Russian Cyborg vs The Maine-iac

From Sherdog.com

Top ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will fight Tim Sylvia on July 19. The Russian mixed martial arts champion confirmed the bout to Sherdog.com on Tuesday.

Big news....maybe. I was looking forward to Fedor fighting either Josh Barnett or Randy Couture. But Tim Sylvia is the first half decent fighter that Fedor will fight in a long while. Hopefully this fight will be five rounds. Will the universe cease to exist if Tim wins another boring decision?

No UFC No News

Past couple of weeks have been dry and any minute piece of MMA news has already been blogged to death by others. Couple of shows coming up.
Upcoming Events:
ShoXC: Denny vs Malaipet
This Friday, March 21, 2008
Showtime Broadcast at 11pm PT/ET
Malaipet vs Thomas Denny
Marlon Mathias vs Conor Heun
Aaron Rosa vs Jaime FletcherS
hane Del Rosario vs Analu Brash
Mark Oshiro vs Chris Cariaso
Brandon Tarn vs Jason Williams
Devin Howard vs Mark Kempthorne
Vince Guzman vs Lyle Beerbohm
Kenny Johnson vs Michael Penafiel
Steve Gable vs Eric Jones

WEC
03/26/2008 9:00 PM ET Live On Versus
Doug Marshall Vs. Brian Stann
Chael Sonnen Vs. Bryan Baker
Ed Ratcliff Vs. Marcus Hicks
Steve Cantwell Vs. Tim McKenzie
Hiromitsu Miura Vs. Blas Avena
John Alessio Vs. Brock Larson
Sergio Gomez Vs. Richard Crunkilton Jr.
Ryan Stonitsch Vs. Alex Serdyukov
Chris Manuel Vs. Kenji Osawa
Logan Clark Vs. Scott Harper

UFC Fight Night 13
Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at 7 p.m. ET on SpikeTV
Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colorado
Kenny Florian Vs. Joe Lauzon
Thiago Alves Vs. Karo Parisyan
Matt Hamill Vs. Tim Boetsch
Kurt Pellegrino Vs. Nate Diaz
James Irvin Vs. Houston Alexander
Gray Maynard Vs. Frank Edgar
Josh Neer Vs. Din Thomas
Ryan Roberts Vs. Marcus Aruelio
Jeff Cox Vs. Manny Gamburyan
Samy Schiavo Vs. Clay Guida
Roman Mitichyan Vs. George Sotiropoulos
Anthony Johnson Vs. Tommy Speer

Karo's title shot

Karo Parysian has been waiting for centuries to fight for the UFC's metalic object mounted onto a belt strap. He had to work his way back to the top of the welterweight division after his injury.


All that is fine but if he really wanted a title shot he should have fought Jon Fitch. A win over Fitch would have cemented him as the #1 contendor if George St. Pierre beats Matt Serra. If Matt Serra were to win he would definitly have to face Matt Hughes. This would be a worst case senario because if Fitch gets put ahead of him might have to wait till next year to get his shot.


During an interview on Inside MMA on HDNET," Parisyan was asked about a fight with Jon Fitch. Parisyan said that he wanted a "more-guaranteed win" and wanted "an easier fight than Jon Fitch so I can basically have a high percentage of beating Fitch and getting a title shot." What a wussy move.


Karo's next opponent isn't anyone to take likely. Thiago Alves is a mad mofo with some serious skills and a cool nickname (the pitbull). He's also the guy who was finished by Fitch at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5 by TKO (strikes). Not only if he loses but if he goes on to win a boring decision he should not recieve a shot at the belt before Fitch.


Now that Anderson Silva has dismantled the middleweight division that are no more challengers after Yushin Okami. The UFC has promised Karo a title shot not a welterweight title shot. I say give him to Anderson Silva to teach him not to look for easier fights. If he were as tough as he thinks he is let him go up to 185 lbs. and challenger Anderson Silva.


For all his fight experience, Karo is a young guy and I'm sure he'll get his title shot eventually.

Shogun broke his knee again

From UFC.Com

Rua Re-Injures Knee, will undergo Surgery
By Thomas Gerbasi
Scheduled to make his return to the Octagon this June against Chuck Liddell at UFC 85in London, light heavyweight star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has instead been forced to withdraw from the bout due to a ruptured ACL in his left knee, the same injury he had surgery on to repair last October after his UFC 76 fight with Forrest Griffin.

Surgery on the injured knee will be scheduled shortly, and there is no word on when Rua will be cleared to return to the Octagon.

One of the game’s top 205-pound fighters, the 26-year old Rua was looking to get back in the win column after his defeat at the hands of Griffin last year, and his bout with Liddell was just the motivation he needed to train like never before.

“I’ve never seen Shogun so motivated for a fight like this in years,” said Rua spokesman Eduardo Alonso. “This was like a new beginning for him.

”Liddell’s opponent for UFC 85, which will be held at London’s O2 Arena on June 7th, will be announced shortly. As for Rua, he promises to be back and better than ever as soon as possible.

“He thanks his fans for all the support,” said Alonso. “It means a lot to him.”

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion Results

Preliminary Fights
Jorge Gurgel defeats John Halverson via unanimous decision
Diego Sanchez submits (strikes) David Bielkheden round 1
Josh Koscheck defeats Dustin Hazelett via TKO (strikes) round 2
Luigi Fiorvanti defeats Luke Cummo via unanimous decision
Andre Arlovski defeats Jake O’Brien via TKO (strikes) round 2
Main Card
Jon Fitch over Chris Wilson via unanimous decision
Yushin Okami knocked out (knee) Evan Tanner round 2
Chris Leben defeats Alessio Sakara via TKO round 1
Heath Herring defeats Cheick Kongo by split decision
Anderson Silva submits (choke) Dan Henderson round 2
Results from fiveouncesofpain.com

UFC bonuses (60K)
Fight of the Night: Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson
Knockout of the night: Chris Leban
Submission of the night: Anderson Silva

UFC 82 fighter pay-outs
Anderson Silva - $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win)
Dan Henderson - $100,000
Heath Herring - $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win)
Cheick Kongo - $30,000
Chris Leben - $50,000 ( $25,000 to show, $25,000 to win)
Alessio Sakara - $17,000
Yushin Okami - $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Evan Tanner - $25,000
Jon Fitch - $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Chris Wilson - $12,000
Andrei Arlovski - $170,000 ($105,000 to show, $65,000 to win)
Jake O’Brien - $11,000
Luigi Fioravanti - $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Luke Cummo - $16,000
Josh Koscheck - $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Dustin Hazelett - $12,000
Diego Sanchez - $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
David Bielkheden - $8,000
Jorge Gurgel - $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
John Halverson - $3,000

Miscellaneous
Mark Coleman inducted into UFC Hall of Fame

Closing Thoughts
1) The crowd was horrible. If there was two seconds of inactivity they would boo. This crowd wasn't as enthusiastic as the one that showed up for UFC 62. Especially during the Randy Couture and Tim Syliva fight in which Randy controlled Tim on the ground for the better part of five rounds.

2)UFC like any other business is trying to make as much money as possible. Not only do they increase ppv prices by five dollars but they don't show as many fights as they can. They are hoping that fans will run to their computer to purchase the unaired fights from the UFC homepage. To accomplish this the ppv telecast moves at a very slow pace. I don't need to see a commercial about the fights that are happening later on. They do not need to show all the entrances especially for the early fights. Many times in Pride Fighting Championships they would show only the last entrance. So instead of asking us to wear a brand of watch or ride a Harley perhaps they can satiate our thirst for more combat.

3)Anderson Silva has not cleaned out the division entirely. Many people have opined that with this dominating victory over Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva has no one left to fight. This is incorrect. They're are many more fights for Silva at 185 lbs. First he should fight Okami to avenge his defeat by disqualification. This should be an easy win but you never know. Next he should face Matt Hughes. The only thing in the way is a possible match up with Matt Serra. If Serra beats George St. Pierre, Hughes gets the first crack at him. He also has potential opponents if his former Chute Boxe partners Mauricio Rua and Wanderlei Silva drop a weight class. Wanderlei can hang at light heavyweight because he still has power but Shogun is too light to match up with the UFC 205ers. Mauricio would make an interesting opponent for Anderson.

4)UFC announces that Brock Lesnar will face Mark Coleman. The same people who said that Lesnar wold destroy Mir are predicting that he might pound Coleman into dust. Brock Lesnar could get the victory but it wont be an easy one. Lesnar has the strength, athleticism and explosiveness but what he doesn't have is experience. That's what Frank Mir used to get the win over Brock.

Fighter of the night video corner: Anderson "the spider" Silva

Anderson Silva demonstrates the Clinch by JohnHacklemanrn

Henderson vs Silva UFC 82 Clinch Fighting For Dummies by theMMAAddict

MMA Schedule - March

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion 3/1
(Middle) Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
(Heavy) Cheick Kongo vs. Heath Herring
(Middle) Alessio Sakara vs. Chris Leben
(Middle) Evan Tanner vs. Yushin Okami
(Welter) Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson
(Welter) Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden
(Heavy) Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien
(Welter) Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
(Welter) Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett
(LightW) Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson
List from MMAMania

World Victory Road: SENGOKU 3/5
Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Josh Barnett
Ryo Kawamura vs. Antonio Braga Neto
Fabricio Monteiro vs. Nick Thompson
Takanori Gomi vs. Duane Ludwig
Makoto Takimoto vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos
Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Graham
List from Japan MMA

Dream 1 3/15
Single Fights
Mirko Cro Cop vs TBA
Lightweight Grand Prix 1st Round Fights
J.Z. Calvan vs Shinya Aoki
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Black Mamba
Kazuyuki Miyata vs Luis Buscape
Koutetsu Boku vs Joachim Hansen
Other Lightweight Grand Prix Participants:
Andre Dida
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Caol Uno
Gilbert Melendez
Artur Oumakhanov
Jung Bukyung
List from m1mixfight.com

WEC 3/26
Paulo Filho Vs. Chael Sonnen
Doug Marshall Vs. Brian Stann
List from WEC.com

With CBS deal, EliteXC in better position to destroy MMA.

Is anyone else just a little afraid that EliteXC's chubby tracksuit man (Gary Shaw) and his son $kala are representing mma. Somewhere in the US of A there will be someone turning on their tube and then flip through channels looking for something to watch. They will land on CBS during an EliteXC telecast and it will not matter that this is a fairly new organization that doesn't have the best fighters in the world. People who've never seen mma will judge the sport by the product EliteXc and CBS put on.

Better Clinch: Greco-Roman or Muay Thai ?

Jake Shields upgraded to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt

Jake Shields received his Masters Degree in Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu from Cesar Gracie.

From GracieFighter.com

Jake Shields has been awarded a Blackbelt in Gracie Jiu-jitsu. Shields has had an incredible MMA and submission grappling career and looks to only further his accomplishments in the future.In 2002 Shields defeated Hayato "Mach" Sakurai to shock the MMA world. He later became only the 2nd American to have ever won the Shooto Championship. In 2005 Shields took 3rd place in the ADCC World Championships by defeating Diego Sanchez, Cameron Earl and Leo Santos. Later in the year he submitted John Fitch to become the Gracie Open Superfight Champion. In 2006 Shields defeated Dave Menne, Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit to become the Rumble on the Rock GP Champion. Last year Shields submitted Renato "Charuto" Verissimo and Mike Pyle to become EliteXC's #1 contender.Shields has now joined David Terrell and Nick Diaz in becoming 1 of an elite 3 that has ever been promoted to Blackbelt at the Cesar Gracie Academy. Congratulations Jake Shields!

I'm Back

Another Interim Title Fight? Sylvia vs. Nogueira set for UFC 81

According to MMANews.com

The following is a translated note from an article on Portaldovt: "In first hand, the fight between Minotauro and Tim Sylvia was signed hours ago, and it will take place in UFC 81, feb. 2nd, in Las Vegas. Randy did not reach agreements with UFC and the vague title will be disuputed between Minotauro and Tim"

Dana White solves problem of not having enough title fights by creating new belts

Sean Sherk tests positive for steroids: UFC80 interim LW title fight B.J. Penn vs Joe Stevenson

Matt Serra suffers herniated disc: UFC79 interim WW title fight Matt Hughes vs GSP

UFC punishes New Jersey again by booking Ricardo Almeida vs Alan Belcher

After the horrible piece of flaming poo UFC78: Validation was the UFC again shits on New Jersey. Ricardo Almeida a Renzo Gracie black belt and instructor at his NJ school is scheduled to face Alan 'The Talent" Belcher. Belcher in his last fight dismantled Kalib Starnes sending him home with his face broken. Almeida last competed in Pride Bushido 3 getting a decision win vs Ryo Chonan in 2004. With three years worth of ring rust Almeida might be turn out to be a highly skilled punching back for however long it takes him to fall down and not get up. After giving New Jersey the worst UFC card in recent memory you'd think they might throw the east coast fans a bone and give Almeida someone more manageble as a reintroduction to MMA.
This Proves that,
A) UFC is trying to pull a middleweight contendor out of their ass to feed to Doctor Anderson Silva, specialist in nose reconstruction surgery.
B)Aliens have taken over Joe Silva's brain.
AND
C)UFC doesn't care about east coast MMA fans.

Tito Ortiz's Big Head Will Have Bigger Audience with Apprentice

From the NBC press Release:

"NEW YORK – Monday, Nov. 19th 2007 – NBC and Donald Trump return to New York City with "The Celebrity Apprentice," with an all-star celebrity lineup of candidates. This installment of "The Apprentice," now in its seventh season, changes the game. "The Celebrity Apprentice" with host Donald Trump begins its latest edition on Thursday, January 3 (9:00PM ET)."

Press Release describes Ortiz as,

"...an Ultimate Fighting Champion – holds the record for light heavyweight fighting from 2000-2003. He has his own clothing line, and is developing a new XBOX game."

This is Dana White's worst nightmare, a fighter that might become bigger than the UFC. A fighter that can leave the UFC and go anywhere bring PPV buys with him. UFC will have to cave to Tito Ortiz's demands before the show comes out before he becomes a bigger star.

Other Contestants:

Country singer Trace Adkins, model/actress Carol Alt, actor Stephen Baldwin, Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci, Playmate Tiffany Fallon, Olympic softball player Jennie Finch, producer Nely Galan, actor Marilu Henner, boxer Lennox Lewis, Apprentice contestant Omarosa, America’s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, actor Vincent Pastore, and Kiss singer Gene Simmons.

UFC78: LAYnPRAY

AND

UFC's Lightweight Division on Life Support

Dana White and his buddy Sean Sherk have put the lightweight division in trouble. Sherk for either being too dumb to know that one of the 80 pills he swallows was tainted or for being a dirty pill-popping cheater. Dana White refuses to strip his buddy of the belt and even attempts to "bitch slap" the California Athletic Commission. Without having the belt defended consitantly the weight division doesn't exist. Tyson Griffin, Stevenson, Bj. Penn and the rest are held up fighting each other without no real goal. As soon as Sherk got the belt by LnP Florian for 5 bloody rounds he got surgery on his shoulder then he defended aganist the fruity hair guy Franca and got busted for being a cheat. How long will he go between title defenses, their are a TON of good guys at 155lbs. The lightweight fights almost always turn out to be the fight of the night. It's time to let go and hand B.J. his belt.

Cung Le set to fight finer brand of "tomato can" at 11/16 Strikeforce Event

Cung Le is set to fight former TUFer Sammy Morgan. Morgan was the one that got knocked out by the pee-drinker Luke Commo on the show then lost to Burkman in the finale and later on lost to Forrest Petz. Highlight Ko's are great but Cung is almost halfway to 40, I would rather see him in their aganist better opponents. He doesn't have to fight Anderson Silva or Dan Henderson but what about David Louiseau or Ninja Rua. It's time for his handlers to start giving him better competition. I would love to see him fight Robbie Lawler after a few more fights.

Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett

His ultimate motivation to fight?
He might not be the most professional fighter their is but he's fun to watch. All I know is that a fight between him and Nick Diaz would be fan-fucking-tastic. Crazy Horse and Nick Diaz talking shit to each other back and forth will sell the card all by themselves. One idea to make this possible fight even more exciting, winner gets lifetime supply of weed.

Randy Couture Quits

The Countdown Begins.....
Dana White WILL destroy Randy's legacy, especially if he fights for another organization. He will have to explain how could he have failed to sign the best heavyweight and then have the number two guy quit. Of course it will start with a Yahoo! story by Kevin "I heart Dana White" Iole bashing Randy Couture. There will be no way for Randy to counter this bad press, the UFC's PR machine is just too good. They'll shout down from the tallest mountain they can find and swear that Randy's a greedy, money loving bastard and that they want him anyway because he's finished. Couture will just have to bend over and take and just move on.