Goulet, Hironaka, MacDonald, and Maia Awarded UFC 83 Bonuses

By: Kris Karkoski | Apr 21,2008

Jonathan Goulet, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Jason MacDonald, and Demian Maia earned $75,000 bonuses for their efforts at UFC 83 on Saturday in Montreal, Canada. The bonuses for “Knockout of the Night”, “Submission of the Night”, and “Fight of the Night” were announced during the post-event press conference. The $75,000 bonuses set a new record for the hightest post-event bonuses ever given out by the promotion.

Goulet and Hironaka exchanged in a stellar opening preliminary bout to kick off the event and were awarded “Fight of the Night” bonuses for their efforts. Hironaka was strong in the opening round, rocking Goulet several times and nearly finishing his opponent before the first round came to a close. Goulet recovered during the minute break and returned with a flurry, rocking Hironaka before finishing him off mid-way through the round with series of strikes.

MacDonald was awarded “Knockout of the Night” for his second-round TKO of Joe Doerksen. Leading up the fight the pair traded jabs over their blogs and it showed with an intense preliminary bout that featured a back-and-forth opening round followed by a round two ground-and-pound knockout for MacDonald over his fellow-Canadian rival.

Maia took home the $75,000 bonus for his triangle submission of Ed Herman. After a close opening round Herman secured the top position in round two. Maia, though, would next secure a deep triangle choke which Herman unsuccessfully attempted to fight off. Maia then transferred to the top position and Herman was put to sleep before the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

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Post-UFC 83 Thoughts And Commentary [Editorial]

By: Eric Shapiro | Apr 21,2008

First off, I think Kenny Florian should fill in for Joe Rogan as much as the UFC will allow it. His fight commentary was spot on and he effortlessly managed to make Mike Goldberg (who to my amusement he called “Goldie”) sound foolish several times- always a treat.

Anyhow, UFC 83 answered a lot of questions so lets get right to it.

Is Matt Serra actually capable of hanging with George St. Pierre?

Absolutely not. While the fight did not end in the fashion I imagined, GSP nonetheless disposed of Serra like he had no business being in the cage with him, which he probably doesn’t. Though to be fair, GSP immediately went in for takedowns on Serra and definitely did not want to engage in a standing war with the much shorter opponent. That speaks volumes.

Did Serra at least go down with some class?

To the surprise of some, Matt Serra did in fact lose humbly and gracefully, even going above and beyond by hoisting St. Pierre over his shoulder and raising his hand as the “true champion.” Everyone loves GSP, but you have to respect Serra for his post-fight class. Additionally both St. Pierre and Serra said after the bout that most of the “trash talk” was just ammunition to help hype the fight, which is probably accurate.

So what’s next?

For Matt Serra, the UFC should have him stay at 170lbs long enough to make the Matt Hughes fight happen, then send the guy back to lightweight where I think he belongs. While Serra would surely have his work cut out for him with the 155lb clan, he’d still travel a smoother road as a standard sized light-weight rather than an undersized welterweight.

For George St. Pierre, its back to good old fashion title defenses. First up would be Jon Fitch, and then who knows. This time around I think its safe to say that GSP will hold on to the title for a while, and I really hope that people don’t start yammering on again about him moving up to fight Anderson Silva. Sure that’s a cool match to think about, but GSP has a lot of clutter to clean out before a bout with Anderson should even be considered.

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UFC 83 Results

By: Kris Karkoski | Apr 20,2008

Georges St-Pierre def. Matt Serra via TKO - Round 2, 4:45
Rich Franklin def. Travis Lutter via TKO - Round 2, 3:01
Nate Quarry def. Kalib Starnes via unanimous decision
Michael Bisping def. Charles McCarthy via TKO - Round 1, 5:00
Mac Danzig def. Mark Bocek via submission - Round 3, 3:48
Jason MacDonald def. Joe Doerksen via TKO - Round 2, 0:56
Jason Day def. Alan Belcher via TKO - Round 1, 3:58
Demian Maia def. Ed Herman via submission - Round 2, 2:27
Rich Clementi def. Sam Stout via split decision
Cain Velasquez def. Brad Morris via TKO - Round 1, 2:10
Jonathan Goulet def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka via TKO - Round 2, 2:07

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UFC 83 Quick Picks

By: Eric Shapiro | Apr 19,2008

Its that time again. UFC 83 is just around the corner so lets get to it with some quick predictions. The first two picks provide a little breakdown, but the rest are pretty short and sweet. Enjoy.

Matt Serra vs. George St. Pierre (welterweight championship)
GSP via TKO, round 3

As many MMA diehards well know, there are a number of great fighters out there that for one reason or another, just cannot for the life of them beat a certain opponent. Rampage can’t beat Wanderlei, Liddell can’t beat Rampage, Barnett can’t beat Cro Cop, Franklin can’t beat Anderson, Tanner can’t beat Franklin, Trigg can’t beat Hughes, Hughes can’t beat Hallman, the list goes on. The big question is, will Serra soon be added to the list of people who serve as kryptonite for an otherwise dominant fighter? I think not.

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UFC 83 Betting Lines

By: Kris Karkoski | Apr 18,2008

All UFC 83 betting lines courtesy BodogLife.com. Open an account at Bodog today to support MMAFrenzy.com

Bet on MMA at BodogLife.com.

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MMAFrenzy.com Exclusive Pre-UFC 83 Interview With Travis Lutter

By: Eric Shapiro | Apr 4,2008

On April 19th in Montreal, Travis Lutter and Rich Franklin will face off in a bout to determine who rises to the top of the UFC’s Middleweight landscape. While Franklin has donned UFC gold in the past, Travis Lutter remains unacquainted with the Middleweight strap, but is confident that it will only be a matter of time. MMAFrenzy.com’s Eric Shapiro recently had the opportunity to speak personally with former TUF Alum and Brazilian JiuJitsu specialist Travis Lutter, who shared his thoughts on upcoming opponent Rich Franklin, The Ultimate Fighter series, a grudge against Anderson Silva, and everything in between. Enjoy.

Eric: First let’s talk history for a second, can you explain how you got into martial arts?

Travis: I started wrestling when I was in sixth grade, I wrestled through high school and a little bit of college, then I started doing a little bit of Muay Thai, and then the UFC came out and I watched that and I wanted to learn jiujitsu.

Eric: I read that you’re a black belt under one of the most famous BJJ practitioners in the world, Carlos Machado, how did you meet Carlos?

Travis: I was living in South Dakota and I would come down here (Texas) to train jiujitsu and Carlos opened a school down here in Dallas, and eventually I bumped into him and started training with Carlos.

Eric: Let’s jump into more current events. You’ve got a big fight against former UFC champion Rich Franklin in just a couple weeks at UFC 83. What is training like for you and are you preparing any differently for this fight?

Travis: It’s business as usual. I train each fight basically the same, I work my stand up, I work my wrestling, I work my jiujitsu. I only train MMA once a week where you mix it up. GSP from what I hear only mixes it up once a week, otherwise he’s out there training wrestling by itself, training jiujitsu by itself, training stand up by itself. The reason is because you get sloppy when you just do NHB 24-7 and that’s all you do.

Eric: Are you at all nervous in facing someone as dangerous as Rich Franklin?

Travis: No, I’m not nervous I don’t really get too nervous. You know Rich is the former champ and he’s a really dangerous opponent, and I think a lot of people have written him off and I think that’s a mistake. You know Rich has only been beaten by two guys, it’s just that one of those guys has beaten him really bad really quickly, and very recently. I still think Rich has all the tools to beat 95 percent of the guys out there.

Eric: Since Rich Franklin is said to be one of the most well rounded guys in the game, do you have a strategy in mind for attacking him?

Travis: I’m going to go out there and circle him, take him down and beat him up. It’s going to be that simple.

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