The Blogboard Jungle

Photo: Rizin FF As if October wasn't awesome enough, Rizin Fighting Federation (Rizin FF) has announced not only are they going to have their first ever Women's Super Atom-weight Grand Prix, but they will also add a grappling match of two Pride Fighting Championship (Pride FC) legends Kazushi Sakuraba and Dan Henderson. For the old school fans of the sport, this match is a special treat for people that miss the rival Japanese promotion. It should be noted that Rizin FF is run by Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the former president of Pride FC. Henderson retired from MMA in October of 2016 but has not really been completely inactive. He competed against Jon Jones at Submission Underground in December of 2016, three months after he announced his retirement. He lost via submission but obviously, he and Sakuraba does not sit well with retirement. This would not be the first time Sakuraba has entered a grappling match against a former Pride FC legend either. In 2014, he and Renzo Gra...

The first show for what many are referring to as the new "Pride FC", Rizin did their first New Years Eve Grand Prix. The Grand Prix was a staple for Pride Fighting Championships until the promotion went under in 2007. With many of the same decision makers behind Pride putting on Rizin Fighting Federation events, it was no surprise to see many of the same fighters from the days of Pride. But how was it? Were you impressed? It was definitely one of the best looking MMA events in recent Japanese MMA history but was it enough to make you chase the sport the way Pride FC did when they were competing with the UFC? Hard to tell with only one show, but most long-time MMA fans were excited to watch and having Fedor Emilanenko in the main event was cool, even if he fought an unknown 2-0 fighter. The UFC has done a good job of saturating the US market and establishing themselves as the upper tier promotion for MMA. Could Rizin’s attempt to come back be too little too late? It’s n...

Photo from Metamoris.com With the increasing number of  retired MMA fighters competing in the submission only grappling tournament known as Metamoris .  The events are drawing more talent from active MMA competitors of various promotions.  It is easy to know how they would do in their respective sport but, what happens when they step out of their comfort zone?  Here are the results from Metamoris 5: Zak Maxwell vs Garry Tonon This was the first match of the evening and was no gi.  Both competitors were pretty aggressive going for a finish but Tonon would attempt several heel hooks and eventually finish Maxwell about half way through.  Maxwell, intelligently tapped to a heel hook.  Result: Winner Tonon Vinny Magalhaes vs Matheus Diniz Diniz was an alternate for Magalhaes but there was a 10,000 dollar reward for Diniz if he could finish Magalhaes.  He was definitely trying because he was more active for the bulk of the matc...