MMA News Thread

[Shogun Locc]

K-1 HERO's Repackaged As "DREAMS";

According to Gryphon's blog there are reports in Japan that K-1 (FEG) and former PRIDE employees will unite for a new MMA event called "Dreams". The blog also states that Akira Maeda will leave K-1 HERO'S and the HERO'S format will be finished. DREAMS will take the place of HERO'S. They will use FEG's TV deal and DSE's new company production.

This is only rumor for now, but it's definitely interesting.

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/gryphonjapan/20080111

 

[Shogun Locc]

BJ Penn Want Rematch With GSP - Calls Hughes An A**hole

BJ Penn has been on a roll this past week. Here we see him calling out Georges St. Pierre in an interview he did with The Sun:
Fighting GSP is all I think about every day. A rematch would be very good and I’ll make sure that I will 100 per cent guarantee victory if we fight again…. I’d love to fight Matt Hughes again but I think he could walk away after his loss to St Pierre. If he does walk away from the sport, I wouldn’t be surprised after what happened the other night. Before his fight with Georges, I was really hoping I’d get another shot at Matt Hughes but after that fight, that was so embarrassing for him I don’t know how he’s going to rebound from that. I’d love to fight him again. If we can put the fight together somehow I’d love it but he’s also getting older so I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Penn also threw in his two cents on Hughes verbal slam on Tim Sylvia in his autobiography:

Hughes is an a***hole. Tim Sylvia had his back the whole time Hughes was fighting me and he was so happy Matt beat me but now they know who Matt is. Me and Tim Sylvia aren’t friends in any way, shape or form but I’m not going to go and write a book about how he’s a cry baby, it wouldn’t make sense.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Thiago SIlva vs. Rashad Evans On May 24? - Silva Moves To ATT

Thiago Silva is a rising star in the UFC's light heavyweight division. The undefeated Brazilian burst onto the UFC title landscape two months ago with a huge KO victory over Houston Alexander at UFC 78. Silva sat down with Tatame.com to discuss a variety of topics. Below are some of the highlights loosely translated from Portuguese.
Silva On His Move To American Top Team?

I’m anxious, I can’t wait to get there. It's a good change and I’m really happy. I’m on the biggest Vale-Tudo event of the world (UFC) and needed a bigger infrastructure, which doesn’t exist in Brazil yet. That’s why I choose to change. I did research and saw that ATT is one of the best gyms of the world and has lot's of great fighters. I’ll move to by the end of the month, but I don’t know where I'll live. The people from ATT are taking care of this for me.

Silva On His Next Opponent:

I’ll fight against Rashad Evans on May 24th. I wanna continue unbeaten, that’s my goal. I know he likes to get down and work on ground n’ pound. He has a heavy hand too, but nothing that scares me. I’ll work on a better way to defeat him, because I wanna fight for the UFC belt this year.

Silva On Who He'd Like To Fight Down The Road:

There’s a lot of guys that I would like to fight in UFC, but I think I would to fight against Lyoto Machida and Chuck Liddell, because they like an exchanging fight.

Silva On Fighting Former Training Mates Shogun Or Wanderlei Silva:

No problem with that. I’m a professional. Here's the thing: friends are friends, business is business. It happened on my last fight with Houston Alexander. He is a great friend of mine, was my first American friend and I happened to fight with him.

Silva On His UFC Contract:

I resigned for more four fights and I’ll do the first of them against Rashad Evans.

 

[rylor206]

thiago will own evans.

 

[Shogun Locc]

thiago will own evans.

He should win this fight if not then it's another LnP win for Evans.

 

[heyzel]

He should win this fight if not then it's another LnP win for Evans.

I agree^^

 

[Shogun Locc]

Randy Couture And Fedor Emelianenko Set To Film Commercial For Affliction

That's the word according to M-1 CEO Monte Cox:
"Fedor and Randy are doing an endorsement deal with Affliction for a TV commercial, and that is the extent of this meeting, except, of course, for the fact that Fedor has been a longtime fan of Randy and he considers it a thrill to meet him," Cox told TheFightNetwork.com.

Cox went on to comment on the possible Couture-Fedor matchup.

"We have always said that we are in favor of a Randy-Fedor fight," says Cox. "It would be great for the sport, the biggest fight in the history of mixed martial arts, and we will be a part of it when it happens."

 

[Shogun Locc]

Pat Miletich Considering A Comeback To MMA Competition?

Former UFC champion Pat Miletich, 38, may consider a return to the cage if the right opportunity presented itself.
"I've got so many things going on. I've got so many fighters I'm training. I train a lot of military Special Forces. I've got two young daughters I'm raising. I've had offers to fight. I'm considering it, but I've reached all my goals as an athlete. If the money's right, I might give it a shot ... I think a rematch with Renzo (Gracie) would be great ... or a fight with Frank Shamrock. He's somebody I would thoroughly enjoy fighting."

 

[Shogun Locc]

KENDALL GROVE STARTING HIS COMEBACK

Kendall Grove is looking to return to his winning ways at UFC 80 in Newcastle, England when he takes on the very tough Jorge Rivera.

Grove was on quite a roll for a while. After beating Ed Herman in a memorable fight from season three of The Ultimate Fighter, he went on to defeat Chris Price and Alan Belcher.

Last August, at UFC 74, he suffered his first loss in the Ultimate Fighting Championship after getting dropped by Patrick Cote. Grove was doing well in the fight until Cote clipped him behind the ear and left him dazed. Once he fell, Cote finished him.

Now that he's on the comeback trail, Grove has been training very hard for this fight with Rivera and for good reason. Rivera is a seasoned veteran who's fought with some of the best fighters in the world such as Rich Franklin, Anderson Silva, Lee Murray and David Loiseau. But Grove is confident in his training and is ready to get back in there.

“I couldn't of asked for better training,” he exclaimed. “I came up to Big Bear for this one. I just can't wait to fight.”

“Da Spyder” definitely believes that his loss to Cote was a good thing and has refocused him to train harder than ever.

“When you lose, you definitely don't want to lose again,” explained Grove. “That's what motivates you to get on it. I pushed my cardio and I pushed my stand-up even more. I made some mistakes in my last fight and I don't want to make the same mistakes again.”

When asked why he went to Big Bear instead of Las Vegas, Grove said, “(To) get my head right. I had to shake some cobwebs in there from the last fight. I just can't wait to get back in the cage.
When you're (at Big Bear), it's such a small town. The elevation helps and all, but I come up there for the seclusion.

“I just got too comfortable in Vegas cause the Strip's right there, and a lot of people and things. It's easy to get sidetracked. There're very little things to do up here except train, which is why I come up here.”

After his loss to Cote, he started to find out who his true friends are. According to Grove, losing helped him get a focus on everything in his life.

“Even though I lost, I learned so much in my personal life, in MMA and my career.”

Rivera has been out almost a year since his loss to Terry Martin in February of 2007. As we've seen with many of the Pride fighters who had a long layoff, ring rust definitely could play a factor in this fight. Grove, however, doesn't necessarily believe that just because a fighter isn't active, it doesn't mean they aren't training.

“It depends on how he's been training,” said the Hawaiian native. “If he's been sparring a lot and pushing himself, it might not affect him. It might help him. It all depends on how he trained.”

While a good majority of fighters go out to fight with a specific game plan, Grove is one of the ones who doesn’t. He won’t go out there careless, but in the same instance, he just enjoys fighting.

“I'm not going to go in there balls out and be stupid. I just go out there and fight. I go out there and fight to the best of my abilities.”

After a fighter has a loss, they have a tendency to come out tentative because they are afraid of possibly losing again. When asked about an expectation the fans can have about his fight with Rivera, Grove reassured the fans that his fight will not be boring.

“My fans are gonna expect the same ‘Spyder’ like they've seen on the show… exciting. Some ground and pound. Look for some submissions. As long as I go in there and give it all I got, that's all I need in my eyes.”

 

[Shogun Locc]

Chip off the Ol’ Block: EliteXC Signs Ken and Ryan Shamrock

Ken Shamrock is emerging from his unofficial retirement, and he’s bringing his son Ryan with him.

Elite Xtreme Combat, a California-based MMA organization that airs on Showtime, today announced that the promotion signed both 43-year-old Ken Shamrock (26-12-2) and the his 19-year-old son Ryan (1-0) to multi-fight deals.

Terms of the fighters’ deals were not disclosed.

Additionally, EliteXC announced that both fighters will be part in a March 8 event in London, England. “EliteXC Presents: Cage 25” takes place at Wembley Arena. (ProElite Inc., EliteXC’s parent company, recently purchased the U.K.-based Cage Rage organization.)

“We’re thrilled to have signed Ken and Ryan Shamrock,” EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw stated in Monday’s press release. “Ken is one of the most recognizable and popular figures in MMA. He has fought the biggest and some of the most important fights in MMA history.

“Ken is responsible for putting MMA on the worldwide map and making it what it is today. I have the utmost respect for all the Shamrocks. Believe me, I have signed fighters with EliteXC and many more in boxing, but I can truly say I’m as excited about this signing as I have ever been. I’m really looking forward to seeing the Shamrocks in action.“

Ken, one of the first inductees into the UFC Hall of Fame, has been fighting professionally for nearly 14 years and competed in the very first UFC event. The submission specialist left the UFC for six years but ultimately returned to fight Tito Ortiz and then to coach a team on “The Ultimate Fighter 3.” He’s since severed ties with the UFC, and in an explosive interview with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) back in October, he claimed that UFC President Dana White forced him into retirement and that he never intended to quit fighting.

Ryan, a 135-pound fighter, made his MMA debut back in August and defeated 31-year-old (and fellow MMA newcomer) Josh Besneatte with a first-round submission at an event produced by his father’s fight organization. The fight is available at YouTube.

“After high school, I enrolled at a culinary school in San Diego,” Ryan stated. “But I guess fighting is in my genes because on a train ride with my dad last year to Moline, Ill., for an MMA event, I asked him if I could put college on hold and go into fighting. My dad never pushed me to get into fighting; it was just something I wanted to do.

“He said he would help me in any way he could, but (I had) to make sure I got an education in school. I promised him I would, and here we are.“

The signings come at a peculiar time.

In a December interview with Sam Caplan, Shaw mentioned he’s trying to put together a fight between Ken and adoptive brother Frank Shamrock. (That rumored bout recently took an interesting twist, which we discussed in this week’s Dayton Daily News column.)

However, EliteXC has made no mention of possible March 8 opponents for Ken or Ryan

 

[rylor206]

any word on the ken and frank shamrock fight?

 

[King Spadez]

I been a Ken Shamrock fan since i started watching this sport but he needs to hang it up and stick to coaching. I don't think he can ever be a factor again.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Report: Zuffa Sues Couture

Having failed to work out their differences, Zuffa, LLC, and Randy Couture (Pictures) appear to be headed to a Las Vegas courtroom.

A suit filed in Clark County District Court Monday on behalf of Zuffa, which owns and operates the Ultimate Fighting Championship, alleges Couture made comments regarding the UFC that caused the business irreparable damage, and it says the current UFC heavyweight champion is in breach of the contract he signed upon his return from retirement in December 2006, Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday.

Couture announced his resignation from the UFC -- as an active fighter and champion, as well as an ambassador for the company and on-air personality -- in October, citing the desire to fight Russian Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), who is not contracted to the UFC, and a history of "swimming against the current with the management of the UFC" as reasons for his decision.

Seeking damages -- both compensatory and punitive -- in excess of $10,000, the suit against Couture also seeks an injunction against "The Natural" that would prevent him from working with any organization deemed to be competing against the UFC. The suit alleges conspiracy against several unnamed parties that aimed to work against the UFC.

A group of fighters from Xtreme Couture are scheduled to fight a squad led by Mario Sperry (Pictures) in an International Fight League matchup Feb. 29 in Las Vegas.

According to the Review-Journal report, the IFL commitment would be in direct conflict with a stipulation in Couture's deal that prohibits him from being in "direct or indirect competition" with the UFC for the 12 months following the termination of his contract.

However, an IFL official told Sherdog.com that the league doesn't have a formal relationship with Couture.

"Randy is not a signed IFL coach like Pat Miletich (Pictures) or Matt Lindland (Pictures) or Renzo Gracie (Pictures)," IFL Senior VP of Communications Joe Favorito told Sherdog.com. "We are not using Randy's full name or likeness in any advertising in any way (outside of the Extreme Couture camp brand), our focus is on the athletes and their camp, since that is what fans want to see."

Sean O'Heir, public relations director for Xtreme Couture, told Sherdog.com that Shawn Tompkins (Pictures) would lead the squad into battle, not Couture.

Couture (16-8-0), the only two-division champion in UFC history, has seen his Xtreme Couture training facility in Las Vegas explode into one of the busiest mixed martial arts factories in the world, training fighters across promotional lines.

In March of 2007 Couture returned from a one-year "retirement" to out-point Tim Sylvia (Pictures) for the UFC heavyweight belt. Couture defended the title in August, stopping Gabriel Gonzaga (Pictures) in the third round.

Following his resignation, Couture and UFC management publicly traded barbs about respect and money.

"I expect Randy to honor the obligations in his contract that he signed (a year ago)," UFC president Dana White told the Review-Journal. "I tried to resolve it by talking to this guy that I've had a relationship with for eight years and was unsuccessful. Now this thing's in the hands of the justice system."

Calls to Couture and his agent Matt Walker were not immediately returned.

 

[Shogun Locc]

ATT CONTINUES GROWTH SPURT WITH CARNEIRO

American Top Team on Monday announced that it has welcomed Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Roan “Jucao” Carneiro to the team.

The announcement comes on the heels of the addition of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom Marcelo Garcia and another UFC veteran, Italian fighter Alessio Sakara to the team as well.

Prior to his fight against Tony DeSouza at UFC 79 on Dec. 29, Carneiro spend six weeks training with ATT to prepare for the fight, which he won by TKO in the second round.

According to a statement released by ATT, “Jucao felt this is the type of training environment necessary for him to compete at the highest level to succeed. Jucao will continue to live and teach in the Atlanta area, but will come down to the main ATT academy in Coconut Creek, Fla. to prepare for any of his upcoming fights in the UFC.”

 

[Shogun Locc]

NO TURNING BACK FOR FABRICIO WERDUM

Fabricio Werdum on Saturday night returns to the Octagon after taking most of 2007 off following a lackluster defeat at the hands of Andre Arlovski at UFC 70. He makes his Ultimate Fighting Championship return against Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga at UFC 80 in Newcastle, England.



The loss to Arlovski was his promotional debut, but it showed none of the promise that he showed in his Pride bouts against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Alistair Overeem or Jon Olav Einemo. He looked a bit slow and hesitant to engage.



He has since made the move back to his home country of Brazil and began training with the famed Chute Boxe fight team.



“I have been here for about six months and I am enjoying it a lot,” he said of his new training camp. “I am training a lot of things that I never trained before. I have a BJJ background and it was always on instinct.



“Now I am learning how to kick, how to punch, learning sequences and all the Muay Thai techniques.”



And the move isn’t just in preparation for the fight with Gonzaga; in Chute Boxe it appears that Werdum has found a home.



“My plan is to stay here for a long time, for the rest of my career.”



His six months at Chute Boxe have obviously had profound affect on him. Werdum sounds sure that we won’t see the same fighter that faced Arlovski. Known for a strong background in jiu-jitsu, he now sounds prepared to confidently take fight wherever it goes.



“I am more confident. I can see more the things coming,” he stated of the changes he has gone through at Chute Boxe. “Now if a punch comes or a kick, I can think way better what I can do and what I should do.



“But I think the fans will see my aggressiveness. I always had this feeling in me, but I was never able to use it. Now I will use it.”



He will likely need that aggressiveness against Gonzaga. Although this is a rematch of a fight that Werdum won in 2003, both are different fighters now and Gonzaga, despite a recent loss to Randy Couture, had won six straight fights between the loss two losses. Werdum realizes that this isn’t the same fight of more than four years ago.



“That first fight was a good fight … but we were almost amateurs. Now will be different, we have improved a lot since 2003.”



He is surely not looking past Gonzaga, but Werdum made no bones about his goals, saying, “My plans are to get the heavyweight belt in the UFC. I have this fight with Napao and two more fights on my contract, so I want to fight one more fight and after that get the UFC belt.



“After that I want to revenge my losses, ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira, Arlovski and Serge Kharitonov.”

 

[Shogun Locc]

Tank Abbott on Kimbo "I am going to put my fist between his eyes"

 

[Shogun Locc]

UFC - CBS Deal Stalls, UFC Contacts NBC

According to multiple sources and reports including MMAPayout.com, negotiations between the UFC and CBS have come to a stall. The UFC's refusal to give up creative control, which was a major reason for the breakdown of negotiations with HBO, appears to be at the root of the impasse.
So with negotiations stalled, the UFC apparently reached out to NBC who showed little interest in working with the UFC and Dana White in particular. However, NBC is said to be continuing talks with the IFL, Strikeforce, M-1 and K-1 for late night programing, with Strikeforce possibly already securing a deal with the network giant.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Report: Andrei Arlovski Has Been Offered Two Fights Since Last April

Andrei Arlovski is one of the best most exciting heavyweight fighters in the world. At twenty-eight years old he is healthy and in his prime; so why haven't we seen Arlovski grace the cage in almost nine months?
Arlovski is on the final fight of his contract and the UFC is notoriously adamant about extending contracts before valued fighters fight the last fight on their current contract. When Arlovski declined to extend rumors naturally began to circulate that the UFC was freezing Arlovski out. Arlovski was also less than impressive in his last outing; a decision win over Fabricio Werdum. This led to speculation that the UFC was unhappy with Arlovski's performance and that he was in Zuffa's doghouse for poor performance.

Lorretta Hunt of TheFightNetwork.com claims that neither is true and that the popular Belarusian fighter has just been the victim of bad luck. Hunt claims that the UFC has offered Arlovski at least two fights over the span of the last nine months and that both fighters had to drop out of those fights due to injury. Hunt did not mention names but there are a number of UFC heavyweights that meet that criteria.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Employment, Not Promotional, Contract at Center of Zuffa v. Couture

When Randy Couture (Pictures) announced his resignation from the UFC on Oct. 11, 2007, it seemed inevitable that the matter would be settled in court. The inevitable became official on Monday as Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, filed a complaint against Couture and yet to be named co-conspirators in Nevada's Clark County District Court.

Perhaps to the surprise of many observers, the complaint makes no mention of Couture's promotional (fight) contract with Zuffa. Instead the company's breach of contract action is predicated on its employment contract with Couture.

Under the terms of his employment contract, Couture performed duties as ambassador for the UFC and was on-air talent during UFC broadcast events.

The complaint alleges that Couture signed a three-year employment contract with Zuffa in December 2006 that included a one-year non-compete provision. Zuffa says that during the non-compete period -- which commenced when Couture "resigned" from the organization last October -- any Couture-associated "business enterprise" is prohibited from "promoting or producing events or programming related to unarmed combat, developing products or services related to unarmed combat, or otherwise conducting any business relating to unarmed combat."

Zuffa alleges that Couture has engaged in numerous violations of the non-compete provision, the most recent being the announcement that an Xtreme Couture team would compete in a Feb. 29 International Fight League event in Las Vegas. The company also alleges that Couture has permitted the IFL to use his name and likeness on the IFL Web site in promoting the event. As a result Zuffa is asking for injunctive relief.

An IFL official told Sherdog.com that the league and Couture don't have a formal relationship.

"Randy is not a signed IFL coach like Pat Miletich (Pictures) or Matt Lindland (Pictures) or Renzo Gracie (Pictures)," IFL Senior VP of Communications Joe Favorito said via e-mail. "We are not using Randy's full name or likeness in any advertising in any way (outside of the Xtreme Couture camp brand)."

Couture's promotional contract with Zuffa is not specifically mentioned in the complaint, however, there is a reference to "certain valid contracts" in the cause of action for interference with contractual rights.

When Couture announced his resignation, Sherdog.com speculated that Zuffa would likely be apprehensive about asserting or challenging the terms of its promotional contract in court. The complaint filed yesterday appears to validate that sentiment by focusing explicitly on Couture's employment contract.

However, UFC President Dana White has steadfastly stated that he believes Couture's promotional contract to be valid, specifically that the agreement has two fights remaining. White has also refused to strip Couture of the heavyweight title in a move that is believed to be designed to strengthen his legal position visa vi the company's promotional contract. Couture has publicly stated his belief that the promotional contract is for four fights or 18 months.

"Randy's lawyers are currently reviewing the lawsuit, obviously, they will respond when appropriate," said Couture's agent, Matt Walker. "I would like Randy's lawyers to finish their analysis before giving you more information. But I would say that, as a general statement, there will be a response at a time and place of Randy's choosing."

In addition to breach of contract, the complaint alleges two other causes of action against Couture: conspiracy to commit tortious acts and injurious falsehood and trade disparagement. The undetermined co-conspirators are also accused of conspiracy to commit tortious acts and injurious falsehood and trade disparagement, as well as interference with contractual rights.

The complaint says that sometime prior to Oct. 11 Couture "devised and began implementing a tortuous scheme and artifice whereby he and others acting on his behalf would fabricate a false and fictitious history of events in which Couture was purportedly lied to and otherwise personally abused by Zuffa in a series of bad faith acts and unfair dealings."

The complaint goes on to state that "the purpose of these false claims was to form a pretextual basis for Couture to claim that Zuffa's senior management was not honest in its commercial dealings and thereby provide Couture with a pretext for dishonoring his own obligations owed to Zuffa. In so doing, Couture and others in concert with him committed a series of intentional torts and breaches."

Zuffa alleges that Couture made false statements -- specifically mentioned are comments made to Sherdog.com on the date of his resignation as well as a press conference and appearance on HDNet -- that were intended to and did in fact result in "inestimable harm" to Zuffa and the UFC. In particular Zuffa alleges that Couture's statements cost the company "certain business opportunities as well as the loss of business reputation and good will" by discouraging others from working with the company.

The complaint specifically lists four "injurious falsehoods and disparaging statements" made by Couture: that Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White lied to Couture; that Zuffa paid bonuses to fighters that were "off the book"; that Zuffa did not pay Couture a signing bonus; and that Zuffa mistreated Couture and other professional fighters. Zuffa says that Couture knew these statements were false but made them anyway with the intent to harm the company.

The complaint goes on to allege that Couture was induced by as yet undetermined third party defendants to violate his contractual obligations to Zuffa by disclosing confidential information and promoting MMA events in direct competition with Zuffa.

The complaint, and ultimate litigation, appears to be an attack on rival competitors as much as Couture himself. An alleged conspiracy between Couture and unnamed parties is at the heart of the complaint. It begins with a recitation of accomplishments by Zuffa since acquiring the UFC before saying that "regrettably, however, several organizations have sought to unfairly compete against Zuffa and to improperly capitalize on the immense popularity of Zuffa's UFC brand by intentionally interfering with Zuffa's brand and contractual rights. Such is the case here."

 

[RED HEAD STEVE]

I DONT GIVE A FUCK WHAT NOBODY SAYS TANK ABBOTT IS A FUCKIN SAVAGE.