MMA News Thread

[Shogun Locc]

Rich Franklin vs. Lutter could happen in Montreal

A planned middleweight bout between Rich Franklin and Travis Lutter that had been scheduled for March 1 in Columbus, Ohio at UFC 82, could be re-scheduled for the UFC's anticipated show on April 19 in Montreal at the Bell Centre.

The story was first reported by Loretta Hunt of The Fight Network on Wednesday morning. The report does not say the match has officially been added to the card, as Franklin's agent, Monte Cox, indicated that Franklin's recovery from surgery last week coupled with the recent loss of his father due to a heart attack could effect the scheduling of the bout.


According to Hunt, Franklin underwent successful surgery last week to repair a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee and Cox as quoted as saying that Franklin is already able to put weight on the knee.
Lutter has not fought since a second round submission loss (due to elbows) to Anderson Silva at UFC 67 on February 13, 2007.

Lutter had been scheduled to return at UFC 74 in August but had to pull out of the card due to injury.

The Montreal show is expected to be headlined by a welterweight title match between Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre.

 

[Skizzy Ske]

i know its a ufc thread but on channel 34(comcast)fox sports they playin old pride fights wit chuck n silvia. other fights too

 

[BROWN GUERRERO]

i know its a ufc thread but on channel 34(comcast)fox sports they playin old pride fights wit chuck n silvia. other fights too

This is for all of MMA not just UFC!



Even tho I love UFC, Pride > UFC 4ever IMO.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Schilt Returns to MMA

Three-time defending K-1 World Grand Prix champion Semmy Schilt (Pictures) will make his comeback to the MMA ring on Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.

After a potential super fight against Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) failed to materialize on New Year's Eve, the most dominant kickboxer of the new millennium has taken matters into his own hands. He told manager Bas Boon to find him a fight in early January on a European event.

Upstart promotion Lord of the Ring gladly obliged and put the 6-foot-11 Dutchman in the main event of its inaugural show. Schilt will face unrenowned Austrian heavyweight Nandor Guelmino.

The 31-year-old Viennese fighter comes from a taekwondo background and has been training in MMA for five years. He gives up eight inches and 25 pounds to Schilt, and he is much more inexperienced with only three previous fights compared to Schilt's almost 40 career MMA bouts and 30 kickboxing fights.

The fight with Guelmino has most likely been booked to ease Schilt back into MMA, which he had been away from for 17 months. His last bout under MMA rules was in August 2006, when he submitted Korean judoka Min Soo Kim (Pictures) in the first round via triangle choke.

Before his highly successful tenure in K-1, the former King of Pancrase had a mixed run in the now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships. He knocked out inferior opposition like Akira Shoji (Pictures), Masaaki Satake (Pictures) and Yoshihiro Takayama (Pictures), but he came up short against top dogs Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) and Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures).

Schilt also had a brief stint in the UFC in 2001 before returning to Japan after losing to Josh Barnett (Pictures) at UFC 32.

Also on the card will be Schilt's Golden Glory teammates Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) and Aziz Karaoglu, Pride veteran David Bielkheden (Pictures), Red Devil team member Nikolai Onikienko and highly experienced Muscovite submission master Andrey Rudakov.

The show, which takes place at the 20,000-seat state-of-the-art Belgrade Arena, is supposed to be the first in a series of events taking place all over former Yugoslavia -- in Sarajevo, Podgorica, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Skopje -- and also in other parts of Southeast Europe, including Athens, Greece; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Tirana, Albania.

Full Fight Card

MMA Rules:
Aziz Karaoglu (Germany) vs. Noufel Amellouk (Morocco)
Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) (Netherlands) vs. Kresimir Bogdanovic (Serbia)
Goce Candovski (Macedonia) vs. Denis Stojnic (Serbia)
David Bielkheden (Pictures) (Sweden) vs. Mirzet Bajraktarevic (Croatia)
Nikolai Onikienko vs. TBA
Mathieu Ten Dam (Netherlands) vs. Maurice Luiendijk (Netherlands)
Andrey Rudakov (Russia) vs. Jason Jones (Netherlands)
Nandor Guelmino (Austria) vs. Semmy Schilt (Pictures) (Netherlands)

K-1 Rules:
Azziz Jah Jah (Morocco) vs. Vitor Miranda (Pictures) (Brazil)
Daniel Nordaas (Norway) vs. Chong (Thailand)
Serkan Yavuz (Turkey) vs. Stefan Leko (Pictures) (Germany)

 

[Shogun Locc]

Yoshiyuki Yoshida to UFC

Another Japanese prospect is set to cross the Pacific and land stateside.

In a tumultuous year for the Japanese MMA scene, Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) offered quite an unexpected bright spot. Now Yoshida's management has confirmed to Sherdog.com that the 170-pound Cage Force tournament champion has been offered a four-fight deal with Zuffa and the UFC.

Greatest Common Multiple based its 2007 schedule around its Cage Force tournaments at 155 and 170 pounds. In addition to putting on good fights and popularizing both the cage and the unified rules in Japan, GCM and its Worldwide Cage Network sister promotions made it a goal to foster and promote international talent who could one day make their way overseas, to the UFC, and shine. Moreover, it was suggested that the respective tournament winners would earn UFC deals.

In the 170-pound tournament, former Shooto world champion Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) seemed a lock to earn that Octagon opportunity. Instead, the fight community was forcefully introduced to Yoshida.

Although Yoshida's win over British prospect Dan Hardy (Pictures) in the tournament finale came via an unfulfilling disqualification due to a low kick that landed to the groin, the pupil of Shooto icon Noboru Asahi was sensational throughout 2007. Yoshida went 4-0 on the year, including brutal first-round stoppages of current provisional Pancrase king Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) and the aforementioned Kikuchi.

Perhaps embodying GCM's very goals with the Cage Force program, Yoshida has become noted for his cage savvy. While many fighters, especially Japanese fighters, have been slow to grasp some nuances of the unified rules and the cage, Yoshida flourished in the venue, showing the ability to use the fence to his advantage by controlling and pounding opponents, as well as utilizing devastating elbows.

Yoshida is set to sign the contract on Monday. His management believes that his first bout in the Octagon will likely be in April.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Akiyama Camp Protests Misaki's KO Kick

New Year's Eve always seems to spell turmoil for Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures).

After making his debut at K-1 Premium 2004 Dynamite, Akiyama was forced to withdraw from a bout with Royce Gracie (Pictures) for K-1's New Year's Eve offering in 2005 when he sustained a back injury in training. The 2006 edition of Dynamite was the site of his now-infamous greasing scandal against icon Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures). Now controversy has arisen again on the heels of his loss to Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) at the Dec. 31 Yarennoka card.

Akiyama and his team have filed a protest with K-1 and HERO'S parent company Fight Entertainment Group, which co-sponsored the Yarennoka event with M-1 Global. Akiyama contends that the fight-ending kick delivered by Misaki was in fact illegal.

As he attempted to scramble to his feet after being knocked down by a Misaki left hook, Akiyama took a brutal lunging kick to the face. Following the bout, there was much heated debate among fans as to whether Akiyama's hands were still on the mat when he was struck.

According to the rules used for the Yarennoka card, if Akiyama's hands were still on the deck, Misaki's kick would've been illegal. Furthermore, if the strike were illegal, Akiyama's inability to continue would make him the victor by disqualification.

FEG President Sadaharu Tanigawa told the media that while he wasn't sure of the kick's illegality, he planned to review the fight tape and then make a ruling on the matter.

 

[Shogun Locc]

‘Kid' Turns Killer Bee to Krazy, Brings in Cage

Fully back into the MMA world after his amateur wrestling excursion and fresh off a brutal KO victory of Rani Yahya (Pictures) at K-1 Premium 2007 Dynamite on New Year's Eve, Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) is set to make some changes.

First and foremost, "Kid" Yamamoto is changing the name of his gym from "Killer Bee" to "Krazy Bee." Ironically, the bad boy of Japanese MMA told the Japanese media that since he was now teaching children and wanted to integrate a larger youth wrestling program into his gym, he felt the Killer Bee moniker was "too barbaric."

Also, the facility will be changing sites in favor of a new, larger venue in the Ota ward of Tokyo city. The new facility, tentatively set to open Feb. 1, will not only be more spacious but will also have a full cage for training.

With the growing influence of the cage worldwide and more Japanese fighters fighting internationally in caged MMA events, Yamamoto said that bringing a cage into the gym was necessary for fighters with an eye on competing overseas.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Kinoshita Shills for Sengoku

While the buildup to New Year's Eve saw discussion of its March 5 debut cool off, World Victory Road has began to put its Sengoku card back in the media spotlight.

WVR figurehead Naoya Kinoshita held a news conference earlier this week in Tokyo to shed more light on the relatively sparse details available in regards to the card at the Yoyogi National Stadium First Gymnasium. One of the more intriguing topics introduced during the presser was the aesthetics and atmosphere of the event.

Kinoshita said that the production of the Sengoku card would "closely resemble the Yarennoka card."

While Kinoshita's words were vague, speculation within the Japanese MMA community suggests that his comments reference World Victory Road looking to hire the same event production companies that handled the design of past PRIDE events, as well as the Dec. 31 Yarennoka show.

Kinoshita floated the names of Takanori Gomi (Pictures) and Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) as two fighters that WVR is interested in pursuing. However, at this point, there is little substance to those comments, which seemed largely geared toward bluster to the media.

Kinoshita also touched on the topic of terrestrial broadcasting, which so far has been the largest difficulty for the upstart WVR. With the highly paid and popular Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) as the anchor for the card, WVR's goal was to secure terrestrial broadcasting on one of Japan's six major networks. However, after reportedly being turned down by the networks, WVR was in a difficult position.

Kinoshita said that WVR had actually rejected one proposed television deal. Without having secured an agreement with one of the six major broadcasters, Kinoshita said that while it was not yet official, Sengoku could at least be available on several satellite channels.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Shooto Ready for 2008 Rookie Class

With 2007 already a distant memory, Shooto officials have finalized the list of competitors and the tournament brackets for the 2008 rookie tournament series.

The series began in 2002 as a way to foster and promote young talent in the pro Shooto ranks. Since 2002, the series has produced several Shooto world champions, including Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures), "Lion Takeshi" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures), Shinichi "BJ" Kojima and Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures). Other former Shooto rookie champions include Hiroyuki Takaya (Pictures), Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura, Yasuhiro Urushitani (Pictures), Nobuhiro Obiya (Pictures), Takeya Mizaki, Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures) and Yusuke Endo (Pictures).

The 115-pound tournament will feature nine entrants. In a quarterfinal qualifier, Takeshi Sato will take on Hiroyuki "Ron" Kondo. The winner will face Masatomi Yamagami in the first quarterfinal.

In the second quarterfinal, 2007 All Japan amateur champion Yusuke Sato will meet Tatsuya Yamamoto (Pictures). In the second half of the bracket, Teppei "Bull" Masuda meets Yoshitaka Aki, and Kazuyuki "Torii" Yoshida meets the free-swinging "Sarumaru" Junji Ito (Pictures).

The 123-pound bracket has seven participants. Fumihiro Kitahara has been seeded into the semifinals, where he will face the winner of the first quarterfinal between Shigeyasu Fujira and Hiroaki Iijima. In the other two quarterfinals, Jun Nagasoe meets Kentaro Watanabe, and Yosuke "Flying Monkey No. 2" Saruta takes on 2007 All Japan amateur Shooto champ Kota Funamoto, who beat him in the semifinals of the All Japans in September.

A very deep 132-pound tournament will feature a dozen fighters. Four have been seeded into the quarterfinals, with eight fighters slotted into quarterfinal qualifying bouts. Yuta Nezu has been seeded into the quarterfinals and will face the winner of Haruo Ochi and Masumi Tozawa. In the second quarterfinal, 2006 All Japan amateur champ Kousuke Eda (Pictures) will await the winner of Katsuya Toida (Pictures) pupil Tatsuya "Nakashi" Nakajima and Yuki "Isami Oni" Baba. In the second half of the bracket, Yoshihiko "Kagero" Oyama will face the winner of Jyoji Kawamata against Hirosuke Ito, and Yasuaki "AKI" Nagamoto will take on the winner of Syunsuke Nomura and Keita Yoshida.

After only six competitors last year, 2008's 143-pound tournament features a 13-man field. Three fighters have been seeded into the quarterfinals. On one side of the bracket, Takumi Ota (Pictures) will meet the winner of Makoto Akazawa and Takayoshi Ono, and former All Japan amateur champion Yasuhiro Kanayama (Pictures) will face the winner of Issei Tamura and Hiroaki Nakayama. On the other side, Naohiro Mizuno (Pictures) will take on the victor of the quarterfinal qualifier between Daiki Tsuchiya and Hidenori Nishino.

The other quarterfinal will pit two qualifier winners against each other, as former All Japan amateur champ Toshihiko "Yokosai" Yokoyama faces Atsushi "Mitsuru" Kobayashi, and Kenichiro Marui faces 154-pound 2007 All Japan amateur champion Hiroshige Tanaka, who is trimming down to 143 pounds.

Shooto's hallmark weight class of 154 pounds will feature a tournament with nine fighters. In a quarterfinal qualifier, former Deep 168-pound Future King Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura will take on "Gypsy" Taro Kusano, with the winner advancing to face Hayato Sakurai (Pictures)'s student Kunio Nakajima (Pictures). In the other quarterfinals, Hiroshi Sugimoto faces Yasuaki Kishimoto, Junpei Konno meets Kiguchi wrestling standout Ikuo Usuda, and another Mach Sakurai product, Hiroshi "KG Kokoroto" Kuga, takes on former All Japan amateur champion Kazuya Satomoto.

After producing the most exciting bracket of 2007, the 168-pound leg of the rookie series features six competitors this year. 2007 All Japan amateur champion and prohibitive tournament favorite Takesuke Kume (Pictures) will meet the winner of the quarterfinal between Yoichiro Sato and Toru Ishinaka (Pictures). Takuya Sato (Pictures) awaits the winner of the quarterfinal between Naoki Hirayama and Kazushi Kochi.

In the final tournament at 183 pounds, another six fighters will compete. Makoto "Chomolangma 1/2" Maeda will take on the winner of the quarterfinal between Taijiro Iseki and Naoji Mikoshiba. 2007 rookie tournament runner-up Takaaki "C-BOY" Oban will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Nobuyasu Fujikawa and 2007 All Japan amateur champion Yusaku Tanaka.

The rookie tournaments will kick off at the Jan. 26 pro Shooto event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, with the scheduled bouts being Kota Funamoto vs. Yosuke Saruta and Kazuyuki Yoshida vs. Junji Ito (Pictures).

 

[Shogun Locc]

BRANDON VERA LIKELY OUT UNTIL MAY

Brandon Vera has watched the tape over and over again. It’s the first exchange of the fight. He steps forward with a jab, meets Tim Sylvia’s oncoming face, and slides into the clinch.

“My thumb got caught and pulled back like a banana,” he says.

It was a trivial shot, but it quickly derailed him. He thought it was dislocated and tried to re-set the thumb mid-fight.

“I held my breath and pulled it real hard and it didn’t go back in,” he continues. “I finished the first round, went back to my coaches, who were like ‘(expletive) your left hand, you don’t need it! Use your right hand.’ I was like cool, I won’t use my left hand.”

Vera had broken his scaphoid, a cashew-sized bone that keeps the thumb from bending too far towards the wrist.

The searing pain in his digit prevented him from putting together any combinations, which prevented him from letting his kicks fly freely. He felt like a lame duck.

“I wanted to punch Tim so hard,” he says. “I should have just kept touching and moving, instead of trying to light him up early. He started hitting me; I couldn’t hit him back. I started throwing short elbows to try and catch him on his way in. I sucked. That was one of the most boring fights ever. I’m ashamed to have been a part of it.”

Vera wanted surgery immediately. His doctor told him he might have to stabilize the hand with a screw. When he woke up from the procedure, he had three.

The UFC wanted Vera to fight on its March 1 card in Columbus, Ohio, but he says May is the earliest he could re-emerge.

“The weekend after the fight, I still couldn’t pick up a plate of food,” he says. “We’re hoping for the best. I wish they would put me with Tim again, but it looks like I’m going to climb up the ladder again. I don’t care who they put me with, I’m banging. I’ll make sure not to punch so hard in the beginning; I’ll make sure I use up all the rounds.”

In the mean time, Vera makes the nine-mile bike ride every day to his Chula Vista gym, Alliance MMA, teaching classes to eager students. He works on the things he can. At home, he distracts himself with remote control racecars, watching his dog chase them around the house.

When asked about his thoughts on the upcoming heavyweight title fight between Silva and Minotauro Nogueira, he’s hesitant to talk about it. It still upsets him.

“It’s really hard to look at,” he says. “Coulda, shoulda, woulda been me, so it sucks.”

Vera is 30 and has five fights left on his UFC contract, so father time isn’t exactly knocking on his door, but like his previous layoff from the Octagon, the fight with Sylvia has been a forced lesson in patience.

 

[Shogun Locc]

SHOGUN KEEPING NEW FIGHT TEAM IN BRAZIL

MMAWeekly.com has verified that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, and Andre "Dida" Amade have joined forces in a new camp. Originally all three were expected to leave Brazil after their exodus from Chute Boxe, but they have decided to stay in Curitiba.

They are still forming a new team entitled Universidade da Luta (UDL), which in English translates to Fight University. According to Shogun, they already have 10 to 15 professional fighters gathered together and are currently looking for a jiu-jitsu coach.

Dida originally left Chute Boxe saying that he got a proposal from a sponsor from Canada and that he would live with his older brother and fighter Mauricio Véio.

Ninja left Chute Boxe saying that he had received a proposal from a sponsor in Massachusetts and was planning to move there to start up a new team.

Shogun, upon leaving Chute Boxe, was the only one of the three who said that he wanted to stay and live in Curitiba, but he recently made a short statement saying that the three decided to stay in Curitiba and train all together. He also indicated that Dida’s older brother, who is coming from Canada, would be responsible for the Muay Thai training.

In speaking with GracieMag.com, Shogun also gave some insight into the three fighters’ respective returns to competition, “I’m already preparing for my return. I’ll fight on April 19. Ninja and Dida go back in March.”

The April 19 date would land Shogun on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Canadian debut in Montreal.

 

[Shogun Locc]

CAMP REPORT: TEAM LINK (GONZAGA RETURNS)

Mixed martial arts continues to grow throughout the New England area and Team Link along with head trainer Marco Alvan continues to churn out some of the best young fighters in the world today.


GABRIEL GONZAGA READY FOR WERDUM

Team Link had a banner year in 2007, as many of their fighters were featured in prominent bouts throughout the world, but possibly none bigger than Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga. He had arguably the best knockout of the year with his win over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and then fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title against Randy Couture.

“Gabriel knows that he has all the tools to coming back from that loss and become a champion in that division,” said head trainer Marco Alvan. “We are going to restart on Jan. 19 in England.”

Gonzaga has been working hard to get ready for the fight and expects a very positive outcome in his rematch with Fabricio Werdum, who currently holds a win over him from a fight in 2003.


PAULO FILHO & THIAGO SILVA SUCCESSFUL

Team Link fighter Paulo Filho recently defended his World Extreme Cagefighting middleweight title against Chael Sonnen winning by submission in the second round.

It was by no means an easy fight, Sonnen had Filho in trouble early in the fight with a slam that left him dazed, but he showed his championship meddle to fight his way back for the submission.

Thiago Silva made another impressive showing in his fight against Houston Alexander at UFC 78 in New Jersey. The Brazilian worked alongside many of the great fighters at Team Link to prepare him for the bout.

Silva is one of the top prospects to make a splash in the UFC light heavyweight division in 2008 and he is expected to continue working with Team Link in the future.


TEAM LINK WINS GOLD BEFORE 2007 ENDS

Ricardo Funch from Team Link defeated Woody Weatherby to become the new World Fighting League welterweight champion, while Karn Grigorian, still undefeated at 5-0, became the new heavyweight champion for Extreme Fighting International.

Both fighters are expected to defend their titles on March 29.


TEAM LINK SCHOOLS OPENING

Team Link has new affiliated schools opening in Cambridge, Mass. and Sunset, Utah. Gabriel Gonzaga, Phil Dickson, and Marco Alvan will be opening the new academy in Cambridge.

Classes will be offered on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. For more information the school can be found at Team Link Cambridge, 91 Sidney Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Vitor Belfort Speaks About His Belt

Vitor Belfort is quite comfortable in the new training center, created by Rodrigo Minotauro, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While he was training hard in a big octagon, under the orders of master Amaury Bitetti and Luiz Alves, Belfort was quite happy and confident about his new “home”. Presently Cage Rage champion, the fighter opened his mouth about his unsatisfaction towards the company. About the chanced of returning to the UFC, Vitor is quite confident

You’re now officially training at Minotauro’s center, right?
Yes, I am training here with the team.

But are you just training? Who are you representing now?
No, I am really on the team and I’ll represent it. I don’t know what the team name is, it’ll be revealed soon.

You are the Cage Rage champion. How’s your relation with the organization?
I’m very upset with Cage Rage. My belt, for instance, I haven’t received it yet. I was told that it was retained on the British border, but I think they didn’t even make it. No one even called me about this.

Do you believe that the UFC will call you?
Things just happen when we really want. It’s on their hands. My will is to return to the UFC and regain my legacy. I think it’ll happen.

But was there any contact?
They asked me if I was ready to fight in April, I’m just waiting for Dana.

What about Lyoto, your former partner at Black House? He’s doing well in the UFC. Do you think he can get the belt?
He has all the chances to get. He’s fighting very well.
Translation (from Portuguese to English) by MMA-Europe.net
Interview by "Portal da Luta" (Brazil)

 

[Shogun Locc]

Houston Alexander accepts fight vs. Irvin for UFC 83

Houston Alexander has been offered and accepted a fight against James Irvin at UFC 83 on March 8 in London, MMAjunkie.com is reporting. Alexander is apparently still waiting to hear whether Irvin's camp has accepted the bout. As of now, UFC 83 is rumored to be headlined by a main event involving Michael Bisping and Charles McCarthy in what would mark Bisping's first-ever fight at middleweight.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Karo Parisyan vs. Alves being discussed for UFC 84

potential welterweight battle between Karo Parisyan and Thiago Alves is being discussed for UFC 84 in Montreal on April 19, according to MMAjunkie.com. Junkie reports that it has spoken to sources close to both fighters who claim that bout agreements are expected to be signed.


Right now, the rumored card for UFC 84 is as follows:

- Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title

- Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter

- Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves

- Mauricio Rua vs. TBA

- Sean Sherk vs. TBA

 

[heyzel]

Houston Alexander accepts fight vs. Irvin for UFC 83

Houston Alexander has been offered and accepted a fight against James Irvin at UFC 83 on March 8 in London, MMAjunkie.com is reporting. Alexander is apparently still waiting to hear whether Irvin's camp has accepted the bout. As of now, UFC 83 is rumored to be headlined by a main event involving Michael Bisping and Charles McCarthy in what would mark Bisping's first-ever fight at middleweight.

this will be a wild fight I gotta go with irvin

 

[rylor206]

yes this should be good.

 

[Shogun Locc]

this will be a wild fight I gotta go with irvin

who ever lands the first punch should win this fight. If Irvin could take him down or avoid Alexanders strikes then He will take this but if he underestimates Alexanders abilities then it's lights out for the sandman.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Thiago Silva Could Meet Rashad Evans in May

Thiago Silva (Pictures) is in talks with the UFC to fight Rashad Evans (Pictures) on May 24 in the UFC, sources close to the undefeated Brazilian fighter tell Sherdog.com.

The explosive light heavyweight has also decided to leave the Macaco Gold Team and Chute Boxe. A source close to Silva (12-0) revealed that the fighter was leaving for more than just better training conditions, but did not elaborate.

Silva, who most recently dispatched of Houston Alexander (Pictures) in the first round of their November bout at UFC 78, could be joining American Top Team, according to published reports.

However ATT leader Ricardo Liborio (Pictures) told Sherdog.com that Silva "isn't an ATT official member. He'll join the team on qualified terms to see if he fits into the team's concept and into the team's resolutions. If it's OK, he'll be an ATT member."

Silva, unbeaten in three UFC contests, would likely face his toughest test in the Octagon against Evans (11-0-1), the heavyweight winner on season two of "The Ultimate Fighter."

 

[Shogun Locc]

FRANK SHAMROCK VS. CUNG LE ON MARCH 29

Frank Shamrock will defend his Strikeforce middleweight title against Cung Le on the second Strikeforce and EliteXC joint show scheduled for March 29 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. according to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports.

The event is expected to air live on Showtime and include two Strikeforce bouts, two EliteXC bouts, and one bout featuring a Strikeforce fighter against an EliteXC fighter. Meltzer stated that a news conference announcing the event is expected some time next week.

Shamrock last saw action when he defeated Phil Baroni in the main event of the first Strikeforce/EliteXC joint event on June 22, 2007. He choked Baroni unconscious towards the end of the second round.

Le has built a perfect record of 5-0 since venturing into mixed martial arts in early 2006. In his last bout, fighting for Strikeforce in November, he defeated Ultimate Fighter veteran Sam Morgan by TKO early in the third round.

Also expected to fight on the card are Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and contender Josh Thomson. The bout had previously been announced for March 29 at Strikeforce’s November show in San Jose.

Melendez has since lost to Mitsuhiro Ishida on New Year’s Eve. It is not yet known if that will affect the status of his bout against Thomson.

EliteXC fighter Jake Shields is also expected to fight on the card.