Unbeaten welterweight prospect Tony “Superbad” Harrison previews his rematch tonight against Calvin Odom. The fight will headline a Kronk Boxing card at Joe Louis Arena featuring Jacob Bonas and other Detroit boxers. Harrison won the first fight over Odom by unanimous decision.

Best Conspiracy Theory About UFC 151

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

This is one theory that’s been coming up on some of the MMA podcasts and boards. Let me just start off by saying that I don’t endorse this interpretation of events, I am just recounting it for your amusement.

The theory goes something like this: Fightersonly has a story saying that Dan Henderson injured his knee three weeks ago. Chael Sonnen and Henderson are total bros. So Chael knew about Dan’s injury and started trolling Jon Jones on Twitter to get himself into the fight. Dan Henderson announces the injury late and Chael offers to take the fight without a camp, when he’s been totally training his ass off for the fight for the previous two weeks.

The reason that I don’t buy this version of events is that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. And that goes something like this:

Dan Henderson is a savage and was prepared to fight on one leg until his coaches talked him out of it. Chael Sonnen is a lunatic who was prepared to fight the best light heavyweight on the planet without a training camp.

I haven’t seen a ton of coverage on this angle yet, and I’m sure at some point Dan will do an interview, but if Dan didn’t disclose the injury promptly, he deserves a lot of the blame for the cancellation of the event. He’s been pretty silent as the nuclear shitstorm that obliterated UFC 151 from the face of the Earth has seen a ton of insane invective (guilty here) hurled at everyone else involved, notable Jones, Greg Jackson and Dana White.

Jon Jones To Face Vitor Belfort At UFC 152

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

I’ve been getting a lot of emails from Jon Jones fans arguing I’m being too hard on him and if he doesn’t want to fight, he shouldn’t have to. If this wasn’t a sport where most of the fighters work their asses off to salvage cards, and it was more typical for guys to refuse matchups and basically ruin cards, then maybe it would be more forgivable. Jon Jones himself got his start filling in for an injured fighter at UFC 86.

Shit just got surreal son. What we know is that Jon Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. Some people are blaming UFC boss Dana White, arguing he didn’t have to blow up the whole card. That’s fair, but if he didn’t cancel the event, everyone who paid for tickets would be getting ripped off. Part of that is because other than the main event, there wasn’t a lot of great fighters on the card, and part of it was that everyone was going to see Jon Jones fight.

Bellator: Attila Vegh vs Travis Wiuff

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

This one is for the Bellator light heavyweight tournament championship. Travis Wiuff looks enormous.

Wiuff starts by coming forward. Attila Vegh lands a right hook above Wiuff’s ear and Wiuff goes down. Vegh lands a few shots on the ground and the ref calls it.

Attila Vegh wins by KO twenty-five seconds into Round One.

“Nike with Jon Jones is going to have to change their slogan to ‘Just do Nothing’”

Jon Jones Is A Coward

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

(Editor’s note: Our esteemed senior correspondent may or may not have been a little more inebriated than usual when filling the following dispatch. Having failed in an attempt at editing it, we present it to you unaltered in its original state.)

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones needs to hire a new PR person.

Jones is an exciting young fighter that has been fighting regularly and demolishing his opponents. But he’s gone from the guy that didn’t really seem to care that he beat the shit out of Matt Hammill and still lost to a guy who is saying shit like he is only fighting to get paid and that he doesn’t think anyone is worth fighting. So here’s what happened. He talked a lot of shit about former champ Lyoto Machida getting a rematch and said he didn’t want to fight Machida because he wasn’t going to make enough money from the pay per view. This was totally looking past his current fight against Dan Henderson, who recently knocked out Fedor.

So Dan Henderson got hurt with eight days to go before the fight. Dana White tried to get a bunch of guys to fight him. What did we learn from this? The first thing we learned is that Alexander Gustaffson doesn’t want a title shot that bad, because I’m sure he was the first person Dana asked, even though Dana didn’t reveal it. The second is that Jon Jones is a total bitch and won’t fight Chael Sonnen or Chris Weidman, two middleweights who were willing to fight up a weight class to get a shot at the belt. Chael is a pretty big middleweight, but Weidman is positively slender. Weidman is sort of in limbo because Anderson Silva (the second biggest primadonna in MMA behind Jones) doesn’t want to fight him. Anderson Silva has been the champion forever and there is a legitimate super fight against GSP that could be transformational for the sport assuming that GSP gets by Condit, so it is far more forgivable.

Strikeforce: Ronda Rousey vs Sarah Kaufman

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Showtime did a really good job hyping this fight. I watched the All Access: Ronda Rousey on demand this morning and it was really well done.

Ronda Rousey has been running her mouth and appearing just about everywhere prior to the fight. Ronda’s also been training with the Diaz brothers, so we might see improved striking before an armbar attempt. Just for the record, I’m predicting Ronda by armbar in the first round, like everyone else in the world.

Round 1: Ronda pumps the jab, gets the body lock. She sweeps and is in the full mount position. Armbar attempt twenty seconds into the fight. Sarah Kaufman is defending with her hands together, but Ronda’s not going to let it go at this point. Ronda keeps working at the armba; she gets the arms apart and Sarah taps.

Ronda Rousey wins by armbar at fifty four seconds into Round 1.

Overall some exciting fights tonight from a card that a lot of people were bitching about. Ronda calls out Cris Cyborg. She says it would be Cyborg’s first fair fight, obviously a reference to Cyborg’s long-overdue positive steroid test.

Derek Brunson vs Jacare Souza

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Round 1: Jacare Souza lands a big right on Derek Brunson, who was rushing in. Jacare pauses to see if the ref is going to stop it, but this is Mike Beltran reffing here, who has never been accused of stopping a fight early.

Jacare his Brunson hurt again with a glancing blow behind the head and then pops him a few more times while he’s on the ground. Beltran ends it. Brunson gets up and looks like he’s arguing with the ref, but his eyes were closed and he looked like he was dead. Very nice to watch this fight in slow motion to see Mike Beltran’s moustaches trailing behind him as he runs to get into position.

Jacare Souza by knockout due to punches at 41 seconds in the first round.

Roger Bowling vs Tarec Saffiedine

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Round 1: Roger Bowling comes forward and throws a left hook. Roger with the leg kick. Bowling punches, Tarec Saffiedine kicks. Tarec lands a left. Tarek with a front kick. Bowling with a left hook to the body. Bowling is actively hitting the body. Tarec with a leg kick. Bowling comes forward swinging. Saffiedine lands a knee from the clinch. Bowling lands a body shot. Tarec lands a knee. Bowling shoves him against the cage and tries for a double leg, but Tarec defends. Tarec with a punch-leg kick combination. Head kick by Roger is blocked.

Tarec lands another huge knee from the clinch and Bowling tries for a single, but Tarec defends and shoves Roger against the cage. Bowling coming forward and throwing, but he’s not landing that cleanly. He shoves Tarec against the fence, but Tarec just turns him around again and is working knees to the body. The fighters break. Bowling punches as Tarec kicks.

10-9 Bowling as he was way more active, though I suspect Tarec landed the harder shots.

Lumumba Sayers vs Anthony Smith

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Jesus, Anthony Smith looks huge. He’s completely ripped and way bigger than the flabby-looking Lumumba Sayers.

Round 1: Leg kick from Smith as Lumumba comes forward punching. Smith punches and misses, Lumumba pulls him down and Smith transitions into the full mount. Smith looks like he’s asking his corner what he should do. Smith is working the ground and pound with a head lock on Sayers. Lumumba is bleeding very badly, but is able to stand up.

Smith tries to sink a guillotine, but Lumumba rolls out of it and gets Smith’s back in the scramble. Smith rolls into a kimura, but lets it go and the fighters stand. Smith lands a big right elbow. Smith with a nice leg kick. Smith throws a big punch and it looks like he slipped. Sayers is on top and Anthony Smith locks in a tight choke. He doesn’t have it right, but readjusts it and pulls the head down. Sayers taps out.

Smith has something incoherent to say about Jesus Christ, as per usual, as he gets to his feet. Main card is coming up aces for Strikeforce so far. Two exciting fights in a row.

Anthony Smith wins by tapout due to triangle choke at 3:52 in Round 1.

T.J. Cook vs Ovince St. Preux

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Referee Mike Beltran’s moustache is clownish. Must be difficult to eat soup. Ovince St. Preux looks way bigger than T.J. Cook. Live updates after the jump:

Miesha Tate vs Julie Kedzie

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Miesha Tate is pretty badass. Julie Kedzie pretty much runs Greg Jackson’s gym. I hate these walkouts. Too pro wrestling-y. Live updates after the jump:

Adlan Amagov vs Keith Berry

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

God those first two fights sucked. This card stinks. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Round 1: Adlan Amagov with a vicious spinning back kick to the stomach of Keith Berry. Berry shoots and takes a side kick to the knee, referee Herb Dean stops the fight early.

After the fight, you could hear Berry telling Herb Dean that he was alright and Herb Dean said he couldn’t tell what Berry was saying, but he needed to fight back.

Adlan Amagov by bullshit TKO.

siphotos:
Rocky Marciano nails Ezzard Charles with a right hook during their 1954 fight at Yankee Stadium. Though Ezzard would lose by decision, he became the only fighter to go the full 15 rounds with Marciano. (Mark Kauffman/SI)
GALLERY: Top 10 Heavyweights Of All Time

siphotos:

Rocky Marciano nails Ezzard Charles with a right hook during their 1954 fight at Yankee Stadium. Though Ezzard would lose by decision, he became the only fighter to go the full 15 rounds with Marciano. (Mark Kauffman/SI)

GALLERY: Top 10 Heavyweights Of All Time

Opening Bell: Lamont Peterson Keeps IBF Belt

Photo by Trey Pollard

by Gautham Nagesh

Local junior welterweight Lamont Peterson is smiling once again after the IBF announced Friday that he will be allowed to keep the 140-lb belt he won from Amir Khan in December, despite a failed drug test.

The IBF’s decision is vindication for Peterson, who saw his WBA belt returned to Khan last month before the Brit lost a unification bout to Danny Garcia. Peterson’s future has been under a cloud since the failed test cancelled his May rematch with Khan and cast doubt upon his career-defining win. Lamont has already admitted to having a physician inject a testosterone pellet into his hip before that fight. After reviewing Peterson’s medical records and consulting with an independent physician, the IBF concluded that Peterson used the testosterone for therapeutic purposes that wouldn’t have enhanced his training before the Khan fight.