Click to watch the highlights of Dominick Cruz vs. TJ Dillashaw, this Sunday evening, in Boston.

Tanquinho fighting at Legacy FC. Photo: Mike Calimbas

BJJ black belt Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes has the biggest challenge in his still young MMA career scheduled Feb. 5, 2016.

Legacy FC announced today that Tanquinho will be facing undefeated Ricardo Ramos (8-0) for the event’s bantamweight title.

The fight will be the main event of Legacy 51, in Hinkley, MN.

Tanquinho has a 5-0 professional MMA record, with four submissions and one TKO.

Tanquinho talked to GRACIEMAG.com about the fight: “Honestly, I was expecting for this title shot. They promised that to me two fights ago. now it’s here and I will be ready to bring that belt home.”

Mendes also talked a bit about Ramos: “I watched a few of his fights. He is a BJJ brown belt with good ground skills. He does not stall the fights and is very aggressive when standing. He is also pretty tall for the weight class. It’s going to be a great fight.”

UFC Bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw will meet former champion Renan Barão this Saturday, July 25, in Chicago.

Barão lost the title to Dillashaw on May 24, 2014, after a TKO defeat to the American.

Watch how TJ earned his title and get ready for one of the most anticipated rematches in history.

José Aldo says he would like to face Bendo at crowded Maracanã. Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The routine of Jose Aldo, featherweight champion of the UFC, is always fast-paced. In the midst of travel, fans and the always-tough training sessions at Nova União, Aldo booked five minutes of his busy schedule to chat with GRACIEMAG about his next opponent, consecutive “supermatches” and Ben Henderson’s request to face him at a soccer stadium.

During the chat at the end of a long day at Nova União, Aldo said he hasn’t begun to outline a strategy for his fight scheduled for Aug. 3 against Pettis yet. The champion examined the ground work of his opponent, and said he is not intimidated by the fact that he is sharpening his Jiu-Jitsu.

“I think he trains Jiu-Jitsu more to defend himself,” Aldo said of Pettis. “His game is not on the ground. He has to work well on the ground to be able to use his stand-up game. His Jiu-Jitsu is better. But I also make good use of my Jiu-Jitsu. If I play well standing up it is because if it goes to the ground, I’m confident and I submit.”

When asked about the fact that the UFC just scheduled supermatches for him, Aldo talked about the injustice done to the athletes of the division, but stresses that he works for the UFC and that he is ready to “do what he is told.”

“The UFC guys are the bosses, we are employees,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair if a guy who just got to the division [immediately gets] a chance to battle for the belt. It’s good for me because it praises the division and my career as an athlete, but it isn’t cool for those who  have strived in the division for a long time, looking for a shot to fight for the belt. But I just want to keep winning and doing my part. If I had a company, I’d send my employee to do something and he would have to do it, right?”

Still on the supermatches, Aldo talked about his next possible fight with the champion of the lightweight division, Henderson. Aldo didn’t fail to remember that his focus is on the fight against Pettis, but talked about “Bendo” as an athlete, and on the willingness of the American to fight him at a Brazilian soccer stadium.

“Ben Henderson is such a nice person. I’ve known him since the now-extinct WEC,” he said. “We had several fights during the same night. We cheered for each other in our fights. He said he dreams of fighting in Brazil. It will be great if that happens. If it happens at a soccer stadium it would be even better. Maracanã will already be renovated. It could be by the end of the year or early next year. It would be a great show.”

UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has been on the sidelines with a knee injury, and hasn’t competed since defending his title in October 2011. As of now, there’s no firm timeline for his return, and the idea that he should be stripped of his title has been tossed around numerous message boards and Twitter feeds.

In the video above, Cruz talks about his injury, recovery, return and how devastated he would be if his title was taken away from him. Check it out.

Source: Rick Lee

Ronda Rousey gives Sarah Kaufman’s arm a tug last Saturday at the Strikeforce event in San Diego. Photo: Strikeforce publicity.

Last Saturday, Strikeforce champion Ronda Rousey again stunned the crowd with an indefensible armbar, this time over Sarah Kaufman.

For two of Ronda’s training partners, black belts Eddie Bravo and Alan Belcher, one of the finest aspects of the move was the streamlined transition to armbar when the mounted opponent gave up her back.

“There are guys who are really good at defending the back … When you’re on someone’s back they have their hands and their chin to defend with,” says Bravo, explaining why he prefers being positioned sideways in what he calls the “spider web”, the armbar setup Ronda Rousey went to rather than sinking hooks for back control.

Watch Bravo and Belcher revealing the ins and outs of Rousey’s stellar finish.

Strikeforce stunner Ronda Rousey pictured here competing in Beijing / GRACIEMAG.com archive photo

Ronda Rousey, an Olympic judo medalist at the Beijing-2008 Olympics, has seven submission wins in seven MMA appearances—four as a professional. This coming Saturday, she’ll have her work cut out for her in a bid to snatch the Strikeforce bantamweight belt from Miesha Tate in Columbus, Ohio.

The winsome black belt, widely regarded as MMA’s latest top-billing female, is into the final stage or her preparations for battle, as you can see in the video below. Besides being determined, the 24-year-old athlete boasts looks that would have any ogler spellbound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeSOMJjYNMM

Torres has quicker hands and slicker Jiu-Jitsu than most in the UFC. Photo: Josh Hedges.

Having just turned 31 years old early this year, Miguel Torres is one of the most experienced fighters in the UFC, with 43 MMA fights on his official record.

The bantamweight, scheduled to face Michael McDonald at UFC 145 in April, backs the theory Professor Raphael Abi-Rihan shared with readers yesterday, that teaching Jiu-Jitsu is also a component of training for a fight.

KEEP YOUR HIP DOWN

Through his page on the internet Miguel Torres doesn’t just teach positions; he also shares recipes, rolls with his daughter and much more. In this video he teaches a variety of attacks and ways of controlling an opponent from the side. Keep your hip low, grab his head, and let us know what you think after.

Focused, the Nova União athlete expects a barn burner against the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship winner: “I expect the best. I’m very focused for this fight, I trained a lot, and it’ll be a show,” he told GRACIEMAG.com, direct from Japan. (Watch Rodolfo in action at the April IFC show.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0xosDpwxs

Undefeated since March of 2009, Rodolfo guarantees that he is as prepared for the GP finals as he has ever been for a fight. “I trained lots of wrestling and ground defense. My boxing is sharp, and I’m in great physical shape—that’ll be one of my strengths in the fight,” he said assuredly. “Anything can happen in the fight but I feel sticking with the standup is the way to beat him. You can expect one of the best fights of the event. Things will get rough,” said Marques in closing.

The other GP semifinal has Antonio Banuelos squaring off with Masakazu Imanari.

This Saturday’s Dream 17 show has other enticing match-ups in store for Saitama, like Fedor Emelianenko’s showdown with Olympic gold medal-winning judoka Satoshi Ishii, choreographed pro-wrestling matches between Tim Sylvia and Jerome LeBanner, Josh Barnett and Hideki Suzuki, Peter Aerts and Kazutuki Fujita, and a tag-team match featuring Kazushi Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata against Shinichi Suzukawa and Atsushi Sawada. Check out the complete card:

Dream “Genki Desu Ka”
Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan
December 31, 2011

Hiroyuki Takaya vs Takeshi Inoue

Antonio Banuelos vs Masakazu Imanari

Bibiano Fernandes vs Rodolfo Marques

Fedor Emilianenki vs Satoshi Ishii

Shinya Aoki vs Satoru Kitaoka

Tatsuya Kawajari vs Kazuyuki Miyata

Megumi Fujii vs Karla Benitez

Hayato Sakurai vs Ryo Chonan

Hideo Tokoro vs Yusup Saadulaev

Pro-Wrestling

Tim Sylvia vs Jerome Le Banner

Josh Barnett vs Hideki Suzuki

Peter Aerts vs Kazutuki Fujita

Kazushi Sakuraba e Katsuyori Shibata vs Shinichi Suzukawa e Atsushi Sawada

To the market, though, with dollar signs in its eyes, the Nova União bantamweight is a beacon of hope, perhaps the front man to inject excitement into a stagnant division.

Dominick Cruz, the current bantamweight champion, has cleaned out the weight class, and there are those in the press who say he doesn’t get the fans too excited. But the blame is not with Dominick, who speaks his mind. Could it be he just needs a worthy nemesis?

“Of course the UFC title is every MMA fighter’s dream. When the opportunity comes around I’ll grab it tooth and nail,” said Renan after overwhelming Brad Pickett at UFC 138, in Birmingham, England, having dominated the standup game before finishing with a rear-naked choke on the ground.

Yesterday, Dana White confirmed what GRACIEMAG.com readers already thought was a given: Anderson Silva’s next fight will be against Chael Sonnen. White has yet to confirm the date for the middleweight title rematch.

Loro with his Ring of Combat featherweight belt / Photo: John Tabor

Sure he spent years as a top-ranked bantamweight and can even boast of being one of UFC champion José Aldo’s first teachers, but Marcos “Lôro” Galvão knows he’ll have his work cut out for him when he faces Joe Warren in the Bellator 41 main event this Saturday in Yuma, Arizona. That’s why it was so startling to hear him say he’s taking the fight so seriously he’s “taken a three-month vacation.”

Odd as it sounded, Lôro wasn’t kidding. But neither was he overlooking the dangers inherent in facing a world champion wrestler like Warren – one who barged onto the MMA scene emphatically, taking out former WEC champion Chase Beebe and all-time great Kid Yamamoto in his first two outings and going on to wrecking-ball his way through the Bellator Featherweight GP. It just means Loro’s fighting career had taken a back seat to his teaching career – and that the fans can look forward to a great fight come Saturday night, with two virtuosos in their respective martial arts likely to put on a great main event.

The three featherweights: Lôro, José Aldo, and Marlon Sandro / Photo: John Tabor

It wasn’t long ago that Loro was at the pinnacle of the world MMA ranks. Before the WEC became the premier lighter-fighter promotion, the standout Jiu-Jitsu black belt (among numerous achievements in the gentle art, he once won successive world championships as a blue belt and a brown belt, skipping purple belt altogether) was a fixture atop the World Shooto bantamweight rankings, beating top-tier fighters of the time like Kenji Osawa and Fredson Paixão. Then, two WEC losses sandwiched around a draw in a Shooto World title challenge set him back in his bid to become the world’s number one bantamweight. After the disappointing end to his WEC tenure came the switch to teaching mode, move to New York, and three-fight unbeaten run as a featherweight.

Lôro and his mentor, "Dedé" Pederneiras / Photo: John Tabor

“I feel so much better at this weight,” he said, shortly after winning the Ring of Combat featherweight title in December of last year. “I feel so much stronger, and I train a lot better.” Now being so pleased with the results obtained at his new weight, it would go to figure he’d be somewhat put off at having to face the champion of his new division at his new event but at a catch-weight closer to the one he just vacated. But Lôro’s chipper about the situation and happy he’s getting his shot:

“It’s a great opportunity for me. I don’t care that it’s not for the belt; I’m going to fight a champion in the main event and the event will be broadcast live on MTV2. I couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “He wanted this fight at a 137-lb catch-weight because he’s going to move down to try and win the bantamweight division, too. That’s fine, I can make bantamweight again. Here in America I learned the science behind making weight – it’s not so hard for me anymore,” he said, hinting at further changes since moving to North America.

Lôro grapples with Shaolin. Photo: Luca Atalla.

Now in New York, where when not on vacation he teaches Jiu-Jitsu and MMA full time at Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro’s Manhattan academy, he no longer trains regularly with the fierce Nova União outfit where he used to spar daily with the UFC’s José Aldo and Renan Barão, former Sengoku champ Marlon Sandro, and seasoned strikers like Johnny Eduardo; but that doesn’t mean the level he trains at has dropped off any: “I train MMA with the Millers and their guys,” he said, referring to Jim Miller, who is now at the top of the stacked UFC lightweight food chain, and his brother Dan Miller, who just went the distance with the dreaded Nate Marquardt as a late replacement at UFC 128. “They’re so strong it’s unbelievable. They’re technical too, but they’re just ridiculously strong,” he said of his new workout partners, when asked whether he would be ready for the kind of strength a world champion wrestler like Warren brings to the table; then explaining what is different for him now that he is in the States:“Those guys know how to train smart: I’ve learned how to train just enough not to overtrain, how to eat just enough not to go hungry and still make weight, and how to make the weight cut without suffering so much. People here have it down to a science.”

The Millers' and Shaolin's crews united / Photo: personal archives

But all the changes in approach and life he mentions urge the question: is there anything left of the methods that got him to the top of the Shooto rankings and into the WEC as a contender, during the previous incarnation of his career? The answer came as little wonder, given how the only man to stop Warren to date hails from Lôro’s hometown of Manaus and has the same martial arts background: “I’m still training Jiu-Jitsu. Bibiano (Fernandes) beat him – why can’t I?”

The other question begging to be asked we’ll just hang on to for if and when it happens: if he successfully puts the brakes on Warren’s dominant run in Bellator, will he take a real vacation?