Photo Courtesy of Dave Mandel of Sherdog.com

Broomfield, Colo. was the very first home of UFC on Versus, as the series capped off an incredible event of knockouts, long bouts and, of course, bone-crunching submissions.

As expected, the headliner, Vera vs. Jones was an interesting one, in which the young light heavyweight, Jon Jones took care of the experienced kickboxer, Brandon Vera within the first round. From the start, Jones took control with a leg-trip takedown, which was followed by some heavy punches. Vera’s efforts to keep Jones away were futile, as Jones succeeded in another takedown.

While Jones was throwing elbows in Vera’s guard, Vera hit an illegal upkick to the jaw, which lost him a point. That point wouldn’t matter; however, as Jones delivered a vicious elbow to Vera, and ended that match via TKO with punches at 3:19 in the first round. Jones was awarded one of three Knockouts of the Night, and an extra $50,000. Jones still has never been technically beaten, as he was disqualified in his last fight for an illegal elbow shot.

The other two Knockouts of the Night were given to Junior dos Santos in his defeat over Gabriel Gonzaga at 3:53 of Round 1, and to a Preliminary Card matchup between United States fighter John Howard, who took on fellow American Daniel Roberts in welterweight action. The fight was originally scheduled to be Howard vs. Anthony Johnson. Johnson could not compete due to a training injury.

Roberts took Howard on in his UFC debut, but his inexperience proved to be his weakness, as Howard threw the knockout punch at 2:01 of the first round. This fight was Roberts’ first recorded MMA loss, putting him at 9-1. Howard moves on to a 4-0 UFC record, and a 14-4 MMA record.

Clay Guida, Courtesy of MMAWeekly

Another Preliminary Card matchup that won honors was Clay Guida (26-11) vs. Shannon Gugerty (12-5), which won Submission of the Night. This puts Gugerty at a small slump since his submission loss to Terry Etim at UFC 105. Lightweights Gugerty and Guida lasted two rounds before Guida locked on an arm-triangle choke at 3:40 and got the tap from Gugerty.

The Fight of the Night honor was not rewarded at this event.

The final two Main Card bouts were between Italian middleweight Alessio Sakara (8-1) and American James Irvin (14-6), and France heavyweight Cheick Kongo (22-6) and American Paul Buentello (27-11).

A sloppy beginning led to a sloppy end for Irvin, as Sakara took advantage of the new middleweight’s mistakes. After what appeared to be a shot to the eye, the fight was paused to allow Irvin to recover. After a few minutes of review, it was determined that the punch involved no poking, and Irvin could not continue. Sakara was named victorious due to TKO at 3:01 of the first round.

Kongo-Buentello was quite the different style matchup, as it went three rounds until a victor was named. In the first round, not a lot of damage was done to either fighter, although Kongo had much of the control. After what looked to be a pinky injury to Buentello, the fight is paused and then resumes, allowing Kongo to take out his frustrations with a hard takedown and furious punches. Kongo wins the first round.

Much of the same in the second round, as Buentello got destroyed in all facets of the game. Finally, Kongo gets the tap from Buentello in the third round (1:16) after a quick takedown, headlock and elbows to the knee.

Overall, the 1st Bank Center had an attendance of 6,443 and a total gate of $568,125. The next UFC event will be headlined by Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy at UFC 111 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. That will be this Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10:00 p.m., eastern time on Pay-Per-View.

Quickly established as arguably the top facility and fight team in Europe, Wolfslair MMA Academy is now gaining a strong reputation as one of the leading gyms in the MMA world today.

Michael Bisping training at Wolfslair

Wolfslair Academy is a gym located in Widnes, United Kingdom, which has both produced and recently signed several UFC stars and other elite level fighters.

Co-owners and managers Anthony McGann and Lee Gwynn established the fight team as MMA fans with the goal of creating the top MMA facility in the U.K. They quickly achieved their goal and the facility continues to grow.

The gym gained notoriety primarily due to its signing of U.K. based UFC star Michael Bisping. Bisping’s appearance as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) created recognition for the gym, because several of its staff members were featured as trainers on the show.

With the recent signings of former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and heavyweight Cheick Kongo, the gym added two huge names and talented fighters to its roster. These signings have attracted new fighters to the gym for training purposes, as well as more publicity, and sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.

Rampage and Dave Jackson

The trainers at Wolfslair Academy are not internationally recognized MMA figures like the staff of many top-level gyms in the U.S. However, the team’s trainers are extremely experienced and have many achievements within their fields, making them very effective coaches and gaining them praise from fighters.

Wolfslair’s talented training staff, access to the public, and its appeal to traveling fighters and prospective fighters in Europe are its main strengths. These factors contribute greatly to the gym’s rapid growth and success as a business.

The head coach at Wolfslair is Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo black belt Mario “Sukata” Neto. Neto, the gym’s jiu-jitsu coach, is a one-fight UFC veteran and holds a 10-5 professional MMA record against top-level opponents. Neto has many accomplishments in the world of martial arts, including winning the grand masters in BJJ, winning a Vale Tudo championship in Russia and earning a third-degree black belt in BJJ. He was featured as one of Bisping’s coaches on TUF.

Boxing coach Tony Quigley and his son Tony Quigley Jr. are an integral part of the gym’s coaching staff. Rampage was impressed by the instruction of Quigley and his son upon coming to train at Wolfslair, and now spends a substantial amount of his time working with them. Junior Olympic gold medalist Tony Quigley Jr. is a professional boxer with a record of 13-2.

Rampage and Kongo with Tapout members in Wolfslair apparel

Thai boxing coach Dave Jackson is renowned within the muay thai community for his expertise as a coach and his uniquely effective style of muay thai. Jackson has worked extensively with Rampage and Kongo. Kongo was very impressed with Jackson’s style of muay thai and instruction while initially training at Wolfslair, and he has now refined his skills training under him. Jackson was featured as one of Bisping’s coaches on TUF.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and 3-1 professional MMA fighter Kazeka Muniz is Wolfslair’s wrestling coach. Gwynn is the gym’s strength and conditioning coach in addition to being a co-owner.

The gym currently holds a roster with several UFC veterans, including Michael Bisping, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Cheick Kongo, Paul Kelly, and Mario “Sukata” Neto. Other notable fighters include Alex Cook, Tom Blackledge, Lukasz Les, Henrique Nogueira, Curt Warburton and Abdul Mohamed. Many top-level fighters travel to Wolfslair for training purposes, including Andre Arlovski, Ian Freeman, Dean Lister, Tiki Ghosn and Ricco Rodriguez.

Rampage recently took a leave from the UFC to star in the upcoming film, “The A Team.” A dispute with UFC President Dana White also contributed to his decision. Rampage coached the most recent season of TUF along with Rashad Evans. The two light-heavyweights are scheduled to fight on May 29 at UFC 114 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Paul Kelly is 1-1 since making the move to the UFC lightweight division. Kelly looks to improve his record when he faces Matt Veach on April 10 at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

After going 9-2 since his UFC debut, Cheick Kongo has lost his last two fights to top heavyweights Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir. Kongo hopes to avenge his losses and get back in the title picture with a win over Paul Buentello in the upcoming UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones on Mar. 23 in Broomfield, Colorado.

Cheick Kongo Training with Michael Bisping & Teammates @ Wolfslair (2008)

Fighters at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) have been very busy in the past month, many making a name for themselves, as fighters, in mainstream MMA, and others hope to improve their reputation in upcoming months.

Javier Mendez

The American Kickboxing Academy is a gym located in San Jose, California.  AKA’s training staff members have diverse sets of martial skills and come from very different backgrounds.  This diversity is the gym’s greatest strength, because it allows for the development of more well-rounded and intelligent MMA fighters.

AKA gained notoriety due to its talented and experienced training staff, as well as Javier “Thunder” Mendez’s success as a kickboxer and MMA trainer.  Mendez, the owner and head trainer at AKA, is a former ISKA World Kickboxing champion and Martial art practitioner with over 25 years of experience in various martial arts.

One fight UFC veteran “Crazy” Bob Cook is the head MMA trainer and head manager for MMA fighters at AKA. Cook holds a 5-0 undefeated record in MMA.  His last fight was at UFC 24 in March of 2000 in which he submitted Tiki Ghosen by rear-naked choke.

Head grappling coach David Camarillo is a black belt in both judo and brazilian jiu jitsu.  Camarillo holds various accomplishments, including winning several high-caliber grappling competitions and even winning the 1998 Folsom Free Fighting Challenge, a no holds barred fighting competition.

The remaining instructors at AKA vary in discipline and experience from professional MMA fighters to former professional boxers and kickboxers, muay tai practitioners and grappling specialists.  They include Jerome Turcan, Travis Johnson, Mike Sotelo, Andy Fong, Derek Yuen, Josh Thomson, Gary Owens, Stacey D. Dupree and Daniel DeTagle.

AKA Fighters

Herschel Walker

AKA holds a roster with considerable talent and a diversity of fighters in terms of martial strengths.  Its current roster includes numerous UFC veterans, including Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Phil Davis, Josh Thomson, Cain Velasquez, Paul Buentello, Trevor Prangley, Christian Wellisch, Richard Crunkilton, Bobby Southworth and Kyle Kingsbury.  AKA also has many Strikeforce veterans, including former Middleweight champion Cung Le, Herschel Walker, Billy Evangelista, Daniel Puder, Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, Justin Wilcox and Nate Moore.

AKA trains several fighters, competing in top-level organizations, who hold undefeated records.  These fighters include Phil Davis, Cain Velasquez, Billy Evangelista, Daniel Puder, Daniel Cormier and Herschel Walker

Phil Davis at UFC 109

Heisman trophy winner and 12 season NFL veteran Herschel Walker made his MMA debut on Jan. 30 at Strikeforce: Miami at the age of 47.  Walker took down and pummeled Greg Nagy, achieving a technical knock out in the third round (2:17).

Penn State graduate and NCAA wrestling champion Phil Davis won his UFC debut on Saturday at UFC 109.  Davis controlled the fight, dominating Brian Stann on the ground, and earned a unanimous decision victory.

Cain Velasquez will face off against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the main event of UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 21.  The winner will likely be a top-contender for the heavyweight title.

Cain Velasquez, Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck at AKA

UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch is scheduled to meet Thiago Alves at UFC 111 in Newark, NJ on Mar. 27.  Fitch is on a three fight win streak after losing a unanimous decision title match to Georges St. Pierre in August of 2008 at UFC 87.  Fitch defeated Alves by knock out in the second round (4:37) of their first meeting at UFC: Ultimate Fight Night 5 in June of 2006.

UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck is set to fight Paul Daley at UFC 113 in Montreal, Quebec on May 8.  Koscheck and Daley each hold a two fight win streak in the UFC coming into the fight.

AKA Fighters – Highlight Video