the local MMA schools competing.

Some of the fighters competing are from Shields' new school  which is called Jake Shields American Jiujitsu, and some are from  Gilbert Melendez' new school in San Francisco which is called the El Nino Training Center.

Other schools that will be represented include Fight and Fitness, Fairtex, Ralph Gracie Jiu Jitsu, and Gracie Fighter Team Black.

There will be 12 fights including two female fights. The first fight starts at 8pm.

If you are interested in tickets, you can  get them at

Gina Carano Interview From New York

Gina Carano FanHouse Interview from Ariel Helwani on Vimeo.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

D Wizzle's Report On UFC Fighter's Arrest


D Wizzle has found out that UFC welterweight fighter, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson was detained and held in a holding cell for about three hours on June 27 due to domestic violence charges by an ex girlfriend of his.

The MMA forums and websites have been reporting that he was arrested on domestic battery charges. Some websites and forums have also stated that he kicked down the woman's door, choked her, and beat her up.

My sources say this is NOT the case at all. I have it on good authority that it was a heated argument by two parties and they both exchanged words and there was no physical violence exchanged at all. 

Johnson will have his day in court on July 17 when he goes to a pretrial hearing according to MMAmania.com.

I have also learned that it was not the UFC that bailed out Johnson but instead, it was a close friend of his.

There has been wild speculation about what happened on June 27, and I cannot get into detail about the incident but from what I hear and know, Rumble Johnson is completely innocent of all charges.

Unfortunately for Rumble, he has to learn the hard way that the media and the fans on the Internet can quickly turn on you due to false rumors. Due to the charges and Internet rumors, Rumble's reputation has taken quite a hit.

Just like everyone of us, he is innocent until proven guilty and the facts of this matter will come to light, and I believe Rumble will be cleared and exonerated of all the  serious charges and allegations.

For more on Anthony Johnson and previous interviews  and exclusive videos with him on D Wizzle's World, click below -

MMA Fighters And Personalities Predict Winner Of GSP Vs. Alves

D Wizzle's World asked some of the top MMA fighters and MMA personalities their predictions for Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves. There were a lot of fighters that could not offer a prediction but here are the ones that had something to say about the fight.

Stephen Quadros, "The Fight Professor":

To me the ultra-competitive, title fight between Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves is all about wrestling. GSP is perceived to be the better in that department but Alves has plenty of tools to circumvent that crucial angle. The fight will be won or lost on if George can get Thiago to the floor, and keep him there, without sustaining damage, or if Alves can stuff the shot and deliver one of those big time bombs he's packing. Either way, I don't see this going five rounds.

Josh "The Punk" Thomson, Strikeforce Lightweight Champion:

If Alves can get to GSP's chin, he'll win, but I think GSP's wrestling will prove to be too much and he'll ground and pound his way to victory.

Mike "Quick" Swick:

I am going to skip predictions on this one. I'll just say Fitch (Jon Fitch) is going to dominate Paulo. (Paulo Thiago)

Michael DiSabato, VP of MMA clothing line, CageFighter:

I hate to pick against GSP because he is a great athlete, and I like him as a person but I watched Alves beat up Matt Hughes like a school child and dominate a very good Josh Koscheck. Alves wins defending takedowns, and staying on his feet.

Nicole Craner, MMA Ring Girl:

I think they are both amazing,but I am going to go with GSP as I think he is phenomenal and it's his time right now.

Keith "The KO Kid" Berry:

I say GSP by ground and pound round 3! I think he's the most well rounded fighter in MMA and I just don't think there's anyone on his level.







UFC 100 Preview: Two Titles On The Line

UFC 100 is this Saturday night in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Fans watching it live will be able to watch 11 fights. Five of the fights are scheduled on the main card of the pay-per-view, and two of the fights will be for the title.

The main event is a rematch between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Title. Lesnar, the current champion, lost in his UFC debut to Mir by kneebar. Lesnar was dominating the match until he got caught in the submission.

These two fighters have been talking a lot of trash and they don't seem to like each other. Lesnar has stated that he will not get caught in a kneebar this time, and Mir has ridiculed Lesnar for not knowing the technical aspects of MMA.

The co-main event is between Thiago Alves and Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Title. The challenger, Alves, is on a seven-fight winning streak after losing to Jon Fitch in June of 2006.

His last win was against Josh Koscheck at UFC 90. St-Pierre is coming off a big victory over B.J. Penn at UFC 94.

Alves has knockout power and St-Pierre should try to take this fight to the ground. Alves is one of the strongest and biggest welterweights around, and it will not be an easy task to take him down.

Both title fights are scheduled for five rounds but I don't see either fight going the distance.

International MMA superstar,Yoshihiro Akiyama, will make his UFC debut against Alan Belcher in another match on the main card. This will be a tough test for Akiyama as Belcher is no slouch. Fans in Asia will be very interested in this fight.

In a grudge match, Dan Henderson will oppose Michael Bisping. Bisping and Henderson were coaches in the lastest season of The Ultimate Fighter. I did not see a single episode of the show but I heard that these two fighters did not get along at all during the filming of the show. These two bitter rivals will finally get to meet in the center of the Octagon on Saturday night and settle their differences.

Jon Fitch will be back on pay-per-view when he takes on Paulo Thiago. Thiago is undefeated (11-0) but Fitch might be his toughest opponent yet. Fitch will be looking for revenge as Thiago won by TKO over Fitch's teammate at American Kickboxing Academy, Josh Koscheck, earlier this year.

I am hoping that a lot of the fights don't go to a decision so we can watch some of the prelim fights. Exciting fighters such as Jon Jones and Dong Hyun Kim are on the undercard as well as a fight between Stephan Bonner and Mark Coleman.

Fans who want to watch the prelim fights must order the UFC 100 event online at ufc.com by Friday. You can watch the prelims right after the UFC 100 pay-per-view is over. It won't be as good as watching the fights live but this is the only alternative the fans have.

UFC 100 looks great on paper and I hope the fights won't disappoint.

GSP And Thiago Alves Video Interviews Before UFC 100