Marine Corps veteran Brian Stann added another line to his impressive resume this month, as the Silver Star recipient, mixed martial arts champion, UFC and college football commentator, Hiring Heroes CEO and real-estate executive rejoined the cage-fighting club via the front office of the Professional Fighters League. Stann will serve as head of the fighters and competition/rules committee for the PFL, playing a key role in the organization’s plans to become a “fighters first” league, according to a news release. A PFL primer for non-MMA addicts: The group will kick off what amounts to a series of yearlong tournaments next month,…
Browsing: Mixed martial arts
What’s been a busy month so far for military mixed martial arts news was supposed to peak Saturday night with the UFC debut of a former Army sniper. Why that didn’t happen, plus some notes you may have missed from the military MMA scene over the last few days: Todhunter ‘feeling better’ after missing UFC 188 The 40-pound weight cut faced by Andrew “The Sniper” Todhunter to make 170 pounds for first UFC fight took such focus that preparing for his opponent, Russian Albert Tumenov, was a secondary — if that — concern. The former soldier told Army Times he was “in the 180s” on Wednesday afternoon, but by…
Service members around the globe will be able to watch events from the Bellator mixed martial arts promotion on American Forces Network in June, beginning with a “heavyweight superfight” that may interest longtime MMA fans … even if it’s a few years past its use-by date. Bellator announced the deal on Memorial Day, offering few details on time slots or AFN channels but promising that the network will carry Bellator 138, a June 19 card in St. Louis that will feature Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice in a heavyweight main event. Shamrock, 51, fought on the first Ultimate Fighting Championships card…
One had his first UFC fight in 2011. The other has never fought professionally outside of Alaska. One will tip the scales in Las Vegas at 135 pounds, give or take a few ounces. The other weighed 300-plus pounds a few years back. One fought less than two months ago, knocking out a Chinese fighter in Australia in front of a global audience. The other hasn’t fought since last January, when he edged out a 40-year-old via five-round split decision. Saying Marcus Brimage and Jared Cannonier have taken different paths to the preliminary card at Saturday’s UFC 182 event would be a bit…
Army Sgt. 1st Class Tim Kennedy will fight in front of a decidedly friendly crowd tonight at Fort Campbell, Ky., in the main event of the third UFC “Fight for the Troops” card. Kennedy (16-4) will battle fellow 185-pounder Rafael “Sapo” Natal (17-4-1). That’s “Natal.” With a “T”: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTscXtjK0k[/youtube] Honest mistake — after all, Kennedy’s been busy in the run-up to tonight’s fight, continuing his stellar history of media-darling-ness: After his initial opponent, Lyoto Machida, was moved off the card to replace the injured Michael Bisping in an earlier event, Kennedy Twitter-bombed nearly the entire UFC roster, seeking a replacement.…
The third in our series of Tim Kennedy posts will be the shortest: The soldier-grappler was to fight former 205-pound UFC champ Lyoto Machida in the main event of “UFC Fight Night 31: UFC Fight for the Troops 3” at Fort Campbell, Ky., on Nov. 6. Then an injury to another fighter shuffled the UFC’s schedule, and Kennedy was left without an opponent. That triggered a series of Tweets from Kennedy that called out a good chunk of the UFC’s 185-pound division. Eventually, matchmakers selected Rafael “Sapo” Natal, according to our good friends at MMAJunkie.com — who’d been ID’d previously…
Wanted: Middleweight martial artist willing to step into cage in front of loud group of soldiers at Kentucky military installation, fight Texas National Guardsman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and hasn’t been knocked out in 20 professional bouts. Experience a plus. Medical insurance probably also a good idea. Tim Kennedy had been set to headline “UFC Fight Night 31: UFC Fight For the Troops 3” at Fort Campbell, Ky., on Nov. 6 against Lyoto Machida, a former 205-pound champion set to drop to 185 pounds in what would be the biggest fight of Kennedy’s career. But late last week,…
Ten quick hits’ worth of military-related sports news before Congress tries to make all the academy football teams wear the same uniform (non-football news after the jump): 1. Bobsled-bound? Option quarterbacks need to be versatile, but former Army signal-caller Trent Steelman is taking things to a new level. Already under contract with the Baltimore Ravens, Steelman’s now in the running for a spot on the U.S. Olympic bobsled team, according to Army football guru Sal Interdonato. Steelman’s father told Interdonato that the Army officer performed well in the U.S. Bobsled Combine recently and will be participating in further qualifying events…
Whenever possible, it’s best to let Army Staff Sgt. Tim Kennedy’s Twitter account speak for itself: [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/TimKennedyMMA/status/255497717458026496″] The middleweight fighter has read the same reports other MMA fans have seen in recent days — rumors that Showtime may sever ties with the Strikeforce promotion, leaving the group without a TV home and without much chance of survival. Kennedy’s set to fight Trevor “Hot Sauce” Smith at the promotion’s Nov. 3 card in Oklahoma City. But that card is now without a main event (Frank Mir’s injury left heavyweight Daniel Cormier without an opponent) or a semi-main (middleweight champ Luke…
A handful of quick military-sports hits for the middle of the week: Olympic fever. Want the basics on the military men and women who’ll compete in London beginning later this week? Click here for our OFFduty preview, including capsule profiles on all 16 of them, plus the dates they’ll compete. For a more complete view of the games, head to USA Today’s site here (and a full Olympic schedule here). The 2012 Summer Olympics kicked off today with women’s soccer contests — a perfect reason to catch this video Q-and-A with Navy women’s soccer coach Carin Gabarra, a member of…
