Three legends retire: Fedor Emelianenko, Tito Ortiz and Peter Aerts

The Last Emperor, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy and the Dutch Lumberjack are hanging up their gloves. The worlds of MMA and Kickboxing will be a smaller place without them; these three champions have thrilled fans for decades and 2012 is the last time we will see any of them fight. Although this writer does not like to loosely toss around the word, “legends”, in these three cases, the word is wholly appropriate.
Fedor Emelianenko fought his last bout on June 21 with a knockout victory over Pedro Rizzo in

K-1 Global and It’s Showtime sign multi-year deal

K-1 has been purchased by a Mr. Mike Kim and rechristened as K-1 Global. Today It’s Showtime announced that they had signed a deal with the new K-1 Global organization.
It’s Showtime issued a press release about the deal, which stated that many fighters from their organization had signed contracts with the company and that they all received signing bonuses of 50 percent of the money that was owed to them from FEG, the former owners of K-1. 
It’s Showtime fighters Daniel Ghita, Tyrone

Ray Sefo announces upcoming kickboxing match against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Following his UFC 137 technical knockout loss to Roy Nelson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic announced that he was retiring from the UFC. The loss marked the third consecutive time the former PRIDE legend had been stopped by KO/TKO. The previous two losses came at the hands of Frank Mir and Brendan Schaub.
However it appears that fans of combat sports will get one more opportunity to see Filipovic compete, as Ray Sefo took to his twitter account to announce, “Some news for you all my fight with

Anthony Johnson: It’s going to be fun fighting Vitor Belfort (Exclusive Interview)

If you’ve ever watched an Anthony Johnson fight, you have to tell yourself not to blink because you could miss out on a potentially epic knockout or TKO. On paper we know he is a wrestler, but fans know that the man known as ‘Rumble’ has a very technical and powerful striking game to compliment his wrestling abilities. His left high kick has become a trademark in his arsenal; he also has dynamite in his fists. If any of these weapons were to touch an opponent’s chin they would for

Remembering Cro Cop: A look back at the career of Mirko Filipovic

When I was ten years old my uncle bought me a brand new Playstation game that has helped blossom my love and interest in combat sports.  K-1 Revenge came out in 1999 and it introduced me to many kickboxing legends that I admire and still enjoy watching today. Names like Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, the late Andy Hug, Mike Bernardo, and many more. One name in the game that really stood out to me at the time was Mirko Tiger. Not because of his style or the way he played, but it was his name itself that I

UFC 133 Recap: Rashad Evans’ sweet return

The main event at UFC 133 was four years in the making. The last time we saw Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans face each other in the Octagon was back in UFC 73 which we all know ended in a draw due to Tito losing a point for grabbing the cage fence. Much has changed since 2007 and now in 2011, two completely different competitors step into the cage. One man looking for another shot at the light heavyweight title, the other a legend trying to stay relevant in today’s MMA landscape.
Rashad in the beginning

King Mo joins the American Kickboxing Academy

Muhammed Lawal better known as King Mo is one of the most accomplished freestyle wrestlers to ever make the jump to Mixed Martial Arts. Mo was a Division One NCAA All-American wrestler for Oklahoma State University and at one time was even the number one ranked wrestler in the US in the -96kg division. When the King failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, he took his skills from the mat, and applied them to MMA.
He flew to Japan, made his debut at Sengoku 5, and has never looked back since.