Here is an extensive collection of ADCC videos from last night and this morning.  Matches include Kron Gracie x Marcelo Garcia, the ADCC Superfight between Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Robert Drysdale, and many more after the jump.  Grappling fans- enjoy!

A rather large and muscular Alistair Overeem put his striking abilities on display at the K-1 World Gran Prix Finals against kickboxing extraordinaire Peter Aerts.  Overeem seems to compensate for Aerts superior technique with the type of raw aggression and brute power that we've seen other MMA fighters frustrate kickboxers with.

Vinny Magalhaes, a finalist on the The Ultimate Fighter "Nogueira Vs. Mir" season, lands a flying armbar on former UFC HW Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz at ADCC this year.

The L.A. Times claims to have learned that both middleweight champion Anderson Silva and "The Phenom" Vitor Belfort have verbally agreed to meet in the octagon at UFC 108 on the second day of 2010.

Dana White made it no secret that he felt Vitor was a threat to Silva after his first round KO of Rich Franklin, and didn't exclude the possibility of him challenging the untouchable Silva for the belt.  This somewhat illustrates the lone island Silva is standing on in the UFC's 185 pound division, having vanquished all possible contenders to the lower ranks with more than decisive defeats, and passing time by going up in weight and knocking off a light-heavyweight or two.

Even though Vitor only has one fight in the UFC versus Franklin at a catchweight of 195 pounds since Superbowl weekend of 2005, White made it very clear that Vitor's home was in the middleweight division.  To sweeten the pot, Belfort and Silva were occasional training partners together at Black House, but the pair appear to have maintained a good relationship and mutual respect for one another.

Belfort and Silva are easily two of the more accomplished strikers in the history of MMA, with both fighters epitomizing top-level technique and featuring blinding speed, although Belfort's style smacks mostly of western boxing while Silva's is a Muay Thai based onslaught of many weapons.

It's invigorating to have a fresh  face and an interesting new threat in a MW division that Silva has thoroughly dominated.  I'll be counting the days to this one.

 

The decision for Roger Huerta to leave MMA to pursue acting was all but set in stone before what was rumored to be his final showing in the octagon against Gray Maynard. It seems the loss may have re-ignited the fire to fight within Huerta, as he spoke with MMAWeekly and revealed that he had a change of heart after the outcome of the fight was announced.

"Going into this fight, I was going in there thinking, this is my last fight, that I was going to give it my best, and I was going to go out with a bang, and pursue other things in my life. After the fight, I was not pleased with the results, meaning, I wasn’t pleased with the decision that was made that I had lost. I wasn’t pleased with 30-27, which I just don’t see that happening at all. It was going to go 29-28 for him or for me. That’s given me a bitter taste, in that there’s no way that he won all three rounds, or that he just ran through me and did whatever he wanted to me. That’s not what happened. I feel that he’s probably going to be the next number one contender, and the last two guys that I’ve lost to have been the number one contenders, like Kenny (Florian). He beat me decisively; I wasn’t really focused for Kenny. But Gray, I just can’t really swallow that." "This fight has given me hunger for fighting again. I had kind of lost that. I was getting burnt out with it. After this fight, I was like, man, we were so close, and being with Dave, and seeing how much attention we put to this, and how close we were to getting this victory, is really what’s given me back this fighting fire again. "  

I'm sure I don't stand alone when I say that I would much rather see Huerta in the cage versus the silver screen.  Later on in the interview, Huerta mentions that he is unsure of his status with the UFC, but he believes he is still on good terms with them, but would be open to competing in DREAM or Strikeforce should there be issues with UFC management. Full article:  MMAWeekly.com

It was a great experience last night in Tulsa cornering Kevin Jordan. Kevin dominated the first round with some great ground and pound, and he came back to the corner very fresh. Unfortunately, he sustained a knee injury in the second and Ryan Ciotoli from Team Bombsquad and I had to help him out of the cage.

I felt sure he was going to win that fight and the game plan was being executed perfectly. Tough break for the Shaman, but he'll be back.

Kenny Foster and Ryan trained Kevin very well and it was an honor to be there with them.

And of course, thanks to my main man Gary Marino for setting the whole thing up.

Here are a couple of pics. I'm at the Tulsa airport right now and will be uploading some good stuff when I get home.

Ryan Ciotoli, Kevin Jordan, Kenny Foster

Ryan, Kevin and some guy pretending to be a cornerman

"Plagued by injuries" is a term that would serve as an understatement to describe Josh "The Punk" Thomson's MMA career in the last year. Thomson only has 2 losses out of 18 fights.  The first was the high-profile KO by Yves Edwards from a perfectly timed flying kick, strangely reminiscent of the scenario in the WEC where Urijah Faber attempted a spinning back elbow only to be greeted by a fight-halting blow from Mike Brown, and UFC stalwart Clay Guida outwrestled Thomson to a decision in 2006.  Thomson has broken into the top ten in the world lightweight rankings with wins over "Razor" Rob McCullough, Hermes Franca, Duane Ludwig, Nam Phan, and current Strikeforce interim LW champion, Gilbert Melendez. We last saw Josh competing one year ago in his quick and handy disposal of Ashe Bowman at the Playboy Mansion.  Since then, Thomson was forced to pull out of a rematch for the LW title with Gilbert Melendez on two separate occasions due to an ankle injury.  The first instance was in April of this year, then it was rumored that Thomson was ready to roll for August's "Carano Vs. Cyborg" Strikeforce show, but the medical staff did not clear him, and Gilbert Melendez went on to decisively destroy Mitsuhiro Ishida to defend the interim LW title. MMAWeekly has confirmed through Thomson that he has progressed his hairline fracture into a full fracture with an unfortunate grappling incident during training.  Thomson says:

“I was really just playing around, just working on my technique, and this kid, this little blue belt, grabbed a leglock—I was wearing a gi—and I couldn’t slide my leg out.  He just bellied out on the leglock in the standing position and you just heard the bone go crunch. The hairline fracture turned into an actual break.”   “I want to get this whole interim title thing dissolved.  I want all the complications of, who’s the camp and who’s not the champ…I mean, everyone knows that I am, but I’ve been inactive for a year and he deserves what he’s been given, but it’s time to put it all to a close.  I’d rather fight him my first fight back and I can move on with my career and he can move on with his.”

I'll reserve comment and speculation for the questionable decision of rolling with such a persistent injury, and just wish Thomson a speedy recovery so can also soon see resolution and closure to the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship dilemma.  

WEC 44 on November 18 will feature a clash between featherweight champion Mike Brown and dynamic striker Jose Aldo at The Palms in Las Vegas. Jose Aldo is one of the most exciting entertainers competing in the current MMA scene.  Frankly, people sit down to watch MMA with that lurking hope that they will see something amazing, and Aldo has been one of the fighters unique enough to provide that exact result consistently. After proving his win over Urijah Faber was no fluke, Brown will look to negate Aldo's diverse striking with his clean stand-up and impose his will over Aldo on the ground.  This should prove to unfold with fireworks. Also on the card, Manny Gamburyan will face Leonard Garcia in another clash of styles between a striker and grappler.