New Fights Added to UFC 73

UFC 73 - Stacked is looking to be just that, stacked with great matches. First off, we have two Titles on the line, the Middle Weight and Light Weight. With the way favorites have been picked off in recent MMA matches, don't be surprised if we see both champions fall. My pick for most like to lose the title is Sean Sherk as I feel Hermes Franca is a better all around fighter. His one weakness against Sherk (besides being taken down at will)could be his cardio. There is no quit in The Muscle Shark and rarely gasses. Besides the two title fights, there is also Tito vs. Rashad Evans, which in itself could be a main event. UFC today announced a couple more fights to the Stacked card. Press Release from the UFC: "Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira will take on Heath Herring. * Former world title challenger Kenny Florian returns to action to face UFC newcomer Alvin Robinson in a lightweight swing bout. * The Ultimate Fighter 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar is also back in a light heavyweight contest, as he takes on season three’s Mike Nickels. * Brazilian lightweights will fight it out for local bragging rights when Jorge Gurgel squares off against Diego Saraiva. * Welterweight veterans Chris Lytle and Drew Fickett meet at the 170-pound crossroads in a three rounder. * Unbeaten Frank Edgar hopes to carry the momentum from his big win over Tyson Griffin in February into his lightweight bout with fellow unbeaten Mark Bocek. Along with Anderson Silva vs Nathan Marquardt and Sean Sherk vs Hermes Franca, this could be the best fight card of the year, in any organization.

Joe Lauzon doesn't want to fight Cory Hill

Joe Lauzon, The Ultimate Fighter 5 contestant and fighter who knocked out Jens Pulver, is also a staff writer for a MMA news/blog site called MassMMA.com. Sure, tons of MMA sites out there (this included) give recaps of every TUF episode, but Lauzon actually provides an insider's view point and tells us things we didn't get to see on the show, such as "Going into the second round, I wanted to fight Brandon or Manny. I thought both fights were good pairings for me. Brandon is a striker without a lot on the ground, while Manny is good on the ground, but I thought I could get the takedown and put him on the fence. I wanted to avoid Corey because he is so tall and can make anyone look bad." Check out his latest blog entry and leave the guy a comment while you're at it. Click Here.

UFC 71 Fighter Pay Outs

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the payday figures for UFC 71. These figures are those reported to the Commission, but may not include signing bonuses, sponsorships, or percentage of PPV buys. Quinton Jackson ($225,000) def. Chuck Liddell ($500,000) by KO - R1 Karo Parisyan ($32,000) def. Josh Burkman ($7,000) by unanimous decision Terry Martin ($12,000) def. Ivan Salaverry ($17,500) by TKO - R1 Houston Alexander ($8,000) def. Keith Jardine ($7,000) by TKO - R1 Kalib Starnes ($10,000) def. Chris Leben ($10,000) by unanimous decision Thiago Silva ($16,000) def. James Irvin ($7,000) by TKO - Round 1, 1:06 Alan Belcher ($14,000) def. Sean Salmon ($3,000) by guillotine choke - R1 Din Thomas ($28,000) def. Jeremy Stephens ($3,000) by armbar - R2 Wilson Gouveia ($16,000) def. Cermelo Marrero ($5,000) by guillotine choke R1 Total disclosed pay outs: $920,500 Chuck, half a million for less than two minutes in the ring, not bad!

The Ultimate Fighter Finale

Just made official, Noah Thomas will get another crack at Marlon Sims on The Ultimate Fighter finale on Spike TV. Unlike their last fight, this one will actually be sanctioned and will take place in the Octagon. The event will take place on June 23rd at 9pm on Spike. The only other known fight on the card at this time is PJ Penn vs Jens Pulver along with the two finalists of the show, tbd.

Bodog Fights Coming to America

Press Release: Following unforgettable mixed martial arts events in Vancouver, Canada and St. Petersburg, Russia, Bodog Fight is pleased to announce its American debut. On Saturday, July 14th, Bodog Fighters will become "Garden State" warriors when they visit the Sovereign Bank Arena on the shores of the Delaware River in Trenton, New Jersey for Bodog Fight: Eddie Alvarez vs. Matt Lee. Full press release here

Liddell vs. Jackson Video Clip

This really wasn't the MMA barn-burner I was hoping for, but the outcome is what I expected. UFC Light Heavyweight title match below:

Chuck Liddell vs. Quinton Jackson
Uploaded by BiancaUL

UFC Welcomes Back Dan Henderson with a Title Shot

Get more pictures like this from SHERDOG.COM Last night, Mr. UFC Dan White announced that Dangerous Dan Henderson will get a shot at the new Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Rampage Jackson. Some of the newer fans of the sport may not be familar with one of the sport's most versitle, yet under-rated fighter, but Dan Henderson is the real deal. Although Dan "Hendo" has been mixing it up with top-level competition over in Japan with the Pride FC organization since 2000, he hasn't gotten the level of attention he deserves. Some might have forgotten, but Henderson fought in the UFC 9 years ago. Back in 1998 Hendo won a UFC middle weight tournament at UFC 17 when he defeated two top ranked fighters in Carlos Newton and Alan Goes. Most recently Dan headlined Pride's show in America where he de-throned (KO'd) one of the sports longest reigning and most dominant fighters, Wanderli Silva. Keep in mind that Silva is the same fighter that beat the crap out of Quinton Jackson, twice! That's gonna play some mind games with the new UFC champion.

Latest UFC 71 Betting Odds

Odds for tonights Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas (from baybets.com)

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson +160 Chuck Liddell -200
Josh Burkman +260 Karo Parisyan -330
Terry Martin +130 Ivan Salaverry -160
Houston Alexander +400 Keith Jardine -550
Kalib Starnes +195 Chris Leben -245
James Irvin +200 Thiago Silva -260
Your best bets: Rampage. Longshot: Houston Alexander

The Case Against Chuck Liddell

Most MMA fans seem to think The Iceman is near invincable, I'm here to challenge that and say that he is not worth all non-stop hype First off, since his last loss (Rampage) he's rattled off seven straight wins but let's take a look at who he has fought. Vernon White (a fighter with 30 losses on his record), Jeremy Horn (a B level middle weight), Renato Babalu Sobral (a fighter who in the past 2 1/2 years has been fighting B level fighters), Tito Ortiz twice (a solid, but not elite fighter. See his performances against Patrick Cote and Forrest Griffen. Also, he's spent a lot of his recent fight time beating up on old man Shamrock, not the stiffest competition). I give Liddell credit for beating Couture, twice. But somethings a fighter just has another fighter's "number." And this is the case with Randy. And we've come to see that Couture is better off at heavyweight, a more nature weight for him. Another point to consider is Chuck's fight style. He's fairly one-dimensional and too many fighters have played right into his strenghts. Look at Babalu. He's a great submission guy, but what does the moron do in his fight with The Iceman? He goes straight at him looking to trade blows. Babalu is not a striker. What other outcome would one expect than for him to get KTFO?

UFC 71 Fight Card

Here is the complete fight card for tonights 71st installment of the Ultimate Fightin Championship: UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Title Fight Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Terry Martin Vs. Ivan Salaverry Josh "The People's Warrior" Burkman Vs. Karo "Heat" Parisyan Houston "The Assassin" Alexander Vs. "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine Kalib Starnes Vs. Chris "The Crippler" Leben Thiago Silva Vs. James "Sandman" Irvin May not be broadcast: Sean Salmon Vs. Alan "The Talent"Belcher Jeremy Stephens Vs. Din "DinYero" Thomas Carmelo Marrero Vs. Wilson Gouveia

Luke Cummo Drinks Piss

Yes, you read that correct. Luke Cummo actually drinks his own urine and has even written about it on his website. For that not familiar with Cummo, he's a MMA fighter who was on The Ulimate Fighter where he was thought of by fellow fighters as a strange guy. This takes the cake. This was taken directly from his website forum: " drink all that I can of my own urine. It has many advantages. It contains hormones, minerals, and elements that bind moisture to protein. Basically it is a recycling of things so that they can have another chance to get where they are destined. If you were to drink something, your body will want to excrete liquid in order to maintain a certain level of hydration. So it filters the blood and the urine may contain things that didn't get a chance to get where they were going. " You can see the entire post Here For more informatinon on Urine Therapy click Here

Shogun May Have Signed with the UFC

Just posted on the Chute Boxe official website: - Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has signed a contract with the UFC and may participate in UFC 72. This is far from official until it comes out of the mouth of UFC mouth piece Dana White but this could be huge news. Shogun is the epitome of the kind of fighter that the Ultimate Fighting Champship needs. He's world class on his feet and on the ground and has the skills to easily win via KO (as he did with Quinton Jackson) or submission. There are not many mixed martial artist with his versatility and would be a welcome addition to the UFC fans who may not be familar with his Pride fights. Until the speculation ends, I'll hold off on my opinion of how his career might unfold with the UFC.

Magazine Covers - Couture One Ups Liddell

First Chuck Liddell makes the cover of ESPN the magazine and now as reported on Randy Couture's website, he'll be gracing the covers of Sports Illustrated. From the Randy Couture website: "At what point does a sport go mainstream? How about when it's best-known fighter graces the cover of the nation's best-known sports magazine? Randy Couture, the only five-time champion in UFC history, will appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine at a later date this summer. SI writer L. Jon Wertheim, a 10-year veteran of the magazine, penned the piece which will dig into the life of the most famous MMA star in the U.S. Couture recently regained the UFC heavyweight championship at the age of 43 years old, defeating Tim Sylvia at UFC 68. The win catapulted him even further into mainstream sports fame, as he appeared on ESPN's "Hot List" following the victory. Couture also has a biography in the works, co-written with Fight Network writer Loretta Hunt. "

Ruas Throws in the Towel

Former UFC champion Maurice Smtith defeated former UFC Champion Marco Ruas in front of 5,000 fans at last night's IFL Super Fight in Illinois. Durning the rematch of their 1999 fight, Ruas stalked Maurice, scored a few takedowns, and even came close to securing a submission via a north-south choke. For the first three rounds, Ruas appeared to be pitching a shut-out on the judges score card. Unfortunately for Marco, the fight took a major turn in the fourth round when Smith came out fresh and Ruas a bit gassed. Maurice landed an overhand right, a leg kick, and another overhand right that left Ruas dazed and caused him to fall to the mat in hopes of pulling guard. Maurice wanted noting to do with the ground game and waited until the ref made Ruas stand up. Another quick exhange and Ruas falls to the mat to pull guard again. No dice said Smith. Marco was completely gassed and appeard to either not want to continue to fight or didn't have the energy to even stand up. Regardless, his corner threw in the towel giving Smith a fourth round TKO. Maurice has always been known for his cardio and proved that it was king once again (see Smith vs. Coleman).

TUF Recap - 5/17

Here is The Ultimate Fighter TV show weekly recap:

Dana pulls BJ aside, nicely, and tells him that he needs to take control of his team and that he's heard they haven't been working enough cardio (imagine that, Penn not working enough cardio). Back at the house, Geraghty and Emerson score a keg and a hooka and party it up. At the gym, BJ has a brow beating with the team and is upset that they are not giving 100%. Suddenly he calls out Andy Wang and tells him he is wasting everyone's time and kicks him off the team. Wang doesn't want to leave the show. Dana gets called to the gym. Agrees they can't kick a fighter off the show for that reason. Dana asks Jens if he would take Wang on this team. Pulver consults with his team and they say they are cool is Andy joins the team. Dana give Andy the news but dipshit Wang says he feels like he is betraying BJ (what? BJ just kicked your dumb ass off of his team!?). Dana goes off on Wang and eventually Wang accepts his offer.

With both teams back at the gym, the remaing two fights are picked. Wayne Weems vs. Gray Maynard and Marlon Sims vs. Matt Winman. Weems ( 16-2) says he prides himself on being able to take a punch (careful what you ask for) and Gray (3-0) says he out classes Weems in every respect of fighting.

In the octagon, Gray lands a solid punch, takes Weems down and moves into side mount to half guard. Then takes his back and reigns down punchs to Weems head, about 30 of them. Herb Dean lets it go a little longer than normal because Weems tells him he is OK as he was getting smacked upside his head but he eventually stops the fight when its 100% clear that Weems is not going to get out of trouble and isn't defending himself. Pulver praised Weem's ability to improve drastically over the past few weeks and everyone agrees that the kid has heart, but in the end he was totally outclassed. Gray looked very good.

Marlon (3-1) vs. Winman: In the opening exchange they both land right hands to the head with Winman landing the better punch, staggering Marlon. Matt takes his back, throws a few punch, then chokes him unconscious. Even though Marlon gave Matt a black eye he was outclassed.

Winman and Maynard steamroll their opponents and advance to the semis with strong victories.

Mirko Cro Cop Down But Not Out

I wasn't sure if Cro Cop would continue his MMA career after the devistating knock out delivered by the big under dog Gabriel Gonzaga. During the Pride tournement (which he eventually won) he made reference to the fact that if he didn't win he might retire from the sport. During his UFC fight against Gonzaga, Mirko didn't seem to have that competitive fire needed to be a future champion.

His website has made it clear that he will indeed continue to fight MMA. When he got back to his home town after the UFC event, he's quoted as saying, "I deserved that loss because of the way i was fighting. I fall down every now and then, i was twice in this situation, after Randleman and after Fedor and i got back up again, i will be back this time too, that is a part of my career. I have 4 more fights to come and i will do them all."

Also, he is going to replace the ring that he uses for his training and will replace it with an octagon. His ankle is healing and he plans to get back into full training in a few weeks.

Pay $1.99 for a UFC Clip?

I just received my semi regular e-newsletter from the UFC today. The headline was that Chuck Liddell was going to be featured on ESPN magazine. This I already knew. But they also had a link that read something like "Full Video of Liddell vs. Sobral." Sure, I'll check out that fight again. I click and get taken to a UFC.com page where they want you to pay $1.99 for a fight that lasted all of 1 minute and 35 seconds. How about this UFC, in order to help hype up the upcoming championship match with Rampage Jackson, show the damn video for free. After all, this fight was back at UFC 62 and it will give fans who may not have seen the fight a little more insight into the Ice Man's fighting style. News flash: If you are afraid that if people won't want to buy the UFC 62 DVD because they can see it for free then you are a bit too full of yourselves.

UFC Vets Headline Art of War 3

There is a new mixed martial arts fight organization on the block and they are putting together some impressive events will well know MMA fighters, many of them UFC and Pride FC veterans (including former UFC Heavy Weight Champion Ricco Rogriguez). Just announced, the Art of War 3 event will be held in Dallas June 30th and is billed as USA vs. Brazil. Here is the official fight card: USA JEFF MONSON VS PEDRO RIZZO BRAZIL USA JEREMY HORN VS JORGE SANTIAGO BRAZIL USA JAKE SHIELDS VS CARLO PRATER BRAZIL USA RON WATERMAN VS MARIO RINALDI BRAZIL USA RICCO RODRIGUEZ VS MARCIO CRUZ BRAZIL USA HECTOR MUNOZ (6-2) VS BRAZIL CRISTIANO MARCELLO (3-2) USA DAMIEN STELLY (2-1) VS BRAZIL LUIS ARTHUR CANE (6-0) For more information on Art of War you can visit their official website HERE.

Jason Mayhem Miller vs. Frank Trigg

Just got this off of Jason Millers website: From the Honolulu Star Bulletin: Former UFC and Rumble on the Rock fighter Frank "twinkletoes" Trigg will challenge Jason "Mayhem" Miller for his newly won world middleweight title in the main event of the Dec. 1 Icon Sport card at Blaisdell Arena. Trigg (13-5) last fought in the semifinals of the ROTR welterweight grand prix tournament in April, losing to Carlos Condit by submission. Miller (17-4) is a perfect 8-0 in Hawaii, and is coming off a third-round submission victory over Robbie Lawler on Sept. 2. Twelve bouts are scheduled for the card, including the return of Niko Vitale at 205 pounds. Lawler will also be in action as he looks to earn a rematch with Miller. The Icon Sport bantamweight title will be up for grabs between undefeated Tyson Nam and Mark Oshiro, and the North American welterweight title will be on the line as Sydney Silva squares off against Jay Jack. Tickets for the event will go on sale Sept. 30 at all Ticketmaster locations. http://starbulletin.com/2006/09/19/sports/hawaiibeat.html

IFL Ring Girl Try Outs

Are you, or someone you know, hot enough to be a MMA ring card girl? Well, the IFL (International Fight League) is in the process of holding tryouts. For For information on becoming an IFL Ring Girl email ringgirls@ifl.tv

A Need for a Masters MMA Division?

At the upcoming IFL event on May 19th we will see the return of two former UFC champions, Marco "King of the Streets" Ruas and Maurice Smith. Combined, these two aging mixed martial artists have not stepped into the cage, or ring for that matter, in 12 years! Can you say ring rust? Although this fight means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of MMA rankings or contention, it is intersting and will likely get some decent attention, at least for anyone who was a UFC fan back in the early days, you know, when they actually had tournaments? So this begs the question, should there be a senior's division, with title and all? Many of these fighters, like Ken Shamrock, still love to get into the cage and can't seem to let it go. However, they have no shot at ever regaining a title and will ultimate get beat badly and embarrased by the new breed. If many of the old guys knew that they could fight in a league where they would only be matched up with fighters of their age/skill bracket, I think you would see a highly competitive division that would bring some old-timers back into the ring. Maybe Oleg Taktorov, Keith Hackney, Dave Beneteau and the like? As we've seen, many of these guys still have the fighting spirit, see: Dan Severn (who has had five fights this year already!), Mo Smith, Tank Abbott, Shamrock, Mark Kerr, etc. You wouldn't have to pay these guys much and it would bring in some good ratings.

Chuck Liddell Wants to Party with You!

Big MMA news if you're going to be in Las Vegas as UFC Champion the Iceman has made an annoucment on his official website that he will be throwing an after party the night of UFC 71. The party will be hosted by Studio 54 in Las Vegas. If he gets smashed by Quinton Jackson, I wonder how much he's going to want to party. I personally think it is a bad sign that he is already focused on partying after the fight. Chuck, you're gonna need the eye of the tiger to beat Rampage Jackson. Just in case you haven't seen it in a while, here is a clip of Liddell totally drugged up in an interview with Good Morning Texas television show a few months back.

WEC Fight Results

As I predicted (see previous entry), Doug Marshall defended his Light Heavyweight title last night by knocking out and out classing Justin McElfresh. Fight summary:

Marshall opened tossing hard left hooks and low kicks, while the 6’6 McElfresh shot an occasional jab or pushed out right hands. Marshall started dialing in after a couple minutes of exchanges, with nobody landing anything major, and slamming home a series of thumping shots from in close, using some effective dirty boxing to stun McElfresh, finally driving home enough shots to drop the challenger and win the bout 2:16 into the match. We should look for Marshall to head to the UFC pretty soon.

The rest of the World Extreme Cagefighting results:

Jason Miller def. Hiromitsu Miura - Decision (Unanimous)

Ariel Gandulla def. Gary Padilla Decision (Split)

Sherron Leggett def. Charlie Kohler TKO (Strikes) 2nd round

Marcus Hicks def. Sergio Gomez Submission (Guillotine Choke) 2nd round

Eric Schambari def. Art Santore Decision (Unanimous)

Ed Ratcliff def. Johnny Sampaio TKO (Knee injury) 1st round

Manny Tapia def. Brandon Foxworth TKO (Strikes) 2nd round

Tom Speer def. Sidney Silva KO (Punch) 1st round

WEC Title on the Line Tonight 5/12

Tonight from the Joint in Las Vegas, the WEC will put on a 9 fight mixed martial arts event with the Light Heavyweight Title on the line. The World Extreme Cagefighting organization was purchased by the UFC the in January of this year and will use as a kind of "farm league" for fighters not quite UFC material...yet. The WEC Light Heavyweight Title Fight is worth looking at because the winner will likely make a move to the UFC. James Irving, who will be fighting on the UFC 70 card, was a previous WEC champion before moving up the the UFC. A little deeper look at Doug Marshall and Justin McElfresh along with my fight prediction: Doug Marshall is a brawler who turned pro as a heavyweight before dropping down to light heavyweight. He has heavy hands and of his seven fights, only one of them has gone past the 1st round. This could be a factor if they fight goes into the third round as Marshall's cardio is a bit suspect. He has fought against UFC veteran James Irving and Pride and UFC veteran Lodune Sincade, losing to Irving and beating Sicade. In his fight with Irving, Marshall showed that he has one hell of a chin. Irving landed a ton of punches and knees to the head which Marshall was able to absorb. Below is a video clip of that fight.

James Irvin vs. Doug Marshall There's not a whole lot of informatin out there about Justin McElfresh, no video clips to be found. What is known is that after losing his MMA debut, he has rattled off five wins. Also of note, he is 6' 6" which is pretty damn tall for a light heavyweight. Another thing that stands out is that he trains with Rich "Ace" Franklin. Prediction Marshall has definitely faced stiffer competition than McElfresh with a OWLR of 2.25 compared to McElfresh's .75 OWLR (OWLR is stat I came up with that helps to measure level of competition a fighter has faced. It stands for Opponents Win Loss Ratio, with the higher the number the better). He's got a great chin and I don't see McElfresh hitting any harder than Irvin, even with his reach advantage. The one thing going against Marshall is that all but one of his fights have ended in the first roung. With McElfresh training with Franklin, you have to expect he'll come into the fight with great cardio which could come into play if the fight goes past the first round. My Pick: Marshall by KO.

Randy Couture to Fight Gonzaga August 25th

Or at least that is what Couture said in an interview with Newsday.com. Here are some other things the UFC Champion had to say during that interview, paraphrased: 1. Couture picked Gonazaga to beat Cro Cop. 2. Randy's record for picking fight winners is 40 wins 15 losses (he should be betting in Vegas) 3. He observed that Mirko wasn't training in a cage and that it was going to hurt him going into the Gonzaga fight. 4. Couture said that Cro Cop has trouble with fighters who aren't intimidated by him. 5. And most importantly, Couture will take on Gabriel Gonzaga August 25th at a location TBD. Take not that the UFC has not confirmed this. Click here to read the Newday.com article in its entirety.

TUF Recap - 5/10 Episode 6

There was zero footage of the teams back at the house as the entire episode was devoted to the two fights. First up, Joe Lauzon vs. Brian Geraghty. Leading up to the fight, we are shown footage of Joe knocking out Jens Pulver in Joe's first UFC fight (UFC 63). Joe gets the early clinch followed by a hard slam landing him in Geraghty's guard. Lauzon immediately lets his first and elbows fly connecting on a few. Then Joe postures up high and attempts to drops a huge elbow. Brian saw it coming a mile away and rolled out before Joe could land it. As Geraghty scrambles back to his feet Joe pops up and hops on Brian's back, brings him down, and sinks in a rear naked choke. Victory by submission in less than a minute in a half. Dana Whites said to the camera "Lazon looked amazing." Jens says "The kid's good, he is good. I'm glad he's good that way I didn't get knocked out by a bitch." Brian says "I've never been embarassed before like that in my life." Next up, Cory Hill vs. Rob Emerson. Before the fight, Cory tells Jens that he lied during the application process and has only had two MMA fights, not four. As soon as the openning bell rings, Cory comes out and swarms Emerson with punches and a couple of knees. Although an impressive flury, it only lasts 15 seconds before Rob gets out of it. They measure each other up for a while until Cory secures a clinch. Emerson shakes off the clinch and we're back to them feeling each other out for the rest of the round. Cory's 15 second killer instinct seems to be amiss but he does enough to win the round by landing a few more punches and frustrating Rob with his enormous height and reach advantage. 2nd round. Emerson tries to work his way in by throwing some leg kicks with most of them landing. Rob gets in with a punch or two, then gets out, doing this for much of the round. Cory seems tentative. Very last part of the round Cory gets Emerson on the ground but Emerson scrables and get a pretty good heel hook in. He doesn't have enough time to sink it in as the clock runs out. First two rounds end in a draw sending the fight into a "sudden victory" round. Simiar to the two previous rounds, both stay on their feet and try to strike from a distance with Cory using his reach but not really inflicting any real damage. Emerson lands a few more nice leg kicks which seem to bother Cory a bit, but for some reason doesn't he doesn't follow up. Emerson held his own very well but ultimately didn't give it the extra effort needed to get in tight and land solid punches. Cory does enough to just get by and wins the fight. Afterwards Cory say "It's all about heart. At the end I let it all hang out." Not sure what he meant by that as he was reserved the entire fight. Dana say "Neither one looked overly impressive. I thought Emerson won." Emerson is disappointed and say he feels he won the fight. Back in the dressing room Cory goes on to admit that this was his very first professional MMA fight. I guess Dana new he had a limited fight record and experience but due to his raw talent and 6' 4" frame at 155lbs, he thought he was worth of the show. My opinion. Joe looked very solid, great killer instinct. The fight was so quick we weren't able to see all that he is capible of, but knowing he KO'd Jens, he's legit. Cory was a major letdown. Homeboy talked a huge game but come fight time he didn't deliver that big can of whoop ass that he said he would. Maybe it was just nerves, but he better get more comfortable in the Octagon if he wants to make it past the next round.

"UFC Locker Room" New on FHM

Chuck Liddell, the poster boy of the UFC, landed his mug on latest edition of ESPN Magazine. Now, FHM (For Him Magazine) is going to feature a the UFC in its online addition. We're not talking about one or two article about mixed martial arts, but actual space devoted to it. The new online fight section will be called UFC Locker Room and will feature an exclusive behind-the-scenes blog in which many of the UFC's most recognized fighters will share with FHM users what it's like to live and compete in the Octagon as a mixed martial arts superstar. Sources say it should be on their site by the end of the month.

Liddell Makes Cover of ESPN Magazine - Bad Timing?

It looks like mixed martial arts will finally get the credit it has so patiently deserved when the Iceman graces the cover of ESPN Magazine. This is a huge step for MMA and no one deserves it more than UFC icon Chuck Liddell, but how about the timing? It's all going to depend on the outcoming of his fight against Quinton Jackson. You are going to have millions of people exposed to MMA for the first time with this issue of ESPN Magazine. After reading the article, most are going to think Chuck is the baddest man on the planet, get excited about MMA, and will probably take notice of his next fight. Now, if Chuck beats Rampage, he lives up the magazine hype and justifies his placement on the cover. This will only help the sport as a new base of fans get to see, and get behind, a true great of the sport. Think of it this way, most people don't give a shit about horse racing, but when you have an undefeated horse who smashes the competition at the Kentucky Derby, like Barboro did a year prior, people all of the sudden take notice of horse racing and go on to tune into the second leg of the Triple Crown (The Preaknes) to see if that horse can continue that win streak. The real problem with Liddell on the cover is that if he loses his next fight (which I think he will, but that's another post all together) a lot of newly interested and potential fans will be let down. Just like that great race horse who everyone has read about and ends up finishing last in his next race. I wish Chuck would have been on the cover a couple of years ago, that way the readers would have been able to see the sport's star live up to his status as he rattled off KO after KO. Regardless, this is a great day for mixed martial arts and nothing should be taken away from Chuck, win or lose at UFC 71.

UFC 71 - The Newbees

Upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship 71 features three fighters new to the octagon who will be matched up against three UFC veterans. Houston Alexander who will be taking on "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine, Thiago Silva who will be taking on James Irvin, and Jeremy Stephens who will be fighting Din Thomas. I thought these new fighters deserved a deeper look as they all walk into the UFC with solid fight records. 205lb MMA fighter Houston Alexander has a record of 6 wins and 1 loss with most of those wins coming via KO or submission. His most recent fights have been in the Extreme Challenge and Gladiator Championship. It appears that his style is ground and pound and says his favorite move is the body slam. One thing of note is that of the 6 fighters he has wins over, they have a combined record of 47 wins and 85 losses. Keep in mind that all of his opponents have never fought in a big show. Houston, you're gonna have a problem with Jardine and I don't think you'll will make his debut walking away with a win. Jeremy Stephens is 155lbs with a respectable record of 8 and 1 and goes by the nickname "Little Scrappy" which I'm guessing is a reflection of his fighting style. He has quick hands and like to strike with 6 of his 8 wins coming via KO. The combined record of his opponents is 53 wins and 43 translating into what I like to call a 1.23 OWLR (A ratio of Opponents Win Loss Records). He'll be fighting a guy with a ton of UFC experience in Din Thomas and is going to have his hands full. If he can manage to pull out a victory (which I don't think he will) he'll get a lot of people's attention. Below is a highlight reel of Stephens Thiago Silva is my pick for the 205lb first-timer most likely to walk away with a victory. He is undefeated with 9 wins. He's a Black Belt in BJJ who likes to strike, including and leg and head kicks. If he uses those kicks effectively, he's going to have a good chance against "The Sandman" who I've never been overly impressed with.

The Ring Girls of MMA - Top Five

Was doing a little surfing today and came across a section of the King of the Cage website dedicated to their ring girls. Did a bit more digging around for ring girls from other organizations. My ranking for hottest ring girls: 1. Bodog. If you like exotic women, they have the best. Click here for a larger group photo. More Bodog ladies can be seen here. 2. UFC. Would have been number one if they had more than three girls. The UFC Octagon Girls. 3. King of the Cage. Lot's of fake hooters, but lots of girls to choose from. King of the Cage Ring Girls. 4. Cage Rage. Nice videos of the Cage Rage Babes. 5. Pro Elite. Huge selection which unfortunately allows for some not-so-hot girls. However, the site has their own ranking of the ladies.

Bodog is For Real

Bodog fight recently grabbed the MMA community's attention with the Fedor vs. Lindland fight, although I'm guessing only a small percentage of the mixed martial arts fans saw the event. If you haven't had a chance to see it, you can check it out here on YouTube. This weekend I was able to catch a couple of Bodog fights (under the name of Rage Cage) on a local cable TV station (Ion Television) and was impressed with the level of competition. The fighters in the two fights I watched are easily UFC material. The JR Sims vs. Brad Pickett was easily one of the best MMA fights so far this year. Unfortunately I cannot find it on YouTube. Check out this solid line-up Bodog had for Cage Rage 21 event: Alex Owen v Brad Pickett Ross Pointon v Abdul Mohamed Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua v Alex Reid Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos v James Zikic Ivan Serati v Vitor Belfort Gary Turner v David ‘Tank’ Abbott The best part of the event, it was free to watch if you have the ION channel (a free cable channel). This Tuesday at 10pm ION will feature another set of Bodog fights. See if you have ION Television in your area. Find by Zipcode.

Three Matches at UFC 73 Announced

Tickets for UFC 73 at Arco Areana will be soon available for purchase (5/12). In the meantime, three matches of the event were annouced: Andersen Silva vs. Nathan Marquardt Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca The fight I'm most looking forward to is Ortiz vs. Rashad. Full predicition to come as we get closer to the fight.

Dana White Makes Floyd Mayweather an Offer

...an offer he will most likely refuse. About an hour and a half after Mayweather's decision over Oscar De La Hoya, Dana White announced that he'd make Mayweather an offer to fight UFC's lightweight champions Sean Sherk. Dana's said "he'd make it worth Mayweather's while" even knowing that he received $10million just for his fight against De La Hoya, plus a share of PPV sales. Regardless of Dana's offer, I just don't see Mayweather accepting. He's all talk and likes to bash MMA fighter outside of the ring, or octagon. Take those big boxing gloves off and throw him into a cage and I think he might change his mind about mixed martial arts. The full, but brief article is posted on Yahoo Sports HERE.

UFC 71 Official Website Now Live

The UFC just launched the official site for upcoming UFC 71, Chuck "Da Iceman" Liddell vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. The site features the story behind the fued (Liddell trying to avenge his loss to Rampage, Jackson's quest for the Light Heavyweight Championship Title), fight card breakdown, interviews with Chuck and Quinton, and an in-depth analysis of the entire night. As usual the UFC has produced another quality websites, far better than any other MMA organization, but this one isn't quite as good as some of the ones in the past. There might be some updates to come as we get closer to fight night and still, very much worth a look. UFC 71 Official Website

The Ultimate Fighter Marathon

In case you have missed any TUF episodes, Spike TV will be airing a 5 hour mid-season marathon of The Ultimate Fighter tommorrow, Saturday May 5th, 6pm - 11pm (Est).

Gabe Should be Sponosored by McDonalds - TUF Recap

It's time for another recap of tonight's episode of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. For the sake of readablity, I've kept things short and to the point. The episode starts off with a training session with Team Penn. During training Tony DeSouza gets annoyed because Noah isn't taking training seriously enough. His frustration come to a head when DeSouza rolls with Noah. Tony is overly agressive and absolutely dominates Noah as he tries to prove a point. Back at the house, Gabe Ruediger stuffs his face with cake which of course serves as foreshadowing. At fight selection, Corey Hill calls out Gabe to fight, no surprise. Gabe grabs a crate and stands on it so that he can look down on the much taller Hill. Gabe thinks he is funny. He comments during one of the show's interview that he could see fear in Corey's eyes. Now that the fight is set, Gabe talks about how much more ring experience he has over Corey. Gabe has 12 MMA fights while Corey only has 4. No surprise, Mr. Pudgy Gabe needs to cut weight, a lot of weight. Gabe is confident that he can do it with his training methods which consist of walking on a treadmill and sitting on the ground covered with towels. With 2 hours left before weigh-in he's at 162, 7lbs overweight. Penn get's Gabe's dumb ass back to the house and in the sauna. Penn pushes Gabe to ride the exercise bike while in the sauna. It's pretty brutal, a la Bobby Southworth from past TUF season. Gabe gives up after getting down to 159lbs, passes out, and goes to the hospital. While gone, the entire house talks shit about Gabe and how he disrespected his team and that he doesn't belong and he shouldn't have been shoveling cake down his piehole while the rest have been training so hard. Most feel that he was ducking Corey because he really wanted to take on weaker fighter Weems. Gabe tells the guys that he is sorry but they want none of it. He instantly becomes an outcast. Dana joins teams back to the gym and says that nothing pisses him off more than fighters not making weight. Dana then tells Gabe has no future in the sport and that his career is over and in front of the rest of the fighters kicks his ass off the show. Gabe cries as he leaves. Dana brings Emerson (who is visibly appreciative of the opportunity) back because he is the first alternate. In exchange, Dana allows Team Pulver to pick the next two fights. Brian Geraghty picks Jon Lauzon. Corey Hill picks Rob Emerson. Next week both fights will be shown during one episode to make up for not having a fight on tonight's show.

De La Hoya & Mayweather as MMA Fighters

With all the hoopla surround the upcoming Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather I wasn't too surprised to find some posts on MMA forums surrounding these boxers. One post that was interesting: With all of the momentum UFC/MMA has right now, and the continual decline in popularity of boxing, it's only a matter of time before decent boxers make the transistion to MMA and receive better pay and better visability. So, hypothetically, who would make a better mixed martial artist, Mayeather or De La Hoya? I think most MMA fans see the writing on the wall. MMA fighters are in, boxers are out, especially with Generation Y. 10 years ago there were dozens of boxers that were household names, but now there are only a handful. Today, more and more UFC fighters are becoming popular names who consistently do well in PPV which is something that boxing used to own the market in. Some of the forum responses: -"Easily De La Hoya. Just by attitude if nothing else. Mayweather seems as if he'd rather die than become a part of MMA while De La Hoya embraces it." -"Send pretty boy floyd to train with chuck on takedown defense ...dude would be unreal" -"The big difference in boxing and mma is, when your tired in boxing and need to catch your breath you can keep tieing up your opponent which is one of the main reasons I hate fucking boxing... In mma if you try to tie up you can get kneed in the stomach very easily which takes the wind out of you good luck catching your breath then. The only thing I like about boxing is the standing 8 counts when the fight should have been over the fighter gets a chance to redeem himself or get knocked out even worse... In MMA after a huge punch they can jump on top of them and finish the fight which is how it should be in a true fight." -"De la Hoya would make the better MMA artist just simply based on attitude. But Pretty Boy Floyd would have a better chance to make it to the upper echelon just because of his age. He's still young enough to cross-train in other disciplines and develop to elite status. I just don't think his ego will let him do it."

Liddell Says Upsets Streak Will End

We've seen a string up upsets in high-level matches recently. Matt Serra beating George St. Pierre (UFC 69), Randy Couture beating Tim Sylvia (UFC 68), and Gabriel Gonzaga over Mirko Cro Cop (UFC 70). Will The Ice Man be next up for an upset? Liddell says nay. Here are some words from the UFC Champion in a recent interview with the Canadian press regarding his fight against the last man to beat him, Quinton Rampage Jackson:

"I'm planning on going out there and knocking him out...I probably should have beat him then [Pride match] and I know I can beat him now," Liddell said. "I can't wait...I think it's a great matchup for me. I like guys that come at me."

His thoughts about his last performance against Jackson, "It just didn't work out for me. I don't think I was in as good as shape as I should have been. There was a lot of problems at the time."

And his thoughts about Quinton's fight against Marvin Eastman, "I thought he was a little cautious in it, but he handled Eastman pretty well."

As usual, the Ice Man is the favorite as chosen by the odds makers. The latest odds from BetUs.com had Liddell at minus-260, meaning you'd have to put $260 down to win $100 in profit. Jackson was plus-200, meaning a $100 bet would make $200 profit. With those odds, my money is on Jackson.

Tito is Beautiful

At least according to People En Espanol magazine (and most likely Jenna Jameson as well). The publication is releasing its "50 most beautiful Hispanic celebrities" and former UFC champ Tito Ortiz has made the list. Tito, an MMA favorite, had this to say about it all: "I am proud of my heritage and thrilled to have a large following of Hispanic fans, so I am honored to be sharing the issue with so many wonderful members of the Latino community"... "Being selected and being photographed for the issue and then taped for the TV special was a terrific experience for me."

Abu Dhabi Internet Broadcast

ProElite.com, an online community for MMA fighters, announced it will bring the prestigious Abu Dhabi Combat Club “Submission Wrestling World Championship” to a global Internet audience for the first time May 5 – 6, 2007. The live broadcast stream from the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey will begin noon EST/ 9:00 a.m. PST on both days. The featured “Super Fight,” scheduled for May 6, will have current Absolute Division winner Roger Gracie bafighting Ricardo Arona, who replaced an injured Dean Lister on the card. Due to contractual obligations during ADCC 2005, Arona was unable to defend his Super Fight title against Lister and now he’s back in this classic match-up with Gracie.