Sarah Kaufman is the latest in a string of big-name MMA retirements, while Bigfoot Silva was knocked out yet again. Bit of a down note, but there’s that and a fair bit more in your latest Sunday MMA Quick Hits!
Former Strikeforce, Invicta FC Champ Sarah Kaufman Retires
MMA sure has seen a whole lot of retirements of late. Cowboy Cerrone, Jessica Eye, Felice Herrig, Roxanne Modafferi earlier this year. And in case you missed it, former UFC fighter, Strikeforce champ and Invicta FC champ Sarah Kaufman has called it a career.
Kaufman (22-5, 1NC) announced the news on social media, months removed from her last fight, a dominant TKO win over Bellator alum Jessy Miele at BTC 13 last November, in her native Canada.
Kaufman had gone on record expressing a desire to sign on with a bigger promotion and return to her natural weight class, bantamweight, following that featherweight fight. Seems it’s not to be. Announcing the news and thanking her supporters, Kaufman added “I am sad the journey has ended but am also at peace knowing I gave everything I could to the sport of MMA. I hope I left it better than when I started.”
She most certainly did.
Former Manager of Stipe Miocic Wounded in Attack that Kills Mother, Grandmother
Jim Walter, a former manager of UFC talents including Stipe Miocic and Anthony Smith, has been hospitalized after being wounded in a stabbing incident that has left his mother and grandmother dead.
The suspect in the case, Walter’s brother Joseph, was also undergoing medical treatment, but was expected to be charged with two counts of aggravated murder, according to an early report by Ohio’s WKYC.
The incident occurred on the 4th of July, at a home the suspect shared with his mother, 62-year-old Laurene Worthington. Walter’s grandmother, 85-year-old Carol Jereb, was pronounced dead after being transported to a nearby hospital, was was Worthington.
Joseph Walter will potentially be facing the death penalty as a result of the charges.
Juliana Velasquez Loses Appeal
Former Bellator women’s flyweight champ Juliana Velasquez has lost an appeal seeking to overturn the result of her title fight against Liz Carmouche back in April.
The bout, which took place at Belaltor 278 in Honolulu, saw Carmouche secure a fourth-round TKO when referee Mike Beltran stopped the fight with just 13 seconds left in the round. Velasquez had eaten a number of unanswered elbows from Carmouche, who had the champ on her back. Prior to that point, Velasquez had been ahead on the scorecards.
Velasquez’s team argued that the ref had blown the call, and was supported by a letter from former official “Big” John McCarthy, who now serves as part of the Bellator MMA broadcast team, working as an analyst.
However, as MMA Fighting reports, the Hawaiian commission has refused to review or overturn the result of the fight. In way of explanation, the commission noted that “referees shall stop the contest when, in the referee’s judgment, either of the contestants shows a marked superiority or is apparently outclassed.”
More UFC X Highlights
A game of Head’s Up with Cub Swanson, who was just inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s Fight Wing.
Marc Ratner discusses his new book.
Nina Danielle says she had 3 billion followers on MySpace.
Claudia Gadelha is staying in shape in retirement.
Jens Pulver on Twitch streaming.
That’s a wrap from International Fight Week!
Bigfoot Knocked Out Again, This Time in Boxing
Stop, stop! He’s already dead.
Okay, wrong clip. But can we stop putting Bigfoot Silva in fights of any kind at this point? It’s past the point of dark humor really.
Here’s the actual clip of Silva being KO’d on his feet at a Harcore Boxing event in Russia. The loss comes just weeks after he was knocked out in an MMA fight, also in Russia.
Vyacheslav Datsik finishes Big Foot in the 2nd round. Silva looked out on his feet pic.twitter.com/yAYSQwxJiK
— Matysek (@Matysek88) July 8, 2022
Silva is 42, and a long way’s away from his prime, which saw him compete for the heavyweight title in the UFC. He hasn’t won a fight of any kind since 2015. He’s now lost in MMA, boxing, kickboxing, and bare-knuckle boxing since that time. If you count them all up, that’s 10 straight losses between the sports. Nine of those ten losses have been by some form of KO/TKO. It’s clear Silva is fighting for a paycheck at this point. It’s also clear he’s putting his health in danger. While there’s always a risk in combat sports, this is way beyond any sort of acceptable risk at this point.
Cageside Live: What’s Next for Izzy and Volk?
The latest edition of Cageside Live answers what could be next for Israel Adesanya, Israel Adesanya, and tackles the Max Holloway conundrum.
