The Weekly Wrap: August 22 - August 28

Odds and Ends

• The second season of the “Bully Beatdown” reality show premiered this week on MTV, hosted by Jason "Mayhem" Miller. Eddie Alvarez, referred to as a “top-three” lightweight, got the first nod of the season to put a hurting on an over-the-top bully. This week featured a guy named Brandon who crashes his victims’ homes, eats all of their food, clogs their toilets, and pushes them down stairs, all in an effort to put them “in line.”

The comedic Miller threw Brandon off in a pre-fight interview by asking him, “Would you consider giving me a hug?” Alvarez, who was listed as 171 pounds, got Brandon to tap to an arm triangle, three armbars and once for no discernable reason. Alvarez then notched a TKO via three knockdowns in kickboxing sparring -- meaning Brandon’s $10,000 was relinquished to his victims. Alvarez hit his trademark back flip off the cage afterward. Referee “Big” John McCarthy continued as the official overseeing fights on the show.

Bully Beatdown, which premiered earlier this year, debuted to impressive ratings and significantly upped the pop-culture profile of Miller, who is expected to carry that momentum into the Strikeforce cage when he faces Jake Shields on a date to be announced. Shields is one of several fighters who will appear on a future episode of Bully Beatdown’s second season.

• The Sengoku organization announced details for its “Tenth Battle” event on Sept. 23, including the first MMA fight for 2004 Olympic judo gold medalist Hiroshi Izumi. Izumi will face Antz Nansen, a New Zealand-based kickboxer with a 13-1 record, who is also competing in his first MMA fight.

The event will also feature the return of former EliteXC heavyweight champion and American Top Team standout Antonio Silva, who will face English slugger Jim York. Until July of this year, Silva was serving a suspension imposed by the California State Athletic Commission for testing positive for a steroid after his July 2008 win over the late Justin Eilers. Against the CSAC’s protest, Silva competed in Japan while under suspension.

Sengoku 10, which also features a welterweight scrap between Dan Hornbuckle and Nick Thompson, will be broadcast on HDNet.

• The UFC has inked light heavyweight Jared Hamman, who headlined three ShoXC cards on Showtime during the Pro Elite era, to a four-fight contract, Sherdog.com reported.

• Ahead of World Extreme Cagefighting rolling out its own flyweight (125-pound) division, the Pancrase promotion in Japan has conformed its division to stateside parameters. Flyweight King of Pancrase Mitsuhisa Sinabe will face Isao Hirose on Oct. 25 in Tokyo at 125 pounds, a change from the 128 pounds at which the division was conceived.

• Ryo Chonan rebounded from a losing UFC run by winning Aug. 23 on his native soil in the Deep ring. The MMA veteran put strikes together to notch the unanimous decision over the equally-grizzled Jataro Nakao in the main event of Deep “43 Impact” in Tokyo.

Also on the card, a pair of fighters recently eliminated from Dream’s featherweight grand prix claimed victories in title bouts. Takafumi Otsuka took the Deep featherweight title from Dokonjonosuke Mishima by wrestling out a decision, and Masakazu Imanari retained his bantamweight belt against Tomohiko Hori via decision.