The Day, In MMA

February 18, 2012

Another day in the MMA world has come and gone. Today we had a couple big stories surface and we also gained some closure in others.
First I fins is necessary to clear the air surround the situation with Chandella Powell. Her job was rumored to be at stake when earlier this week we found out that she had not disclosed her previous work in the on-line adult media platform to the UFC. However, after a few days have passed we have gained closure on the subject: Chandella will remain a UFC ring girl and will be one of the hosts at the UFC 144 Q&A.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva also had some statements regarding his “supposed” next opponent, Chael Sonnen. Silva recently talked with ESPN in Los Angeles and had this to say about Mr. Sonnen: “Chael has good wrestling. The first fight, I broke my ribs, I fought with broken ribs. But that’s okay, I finished the fight and I win. But this time I am ready. I am training hard, this is a different fight. My opinion for Chael is that this guy does not respect nothing. This time in this sport is very important. The people watching the UFC, the people that watch Chael Sonnen talking, they are like ‘What? What is this sport? I don’t like this sport. This guy doesn’t respect nothing.’ I understand sometimes you need to promote the fight but, I don’t know. Chael talks about my people in Brazil, about my wife, about the older fighters. It’s his problem, it’s no good, it’s no good promotion, this is a sport. I love my sport. I love it and I respect the older people and the older fighters of the sport. This is a great time for the sport. But Chael maybe does not understand this, his problem is he talks too much. It is no good.”With a healthy champion ready for Chael’s wrestling this time around, will the fight go to five rounds in their second meeting? And is Chael even the next to face Anderson? (earlier this week we found out that Sonnen had not even been offered the fight yet). We’ll find out more on this as next week rolls around.
We also saw a video released of Rashad Evans and Jon Jones going back and forth during a sit down interview with CSSSports. Rashad claimed that Jon is “fake” in more ways than one and needs to be humbled while Jones stated that he is not being arrogant in the way he carries himself. Rather, he compared himself to Muhammad Ali and stated that he feels like it is his destiny and calling to become the greatest of all time. The tension between the two, although they have been very good about downplaying their dislike toward each other, is starting to bubble over pretty heavily. We’ll see how much more this rivalry grows as their April fight date approaches.

The UFC also announced today that they were working on putting together a fight between Jason Miller and CB Dollaway at UFC 146. The fight is yet to be officially announced but negotiations are in the works. This is interesting news considering after Mayhems last loss to Bisping UFC President Dana White stated that he didn’t know if Miller would ever fight under the UFC banner again. It’s starting to look like we will, and I agree with giving him another shot. More details will come about this fight in the coming days.
This week has been filled with talks and news (mostly back and forth bashing of each other) about the upcoming title fight between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. Both women have released training videos and updates throughout the week and the tension between the two is mounting. With the fight just around the corner (March 3rd) these two look ready to tear each other to pieces. I’m sure next week will be even more intense.

We also caught news today that former UFC champion, Maurice Smith, is returning to fighting at 50 years old. He is expected to fight Kyle Keeney at the Resurrection Fighting Alliance 2 event next month! Best of luck Mr. Smith.
Big news for Bellator broke out today as well as we heard that Shinya Aoki will face Eddie Alvarez in a rematch three and a half years in the making. The two have both verbally agreed to meet at Bellator 66. Contracts are expected to be finalized very soon.

In other Bellator news we found out that the company has signed once-beaten Russian prospect Magomed Saadulaev. He is expected to fight at lightweight under the Bellator banner (he previously fought at welterweight). The addition should be a great one for the company.

And Cage Warriors 45 went down today and had a successful event. Here are the results:

MAIN CARD
• Bobby Brents def. Rogent Lloret via (submission) arm-triangle choke - Round 1, 4:41
• James "J.P." Reese def. Brad Wheeler via unanimous decision
• Chris Fields def. Jack Mason via TKO (kick and punches) - Round 1, 0:50 -

middleweight-tourney opening round
• Conor McGregor def. Steve O'Keeffe via knockout (elbows) - Round 1, 1:33
• Dave Keeley def. Eddy Bengtsson via TKO (elbows) - Round 1, 4:40
• Brett Sizeland def. Brett Bassett via TKO (cut) - Round 2, 1:47

PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
• Jacek Toczydlowski def. Shah Hussain via unanimous decision
• Charlie Watts def. Chad Brown via submission (punches) - Round 2, 2:12
• Ben Hajir def. Michael Jones via submission (armbar) - Round 3, 3:06

And that brings us to another close of The Day, In MMA with Jake Chastain.

For more in depth MMA news and updates please visit BJPenn.com or follow me on Twitter @jchastain45

Cheers to all you great fight fans. Keep fighting the fight y’all!

Sincerely,
Jake Chastain