For all you long time MMA Fans out there, Step In is designing a LEGEND fight shirt and I mean Legend. Unfortunately, we can’t disclose who this MMA Legend is yet… … … ..., but he’s someone the MMA Industry knows, respects and appreciates.
I’m very excited to see the final concept come to life under our new Legend Series shirts. The legend Series will be a Step In exclusive solely dedicated to this fighter. Additionally look for our new Epic Fighter Series line-up which we’ll be launch later this year said Tom Watson, Vice President, Sales and Marketing.
Keep checking back at StepInGear.com for the release!
and remember… … .. You Can’t win, Until You Step In.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
UFC 116 gets a downgrade without Wanderlei Silva
The highly anticipated between fight between light heavyweight veterans Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1, 1NC) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1, 2NC) will have to wait. According to MMAFighting.com Silva has been forced to withdraw due to injury and MMAWeekly.com is reporting that Chris Leben (20-6) will step in to fight against Akiyama.
The Wanderlei Silva versus Yoshihiro Akiyama fight was originally going to happen in February at UFC 110 but when it didn’t materialize Silva was signed to face ultimate fighter season three winner Michael Bisping. Silva emerged victorious over Bisping by unanimous decision finally setting up the matchup with Akiyama at UFC 116.
Their fight was to be the night’s co-main event behind the mega heavyweight title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Unfortunately Silva hurt his ribs during training and fans will again be forced to wait to see The Axe Murderer versus Sexyama.
Stepping in is Chris Leben only 11 days before the fight and amazingly just 3 days removed from fighting. Leben just fought Aaron Simpson as part of the TUF 11 season final main card, winning by 2nd round TKO. The MMA community knew Leben loved to fight but two top level fights in 14 days is very rare and well pretty darn crazy, you are the man Chris Leben!
Akiyama is a decorated judoka and former K-1 HERO’S Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Winner. He made his UFC debut at UFC 100 against Alan Belcher, winning a very close split decisions that earned the both fight of the night honors. Akiyama has won 12 fights in a row and hasn’t lost in his last 14 fights dating back almost five years.
Losing Silva hurts the fight card that was anchored by the two main events end then though Leben is a fan favorite, there is a drop off. The fight will stay as the co-main event though and do not sleep on Leben, he will be a game opponent and is always dangerous. How his body will handle fighting again just two weeks removed will be a big key issue in the fight and something to watch.
Shout out to: MMA Valor
and remember... ...You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
The Wanderlei Silva versus Yoshihiro Akiyama fight was originally going to happen in February at UFC 110 but when it didn’t materialize Silva was signed to face ultimate fighter season three winner Michael Bisping. Silva emerged victorious over Bisping by unanimous decision finally setting up the matchup with Akiyama at UFC 116.
Their fight was to be the night’s co-main event behind the mega heavyweight title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Unfortunately Silva hurt his ribs during training and fans will again be forced to wait to see The Axe Murderer versus Sexyama.
Stepping in is Chris Leben only 11 days before the fight and amazingly just 3 days removed from fighting. Leben just fought Aaron Simpson as part of the TUF 11 season final main card, winning by 2nd round TKO. The MMA community knew Leben loved to fight but two top level fights in 14 days is very rare and well pretty darn crazy, you are the man Chris Leben!
Akiyama is a decorated judoka and former K-1 HERO’S Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Winner. He made his UFC debut at UFC 100 against Alan Belcher, winning a very close split decisions that earned the both fight of the night honors. Akiyama has won 12 fights in a row and hasn’t lost in his last 14 fights dating back almost five years.
Losing Silva hurts the fight card that was anchored by the two main events end then though Leben is a fan favorite, there is a drop off. The fight will stay as the co-main event though and do not sleep on Leben, he will be a game opponent and is always dangerous. How his body will handle fighting again just two weeks removed will be a big key issue in the fight and something to watch.
Shout out to: MMA Valor
and remember... ...You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Injured Wanderlei Silva out of UFC 116, Co-Headliner Replacement Search Underway
Cracked ribs have forced Wanderlei Silva out of next weekend's UFC 116 co-headliner with Yoshihiro Akiyama.
That's the word from UFC president Dana White, who today confirmed the injury with MMAFighting.com.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) could not immediately reach Silva or his representatives for details, but a search is underway for a replacement.
UFC 116 takes place July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Silva vs. Akiyama had been given second billing on the night's pay-per-view broadcast behind a heavyweight title-unification bout between champ Brock Lesnar and interim title-holder Shane Carwin.
The bout between Akiyama (13-1-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Silva (33-10-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) had been rumored for a half year before UFC officials finally put it together.
Silva was coming off a triumphant return to the win, which came via a unanimous-decision victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 110. The victory followed back-to-back losses to Quinton Jackson and Rich Franklin.
Akiyama, meanwhile, has been inactive since his UFC debut this past July at UFC 100, where he defeated Alan Belcher via close split decision for his 11th straight victory.
Shout out to MMAJunkie.com
and remember.. ... You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
That's the word from UFC president Dana White, who today confirmed the injury with MMAFighting.com.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) could not immediately reach Silva or his representatives for details, but a search is underway for a replacement.
UFC 116 takes place July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Silva vs. Akiyama had been given second billing on the night's pay-per-view broadcast behind a heavyweight title-unification bout between champ Brock Lesnar and interim title-holder Shane Carwin.
The bout between Akiyama (13-1-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Silva (33-10-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) had been rumored for a half year before UFC officials finally put it together.
Silva was coming off a triumphant return to the win, which came via a unanimous-decision victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 110. The victory followed back-to-back losses to Quinton Jackson and Rich Franklin.
Akiyama, meanwhile, has been inactive since his UFC debut this past July at UFC 100, where he defeated Alan Belcher via close split decision for his 11th straight victory.
Shout out to MMAJunkie.com
and remember.. ... You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
Court McGee, TUF 11 Alums Survive
Few fighters in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship know what it’s like to scrape themselves off the deck and win an important bout as much as Chris Leben.
And Leben, who stopped Aaron Simpson in the second round of his fight Saturday on “The Ultimate Fighter Finale” at the Palms Casino, knew the men sitting on each side of him had done just as much.
To Leben’s right was light heavyweight Matt Hamill, who made it to the UFC despite being deaf. Hamill, who won a majority decision over Keith Jardine in the co-main event that earned each man a $25,000 bonus for Fight of the Night, had a series of maladies bothering him on Saturday.
He had a sore on his back that he said is a Staph infection. He broke his left hand early in the first round. He was poked in the eye. And he said he had a series of other injuries. “What wasn’t hurt?” Hamill said, joking, after arguably the most significant win of his career.
To Leben’s left was Court McGee, who won the TUF 11 title by tapping out Kris McCray with a rear naked choke in the second round. McGee is a former heroin addict who was once declared clinically dead.
McGee broke up Saturday as he accepted “The Ultimate Fighter” plaque from UFC president Dana White in the cage. Asked later about his emotions, McGee said it was because of the struggle he had to get to the top.
“That was seven years all in one minute right there,” McGee said of the moment when he broke down and cried. “I dedicate that fight to anyone who’s struggling. If you came from where I came from to get to where I’m at today, you’d have done the same thing.”
Leben shook his head knowingly as McGee spoke. Leben’s got enough personal demons to fill a set of encyclopedias.
He said all fighters are wired differently than the average person and said that’s what makes them good at what they do.
“Fighters are like strippers: They ain’t paying their way through college,” Leben said. “If you don’t understand what that means, you have to realize that there is always something underlying with all of us. Nobody in their right mind, no normal, sane person, goes ‘[expletive] college, screw my guidance counselor. I’m going to put all my chips in one basket to become a cage fighter so I can get the crap kicked out of me in front of other people.’ Obviously, there is something wrong going on there.
“This guy (McGee) right here is the perfect example. It’s that obsessive energy that we have that makes us different. It’s that obsessive energy that, yeah, makes me cause a lot of problems for myself in my life. But look, look at where he’s at now, willing to do whatever it is. Most fighters I know do whatever they do 110 percent.
For me, it’s all or nothing,” he said. “It’s either full throttle or nothing. Either I’m eating ice cream and candy or I’m dieting 100 percent. I’m yin and yang. If I go out and have a drink, I’m going to go out and get [expletive] trashed. I know that. That’s why I’m not going to do that tonight. It’s the same thing in the ring and it’s that type of personality that makes all of us up here in front of you, it’s what got us here. We all have something like that in us.”
The win for Hamill was probably the biggest of his career. He’s coming off a victory over the highly regarded Jon Jones, but that came by disqualification in a fight in which he was being handled fairly easily.
On Saturday, Hamill pushed the pace and outslugged Jardine in a back-and-forth bloody fight in which guts and desire played as big of a role as talent. Hamill got inadvertently poked in the eye in the second round by Jardine and went to the mat in pain.
But he wasn’t about to give in.
“I fought my heart out,” Hamill said. “He poked me in the eye and I thought I was going to be blind as well as deaf. That’s two major handicaps. Bottom line is, I wasn’t giving up. I was going to go all out.”
Jardine went all out in an attempt to break a three-fight losing skein. He came at Hamill hard, but never landed the huge fight-changing punch he needed.
The loss was his fourth in a row and the fifth in his last six fights. White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva are going to have a very difficult discussion in the next several days about Jardine’s future with the promotion.
He laid it all on the line on Saturday, but he came up short again.
But the theme of the night was overcoming odds. Leben did it, overcoming a broken home, a drinking problem and an arm’s length of other woes. Hamill did it, getting past deafness to become one of the top mixed martial arts fighters in the world.
And McGee, who was declared clinically dead, rallied from his addiction to black tar heroin, among other things, to make something of himself as a fighter. Even once he qualified for the show, he did so with next-to-no money in his pocket.
“I was only making about $100 more a month than I had to spend in bills,” he said.
McGee lost a controversial first-round fight to Nick Ring, but got back into the competition when Rich Attonito broke his hand and had to withdraw. He progressively got better each time out.
Like Hamill, he’s going to become an inspirational figure for those who are down and seemingly out.
“There’s nothing too much to overcome if you really want it enough and care enough,” McGee said. “I’m the perfect example of that. I was as low as a human being could get, not that low ago, and look where I am right now. Incredible.”
and remember... ...You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
And Leben, who stopped Aaron Simpson in the second round of his fight Saturday on “The Ultimate Fighter Finale” at the Palms Casino, knew the men sitting on each side of him had done just as much.
To Leben’s right was light heavyweight Matt Hamill, who made it to the UFC despite being deaf. Hamill, who won a majority decision over Keith Jardine in the co-main event that earned each man a $25,000 bonus for Fight of the Night, had a series of maladies bothering him on Saturday.
He had a sore on his back that he said is a Staph infection. He broke his left hand early in the first round. He was poked in the eye. And he said he had a series of other injuries. “What wasn’t hurt?” Hamill said, joking, after arguably the most significant win of his career.
To Leben’s left was Court McGee, who won the TUF 11 title by tapping out Kris McCray with a rear naked choke in the second round. McGee is a former heroin addict who was once declared clinically dead.
McGee broke up Saturday as he accepted “The Ultimate Fighter” plaque from UFC president Dana White in the cage. Asked later about his emotions, McGee said it was because of the struggle he had to get to the top.
“That was seven years all in one minute right there,” McGee said of the moment when he broke down and cried. “I dedicate that fight to anyone who’s struggling. If you came from where I came from to get to where I’m at today, you’d have done the same thing.”
Leben shook his head knowingly as McGee spoke. Leben’s got enough personal demons to fill a set of encyclopedias.
He said all fighters are wired differently than the average person and said that’s what makes them good at what they do.
“Fighters are like strippers: They ain’t paying their way through college,” Leben said. “If you don’t understand what that means, you have to realize that there is always something underlying with all of us. Nobody in their right mind, no normal, sane person, goes ‘[expletive] college, screw my guidance counselor. I’m going to put all my chips in one basket to become a cage fighter so I can get the crap kicked out of me in front of other people.’ Obviously, there is something wrong going on there.
“This guy (McGee) right here is the perfect example. It’s that obsessive energy that we have that makes us different. It’s that obsessive energy that, yeah, makes me cause a lot of problems for myself in my life. But look, look at where he’s at now, willing to do whatever it is. Most fighters I know do whatever they do 110 percent.
For me, it’s all or nothing,” he said. “It’s either full throttle or nothing. Either I’m eating ice cream and candy or I’m dieting 100 percent. I’m yin and yang. If I go out and have a drink, I’m going to go out and get [expletive] trashed. I know that. That’s why I’m not going to do that tonight. It’s the same thing in the ring and it’s that type of personality that makes all of us up here in front of you, it’s what got us here. We all have something like that in us.”
The win for Hamill was probably the biggest of his career. He’s coming off a victory over the highly regarded Jon Jones, but that came by disqualification in a fight in which he was being handled fairly easily.
On Saturday, Hamill pushed the pace and outslugged Jardine in a back-and-forth bloody fight in which guts and desire played as big of a role as talent. Hamill got inadvertently poked in the eye in the second round by Jardine and went to the mat in pain.
But he wasn’t about to give in.
“I fought my heart out,” Hamill said. “He poked me in the eye and I thought I was going to be blind as well as deaf. That’s two major handicaps. Bottom line is, I wasn’t giving up. I was going to go all out.”
Jardine went all out in an attempt to break a three-fight losing skein. He came at Hamill hard, but never landed the huge fight-changing punch he needed.
The loss was his fourth in a row and the fifth in his last six fights. White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva are going to have a very difficult discussion in the next several days about Jardine’s future with the promotion.
He laid it all on the line on Saturday, but he came up short again.
But the theme of the night was overcoming odds. Leben did it, overcoming a broken home, a drinking problem and an arm’s length of other woes. Hamill did it, getting past deafness to become one of the top mixed martial arts fighters in the world.
And McGee, who was declared clinically dead, rallied from his addiction to black tar heroin, among other things, to make something of himself as a fighter. Even once he qualified for the show, he did so with next-to-no money in his pocket.
“I was only making about $100 more a month than I had to spend in bills,” he said.
McGee lost a controversial first-round fight to Nick Ring, but got back into the competition when Rich Attonito broke his hand and had to withdraw. He progressively got better each time out.
Like Hamill, he’s going to become an inspirational figure for those who are down and seemingly out.
“There’s nothing too much to overcome if you really want it enough and care enough,” McGee said. “I’m the perfect example of that. I was as low as a human being could get, not that low ago, and look where I am right now. Incredible.”
and remember... ...You Can't Win, Until You STEP IN.
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