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Maximum Fighting Championship -Debut at light heavyweight no easy task for top prospect

Nick Penner was happy with getting the win but not by the methods with which it came.

He learned a lesson about preparation, and is taking it to heart as he prepares for his next fight which comes with another test of its own. Penner (9-1), one of the top prospects in the Maximum Fighting Championship, puts his six-fight winning streak on the line at MFC 24: Heat XC when he takes on Chris “The Exorcist” Price (15-3). The fight will be Penner’s first at light heavyweight, moving down from the heavyweight ranks, but it is a transition he expects will benefit him in a big way.

“I feel good about the drop - I’m just not big enough to fight at heavyweight. My training has changed a lot as a light heavyweight with working more on endurance and explosiveness,” said Penner, who has a good all-around game with skills in both stand-up, thanks to a background in kick-boxing, and on the ground as evidenced by five wins coming via submission.

Penner’s last outing, which was his final hurrah as a heavyweight, was a successful one albeit not as impressive as many insiders has expected. He took too much punishment early on and the fight was in danger of being stopped due to a nasty gash along his eyebrow, but Penner still prevailed, ultimately finishing off Ryan Fortin with a second-round rear-naked choke.

“I let many people down in that fight. Even though I won, I wasn’t happy with my performance. I took Fortin far too lightly,” admitted Penner. “I thought he was just a big lumbering guy but he’s definitely a proficient fighter. I think I need to get punched in the head and cut to wake up. The positive out of that fight is that it strengthened my belief that when faced with adversity, I can break through and come out on top.”

Penner won’t be given a second chance to test his resolve against Price. The Edmonton, Alberta, product will need to be sharper, faster, and more intense if he hopes to proceed in his quest to face the upper echelon in the MFC’s 205-pound ranks.

“The fight will be a trial by fire as an introduction into the light heavyweight division,” said Penner. “I think a win over Price will be a statement to everyone. He’ll be a stiff test - he’s been around and he has a great record. But my coaches and I have watched tape on him and we’ve seen a few holes that we can exploit.

“It should be fun and I expect to finish him off in the third round by TKO.”

Tickets for MFC 24: Heat XC are going fast and are available through the MFC Ticket Hotline at (780) 504-2024 as well via Ticketmaster at (780) 451-8000, www.ticketmaster.ca, and Ticketmaster outlets. MFC 24: Heat XC will air live via streaming webcast - check out www.maximumfighting.com

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The total disclosed payroll for the Jan. 11 event, which took place at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., was $357,000.

Half of Leben’s $60,000 came in the form of a win bonus, which he earned with a decision victory over Jay Silva in the featured bout of the seven-fight preliminary lineup. Other top earners all came from the main card, including main-event winner Gray Maynard ($40,000), Amir Sadollah ($30,000) and Nate Diaz ($24,000). The totals do not include the UFC bonuses. The UFC Fight Night 20 bonuses were worth $30,000 and awarded to Harris (Knockout of the Night), Dunham (Submission of the Night), and Simpson and Lawlor (Fight of the Night).

The full list of paydays included:

Gray Maynard: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
Nate Diaz: $24,000

Evan Dunham: $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus)
Efrain Escudero: $15,000

Aaron Simpson: $22,000 ($11,000 win bonus)
Tom Lawlor: $10,000

Amir Sadollah: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
Brad Blackburn: $13,000

Chris Leben: $60,000 ($30,000 win bonus)
Jay Silva: $6,000

Rick Story: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus)
Jesse Lennox: $7,000

Thiago Tavares: $15,000*
Nick Lentz: $7,000*

Rory MacDonald: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
Mike “Joker” Guymon: $6,000

Rafael dos Anjos: $16000 ($8,000 win bonus)
Kyle Bradley: $8,000

Gerald Harris: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
John Salter: $6,000

Nick Catone: $14,000 ($7,000 win bonus)
Jesse Forbes: $6,000

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NFL Football Legend Herschel Walker to Appeear on Fox and Friends and Howard Stern

Walker will discuss his latest athletic endeavor-mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting. Walker will make his MMA debut with world championship promotion STRIKEFORCE on Saturday, January 30 at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, LIVE on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT). 

The 47-year-old Walker will compete in the cage the night before the ProBowl and one week prior to the Super Bowl. The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and two-time NFL Pro Bowl competitor, is wrapping up a 12-week MMA training camp at the world renowned American Kickboxing Academy (A.K.A.) in San Jose, California in preparation for the challenge. 

A 1999 College Hall of Fame inductee who was also selected to Sports Illustrated’s NCAA All-Century Team that year, the 6-foot 1-inch, 220 pound Walker holds a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and boasts additional training in the combat disciplines of Muay Thai and Kenpo. Walker recently re-emerged in the spotlight as a contestant on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice reality series.

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Official Fight Card for UFC 109 Relentless has been released. Like UFC 108, UFC 109 is riddled with injuries. The main event will be a battle of two UFC hall of famers in Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman. This might have been a good fight 4 years ago but this main event will be a snooze fest. Whatever the UFC betting lines are I would lay a lot on the Natural.

The best fight of the night will be the co-main event between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnenn. The most interesting fight of the night will be Matt Serra and Frank Trigg. Both fighters are big talkers and the trash talking has already begun. Both are in the late half of their thirties, have UFC careers on life-support, coming off losses, had memorable battles with two of the divisions elites, and neither are strangers to hyping a fight with verbal strikes As Trigg was quoted as saying

Both are in the late half of their thirties, have UFC careers on life-support, coming off losses, had memorable battles with two of the divisions elites, and neither are strangers to hyping a fight with verbal strikes.

For hard core UFC fans the fight everyone is waiting for is the return of a Gracie to the UFC. Rolles Gracie Jr. is a 2nd degree black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the son of one of the pioneers of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rolls Gracie who is considered the best BJJ fighter in history before he died tragically in a kite flying accident. Rolles Gracie Jr. He will make his UFC debut versus Mostapha Al-turk in a heavyweight fight. Gracie has been working with Greg Jackson at Jackson’s fighting submission and will have a complete MMA game by the time he enters the octagon.

The early UFC 109 betting lines have been put by 5 Dimes but the lines for the Paulo Thiago  versus Josh Koscheck  will be replaced due to an injury but Koscheck. Josh Koscheck was scheduled to face Paulo Thiago, but was forced off the card with an injury. Thiago is now expected to face Mike Swick. A Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort was confirmed by UFC President Dana White but called off due to Silva’s slow healing from elbow surgery. Antônio Rogério Nogueira had to withdraw from his bout against Brandon Vera due to a fractured ankle and Vera will face Jon Jones on March 21, 2010 at UFC Fight Night 21 insterad.

  For all UFC 109 betting lines go to 5 Dimes

Mark Coleman  +320
Randy Couture  -390

Paulo Thiago  +340
Josh Koscheck  -425

Frank Trigg  +105  
Matt Serra  -125

Dan Miller  +270
Demian Maia  -330

Chael Sonnen  +260  
Nate Marquardt  -320

To view the entire fight card see the matchups below

Main Card

Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman
Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller
Welterweight bout: Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

Preliminary Card

Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz
Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres
Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs. Rob Emerson
Light Heavyweight bout: Brian Stann vs. Phil Davis
Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Heavyweight bout: Mostapha Al-turk vs. Rolles Gracie

Announced Matchups

These matches have been reported as finalised by reliable sources, but not yet added to the official card.

Welterweight bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Mike Swick

For all UFC 109 betting lines go to 5 Dimes

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Bet on mixed martial arts at BetCRIS

Dynamite!! is Japan’s biggest annual combat sports event, and Dynamite 2009 is finally upon us. The New Year’s Eve event takes place Thursday night in Japan, which means the wee hours of Thursday morning in the United States, and we’ll have live results right here at MMAFighting.com.

MMA betting wise there was some good betting upsets like Melvin Manhoef beating Kazuo Misaki, Masanori Kanehara beating former pound for pound top ten fighter  Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. Yamamoto seems to be slipping as will have to focus on his training a little better. Another betting dog that won was Akihiro Gono beating top ten lightweight Hayato Sakurai by armbar.

All the results of the 11 MMA fights (including nine featuring Dream fighters taking on Sengoku Raiden Championship fighters) and the seven K-1 fights are below.

 K-1 MAX, bout: Masato def. Andy Souwer via unanimous decision

  Sengoku Heavyweight bout: Hidehiko Yoshida def. Satoshi Ishii via unanimous decision

  DREAM vs SRC: Shinya Aoki def. Mizuto Hirota via armbar stoppage

  DREAM, Heavyweight bout: Gegard Mousasi def. Gary Goodridge via first-round TKO

  DREAM vs SRC: Alistair Overeem def. Kazuyuki Fujita via first-round KO

  DREAM vs SRC: Masanori Kanehara def. Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto via unanimous decision

  DREAM vs SRC: Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kazunori Yokota via unanimous decision

  DREAM vs SRC: Hideo Tokoro def. Jong Man Kim via unanimous decision

  DREAM vs SRC: Melvin Manhoef def. Kazuo Misaki via first-round TKO

  DREAM vs SRC: Akihiro Gono def. Hayato Sakurai via second-round armbar submission

  DREAM vs SRC: Michihiro Omigawa def. Hiroyuki Takaya via first-round TKO

  DREAM vs SRC: Hiroshi Izumi def. Katsuyori Shibata via unanimous decision

  K-1 KOSHIEN, Final: Masaaki Noiri def. Shota Shimada via unanimous decision

  K-1 Heavyweight bout: Ray Sefo def. Yosuke Nishijima via unanimous decision

  DREAM, Super Hulk Final: Ikuhisa Minowa def. Rameau Sokoudjou via third-round TKO

  K-1 KOSHIEN, Semi-Finals: Shota Shimada def. Katsuki Ishida via majority decision

  K-1 KOSHIEN, Semi-Finals: Masaaki Noiri def. Hiroya via unanimous decision

  K-1 KOSHIEN, Reserve Fight: Tsukasa Fuji vs. Tatuya Kusakabe

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The 2009 Mixed Martial Arts Awards were held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and the big winner was UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre who captured the Fighter of the Year.

Though it was the second edition of the award show, sponsored by Fighters Only Magazine, the ceremony will mark the first time MMA will have a televised award show. Though the entire 1-hour, 40-minute ceremony aired live on Versus.com, a one-hour taped version will air on Versus on Jan. 6 at 9 pm.

Other winners include The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale bout between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida won Fight of the Year, and Cris Cyborg won Female Fighter of the Year. A Special Achievement Award was bestowed upon the recently deceased co-founder of TapouT, Charles “Mask” Lewis, who tragically died in a car accident earlier this year.

Presenters included MMA personalities including Randy Couture and Dan Henderson and celebrities including poker legend Phil Hellmuth, action sports star TJ Lavin and actor Quinton Aaron (star of the current box office hit “The Blind Side”). The show was hosted by comedian John Heffron.

Full Awards List

Best MMA Gym: Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting

Best gloves: UFC

Best MMA clothing: Tapout

Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Brock Lesnar

Coach of the Year: Greg Jackson

Best MMA Brand: Tapout

Best Journalist: John Morgan, MMAJunkie.com/Dallas Morning News

Female Fighter of the Year: Cris “Cyborg” Santos

Leading Man of the Year: Dana White

Best MMA shorts: Tapout

Submission of the Year: Toby Imada

Best Promotion: UFC

Best MMA Media Coverage: MMAJunkie.com

Ring Girl of the Year: Arianny Celeste

European Fighter of the Year: Gegard Mousasi

Fight of the Year: Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida

Fighter of the Year: Georges St. Pierre

Special Achievement Award: Charles “Mask” Lewis

Bet on mixed martial arts at BetCRIS

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