UFC on FX: Belfort TKOs Bisping

Vitor Belfort won’t get a title shot in the immediate future.

His TKO victory of Michael Bisping in the second round of UFC on FX 7 on Saturday centrally made the Brazilian middleweight relevant again, so much so he wants to move up a weight class and take on Jon Jones at April’s UFC 159 — a fight where Chael Sonnen will challenge for the light heavyweight crown.

“I want to get that belt,” said Beflort, a former UFC champ who lost to Jones via a submission in September. “Take that punk, Chael Sonnen, I don’t even know your name, and get out. (UFC president) Dana (White) and (UFC co-owner) Lorenzo (Fertitta), kick him out. I want to fight Jon Jones. Take that clown away. Go home. Let me fight the champ. Champ vs. champ.”

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER

Jon Jones. Chael Sonnen. What more could you want? Season premiereTuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FX.

Belfort looked much more impressive against Bisping, who — unlike Belfort — would have gotten a shot at the middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva with a victory. Belfort first stunned the boisterous Bisping late in the first round with a kick.

While time ran out before he could follow it up in the first, he unleashed a left kick to Bisping’s temple early in the second. The shot dropped Bisping and Belfort followed with a series of fists before the referee stopped the fight a minute, 27 seconds into the second round.

“You win some. You lose some,” Bisping said. “I am not going away. Trust me.”

The KO earned Belfort the $50,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus and his post-fight comments earned him the ire of Sonnen.

“Let me be really, really clear and speak directly to you, Vitor,” said Sonnen, a Fuel TV analyst. “You’re telling the world that you want to meet Jesus and I will gladly arrange that travel. First, I’m going to get rid of Jon Jones.

“Let me be clear: I accept. You called me out twice now.”

FIGHT GALLERY

Take a look at the most brutal shots from UFC on FX 7.

The rest of the main card did not disappoint.

In the opening fight on FX, Khabib Nurmagomedov made UFC fans (and UFC bloggers who didn’t want to have to type his name multiple times) very happy when he made short work of Thiago Tavares. Nurmagomedov caught Tavares with a deft punch, leveling the Brazilian to the canvas. He then pounced with a series of vicious elbows, forcing the fight to be stopped inside of two minutes of the first round.

The Brazilian crowd received a boon in the second bout when their countryman Gabriel Gonzaga kept the action rolling, defeating Ben Rothwell in two rounds. Gonzaga showed great versatility for a heavyweight, controlling the striking game and pressuring Rothwell with a series of takedowns. Gonzaga outworked Rothwell, to the delight of the crowd, sinking in a guillotine choke for the finish.

And Daniel Sarafian, who had to miss the finale of TUF Brazil due to injury, entered the Octagon and put on a showcase with fellow middleweight C.B. Dollaway that earned "Fight of the Night" honors. With the entire country firmly in his corner, Sarafian came out blazing, delivering combinations and a wicked overhand right that rocked Dollaway early and often.

It wasn’t until the middle of round two that Dollaway turned the tides, implementing a counter right that opened up his grappling game. With the fight spending more time on the ground, Dollaway dealt damage to Sarafian diminishing his stamina. This led to a gutsy third round where the fighters constantly flopped dominant position, leaving the judges in a quandary. In the end, the judges sided with Dollaway in a split decision that caused some of the loudest booing ever to drown out a post-fight interview.

From: FOXSports.com’s Eric Pierce

‘American Idol’: Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban unveiled

By Lisa de Moraes From: http://www.washingtonpost.com

Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson at the New York auditions. (Michael Becker - Fox)

“American Idol” is going to bring us it’s A game this season because it took a licking in the ratings last spring.

History has shown us that an American Idol can do anything, show host Ryan Seacrest says, by way of reminding us “Idol” churns out star — well some seasons anyway — while the other singing shows have yet to cough up a single one.

To prove his point, we see pawn-shop staffer Phil Phillips perform his hit “Home,” and Carrie Underwood winning things, and Carrie Underwood thanking fans, and Kelly Clarkson winning stuff too.

You know who else Can Do Anything? Jennifer Hudson! Except, of course, win an “American Idol” competition, which “Idol” is too polite to point out.

This season we’ve got all new judges – except Randy, who got to stick around when some better idea fell through.

Keith Urban is the competition’s first country judge – about time. And Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey can fight anywhere – even in the elevator, on the way to the first day of auditions, over a drum majorette hat. Mariah doesn’t think Nicki should be allowed to put her plumed hat on the judges’ desk unless Mariah gets to bring her dog to work.

Nicki, conversely, doesn’t think Mariah should be allowed to give her hat nasty looks in the elevator.

They also have a strong disagreement over the finer points of the flick “Mean Girls.” And they’re miles apart on the relative importance of “All I Want for Christmas.”

Mariah finally warns Nicki that if she calls her anything that “starts with a ‘B’ and ends with an ‘itch’ — I rebuke it!”

“It’s the dawn of a brand new season — together we’ll take the journey that defines a nation,” Seacrest explains.

When not busy catterwauling, the judges audition some wannabe Idolettes.

In addition to the virtually all-new judge panel, “American Idol” unveils another new feature: American Idol Ambush, in which someone who had no intention of auditioning for the show is dragged out of a bar in which they were happily performing, given an “Idol” audition number, slapped in front of the judges and then….rejected!

Kobe gets record 15th straight All-Star start

From: http://www.nba.com

Posted Jan 17, 2013 8:20 PM

New York (AP) -- Kobe Bryant has been voted to his NBA-record 15th consecutive All-Star start, leading four Los Angeles players into next month's game.

Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers' Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will join Bryant in the Western Conference lineup for theFeb. 17 game in Houston. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, the MVP of last year's game, rounds out the five.

Kevin Garnett held off Chris Bosh in fan balloting, giving the East two Boston Celtics and two Miami Heat players. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will represent the defending champions and receive passes from Rajon Rondo. New York's Carmelo Anthony is the other starter.

Bryant finished with 1,591,437 votes, edging James by about 7,800 to finish as the leading vote-getter and break a tie with Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive starting nods.

The NBA's leading scorer is a four-time MVP of the All-Star game and last year became its career scoring leader.

Garnett beat Bosh, who took to Twitter to stump for votes in the final days of balloting, by about 25,000 votes. He tied Bryant and O'Neal for second all-time with his 15th selection behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was elected to 19 games.

It's the second straight year that Los Angeles teams will make up four players. Last year it was Bryant, Paul, Griffin and Andrew Bynum, who was dealt to Philadelphia in part of the deal that sent Howard from Orlando to Los Angeles.

The ballot changed this year, eliminating the center position. Fans were required to vote for three frontcourt players and two guards.

They picked an interesting mix in the East. Anthony and Garnett exchanged words during a game on Jan. 7 and Anthony was suspended a game by the NBA when he tried to confront Garnett afterward in the tunnel area and by the team bus.

Rondo was injured in the playoffs two years ago after getting tangled up with Wade and landing awkwardly on his arm, part of what's become a tense rivalry between the Celtics and Heat.

Reserves will be announced next Thursday. Coaches will vote for seven players in their conferences: two guards, three frontcourt players and two players regardless of position, and can't vote for a player on their own team.