mavalcant's Blog

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Vitor Belfort: “Don’t count the days. Make the days count...”

Despite the intensity of it being a title-fight, when UFC light heavyweight Vitor Belfort steps into the Octagon tonight at UFC 152 to face overwhelming favorite Jon Jones for the divisional strap he’ll do so with a smile on his face. The moment marks the culmination of a decade-plus in the gym and cage, giving the 35-year old Belfort a chance to lay claim to another UFC title and cement his legacy as one of MMA’s greatest of all time.

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count for themselves. Enjoy. Every day is a blessing,” explained a smiling Belfort of his mentality approaching the bout in a recent interview with the UFC.

Belfort also sees parallels between his professional and personal life, revealing his genuine love and appreciation for the opportunities his employers have afforded him throughout his career including an unexpected crack at Jones’ championship.

“It’s an adventure, having three kids with no nanny, no maids. This is really the biggest business in the whole world, called family. So how you treat your family, that’s how people should treat their business – with commitment, integrity, honor, respect,” said Belfort. “That’s how I treat my family and that’s how I treat the UFC. The UFC is part of my family.”

Belfort: “I am always ready to fight…”

Fans can catch Belfort battle Jones this evening on PPV when things kick off at 10:00 PM EST.

Watch the full feature with Belfort below:

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Source: http://www.fighters.com/09/22/vitor-belfort-%e2%80%9cdon%e2%80%99t-count-the-days-make-the-days-count-%e2%80%9d

Eric Butterbean Esch Efrain Escudero Rashad Evans Urijah Faber Wagnney Fabiano

Undefeated Cat Zingano meets Raquel Pennington at Invicta FC 3

Cat “Alpha” Zingano has rejoined the Invicta FC 3 fight card where she will face Raquel “Rocky” Pennington in a bantamweight bout.

The undefeated Zingano (6-0) was originally scheduled to compete on Invicta’s third show before she was provided the opportunity to square off against Amanda Nunes on the September 29th Strikeforce event. The recent cancellation of the Strikeforce event allowed Zingano to return home to the Invicta.

Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp stated, “We are excited about bringing Cat back into the fold and to be able to give her the opportunity to compete on an Invicta FC card after preparing as much as she did for her scheduled fight with Amanda.”

Pennington’s (3-1) original opponent Kim Connor-Hamby had to withdraw from the event after suffering an injury. Since turning professional earlier this year Pennington has notched wins over Kim Couture, Sarah Moras and Raquel Pa’aluhi.

Invicta FC 3 takes place on from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City on Saturday, October 6th. The main event features the first-ever Invicta FC world title bout between atomweights Jessica Penne and Naho “Sugi Rock” Sugiyama.

Undefeated Cat Zingano meets Raquel Pennington at Invicta FC 3 is a post from: MMA Interplay UFC News

Source: http://www.mmainterplay.com/invicta/undefeated-cat-zingano-meets-raquel-pennington-at-invicta-fc-3-59665/

Shane The Engineer Carwin Jason Hollywood Chambers Ryo Piranha Chonan Dan The Sandman Christison Logan The Pink Pounder Clark

Tyson Nam cleared for World Series of Fighting after Bellator declines to match offer

A contentious few weeks between Bellator and Tyson Nam took a more civil turn today when the tournament-based promotion declined to match an offer the bantamweight received in the wake of his knockout of champ Eduardo Dantas.

"Bellator received the offer for Tyson Nam's next fight from a new promotional group (The World Series of Fighting), and we are not going to match that offer," Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said in a statement sent to MMAjunkie.com.

"We wish Tyson good luck as he moves forward."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/6wuVq4soNEU/tyson-nam-appears-headed-to-world-series-of-fighting-after-bellator-declines-to-match-offer.mma

Mirko Cro Cop Filipović Luiz Buscapé Firmino Spencer Fisher Jon Fitch Kenny Florian

Are there any fighters who can beat Jon Jones?

Jon Jones' win on Saturday night was awe-inspiring. He survived a grotesque armbar, and came back to win with fourth-round submission. He seems to keep getting better and better with each fight, this time incorporating jiu-jitsu skills into his win. At the moment, he appears unbeatable.

Are there any fighters in the UFC who can eventually take him on and win? Any fighters who can take time to study Jones, figure out his every move, and then finally solve the Jon Jones puzzle?

Dan Henderson: The one-time PRIDE and Strikeforce champion was supposed to fight Jones before he was injured and UFC 151 was canceled. He has already put in the time and effort to fight Jones, and may already have him figured out. His age is an issue, but Henderson still wants the fight.

Alexander Gustaffson: One of Jones' biggest advantages is his reach. He was able to hold Belfort at bay throughout the fight by simply extending his arm. At 6-foot-5, Gustafsson is an inch taller. He has a fight lined up with former champ Mauricio "Shogun" Rua who will show if "The Viking" is ready for the next step.

Chael Sonnen: Based on Sonnen's inability to handle Anderson Silva in their last fight, there is no reason to believe Sonnen could beat Jones. However, the run-up to the fight would be so much fun. Considering the UFC put Jones up against a middleweight who lost a title shot, integrity of the belt doesn't matter as much as entertainment or making money. Sonnen has already shown he can get under Jones' skin in a way no one else has, and that just may give him the edge in a bout.

Anderson Silva: Could he beat Jones? Yes. Will this fight ever, ever happen? No. Silva keeps talking about wanting a fight with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, and he does have a few challenges waiting for him at middleweight.

Who is missing from this list? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter.

Related UFC video from Yahoo! Sports:

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/fighters-beat-jon-jones-142406430--mma.html

Melvin Guillard Cody Guinn Jorge Gurgel Andre Gusmao Alexander Gustafsson

training bras

can anybody recommend one?

Source: http://ninjashoes.net/forum/showthread.php?79266-training-bras&goto=newpost

Kultar Gill Allan Goes Takanori The Fireball Kid Gomi Akihiro Gono Gabriel Gonzaga

How many fights for Chael and Nick Diaz before a title shot?

Alright, both of these guys are coming off of losses. But Chael's talking has already had Dana offer him a title shot as a fill in. And in a lot of GSP interviews that I've been reading, he still wants to fight Nick Diaz. There are arguably several guys ahead of both Nick and Chael in line for title contention. How many w's do you think it will take these guys before they get a title shot?
For Chael, I'll say 1 win. If Chael beats Forrest, which I think he will, he'll call Jon Jones out on the ppv. If Chael wins in dominating fashion and especially if he finishes him, Ill say he gets a title shot. Not neccesarily because he desrves it, but because of 3 reasons.
1. Not a lot of big named fighters wanna fight Jones.
2. Dana loves Chael
3. Lhw has had a lot of injuries lately.

With Nick Diaz, I'll say he likely need 2 wins. If he can beat 2 solid guys like Fitch, Hendricks, Condit (rematch), Kampmann, any 2 of those we'll get him a title fight. I think it'll take him 2, because GSP doesn't fight extremely regularly and I think there will be enough time between the Gsp-Condit fight until GSP's ready again for Nick to fight twice. But if Condit beat's GSP, then I say Nick only has to win one fight or maybe none to get a rematch Condit.

I bundled these guys together bc theyre coming off of losses, yet some0 how are still vry close to a title shot. Thoughts?

-3dlee

Source: http://www.mmaforum.com/ufc/105554-how-many-fights-chael-nick-diaz-before-title-shot.html

Branden Lee Hinkle Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi Daniel Acacio

Butterflies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZk6n...layer_embedded

http://www.metamorphosisthefilm.com/

Butterfly Patterns: Convergent Evolution or Design?

Some butterflies are expert mimics of other species. Evolutionists call this "convergent evolution." Recently a single gene was found responsible for the red colors in one genus. Does this strengthen the case for convergent evolution, or any kind of evolution? As usual, what is left unexplained is far more important.

Members of the Heloconius genus of butterflies (also called passion-vine butterflies) are renowned for the brilliant red patterns on their wings. Some of them can even mimic members of other genera that are toxic, using the color to warn predators. The remarkably similar patterns in unrelated species has led some evolutionists to explain it with the phrase "convergent evolution" -- the notion that natural selection somehow hit on the same solution to a problem more than once. Their explanation was strengthened by a recent discovery that a single gene is responsible for these patterns. But is it really evolution, convergent or otherwise?

Robert Reed of the University of California at Irvine, and a team of other biologists, spent a decade studying Heloconius butterflies. They finally isolated a single gene named Optix that is expressed in the red parts of the wings. Interestingly, this same gene is responsible for eye development in other insects. Publishing in Science,1 they said, "Our results show that the cis-regulatory evolution of a single transcription factor can repeatedly drive the convergent evolution of complex color patterns in distantly related species, thus blurring the distinction between convergence and homology." The findings were summarized in PhysOrg and Science Dailyaccompanied by photos of the flamboyant red wings.

While this is an important finding, it raises other questions about evolution. In fact, the press release from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, reproduced byPhysOrg, said as much: "How the optix gene codes for wing color raises a host of new questions." How, for instance, are the patterns formed in the first place? Identifying a gene that is active at a certain spot on a wing does not explain why it is expressed there, and in neighboring sites, to produce patterns. That would be like claiming that the identification of a red pigment in six paintings by Raphael explains the artwork.

Reed vascillated between confidence and confusion about what his team had found. For one thing, "Blurring the distinction between convergence and homology" raises questions about both. Which is which? And for whatever the team found about the "how," the "why" is as mysterious as ever.Science Daily quoted Reed saying, "This is a beautiful example of how a single gene can control the evolution of complex patterns in nature. Now we want to understand why: What is it about this one gene in particular that makes it so good at driving rapid evolution?"

Certainly the butterfly had nothing to say about it. A gene can no more "drive rapid evolution" than a butterfly engineering design committee could. Natural selection by definition is unguided and blind. It may act to preserve a species that already existed with the correct pattern to imitate a toxic species, but it does not explain the emergence itself. Intelligent design, by contrast, could account for innate variability that allows designed organisms to adapt to changing environments. We see, therefore, that the phrase "convergent evolution" is little more than a vacuous explanation that assumes evolution without explaining how or why the beautiful patterns exist.

Science articles sometimes try to impress people with the power of evolutionary explanations. Explaining the expression of an already-existing gene in a wing is trivial compared to the overpowering difficulty for Darwin of explaining metamorphosis -- the progression of four body plans, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult flying insect. Why this sequence trumps neo-Darwinism and affirms intelligent design is explained fully in the beautiful new documentary Metamorphosis from Illustra Media.

Source: http://forums.ufc.production.sparkart.net/showthread.php?t=126995&goto=newpost

Andrei Arlovski Ricardo Arona Noboru Asahi Marcus Aurelio Mikhail Avetisyan