Friday, November 6, 2009
Strikeforce weigh in results LIVE from Hoffman Estates for ‘Fedor vs Rogers’
The official weigh-in event for Strikeforce: “Fedor vs. Rogers” took place today (November 6) live from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
As usual, MMAmania.com was on the scene to get the scoop on all the happenings and aside from Dustin Neace, there was very little in the way of fireworks between any of the competitors, who all hit their respective marks without incident.
Neace weighed in at 150.5 on his first attempt, 150 on his immediate second attempt and 149.6 on his final attempt after an hour of trying to squeeze out those last few pounds.
In spite of his inability to hit his 145-pound mark, opponent Jeff Curran has agreed to a catchweight fight at 149.6 pounds. Neace will be forced to cough up 20-percent of his fight purse to “The Big Frog.”
Here are the complete “Fedor vs. Rogers” weigh-in results:
Main event:
265 lbs.: Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko (232) vs. Brett “The Grim” Rogers (264)
Main card (Televised):
185 lbs.: Jason “Mayhem” Miller (184) vs. Jake Shields (184.5)
205 lbs.: Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi (205) vs. “The African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (204)
265 lbs.: Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum (242) vs. Antonio “Junior” Silva (263)Under card (May not be broadcast):
145 lbs.: Marloes Coenen (145) vs. Roxanne Modafferi (140)
145 lbs.: Jeff Curran (145) vs. Dustin Neace (149.6*)
170 lbs.: Shamar Bailey (170) vs. John Kolosci (171)
155 lbs.: Deray Davis (170.5) vs. Mark Miller (171)
205 lbs.: Nate Moore (184) vs. Louis Taylor (185.5)
170 lbs.: Jonatas Novaes (155.5) vs. Christian Uflacker (156)
*Neace will fight Jeff Curran at a catchweight of 149.6 and surrender 20-percent of his fight purse.
It’s going to be a fun night of fights so don’t miss it. And remember to check us out for all the pre, during and post-fight “Fedor vs. Rogers” coverage you can handle.
How Sports Can Help End Violence
Karl Costello
Lately, we have experienced a surge of violence around youth -- in the realm of sports, and beyond. It is time we consider how coaches, parents and school administrators can shape the youth and high school sports experience to heal communities, prevent violence and develop character in youth.
Here in Chicago, recent examples of youth violence include the grisly videotaped murder of Derrion Albert. It also includes last month's on-field brawl between the North Chicago High School and Simeon High School football teams, which canceled the game in the first quarter and led to a one-game suspension/forfeit for North Chicago and an apologetic press conference by North Chicago coach and former Chicago Bears player Glen Kozlowski.
Nationally, last week a youth football coach outside Boston was charged with aggravated assault and battery stemming from an altercation with a player's father. The dad brought his 12-year-old son to practice 10 minutes late. When the coach ordered the player to run laps, the dad objected and his argument with the coach turned physical, leaving the dad with a fractured eye socket, broken nose, and torn rotator cuff. Another dispute between parent and coach over playing time for a Davis, California high school field hockey player also ended in fisticuffs and bloodshed.
It is a shame and a horror when anyone suffers from violence. As a high school athletic director, it is especially galling when violence occurs in the context of sports, because sports, perhaps more than any other activity, actually lends itself to character education.
No activity impassions more Americans than sports. Sport so enraptures the public that our youth and high school athletes are a captive audience -- perhaps more captive than in a classroom or house of worship -- for life lessons in persistence, teamwork, courage, compassion and many other traits that mark contributing members of our society.
Yet those opportunities are too often squandered by individuals and institutions that care so little for youth that their environment allows for the murder of a Derrion Albert. Just as problematic, are the too many coaches who are ideally positioned to aid youth through the magical character education properties of sport, but instead succumb to ego and a win-at-all-cost mentality.
In September, we at Niles North High School had a problem. In the week before our football game against Evanston Township High School, an ETHS student named Dashaun Davy was stabbed to death in Skokie. We changed the date of the game to allow Dashaun's classmates to mourn him in dignity, rather than facing the incongruity of a funeral followed by a football game.
Amid these events, Niles North last month won an Honoring the Game Award from Positive Coaching Alliance, a national non-profit founded at Stanford University with the mission to "transform youth sports so sports can transform youth." Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) gives these awards to schools and youth sports organizations throughout the U.S. that most effectively use sports to teach life lessons.
As part of our effort to revitalize Niles North athletics, we partnered two years ago with PCA to host workshops for our coaches, players' parents and school leadership. The partnership galvanized Niles North's buy-in to the PCA precepts of educational-athletic excellence. Our scoreboards do not always display athletic dominance, but our hallways are home to players, parents, teachers, administrators and coaches who are mostly on the same page about what is important in sports.
This year, we expanded our PCA partnership to create a community consortium among local government, park-and-recreations programs, and the youth sports organizations and middle schools that feed into Niles North. We are confident this bodes well for achieving both our goals as PCA-trained Double-Goal Coaches: winning, and more importantly, teaching life lessons through sports. This is critical in our community because our school district's tremendous ethnic and socio-economic diversity does present significant challenges to our efforts to establish a unifying athletic culture.
Nothing will bring back Derrion Albert or Dashaun Davy. But sports can be a key to both healing communities and preventing future violence. If we can stop the madness within youth and high school sports, putting character-education of youth ahead of adult ego and a win-at-all-cost mentality, then sport can be a safe haven for youth in this generation and beyond.
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Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Rogers” Roundup: News, Photos, Quotes, and Videos
NEWS AND NOTES
- EA Sports announced during a Friday press conference in Chicago that top Strikeforce fighters Brett Rogers and Jake Shields will be featured in the company’s “EA Sports MMA” video game, which is slated for a 2010 release.
- “Fedor vs. Rogers” has nearly sold out, with a crowd of approximately 10,000 expected to be on hand for the CBS-televised event at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
- Scott Coker announced at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference that the winner of Saturday’s main event between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers will likely fight the Fabricio Werdum-Antonio Silva winner next, not heavyweight title-holder Alistair Overeem.
- The winner of tomorrow’s undercard fight between Marloes Coenen and Roxanne Modafferi will challenge 145-pound women’s champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos early next year.
PHOTOS
Photos courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce
QUOTES
SCOTT COKER (Strikeforce)
- “We are very excited to be here. We are happy to have fights on CBS and in primetime. We have a historic night of fights ahead of us. We have the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, fighting Mr. Brett Rogers. We also have the Strikeforce middleweight title belt on the line between Mr. Jake Shields and Mr. Mayhem Miller. It has been an exciting week with Jason!
- “When you talk about companies working with partners, you find try to find a partner where the goals are common and aligned in future business plans. With M-1, we have found that to be true. They have been amazing partners.
- “We know Alistair (Overeem) will be fighting in the first quarter of next year. Depending on the outcome of this fight and the next, we can work on putting a fight together. You see the matchup potential between the winner of the Silva vs. Werdum fight and the winner of the Fedor vs. Rogers fight. I think it would make sense for those two guys to fight each other in the future depending on how things go. Then, Alistair can come in later and fight the winner of that fight. We have some great heavyweight fights upcoming and we are looking forward to promoting them.
- “I believe Alistair will be available in the first quarter. We will get him in the mix as well as some other heavyweights we will announce here in the next week or so.”
- “Fedor is the reigning champion (of WAMMA). I believe that they will honor the fight and that the fighter that wins the fight will get the belt.
- “The beauty of this deal is that we get to watch Fedor vs. Rogers on CBS for free. We can try to get as many millions of eyeballs as we can to drive mixed martial arts forward as a mainstream sport. We are proud to do that.”
JOOST RAIMOND (M-1 Global)
- “We have a huge fight card on the line. It is unprecedented. It is the best fight card we could ever imagine. With CBS, we have found the greatest outlet ever to bring the great sport on MMA and these great athletes to a huge audience. I think now the overall U.S. public can enjoy the wonderful event we have on Saturday night at the Sears Centre.
- “The partnership with Strikeforce and M-1 Global is tremendously important. We have gotten off to a great start. We have had a lot of media attention for the event. Thanks to Scott Coker for working with M-1. This partnership allows us to bring you the best events possible with the best fighters possible. We have Strikeforce’s Brett Rodgers and M-1 Global’s Fedor Emelianenko as the headliner. We are all in great anticipation of what is going to happen there.
- “For us, the American market is extremely important. In a partner, we look for a company with the same goals. Synergy is extremely important and what we can bring from both our sides is Strikeforce has an amazing stable of fighters and M-1 Global has a growing stable of fighters with Fedor and Gegard [Mousasi] heading that up. Together we have the additional strength in putting on very good events. Strikeforce has a great base in the U.S. and we bring international knowledge to the table.”
SERGEI MATVIENKO (M-1)
- “We hope that the relationship we are starting now will be very long and beneficial. As far as we can see, MMA is getting more and more popular all over the world – not only America or Japan. We hope that the show will be liked by all of the spectators. I really believe we won’t disappoint anyone that will be watching the show. Let the strongest win.”
FEDOR EMELIANENKO
- “I watched the fight of Brett against Andrei Arlovski. I know that Brett is very strong. He has a very strong knockout punch. We usually train for all fights in the same way with some slight difference regarding the opponent. This time we are just doing some corrections regarding the technique of Brett.
- “I am certainly planning on performing in the United States. I know for sure I will have two fights next year in the U.S. and then we will see if the contract will work. Maybe we will sign another contract.
- “I never think about how impressive I am. I just come to the ring to show my techniques and skills. I want to finish the fight as fast as possible.”
BRETT ROGERS
- “I am ready to go. I have been training real hard. It has been a long training camp. I understand who I am fighting, but he is just a man. I can’t wait.
- “Up until this point, I have had to get back to work the next day. It is a great experience training and focusing on what I have to do come fight night.
- “It does feel good to come to Chicago and put on a show in my birthplace. At the same time, Minnesota would have been good. My goal is to go out and put on a good show.
- “(With two days to go) I just meditate and do what I normally do. I try not to get stressed. If I get stressed I am going to lose focus on my main goal. I just stay relaxed. Come Saturday morning, I definitely get into that fight mode. I think about everything that is coming, knock out the butterflies and then after that it is on. I am in that ball right now and I am ready to explode. This is the first time coming into a fight that I can just train and fight. I am ready to go.”
JAKE SHIELDS
- “I feel great at this weight. I am willing to fight wherever – welterweight, middleweight, wherever. I am just looking for good fights. I think Miller was the fight that makes sense. I am willing to go up in weight. I am not that small. People forget, I cut a lot of weight (to make 170). People make too big of a deal about the weight. I’m not going to use that as an excuse. Win or lose I am ready to fight and I don’t think weight is going to be a factor.
- “I fight because I want to keep myself interested in the challenge. If it is not interesting, there’s no point in doing it any more. It is exciting for me to bounce between the weights. Right now I’m worried about going up and staying up, but who knows what the future holds if they find a good opponent in the ‘70s. Right now I am not worried too much about that. I am just looking at one fight at a time, but it does keep it interesting for me.
- “I am taking it one fight at a time, but most likely I’ll take another fight at 185. My weight is up right now and obviously I’m willing to drop back down, but I wouldn’t want to go up and down every other fight. That makes it difficult. Really, I’m just worried about getting through Miller and see what happens from there.”
JASON “MAYHEM’’ MILLER
- “(Referring to Shields’ winning streak) All good things come to an end. It is an amazing streak that Shields has put together. I am proud to be guy standing across the cage from him on Saturday night.
- “I don’ think I’m going too overboard [in the spotlight]. My goal is to provide entertainment for the CBS viewers. If they just want to watch a bar fight they can go to their local brew house. I am going to try to perform so that everybody is talking – that includes walking to the stage, and all the way to the post-fight press conference.
- “I think people think because I am on TV every minute that I am standing in front of a camera every minute. Honestly, Bully Beatdown takes about two weeks to film and then they just replay it nonstop. Everyone thinks I live inside the box in their living room. It is not true. I actually walk around and do things outside of that.
- “As far as marketing goes, you stick me in front of a camera and a microphone and I am going to blah, blah, blah and hopefully you are going to either want to watch me get me teeth knocked out or knock somebody’s head off. Part of my job is standing in a cage and beating somebody up, but the other part of my job is to make sure that you care about the fact that I am going to do it.”
GEGARD MOUSASI
- “Every time you win, people expect more of you. There is some pressure, but I feel like I have good people around me that keep me focused. It is a very good fight for me and I am well trained so, God willing, it will be a good night.
- “It is huge exposure for us fighting on CBS. It is a great card. I think any fight could have been on the main card, so I am concentrating on winning and doing my part. It is a big deal.
- “I will try to finish the fight, but every fight is different. Sometimes you can finish the fight quickly, other times not. I don’t really care. I just want to win if it is decision or submission or anything. I’m just going to do my best to win.”
RAMEAU THIERRY SOKOUDJOU
- “I believe he got injured during a fight, so I am looking forward to fighting him now. This is a great opportunity for all of us. I know this will not be an easy fight. No fights are.
- “But I am here to give my best. When it is over, Mousasi will know he will have been in a very hard fight for both of us.’’
FABRICIO WERDUM
- “I am very happy to be here. This is a great opportunity for me. I think the Mike Kyle fight was hard, but I’m ready for all fighters. I have trained a lot and have trained with the best fighters and coaches in the world. My focus now is on this big fight. After that, my goal would be to fight Fedor or Rogers.
- “But I know I can’t look ahead. For me, the future is Saturday.’’
ANTONIO SILVA
- “It has been a while since I have fought in the States. It’s great to be part of a card that includes fighters like Fedor and Brett Rogers. I’ve come to seek what I think is mine. I will be working very hard for that.”
- “Werdum is a fighter of many qualities. He’s fought in many events. He has strengths and weaknesses. I’ve been training very hard in Jiu-Jitsu and standing up with my coach. I just came out of a fight in Japan and have been fighting ever since. It is do or die. It is a big fight and it is very important. I have come and I am ready to lay it down.”
VIDEOS
Watch the 2008 Supergirl Jam on YouTube!
Growing up around skating I don’t remember there being a lot of girls around when we were out skating. I mean guys’ girlfriend would come along to talk to each other and what not but there wasn’t any girls busting kickflips down sets or anything.
“The times, they are a changing”, now there are some amazing girl skaters in fact I’ve seen female pro skaters that could rip up some of their male counterparts in contests, and that’s just skating. I for one am stoked to see the ladies out there tearing it up not only on a skateboard, but on a surfboard, and snowboard as well.
The Supergirl Jam is an event that promotes female athletes in action sports. The event hosts contests in Skating, Surfing, Snowboarding, and the forgotten sport of inline skating. It is a great event because it shows girls that instead of send random, phone number disclosing messages to Ryan Sheckler via an action sports blog, the could pick up a board and maybe one day out skate ol’ RYRY.
Below is some video fottage of Supergirl jam put on by ASA Entertainment:
All you ladies, check it out and get inspired.
