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Strikeforce Minute-by-Minute
By: Jake Rossen
The spectacle of play-by-play announcer Bruce Beck narrating the MMA demise of bugnuts boxer Ricardo Mayorga sounded too good to be true -- and it was. With Shine Fights scrapped, check this space starting at 10 p.m. ET for live coverage of Showtime’s Strikeforce show, headlined by Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers. There will be blood.
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Thomas, Mayorga Hit Marks for Shine Fights 3
By: Brian Knapp
American Top Team’s Din Thomas checked in at 158.6 pounds for his long-awaited showdown with former two-division boxing champion Ricardo Mayorga (159.8) in the Shine Fights 3 “Worlds Collide” headliner on Saturday at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C. The event will air live on pay-per-view.
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Thomas and Mayorga exchanged verbal barbs at Friday’s official weigh-in, leading to a shove from the latter. Order was quickly restored. -
Thomas and Mayorga Turn up the Volume
By: Jake Rossen
Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
In agreeing to fight Din Thomas in a mixed martial arts ring, Ricardo Mayorga is either brave or crazy. Surely he -- or his handlers -- understand that it will be impossible to stop the takedowns of a proficient grappler who suffers no age or size obstacles. Thomas has fought in MMA for nearly 12 years, has beaten accomplished men like Clay Guida and Matt Serra, and comes from a Miami American Top Team camp that habitually turns out very dangerous athletes. So long as Thomas does not stand still, Mayorga has no chance. Not a one.
He either knows this or he doesn’t, but judging from their press conference last Thursday in New York, he’s not going to bother worrying about it. Mayorga looked as though someone had let air into him: a once-defined jaw was buried under a beach-ball-shaped head; he lit a cigarette and blew smoke in Thomas’ face, then karate-chopped Thomas in the neck. It’s almost as if Mayorga knew he’d better put his show on while he had the time.
Shine Fights, the event promoter, plans to broadcast the bout on pay per view May 15. Most fans of MMA probably won’t care, particularly with a major UFC event the week prior and the Showtime debut of Alistair Overeem the very same night. But this is not necessarily bad news for them: Mayorga has the ability to capture the interest of boxing fans, several of whom have taken to YouTube and made comments about the press conference footage that implies MMA might be a haven for homosexuals. (Their terminology was less delicate.)
He is, strangely, the most high-profile boxer to ever make an attempt to deal with a kickboxer/grappler. For a fan of Mayorga’s who has little idea of what Thomas can do, that’s probably intriguing.
For others, Thomas himself summed it up. “[Mayorga]” he said, “is just a dumbass who doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into.” Read more -
On Ricardo Mayorga’s MMA Debut March 6
By: Jake Rossen
M. Alonso/Sherdog.com
I have a very limited understanding of Ricardo Mayorga or his boxing career, but the portions the mainstream media seemed to focus on were A). the exaggerated habit of lighting a cigarette immediately after a fight, and B). having little to no regard for his own health, having stuck his jaw out repeatedly at Vernon Forrest. He does not appear to be a man of sustained and rational thought. I could be wrong.
The news from the Mexican news service Notimex supports the idea that Mayorga may indeed be unwound: according to associate Rosendo Alvarez, the boxer intends to make his MMA debut March 6 in Florida’s Shine Fights against the veteran fighter Din Thomas.
This is appalling career strategy, of course, and if Thomas fights with intelligence, I cannot think of a reason he would not be able to plant Mayorga on the ground and shove his toe into his nose. This is not Mayorga’s zip code, and while Ray Mercer/Tim Sylvia remains an unlikely exception to the rule, it is not hard to forget Mercer once was choked out by an extremely green Kimbo Slice. Read more
