What’s wrong with JMMA?

Once upon a time, the center of the Mixed Martial Arts universe was the land of the rising sun. During the late 90’s / early 2000’s while MMA was struggling to be a legitmate sport in North America, it was a hot ticket in Japan with many options to watch. PRIDE of course was the best known and most popular brand of MMA to come from the country, but pioneers Shooto, Pancrase, and RINGS paved the way. Many of the greatest fighters this sport has ever seen made their name in PRIDE, but many of those same

UFC on Versus 4 Recap: Comeback KO-ngo and Brenneman’s Story

Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry:
This fight was originally supposed to be the co-main event of the evening but was promoted to the main event. Many fans were expecting a K-1 kickboxing match but with MMA gloves and that was exactly what happened. There were moments when you thought the fight was going to end and Pat Barry would have his hand raised in victory, but it turned into one of the greatest comebacks in MMA history. When Cheick Kongo seemed to be down and out after being rocked by Barry, he comes back

Compustrike: Strikeforce Overeem vs. Werdum by the numbers

Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum was one of the most anticipated bouts of 2011 and unfortunately the event did not live up to the hype. We’ve all heard the saying “styles make fights” and last Saturday was a perfect display of that. It was clear, Fabricio Werdum wanted to keep the fight on the ground, and Alistair Overeem wanted to keep the fight on the feet. Similar to Anderson Silva’s fights with Demian Maia and Thales Leites (minus the dancing) a big chunk of the fight was spent with Werdum doing the

Strikeforce Recap: Overeem and Barnett win in Dallas

Live from the NBA championship city of Dallas was the 2nd half of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix. So much has changed since the first half of the tournament. The upset of Fedor and the sale of Strikeforce to the UFC’s parent company ZUFFA have changed the landscape of the MMA world drastically, but finally fans got to witness the contination of the WGP. Saturday night featured two grand prix fights headlined by the main event of Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum.
Alistair Overeem went into

Alistair Overeem: My main focus is on winning the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament (Exclusive Interview)

Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair “The Demolition Man”, “The Reem”, “Megareem”, “Ubereem” Overeem will step inside the Strikeforce cage for the first time this year, facing the man who already beat him back in Pride – Fabricio Werdum. Last year was the best in Overeem’s career, as the Dutch phenom defended his Strikeforce by brutalizing Brett Rogers, finally conquered the K-1 World GP and became the first DREAM Heavyweight Champion.Alistair Overeem was voted MMA Fighter of the Year on LowKick.com,

Who could be MMA’s biggest draw if Brock Lesnar retires?

Regular Lowkickers remember the question I asked last week. Can MMA’s elite be as
popular as Manny Pacquiao? Now is the perfect time for someone to step to the plate
with the biggest draw in our sport’s history now out indefinitely. As announced in
an emergency UFC conference call, Brock Lesnar for a second time has been diagnosed
with diverticulosis. For the main event at UFC 131, Lesnar has been switched with
Shane Carwin to face Junior dos Santos.

Now I’m no medical expert by any means and all my info

UFC 129 Recap: Couture’s retirement, Hominick’s heart, Machida’s kick and GSP’s eye

There hasn’t been an MMA event in recent memory that has been anticipated as UFC 129. In a throw back to the glory days of PRIDE in Japan, it was the return of Mixed Martial Arts in a big stadium. It was also only the 3rd MMA event in the province of Ontario, with a record of 55,000 in attendance, the biggest in North American history.
To make this historic event even sweeter, the UFC booked an extremely stacked card filled with old time favorites and pound for pound greats. But what the people were really

Get to Know AKA – Exclusive Interview with Javier Mendez (Part 2)

For those that are not very familiar with the name, Javier Mendez is the founder, owner, and head trainer of the American Kickboxing Academy. Javier first made his name in the Martial Arts world as a two-time ISKA World Kickboxing Champion. After his illustrious career in Kickboxing was finished, he opened up AKA and became one of the top coaches in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Some of the greatest fighters to have ever lived have called the American Kickboxing Academy their home.
Frank Shamrock,

Why Nick Diaz Should Stick to MMA

Last Saturday was a wonderful day for combat sports fans. We had a showcase of world class Mixed Martial Arts from Bellator, in the world of Boxing we had top ranked fighter Amir Khan, and what the combat sports world is still buzzing about Victor Ortiz vs. Andre Berto.  The bout between Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto was a fight for the ages for the WBO Welterweight title. A showcase of skill, heart, and technique that eventually ended with Victor Ortiz going home with the unanimous decision, and the

Get to Know AKA – Exclusive Interview with Javier Mendez (Part 1)

For those that are not very familiar with the name, Javier Mendez is the founder, owner, and head trainer of the American Kickboxing Academy. Javier first made his name in the Martial Arts world as a two-time ISKA World Kickboxing Champion. After his illunstrious career in Kickboxing was finished, he opened up AKA and became one of the top coaches in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Some of the greatest fighters to have ever lived have called the American Kickboxing Academy their home.
Frank Shamrock, BJ