TruSoldier Blog http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog TruSoldier Blog Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:15:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Couture and Nogueira Fight Epic Battle in UFC 102 (Note: Outcome of Fights Revealed) http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=43 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=43#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:15:35 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=43 Randy Couture finally got to fight in his hometown in Oregon, and both he and Antonio Nogueira put on a show for the fans that will be shown for years to come. In what was easily hailed as the “Fight of the Night” by the UFC, the two legends met for the first time in the Octagon in what seems to be the twilight of their phenomenal careers. Both fighters have been in the sport since the beginning, and between the two heavyweights they have held 10 combined title belts in both the UFC and PRIDE. Nogueira, nicknamed “Minotauro” by his fans, has fought the best of the best on both Pride and UFC. One of the unique highlights of his career is when he became the first (and only) MMA fighter to simultaneously hold title belts in both organizations, making him the only fighter to successfully unify the belts. Dan Henderson attempted to accomplish the same feat in the middleweight and light heavyweight classes, but was defeated by both Anderson Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson respectively. Randy “The Natural” Couture is a UFC Hall of Famer who has seemed to defy aging process somehow. Every time fans think he has come to the end of his career, he reappears to fight once again…and again…and again. And if that’s not enough to amaze spectators, he actually gets BETTER as he gets older. Only one word to describe the legend…amazing. At the young age of 46, Randy has amassed multiple world titles in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions of the UFC…five total to be exact. Although BJ Penn has also matched the feat of capturing championships in two separate weight classes, no one has done it as many times as Couture. Although Randy lost a decision on Saturday against Nogueira, Randy once again displayed his immortal status among the elite fighters. This fight was definitely filled with suspense as the two battled it out on the ground, in the clinch, toe to toe dirty boxing, and pretty much everything else inbetween! Neither fighter tired, and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it went five rounds. There were no real losers in the main event as Randy showed once again that age means nothing, and Noguiera proved to the world of MMA that he is still one of the best heavyweights in the world and a top contender for the UFC belt again. Not only did Antonio Nogueira display his outstanding jiu jitsu by almost submitting Randy via arm triangle and rear-naked choke, but he also beat Randy in the stand-up game…silencing his critics that he had poor boxing skills. I really think both these fighters brought their very best “A” game to the fight this past weekend, and I can’t wait to see them fight their next challengers. There are rumors that Randy may drop to the light heavyweight division, reminiscent of his move years ago when he dropped down to take on Chuck Liddell for the belt…and then actually defeating him. He has openly admitted that he would love the challenge of taking on Anderson Silva or the current LT HWT champ Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. The fact that he is always looking for the most challenging and exciting fights is what keeps the fans coming back for more!

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=43 0 DaMarques Johnson Added To UFC 105 Fight Card! http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=41 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=41#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:38:15 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=41 Ultimate Fighter Season 9 runner up DaMarques Johnson is set to make his return to the Octagon at UFC 105 against Peter Sobatta according to sources. DaMarques was considered the best American fighter on the show last season, and was a favorite to win the Ultimate Fighter trophy until he came up short against James Wilks in the finale. Throughout the reality show itself he displayed both his talent as a fighter and charismatic personality that drew tons of attention from fight fans all over the country. DaMarques was clearly disappointed by his loss to Wilks, especially after destroying his prior competition with wins over Ray Elbe, Dean Amasinger and Nick Osipczak. It is a certainty that DaMarques will return to the Octagon in UFC 105 with determination and vengeance as he looks to return to his winning “man dance” form.
-DaMarques trains at Jeremy Horn’s Elite Performance in Salt Lake City and is sponsored by Tru Soldier.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=41 0 Nick Rossborough Wins Elite Fight Night Co-main Event http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=36 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=36#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:11:06 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=36 On August 14th Jeremy Horn’s Elite Fight Night, held at the Davis Convention Center (Layton, Utah), displayed the talent of some of the best fighters in Utah. All the fights were exciting, and every Fight Night production seems to out-do the last one! Among the most anticipated fights were the co-main events. Elite Performance and Tru Soldier fighter, Nick Rossborough, displayed his elite arsenal of jiu jitsu and grappling skills in the second to last fight of the event. His opponent was no walk through the park either. Ben Fuimaono is a big light heavyweight, and dropped a ton of weight to meet Nick at 205 pounds. Nick usually walks around at 205 pounds and then cuts down to the 185lbs middleweight division, but decided not to cut any pounds to make this fight happen. Ben is known for his heavy hands and stand-up game, and his raw striking power was definitely on display during the fight. The fight was pretty much a draw until the third round. Ben landed some “bombs,” and Nick delivered some knee strikes from the clinch plus scored some takedowns as well. Once the third round commenced you could tell Nick was starting to effectively neutralize Ben’s striking with his jiu jitsu. The fight ended up on the ground at that point, and Rossborough got his back and simultaneously secured a rear-naked choke for the submission. It was an entertaining back and forth fight for the fans, and certainly one of the best battles of the night. When asked what was next for Nick during the post-fight interview, he responded with “I will fight anyone put in front of me.”
-Nick Rossborough trains at Jeremy Horn’s Elite Performance and is sponsored by Tru Soldier, Elite Performance, Ripped Fitness, Jaco Clothing Company, Lovesac, and Hungry Trout Cigars. Check out hornelite.com for the next Elite Fight Night in Utah!

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=36 0 Tru Soldier’s Nick Rossborough Set For Horn’s Elite Fight Night http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=34 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=34#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:28:28 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=34 Jeremy Horn’s Elite Fight Night is set to commence on Friday night at the Davis Convention Center in Layton Utah. If local MMA fans have not gotten their tickets yet, go to hornselite.com and find the “ticket” link. Tru Soldier’s Nick Rossborough is the co-main event along with Elite Performance teammate Travis Marx. It should be a real good night of MMA fights which will showcase some of Utah’s best. Stop by the Tru Soldier booth and meet Ultimate Fighter Season 9 finalist DaMarques Johnson, and pick up a shirt or two as a souvenir while you’re at it!

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=34 0 UFC 101 Recap (Do NOT read if you do not want to know the outcome!) http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=32 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=32#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:13:27 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=32 The outcome of the two co-main events last Saturday was no surprise to most fight fans. There were no upsets, but it did confirm a few things. First of all, Anderson Silva eliminated any doubts in the world of mixed martial arts that there is a better pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Second, BJ Penn showed us how dominant he really is in lightweight division. And third, the well-roundedness of the winners of the co-main events really depict how far the sport of MMA has really come since the beginning in the early ’90s.

Gone are the days where raw talent or one-dimensional fighters even stand a chance of breaking into the top tier of MMA fighters. After 100 UFCs, we now see REAL world class athletes who are in elite physical condition and true experts in multiple disciplines. In my opinion the current UFC champs are the real deal, and are the best we have seen yet. In three of the divisions we have future hall of famers who are so dominant at this point in time, that Dana White is actually considering more “super fights” of champion vs. champion…basically because the next runner’s up in their classes wouldn’t be as exciting. Take Anderson Silva for instance. The next best middle weight really is former champ Rich Franklin. Silva literally annihilated Franklin to take his belt in the past, and then annihilated him again when Rich tried to get it back. If it weren’t for Silva, Rich would most likely still be champion…and if that were the case he would be the best ever at middleweight! That just shows how much better Anderson Silva is than any other middle weight. The only other person Rich has lost to in the UFC is Dan Henderson (a legend himself), and that was a controversial decision victory. So now we see Anderson moving up to challenge the light heavy weights at 205lbs…basically out of boredom. Franklin has moved up to 205 as well. So what has Silva done since he moved up? He continued the carnage by decimating three 205-pounders consecutively. The last time anyone even went the distance with Silva was when he fought Jeremy Horn years ago! His fight last weekend against former light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin was almost embarassing to the former champ if it weren’t for Silva’s reputation to begin with. Forrest is no joke, and is one of the best in his division…so the question now is how far can Anderson Silva go before someone finally takes him down? Does he just win every belt until he finds himself face to face with Brock Lesnar? That would be interesting. Silva is friends with current light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida, and they both said they would refuse to fight each other. So I don’t think Silva’s fight for the 205 belt will happen anytime soon unless Lyoto gets knocked off his pedestal.

That brings us to BJ Penn’s fight. BJ is nicknamed the Prodigy because of his raw abilities and natural talent. In the past he often would come into fights and win even when he was visibly not in his best shape, and that in itself threatened his legacy as one of the best fighters ever. Why? Because as the sport of MMA grew, fighters became more and more like real world class conditioned athletes. BJ didn’t get the memo and we saw him start to lose some fights. Not anymore. Last Saturday we saw the best BJ Penn ever, and there may be even more to come! BJ is one of those guys that gets bored beating people, slacks off, and is only motivated by the prospect of not being number one. When he lost back to back fights against George St. Pierre and Matt Hughes, a fire was lit inside him, and his conditioning improved ever since. The only fight he has not dominated since that time is his rematch against St. Pierre, when BJ decided he was going to move up a weight class and challenge the welterweight champ to be the first to hold belts in more than one division simultaneously. The number one contender, Kenny Florian, is truly a top contender…and BJ walked right through him.

All in all UFC 101 was predictable…but it was amazing to watch two of the best fighters in the world show us just why they are the real deal. Coming up…UFC 102 Couture vs Nogueira. Check out UFC.COM for the full fight card. This is sure to be a good one even if it is just to watch the “Natural” back in action! At 45 years old he is still headlining UFC fights…incredible. Win or lose, at this point in time his ability to compete with the best is in itself a phenomenom.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=32 0 Fedor Signs With Strikeforce http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=29 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=29#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:17:08 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=29 It is no surprise that Fedor has signed with Strikeforce just over a week ago. Fedor has pledged his full allegiance to M-1, and there was no way he was willing to part with his long-time promoters to sign an exclusive deal with the UFC. Strikeforce and M-1 are both co-promoting the next event starring Fedor, and at least fight fans will get to see Fedor fight again soon. It completely blows my mind however, that Fedor rather turn down an opportunity to secure his legacy as perhaps the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, just to maintain loyalty to a promoter. Fedor has said that if the UFC wants him that bad they will come up with a deal that encompasses M-1 as a co-promoter. Unfortunately we all know Dana White will never go for that. I have a feeling Strikeforce will not be around indefinitely, so it will be interesting to see what route Fedor takes once Srtikeforce falls just like the others who have risen to challenge the mighty UFC. Already Dana White has begun his crush-the-Strikeforce campaign this past Wednesday when he called the organization “Strikefarce” in a pre-UFC101 press conference. He also has already started to proclaim that Fedor isn’t the best of all time because he has not fought the “best” of the heavyweights in the world since he was in PRIDE years ago. He knows the fans want to see a Fedor-Lesnar fight in the UFC, and he won’t stop until he gets the fight set up.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=29 0 Tito Ortiz Back In The UFC? http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=27 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=27#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:21:40 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=27 On any other day this would be the story of the week, but with the collapse of Affliction as a fight promoter, Tito’s possible return to the UFC takes a back seat. Dana White and Tito Ortiz have apparently “buried the hatchet”… and don’t “hate” each other anymore. This news can be very big for the UFC and could not have happened at a better time. Even though Tito is arguably past his prime, he is still a tremendous ticket seller who may possibly have one more shot at the light heavyweight title. One has to question whether the Affliction news helped facilitate this at all. Dana and Tito were the biggest enemies the last time Tito fought in the UFC, and Dana said Tito would never fight in the UFC again. The feud built up over time culminating when Tito wore a shirt to the Lyoto Machida fight weigh-ins which read: “Dana White is my bitch.” It just seems too coincidental that all of a sudden Tito and Dana are “friends” again, and Tito is going to be back in the UFC despite Dana stopping short of actually admitting to it. All I have to say is that Dana White is a really good businessman who never ceases to amaze me. Rumor also has it that the UFC is planning something really impressive that will be the biggest news in the world of MMA…as if last week wasn’t enough. One of Dana White’s special guests to UFC100 was the ESPN Executive John Skipper. Who knows what he is cooking up there, but maybe we will see UFC now on ESPN or ABC or some giant network now that it is king of Pay-per-view, Spike and Versus. On July 31st the UFC will hold a press conference where Dana White stated he would unveil a laundry list of “crazy things” that “will blow everyone’s minds.” All this recent news is exciting, but not really surprising when you realize how fast the sport is growing on its way to becoming mainstream.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=27 0 Affliction Cancel’s Trilogy Event…Then Folds! http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=26 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=26#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:17:11 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=26 Last week was a crazy week in the world of MMA culminating with Affliction backed Strikeforce (the second biggest MMA org in the US after UFC since the collapse of EliteXC) folding their promotion of MMA events. Affliction then announced that they were now back with Zuffa in promoting the UFC and its fighters. Huh?! So now Zuffa truly has a MMA monopoly, at least here in the US. Affliction as a fight promoter has now joined the ranks of the defunct which include Pride Fighting Championship and EliteXC. That is HUGE! So let’s back pedal a little bit to put this in perspective for everyone. Affliction was probably going to fold its fight promoting gig in the near future anyway, but Josh Barnett, the heavyweight challenger for Fedor, and main event for Affliction: Trilogy, came up positive for steroids when the fight was scheduled for next Saturday. Strikeforce ran around like chickens with their heads cut off until they finally threw their hands in the air and pulled the plug after not being able to find a suitable last minute opponent for Fedor. Since they lost so much money they probably just decided to call it quits early.
The collapse of Strikeforce now leaves Fedor (considered the best heavyweight fighter ever) looking for a new stage to promote himself. He is currently ranked #1 in the world for the heavyweights and arguably one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Fedor will probably have no choice but to sign with the UFC and fight Lesner for the undisputed belt if he plans on ever solidifying his legacy in the history books. In the wake of these events I bet the UFC signs a compromising deal with Fedor as soon as next week. UFC 100 brought in the 5th highest grossing viewers at one time on pay-per-view with 1.5 million people tuning in for the event. Although Dana White and the Ferttita brothers have been criticized for their strict constraints on their fighters and less than impressive pay-outs, it is undeniable that the UFC has always been king, and is now even more permanently the king of MMA. Fedor would have to be crazy to keep on avoiding the UFC after this week.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=26 1 Jeremy Horn’s Elite Fight night! http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=19 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=19#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:53:51 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=19 Jeremy Horn's Elite Fight Night Featuring Nick Rossborough!!

Jeremy Horn's Elite Fight Night Featuring Nick Rossborough!!

Don’t miss out! Our next event is right around the corner. Avoid the lines and get your tickets online now. The fight card is posted at http://www.hornselite.com/fightcard/10 . Don’t forget first row ringside tickets are $75.00, second row are $50.00 and general admission is $25.00.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=19 0 Damarques Johnson http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=16 http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=16#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:04:36 +0000 admin http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?p=16 Damarques put on an amazing show on throughout the Ultimate fighter TV series and Tru Soldier would like to congratulate him on starting his career off in a big way. We are confident that Damarques will go on to great things and continue to dominate in the ring with his relaxed style. We also want to thank Damarques “Darkness” Johnson for working with Tru Soldier on his darkness line and for his continued support of Tru Soldier and of injured veterans.

]]> http://www.trusoldiergear.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=16 0