The 12th season of Spike TV’s popular original series, “The Ultimate Fighter,” will feature 28 of the best up-and-coming mixed martial artists, including Mike “The Marine” Richman, in the lightweight division (155 lbs) competing for a six-figure contract with the preeminent mixed martial organization in the world, The Ultimate Fighting Championship®

The fighters for this season’s “The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck” have all gathered in Las Vegas with one goal – to become the next “The Ultimate Fighter.” As in prior seasons, 14 of these competitors will win a preliminary bout to gain a place in the Ultimate Fighter House, one step closer to their ultimate goal, whereas the losers of these bouts are sent home.

The new season premieres Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 10:00 PM ET/PT Meet the competitors:

Watch for Michael at the 3:44 mark

The Crucible Round #2

November 14 2009

Winner Gets Strikeforce® Fight Contract!

Mike Richman v Dustin Pearton

The Cruible Round third quarterfinal bout saw another submission victory on the card, as Dustin Petron made quick work of Dane Smith. Smith got caught with his head down as he shot in and Petron locked the guillotine in. Smith tried to hold on but Petron rolled over him and forced the tap.

click for Michael’s quarterfinal bout

The Great Hall
180 East Fifth Street • Suite 160 • St. Paul, MN 55101
click for directions

Mike “the Marine” Richman started his march to Strikeforce on Sept 12 at The Great Hall in a 3 round battle with Derrick Getzel.

Getzel surrendered after Richman put him in a choke, Richman achieved his 1st objective three minutes and thirty-six seconds into round 1.

“Richman steals the show and most likely has the Strikeforce contract.”

Minneapolis/St Paul City Pages

Derrick Getzel v Mike Richman

We’ve got a crowd favorite in the house. People are on their feet before the fight even begins. Richman bears an uncanny resemblance to George St. Peirre. He even has the bad boy skin trunks. Comes in with a series of lightening-quick punches. Follows with knees. His combos are quick and vicious: punch to knee to elbow to knee to knee to knee to punch. All this happens in seconds. But Getzel has a chin, just takes it and keeps going, surprises Richman with a takedown, and lands a couple elbows. Richman look solid on the ground, rotates his leg for a omoplata. Getzel moves out of it. Richman regains his feet. It’s hard to keep with the speed of this fight. Richman is lethal, but totally composed. He’s not rushing the fight. Just competing at top speed. Bam. Done. Richman ends it with a choke. He steals the show and most likely has the Strikeforce contract.

See Entire Article on City Pages Blotter

Sept 13, 2009

On Saturday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ambition Promotions unveiled their first in a series of events dubbed “The Crucible,” an eight man tournament with the winner getting a contract with Strikeforce.

The main event of the evening was an exciting three minutes of action, with the crowd at their loudest for the bout’s entirety.

Mike Richman came out the uber-aggressor in this one…..

…..throwing bomb after bomb to a resilient Derrick Getzel. Getzel took the punishment and got in for a takedown and nearly got to mount before Richman countered and got back to his feet. Getzel again went for a takedown, but this time Richman sprawled nicely, locked on a choke and rolled through with it to finish off Getzel and take the final spot in the semifinals.

Ambition Promotions is the promoting arm of Ambition Training Academy, home to Strikeforce’s Brett Rogers. This card on Saturday was their first ever event, and as raucous crowd throughout the night could attest, the first event was a success.

“We met our expectations,” said Joey Clark, Co-Owner of the Ambition Training Academy. “This is the beginning of something way bigger. As long as we can get a certain amount of activity this thing can springboard even further.”

The Academy just opened their doors in Eagan this May, and many were surprised by the speed in which this event was put together with a Strikeforce contract on the line, no less. But as Clark stated, “it’s because this has been in the works for a long time.” Clark said the idea for the tournament has gone back a ways, and the gathering of minds that they put together at Ambition helped bring it to fruition.

The fights themselves on Saturday night were all exciting, albeit quick. Only one fight on the card went past the first round, but most fights were competitive while they lasted.

The event got off to a hot start on the undercard with a pair of featherweight bouts. In the first fight of the night, Pat Schilling got Dusty Burford to the ground and pounded Burford into giving up his back, allowing him to get the rear naked choke and take the submission victory.

The second fight of the night saw the only blood on this card, as Randy Kittleson threw a number of elbows to Nick Tolsma as Tolsma lifted him up and slammed him to the ground. Though it was Tolsma bleeding, it was also him above Kittleson landing a number of shots as Kittleson could only cover up, forcing the ref to step in and stop the fight.

The third fight of the night was over really quickly, as Brandon Rossback locked in a standing guillotine on Sean Williams and dropped to guard to lock it in immediately, choking Williams out cold. There was a bit of a scary scene as Williams twitched and finally came to, but he recovered and was alright to walk out of the cage.

Perhaps the most dominating performance of the night came from lightweight Cody Pasquale on the final undercard bout, as he dropped his opponent Matt Eason with a flurry off the bat and punished him with elbows and punches from top position until the ref stepped in.

The final bout before the tournament saw another one-sided fight as Jeremy Hamilton unleashed a vicious assault of knees in the clinch and against the cage before the stoppage. It was Silva vs. Franklin-esque with the knees in the clinch and Hamilton took home the win.

The Crucible tournament was then set to get underway. The first round match-ups saw Gabe Walbridge against John Case, Dan Coop against Brandon Bergeron, Dustin Petron against Dane Smith, and Derrick Getzel against Mike Richman.

John Case became the first fighter to move on to the semifinals in the tournament in one of the better back and forth fights of the night. Case got a takedown and moved to mount, but Walbridge countered and got into Case’s guard. Once there, however, Case grabbed hold of a guillotine and choked Walbridge out.

The best fight of the night was also the only one to make it out of the first round. Dan Coop and Brandon Bergeron put on a very good show in the first round, a close one that was extremely hard to score. But in the second, Bergeron took over and picked up the TKO victory to move to the semifinals himself.

The third quarterfinal bout saw another submission victory on the card, as Dustin Petron made quick work of Dane Smith. Smith got caught with his head down as he shot in and Petron locked the guillotine in. Smith tried to hold on but Petron rolled over him and forced the tap.

After a great first night of action, Ambition Co-Owner Lonnie Markwell laid out the plan for the next set of events. Coming in late October/early November will be the semifinals at event number two, with the finals to take place in late December/early January.

Original Article on MMATorch

Submission (Choke)

Richman vies for the 145 lbs title.