MMA Writers Should Strive to be Professional

In the last month, there have been a few incidents which have led to a fair amount of criticism for certain big name fighters. Nick Diaz has been criticized for his inability to produce his medical marijuana card and for his World Ju Jutsu Expo no show. Alaistair Overeem has been lambasted for his recent suspension for having an abnormal testosterone to epitestosterone ratio.

Two other fighters have caught my eye with comments recently, reflecting on the way the media treat fighters when allegations arise. Chael Sonnen has been pretty critical of the media's judgmental reaction to Alaistair Overeem's suspension. Sonnen believes that since no banned substance was found in Overeem's system, media members who criticized him for cheating did so without knowing the full facts. Josh Thomson has recently voiced his own reaction to the way the MMA media talks about fighters in an interview with TapouT Radio (and quoted at Bloody Elbow). He was reacting to rumours being circulated that he had sustained serious injury while training for his upcoming fight with Gilbert Melendez. Thomson was worried that irresponsible people were writing things without thinking through the consequences for the fighters, in this case giving Melendez a heads up to a potential weakness.

jiMMA is back!

jiMMA has been on hiatus for a few weeks, while I have been trying out staff writing over at a Fansided blog called DocOctagon. Staff writing was fun, but I'm coming back to writing two or three times a week until I get the chance to write for a bigger blog.

Jessica Penne vs Lisa Ellis-Ward Preview

Recent History


While Lisa Ellis-Ward has lost her last two fights, those losses were to two of the biggest names in the lower weight classes, Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar.  For this fight, Ellis-Ward drops down to 105 lbs.  Jessica Penne is fighting for the first time since the end of 2010, for which she blames the trickiness of finding appropriate opponents in her weight class.  That fight was a submission victory over Amy Davis.

via womentalksports

Invicta FC One: Coenen vs Ruyssen Preview

Women's MMA is in the spotlight this weekend as all female promotion Invicta Fighting Championships hosts its first ever event.  The event takes place in Kansas and is streamed live through the Invicta FC website.  When you combine a really strong first card with the fact that there is no Bellator or UFC card happening this weekend, the MMA community should really keep their eyes on Invicta this weekend.

via kampfkunst

Can Invicta FC Flourish?

This weekend, all-female promotion Invicta Fighting Championships will put on their first event in Kansas. With a weekend free of UFC and Bellator events, a really strong card and the event being streamed for free on the Invicta website, chances are that this event will garner some attention. With women's MMA seemingly on the rise just now, I would like discuss whether a newly started organisation like Invicta has a chance of succeeding and whether such an organisation is preferable to a Zuffa run female MMA organisation.

Jon Jones defeats Rashad Evans, Highlights Video and discussion.

At UFC 145, Jon Jones defeated Rashad Evans to retain his light heavyweight title for the third time. He did so by dominating the next best fighter in the division without getting into any serious trouble. The post fight discussion though, has seen people call the fight disappointing for one of two reasons; it was not exciting enough or Jon Jones did not look great in his win. I think Jones looked fantastic and I was on the edge of my seat all the way through the fight.

UFC 145 - Looking For Upsets

You may have heard that Jon Jones will defend his light heavyweight title at UFC 145 against former training partner Rashad Evans, or you might have been living in a cave.  Anyway, it just so happens that this is just the headlining fight of a really interesting card.  It seems like the UFC has decided that since the main event is a sure fire pay-per-view seller, they can fill up the under card with lesser known fighters.  Well that's just fine because as unknown as some of the fighters may be, some intriguing fights are in the offing.  On paper, it seems like a night of fights with pretty clear favourites, so let's have a look where the possible upsets lie.