MMA News Thread

[Shogun Locc]

DEEP 43 IMPACT! Unmotivated Mishima?

DEEP Featherweight champion Dokonjonosuke Mishima had a very tough weight cut in preparation for his title defense against DREAM Featherweight GP participant Takafumi Otsuka tomorrow. He had to weigh-in twice to make the weight.

Mishima said: “It’s difficult to raise my motivation with Otsuka as an opponent. It’s inevitable that I have a lower status image (of him)”. He continues: “It’s bad if I lose but I wonder if it’s all right if I lose”.

However, Mishima has some motivation for the fight because he has never fought in a big stage in Osaka, and there is where DREAM.12 will take place. He wants to win here and fight at DREAM.12.

Otsuka also has future ambitions to fight in DREAM: “Unfortunately I lost in DREAM but I’ll become DEEP champion this time, and I want to once again fight in DREAM and win”.

The other two big fights on tomorrows card are the Bantamweight title fight between Masakazu Imanari and Tomohiko Hori, and the main event between Ryo Chonan and Jutaro Nakao. All four fighters made weight today.

 

[Shogun Locc]

Don Frye breaks silence on "M-1 Breakthrough" withdrawal, blames organization for change

While the executives of M-1 Global are no strangers to controversy and criticism, the organization's upcoming "M-1 Global presents Breakthrough" took a hit when original headliner Don Frye backed out of his fight with Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal.

While M-1 Global CEO Joost Raimond immediately went on the offensive, issuing a press release that questioned Frye's motives for backing out, "The Predator" remained relatively silent on the subject.

That is, until now.

"I didn't drop out; I walked away," Frye recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "I didn't want to talk to anybody about this, but I'll talk to you fellas because you're my amigos.

"This is business that should be conducted between me and Joost, or Roost, whatever his name is. But he got on the internet and did a Dana White/Perez Hilton internet blog and started talking [expletive]."

Raimond's statements suggested Frye may have simply been looking for a way out of the fight with Lawal, and that he used the seemingly simple relocation of the Aug. 28 event from Los Angeles to Kansas City, Kan., as his ticket out of the event.

Frye insists that's not an accurate representation of what happened.

"Here's the deal: [The event] didn't just move from L.A.," Frye said. "It went from the Staples Center to the L.A. Convention Center. From the L.A. convention center to the Hilton in Las Vegas. From the Hilton in Las Vegas to an Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border. From the Indian casino on the Oklahoma-Texas border to an Indian casino up in Tulsa, which is North Oklahoma. And from there up to Kansas City, Mo.

"So you know, after four or five times changing the venue, and then we asked [Raimond] 'Hey, what are you doing for advertising? Are you sending a photographer out to Don's house?' He says, 'No, we're just going to use stock photos off the Internet.'"

With a complete lack of faith in the promoter, Frye said he made the difficult decision to walk away.

"So they don't know where the hell they're going to have it," Frye said. "They're not putting any money into advertising. So at that point we said, 'You know what? You just ain't got your [expletive] together. We're walking away.'"

Frye said he would have been happy keeping quiet about the entire situation, but Raimond's release forced him to speak.

"That's something that's between me and Joost, but he had to go and get on the [expletive] Internet and pull this [expletive], so then it opened it up to the whole [expletive] world," Frye said. "That's his fault, not mine.

"The position of douchebag fight promoter, who thinks he's tough because he hangs out with fighters and insults fighters – that position's already taken. We don't need that, OK?"

After walking away from the M-1 Global event, Frye will instead face Dave "Pee Wee" Herman in the main event of "Shark Fights 6: Stars & Stripes" on Sept. 12 in Amarillo, Texas.

"Geez, Louise, this guy's 6-foot-4, 240 (pounds)," Frye said. "(He's) 14-1. Who signed me up for this son-of-a-bitch?

"I may have to reach up and punch him in the kneecap."

 

[Shogun Locc]

HOPING FOR UFC 105, HATHAWAY AWAITS THE CALL

Everybody is on tenterhooks in the U.K. waiting to find out who will be populating the UFC 105 card in Manchester, England. Several fighters are guaranteed to appear – namely heros that live nearby, such as Michael Bisping, Terry Etim, and Ross Pearson; but what of the other U.K. stars? We caught up with welterweight John Hathaway to see if he had any news.

“Were still waiting to hear about November, but if it’s not then I guess I will be fighting again in the New Year,” he explained. “No names have been mentioned to us, but I don’t mind at the moment. I have had some time off to rest and I have just started training again so there are plenty of things I can work on in the meantime.”

Having only just celebrated his 22nd birthday, Hathaway feels that time is on his side, and with an undefeated record of 11-0, he is on the right track through hard training and a level headed approach to his success. He realizes that there is a time to fight and a time to pick up new skills without pressure.

“Ideally I want to be fighting three to four times a year because of the way I cut my weight, so I like to be active and hover around an ideal cutting weight. In a way it is frustrating to not have anything booked at the moment, but I see it as an opportunity to tighten up a lot of elements in my game. I am training a lot heavier than I usually am because of the down time, so it’s odd moving the extra weight around, but it’s all good,” he offered.

Since making his Octagon debut as a welterweight at UFC 93, Hathaway has been finding his feet in the division, but is under no illusions that he is on the verge of mixing things up with some of the big names that surround him on the roster.

“If not for this next fight or the one after, I reckon I will be fighting guys in the eight to 10 spots at 170,” he contemplated, but he is curious to see how the UFC plans on dealing with such a wealth of talent coming out of the U.K. at the moment.

“The division is stacked on both sides of the pond, and I am interested to see what they are going to do with the British guys moving forward. I mean, we have Dan Hardy, Paul Daley, Nick Oscipzak, Paul Taylor, and myself, so do they make us fight each other or do they put on a united front of us against the Americans? Who knows? But there are enough of us Brits out there to mix it up without crossing paths.”

With no clear fight in sight, all Hathaway can do is focus back on his training and helping the rest of his team to develop. In his own mind he has improvements to make and is working diligently to seamlessly add new weapons to his arsenal, but you can tell that he really would much rather be in the cage tearing it up.

 

[Shogun Locc]

For family man Mark Munoz, a UFC 102 return required convincing and reassuring

For Mark Munoz, success at the Division I collegiate wrestling level and now in the most prominent mixed-martial-arts organization in the world is the result of his support system.

Munoz looks to his parents, his wife and kids, and even his training partners as one big, extended family.

So when Munoz, who returns this coming weekend to fight Nick Catone at UFC 102, suffered a stunning head-kick knockout loss to Matt Hamill earlier this year at UFC 96, he had to reassure a small army of loved ones that the adversity would only make him stronger.

Or as Munoz said on a recent edition of MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio), "To me champion aren't measured by how many times they win but by how many times they pick themselves up after a loss."

Munoz never wavered.

Making his UFC debut after a two-fight stint in the WEC, Munoz, the first-ever Filipino-American to win an NCAA Division I national championship (Oklahoma State University, 2001), was pitted against Hamill. Not only would Munoz lock horns with an equally accomplished collegiate wrestler, but he'd do so against a quickly improving MMA fighter and Ohio native who had Columbus' Nationwide Arena crowd on his side.

After defending some takedowns, Hamill quickly turned the fight into a stand-up affair. Munoz landed a few uppercuts and a nice shot to the body, but after telegraphing a takedown attempt, Hamill blasted the fighter with a head kick that knocked him out cold. Munoz remained on the mat long after the fight finished but ultimately left the cage under his own power.

"'You have your whole life to look forward to, and this is no good for you,'" Munoz said his mother told him.

His father and wife also had concerns.

"I just had to tell them this is what happens in a lot of sports," said Munoz, who dropped to 5-1 with the defeat. "This isn't going to happen to me a lot of times. This is a rare occasion, knock on wood. ... I told them this is what I want to do and I need your support."

They understood.

For Munoz, his life has always been fueled by competition. He tackled MMA with the same commitment and tenacity he used in successful wrestling and coaching careers.

"In my heart and soul, I'm a competitor," Munoz said. "To have an outcome like that, it hurt a lot. But adversity and even losses help build character."

Now, dropping a weight class to fight Catone on the UFC 102 preliminary card, Munoz has been sharpening his skills in Southern California at Mike "Joker" Guymon's gym, as well as Blackhouse, which is home to the likes of Anderson Silva, the Nogueira brothers and Junior Dos Santos.

"I'm training with everyone now," Munoz said. "Now I've got my groove on. ... People are going to be shocked when they first see me."

The first shock will come when they see Munoz's new body. While calling himself an "in-betweener," meaning his natural fighting weight falls somewhere between the middleweight and light-heavyweight divisions, he said he's reshaped his frame for a run at 185 pounds.

"I've been dropping weight ever since three months ago," Munoz said. "I've been training since a good three months ago, and I'm watching my diet and doing it really slow. I'm not doing any crash diets. I've been working really hard and cutting out the fat, and my body composition has really changed.

"It's pretty shocking. It's going to be pretty shocking to people. It's pretty shocking to me."

Munoz, who's now likely fighting for his future in the organization, said he'll have the Hamill loss in the back of his mind on Saturday night, but he's ready to start a new chapter of his career.

"For me, that (Hamill loss) was just a bump in the the road," Munoz said. "Now I'm going to go over it."

 

[Shogun Locc]

TIM SYLVIA TOPS ADRENALINE IV FIGHT CARD

Despite early indications of a second Southern showing, Adrenaline MMA will be a local affair for promoter and manager Monte Cox when the fourth installment of the regional promotion hits the Mid-American Center on Sept. 18 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia will headline his second consecutive Adrenaline card, hoping to shake off a devastating loss to ex-boxing champ Ray Mercer at Adrenaline III in Birmingham, Ala. He faces former Canadian Football League standout Jason Riley.

UFC vets dot the rest of the card, with a light heavyweight match-up between Houston Alexander and Sherman Pendergarst co-headlining the evening, in addition to appearances by Chad Reiner, Forrest Petz, and Joe Vedepo.

ADRENALINE IV FULL CARD:

MAIN EVENTS:
-Tim Sylvia (24-5) vs. Jason Riley (6-1)
-Houston Alexander (8-4) vs. Sherman Pendergarst (11-13)

MAIN CARD:
-Chad Reiner (19-8) vs. Forrest Petz (13-7)
-Alonzo Martinez (23-10) vs. Ryan Williams (10-4)
-Jeremy Lang (15-1) vs. Matt Delanoit (13-6)
-Joe Vedepo (9-2) vs. Webster Farris (1-0)
-Jimmy Siepel (1-0) vs. Bob Tuttle (1-0)

PRELIMINARIES:
-Todd Meneely (0-0) vs. Corey McDonald (1-1)
-Dustin Smith (5-0) vs. Marcos Marquez (3-0)
-Matt Bentley (4-2) vs. Danny Black (7-5)
-John Hansen (10-2) vs. Gregg Van der Creek (4-1)
-Dakota Cochrane (6-0) vs. Bill Holcombe (12-4)
-Ryan Shell (15-4) vs. Robert Rojas (13-1)

 

[Shogun Locc]

Former EliteXC champ K.J. Noons, UFC vet Terry Martin earn weekend boxing wins

Former EliteXC lightweight champion K.J. Noons and UFC veteran Terry Martin both picked up boxing victories in separate shows over the weekend.

Noons (11-2) earned a unanimous decision win over Randy Pogue (8-9-2) on the undercard of Grady Brewer vs. Albert Onolunose, which was held Saturday at the PALA Casino Spa and Resort in Pala, Calif.

Martin (2-0) scored a second-round knockout of Rayvon Wilson (0-6-1) on the undercard of Andy Lee vs. Anthony Shuler, held Friday at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind.

Noons went the distance with his Muay Thai champion opponent. He won the six-round unanimous decision via scores of 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55 (meaning he lost only one round on one judge's card).

Noons, who hasn't fought MMA since he defeated Yves Edwards in June 2008, made his pro boxing debut in June 2004. After launching his career with an 8-1 record, he suffered a loss in March to James Countryman (13-1 at the time) during his toughest test to date. He's since rebounded for unanimous-decision victories over Enrique Gallegos and Pogue.

Noons said he plans to return to MMA at some point. While under contract to EliteXC, he was stripped of the title after butting heads with management. The organization, though, would collapse just weeks later. He's now 7-2 in MMA with a 6-1 record in his past seven fights.

Martin, who fought as a cruiserweight (196 pounds) over the weekend, dominated his winless opponent and scored the knockout in the second round of a scheduled four. The former longtime UFC fighter, who's just 2-5 in MMA since September 2007, made his pro boxing debut in April 2008 and is now 2-0 with two knockouts.

 

[Shogun Locc]

DEMIAN MAIA: GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME

At first, jiu-jitsu phenom Demian Maia was disappointed when the UFC matched him with Nate Marquardt at UFC 102, a final test before a middleweight title shot against kingpin Anderson Silva. He wanted the title shot badly. Then, he realized he’d face Marquardt soon anyways.

"As a fighter, as an athlete, I should get these tough tests,” Maia told MMAWeekly.com. “I could go and fight for the title and maybe win, but I’d fight Nate after. So let’s fight now and see who is more prepared for the title shot.”

The 185-pound title eliminator has come in under the radar on the Aug. 29 card in Portland, Ore., but it carries serious implications for the middleweight division.

Maia took special care to prepare correctly for Marquardt, a former contender and an illustration of the well-rounded fighter. If it was to be the final step before his biggest challenge, he couldn’t falter.

By all accounts, Maia has a great setup in his home city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, meaning it’s not the hot and sweaty hell of many Brazilian dojos. He has ample training partners to draw from, including high-level wrestlers often elusive to jiu-jitsu centered schools like his own. But that comes with a price. Like other MMA stars that run their own gyms, there are many distractions to take away from training. The solution: Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas, where strength and conditioning punisher Rafael Alejarra teamed up with Wanderlei Silva to focus Maia in the final month of training.

“I just go train, go back home, and sleep and eat,” he said. “Everything’s just about the training.”

Many fans have already anointed Maia the man to beat Silva. With his ground dominance and Silva’s relative lack of camera time there, MMA mathematicians have him submitting the pound-for-pound great in a fantasy match-up. But he’s never been in a real firefight on the feet, and Marquardt could be the man to give him one.

“I can’t think about Anderson because Nate is as tough as Anderson is,” said Maia. “I have a very hard test right now. If I win, then I can think about that, but not before the fight. I forgot about Anderson.”

It may help, too, that Silva’s focus is on heavier things, hinting at a two-division jump to heavyweight recently.

Maia is not sure how the fight will play out, or if Marquardt will be his toughest challenge yet. “You never know,” he said. “It looks like it’s going to be my toughest challenge.” Apart from the general goal – submission – he’s going to take what’s given to him.

“I don’t really make a game plan,” he said. “A fight is always improvised. Everybody has a strategy; everybody has his strong and weak points, and is thinking what I’m gonna do. But during the fight, you really can’t control too much.”

Marquardt says he’s a changed man since his loss to Silva in July 2007, and looked like a terror in recent performances against Martin Kampmann and Wilson Gouveia. It’s not the first time he’s faced a jiu-jitsu ace – Ricardo Almeida submitted him in late 2003 – but perhaps the first time he’s faced someone with Maia’s level of prestige. He does, however, have a decided advantage in field experience, and he’s counting on that for the win.

If Maia is victorious, he says he'll expect a title shot. But the timing of this bout turned out to be a blessing for his title aspirations.

“I should be in the best shape on the day of the fight,” he said. “I’m always trying to get better in the stand-up, and also jiu-jitsu. Trying to be better than I was last fight. I want to submit (Marquardt).”

 

[Shogun Locc]

AARON SIMPSON WORKING HIS WAY TO THE TOP

Arizona Combat Sports fighter Aaron Simpson’s foray into the UFC has been interesting, to say the least.

One of the original transferees from the WEC’s middleweight and light heavyweight merger into the big show, Simpson made his presence known when he defeated seasoned, seven-year veteran Tim McKenzie at UFC Fight Night 18 via TKO within the first two minutes of the opening round.

It would be just a couple of months later before Simpson received the infamous UFC phone call to return to action. This one phone call would trigger one of the more confusing and public matchmaking flip flops to date, which can only spell disaster for what must have been a hellish couple of weeks for matchmaker extraordinaire Joe Silva.

“July 4th, I remember that me and my wife are at a resort and I get a text that says I’m fighting Dan Miller,” recounted Simpson as he spoke with the MMAWeekly Radio crew.

“This is the very first thing I heard... I put that up on my facebook. Well, it was a little premature because either they didn’t offer him the fight or something happened or whatever. They told me to take it off the facebook, blah, blah, blah,” he said.

“So, next thing I know, I get a call that says we’re fighting Ed Herman, send the paperwork and that is for UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City. So all along I’m like, ‘okay, Ed Herman, that’s who my opponent is.’ Well, then a couple of weeks ago, Ed Herman takes a fight with Wilson Gouveia and they give me Dan Miller again.”

As Simpson continued to make short of what is an increasingly long story, it has become evident the plight that many fighters must face from time to time. Although most would find such a situation frustrating, Simpson chose to look at the positives and feels that, in the end, everything has worked out as it was to be intended.

“Long story short, Wilson Gouveia goes down, they need someone for Ed Herman, they offer it to us. I said I’d take it now because I’ve been training for Ed Herman all along, it’s just a couple of weeks early, and we’ll give C.B the fight with Dan Miller out in Oklahoma City. So everything worked out for the good, I think,” finished the 35-year-old on an odd, odd story.

The bout, originally intended for Oklahoma’s UFC Fight Night 19, has been moved up a little over two weeks to the UFC 102 event, the organization’s first outing to Oregon. Legends Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will collide in Portland’s main event on Aug. 29.

It’s become a trend amongst most premier athletes today, where some of the greats such as welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre make conscious efforts to stay in shape year round, sharpening and honing their skills in order to remain amongst the best in their class and Simpson is no different.

“I was helping C.B for his last fight. I’ve been training since June, so it’s not like a couple of weeks is going to hurt me here or there. I’ve been in the gym,” he explained.

“Really, even after my last fight I was doing stuff, may not have been in the gym that much, but I was running, lifting, trying to get a little bit bigger and stronger, increase some areas that I feel like I needed (work on).”

Mindful of the task at hand, Simpson hopes to keep his undefeated record in tact when he takes on Season 3 middleweight Ultimate Fighter runner-up Ed Herman, hopefully. With just two years and change underneath his belt into his professional career as a mixed martial artist, “A-Train” sees “Short Fuse” not only as a formidable opponent, but the step up that he needs to become among one of the best in his class.

“I need to step it up in competition. (Ed is) going to be a real good test for me, not that David Avellan or Tim (McKenzie) weren’t good tests for me, but you go in there, you train to compete against the best and right now these guys are top notch,” he proclaimed.

“Whether it was going to be Dan or it was going to be Ed, it was definitely something I needed to learn about them a little bit and explore where I need to get better at and train hard, which is what I’ve been doing.

“It’s going to be a fun fight for me.”

 

[Shogun Locc]

KING MO VS MARK KERR HEADS FULL M-1 FIGHT CARD

M-1 Global on Sunday released the full fight card for its “HDNet Fights Presents M-1 Global Breakthrough,” which takes place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City on Friday.

Six televised bouts are scheduled to air during the HDNet telecast (10:00 p.m. ET), plus a special sparring exhibition between M-1 fighters Fedor Emelianenko and newly-crowned Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, with a five-bout undercard assembled for the local crowd attending live.

The main card is anchored by the United States debut of former NCAA champion "King" Mo Lawal and former NCAA All-American Mark "The Smashing Machine" Kerr. The undercard will be headlined by 8-1 Spanish heavyweight sensation Rogent Lloret taking on the latest addition to the M-1 Global roster, Russian heavyweight Alexey Oleinik.

-Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (4-0) vs. Mark Kerr (15-10)
-Special Sparring Exhibition: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Gegard Mousasi
-Lucio Linhares (12-4) vs. Mikhail Zayats (8-3)
-Jessie Gibbs (8-2) vs. Rob Broughton (10-4-1)
-Karl Amoussou (10-2-1) vs. John Doyle (9-8)
-Lloyd Marshbanks (17-8) vs. Michael Kita (5-3)
-Daisuke Nakamura (19-10) vs. Ferrid Kheder (14-3)
-Rogent Lloret (7-1) vs. Alexey Oleinik (24-4)
-Eric Marriott (13-1) vs. Tim Bazer (9-6)
-Sean Wilson (18-9) vs. Josh Orocho (11-6)
-Rudy Bears (9-3) vs. Brendan Seguin (18-15-1)
-Andria Caplan (0-0) vs. Mollie Ahlers-Estes (1-0)

 

[Shogun Locc]

SENGOKU X! Antonio Silva Vs. Ron Sparks?

MMAMania reveals that the SENGOKU X opponent of Antonio Silva might be undefeated Super Heavyweight Ron Sparks. Sparks is a big guy at 6′5″ (194 cm) and 285 lbs (130 kg). Since there is no weight limit for Heavyweight in SENGOKU he won’t have to drop any weight as the source states.

The winner of this fight could face Josh Barnett on SENGOKU’s big November card at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.

 

[Shogun Locc]

UFC 102: EVAN DUNHAM HELPS KEEP DAD IN BUSINESS

If you’re a spokesmodel, having a dentist for a dad can come in handy. If you’re a professional fighter, double points.

Evan Dunham, a 27-year-old competitor in the lightweight division of the UFC, has veneers on all his front teeth, courtesy of his dad, Bob. A punch here, a kick there, a slam to the mat – their professions have dovetailed quite nicely through the years.

It would be a stretch, though, to say Bob expected his son to fight in a cage one day. He approached it like any parent supportive of (or is it a captive?) their kid’s dreams – with a lot of help and a lot more worry.

“There’s no waiting for an appointment, let’s put it that way,” said Bob.

At Kidsports soccer, it was hard for Bob to miss his son’s taste for contact when jostling kids for the ball. In sixth grade, Evan asked for hockey lessons, wanting to emulate “The Mighty Ducks.” At $1,000 a season, it was too rich. They made a compromise: wrestling. You only needed shoes.

Bob drove to countless wrestling practices and acted as chief cheerleader during meets. There were veneers to come: during Evan’s first tournament at high school, he bit through his molar when an opponent dumped him on his head, leaving his mouth a bloody mess. It hardly slowed him down.

“Most of his matches were like fights,” said Randy Robinson, his wrestling coach at Churchill High School in Eugene, Ore. “He had a little spunk in him. The kids on the team liked him because he was always smiling and having a good time.”

Meanwhile, Evan coveted UFC tapes and told friends if he ever got a chance, he would get in the cage. Sports without contact didn’t interest him.

“I couldn’t make a jumpshot if my life depended on it,” he laughed.

At home, Bob noticed his older son’s bullying stopped when Evan started giving more noogies than he got.

In 2000, Evan took up jiu-jitsu while majoring in sociology at the University of Oregon and began entering competitions. After years practicing in the gym, he volunteered to fight on an amateur MMA card in town at a local roller rink, Skate World. Bob was unsurprised.

“I kind of had a feeling it was coming, and I knew all along Evan was going to make up his own mind on things,” he said. “Once he makes up his mind, you have to encourage him to do things right.”

Several times, Evan showed up at dad’s office asking to have his swollen, fluid-filled ears drained. The syringe came out and dad went to work.

Harold Utterback, Evan’s coach at Northwest Martial Arts, questioned whether he fit the profile of a typical fighter.

“He’s a really smart kid,” said Utterback. “I definitely didn’t think he was the typical rock ‘em, sock ‘em guy.”

He was, however, a natural inside the ring. Inside a minute, he made his Skate World opponent tap out in a minute. At school, he kept a 3.3 grade average and graduated in 2004, taking jobs as a cable guy, construction assistant, and computer installer to feed his dream.

Dad swallowed his worry and went to Evan’s fights, pacing the stands and calling wife Delyn to report the results. Delyn couldn’t watch.

After fighting the circuit of small west coast shows, Evan got his big break in February when a Frenchman David Baron bowed out of a UFC 95. On two weeks notice, Evan, Bob, and a training partner flew across the pond for the undercard bout. Out a second cornerman, Evan had Bob take the job, holding equipment outside the cage. As he paced, Evan knocked out Swede Per Eklund in the first round.

Evan is now in the final stages of preparation for his second UFC fight at UFC 102 in Portland, Ore. on Aug. 29. His original opponent, Matt Veach, got injured in training camp and was replaced by Marcus Aurelio, a jiu-jitsu specialist. He is among three fighters on the card with Oregon roots, including headliner Randy Couture.

"Evan's a very tough kid," said Couture. "He's a hard-headed kid and has a good work ethic to go far."

The event sold out the day it went on sale, and friends and family are clamoring for tickets. Bob will be there, trying to hold himself together. Evan’s fighter friends now come to him to get their teeth fixed. Where there’s demand, a market opens.

“I’m still nervous, but I’m happy that he’s doing what he wants to do,” he said.

For Evan, it’s just the start of a long road in a tough business. But it gives him what he needs: contact.

“It’s reinforced my whole belief that if you put your mind to something, you can do it,” said Evan. “It brings a whole new set of goals. I’m not going to stop here and take my one fight and be done. The next goal is to win my next fight.”

 

[SLRider510]

wtf houston alexander isnt in the UFC anymore?

 

[Shogun Locc]

Evangelista-Aina Changed to No Decision

LOS ANGELES -- After much deliberation, the California State Athletic Commission removed the only loss from Billy Evangelista’s record Monday and replaced it with a no decision during an appeals hearing.

Evangelista’s bout with Mike Aina at Strikeforce Challengers Series 1 on May 15 in Fresno, Calif., ended with a controversial knee that video replays showed struck Aina in the shoulder, not the head as originally determined by referee Herb Dean.

“I’m glad the loss is taken off the record. I just think I fought a great fight and everybody else saw that I was winning the bout,” Evangelista told Sherdog.com following the CSAC’s ruling.

The commission did not have the opportunity to view the fight’s conclusion on video and were forced to rely upon testimony from Dean, Evangelista and CSAC Assistant Executive Officer Bill Douglas, who was overseeing the event for the state.

Dean testified that his original decision that that blow was an illegal strike to a grounded fighter was inaccurate. However, Dean came to the conclusion that he was mistaken after viewing slow-motion replay in the production truck with Douglas after the decision had been made to award Aina the victory by disqualification.

“The video showed it was a fair blow,” said Dean.

Douglas seconded Dean’s comments and assured the commission the photo evidence presented to them was indeed accurate.

Evangelista read a statement to the commission asking for the decision to be changed to a victory by technical knockout or a no contest at the very least.

Acting Executive Director David Thornton recommended the commission substitute a no decision for the disqualification handed down in the cage.

The commission openly deliberated as to what they could or couldn’t do according to California law. Commissioner Mario Rodriguez offered a pair of motions that could not find a second -- one to change the decision to a technical knockout and another to change it to a technical draw.

Commissioner Dr. Christopher Giza raised a concern after both motions failed that the regulatory body was in danger of setting a precedent in regards to using instant replay, a matter that was also on Monday’s meeting docket.

After clarification was made as to the number of rounds in the contest, Rodriguez then offered a third motion to change the outcome to a no decision. It was immediately seconded and unanimously passed.

Evangelista’s amended record now stands at 9-0 with one no decision while Aina’s now tallies at 11-6-1 with one no decision.

 

[Shogun Locc]

MMAjunkie.com Fight Biz: Return in the works for Palace Fighting Championship

After being a mainstay on the Central California MMA scene for more than two years, Palace Fighting Championship appeared to join the growing legion of failed promotions this year.

PFC, which held events at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore since January 2007, went dark after its May 8 show, pulled the plug on its Web site and appeared to have shut it down after a successful 19-show run.

However, behind the scenes, founder and owner Christian Printup was putting plans in place for a restructured promotion, independent of Tachi Palace.

"I'd classify it as us being on a hiatus," Printup told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Most people didn't realize that I was an employee of the (Tachi Yokut) Tribe. I was director of entertainment at the casino. I was there for over nine years, and I just needed a change. It was a basically a mutual decision, and when I left, the PFC was attached to me."

While Printup has other business interests, his primary focus is on the PFC and preparing for the promotion's return, either in the fall or in May of 2010. The timeframe gap is a factor of finding the right re-launch venue, which could mean staging the next event at an outdoor arena. Work is under way to identify sites to tour the promotion throughout the Central Valley area, including Fresno, Visalia and Woodlake. Printup says he's been fielding "a multitude of offers" from casinos and public facilities in the area.

At Tachi Palace, the indoor capacity was about 1,600 fans. Increasing that number for the next phase of PFC is one of the Printup's goals, but he faces plenty of competition in the Central Valley – from Pure Combat, WarGods and others – for the MMA fan's dollar.

"I think the fans win when there's a competitive environment between promotions," he said. "Everyone has to step up their game, their matchmaking, their promotional skills and the way they package events, package tickets, sponsorships, things of that nature. The fans win, and the fighters win. I don't worry about what other promotions are doing. I want to stay focused on what we're doing."

The longtime promoter also is planning key structural changes to the promotion to differentiate his product in the marketplace.

"The PFC brand will oversee mixed martial arts, our boxing division, as well as our international-rules Muay Thai division," said Printup, who started the PFC after Zuffa purchased World Extreme Cagefighting and moved the promotion out of Lemoore. "The PFC brand will be known as the preeminent brand in California for combat sports as a whole."

As part of that strategy, Printup is considering hybrid shows to feature all three fight disciplines.

"It allows you to reach every fan out there," he said. "For a while, MMA fans were just so niche, and boxing fans were the same way. Boxing fans tended to cross over to MMA, but it hasn't really been vice versa, and I'm cognizant and respectful of that, but I think that, especially in light of today's economy, all promotions should really try to deliver as much bang for the buck that they can. As long as we don't dilute the quality of the events. I wouldn't want to have 'A-level' MMA bouts and 'C-level' boxing matches on the same card. If we can swing it to where all the fights are significant and have the fans' interest, then we'll definitely pursue it."

PFC also will make the transition from a ring to the cage for MMA bouts and seek sanctioning.

"All fights will be under the supervision of the California State Athletic Commission whether they're on sovereign land or not," Printup said. "I wouldn't say we ran a renegade show before because we still used the same doctors, referees and timekeepers that California would use; it just wasn't officially regulated by the athletic commission."

One aspect of the promotion that won't be altered is the focus on local fighters. California-based mixed martial artists have been, and will continue to be, the lifeblood of the PFC.

"I'd like to think that with the PFC, we've grown out of the small-promotion scale, and we're able to attract some bigger names and established veterans and use them to headline the shows, but also bring attention to some of the younger, local fighters," Printup said. "I'm proud of all the guys who have cut their teeth in the PFC. You look at what Joe Soto has done in Bellator and Chad Mendes, it's very gratifying."

Printup plans to have a decision made in September regarding the timing of the PFC's comeback.

 

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DAN LAUZON INJURED, OFF OF UFC 103 FIGHT CARD

Dan Lauzon is out of a scheduled bout with Rafaello Oliveira at UFC 103 in Dallas, according to MMAWeekly.com sources.

Lauzon apparently suffered a back injury in training recently and will not be ready for the Sept. 19 event. He is expected to undergo an MRI in coming days to determine the full extent of the injury.

No information on a possible replacement was yet available.

Both Lauzon and Oliveira are acquisitions from a new sponsorship partnership between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Affliction. The arrangement saw the UFC fold several Affliction fighters into its brand, while Affliction closed up shop on its fight promotion and returned as an official apparel sponsor of the UFC.

Lauzon had been scheduled to face Chris Horodecki at Affliction “Trilogy” on Aug. 1. Oliveira had drawn Takanori Gomi, who is not among the fighters acquired by the UFC.

A bout between former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former light heavyweight titleholder Vitor Belfort headlines UFC 103 at the American Airlines Center.

 

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Fans invited to Wednesday's Fedor Emelianenko open workout in New York City

Recent Strikeforce signee and famed heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko is the focus of an open workout, meet and greet, and autograph signing held this Wednesday in New York City.

The media and fan event is free and open to the public.

The event takes place at Fighthouse, located at 122 W. 27th St. (second floor) in the Big Apple, and begins at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET.

Emelianenko, a longtime PRIDE heavyweight champion, is 30-1 and one of the top fighters in MMA history. However, after Affliction Entertainment ceased promotional operations last month, the Russian fighter began contract negotiations with both the UFC and Strikeforce.

Because the UFC is unwilling to co-promote Emelianenko's fights with M-1 (an organization co-owned by Emelianenko and his manager, Vadim Finkelchtein), the fighter ultimately signed a three-fight deal with Strikeforce.

Emelianenko is scheduled to make his promotional debut on a Showtime-televised card this fall, though a date and opponent have not been determined. As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported earlier this month, though, the fight is expected to take place in November, according to Strikeforce founder and CEO Scott Coker.

"It's probably going to be in November," Coker said of Emelianenko's organizational debut. "I definitely think there's two guys here that would be a quality opponent for Fedor.

"I think Brett Rogers is one of the guys we have to take a serious look at. And Fabricio (Werdum) looked great [in an Aug. 15 win over Mike Kyle]. I think on any given day he could do his thing."

In addition to Emelianenko, Coker and Finkelchtein will also be on hand for Wednesday's open workout.

 

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Tito Ortiz signs UFC 106 bout agreement to fight Mark Coleman

The long-rumored Tito Ortiz (15-6-1 MMA, 14-6-1 UFC) vs. Mark Coleman (16-9 MMA, 7-4 UFC) bout is apparently close to finalized for November's UFC 106 card.

Ortiz, a formerly estranged ex-UFC champion who ultimately made up with UFC president Dana White and re-signed with the organization in July, recently posted a video of him signing and faxing his bout agreement for the fight.

UFC 106 takes place Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and features a pay-per-view main event between UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and contender Shane Carwin.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported earlier this month that the matchup, first mentioned by White as a likely option during UFC 101 media events, was in the works.

Ortiz returns to competition for the first since May 2008, when he suffered a decision loss to Lyoto Machida. The fighter, often at odds with the UFC and specifically White, over the past year has said he was close to signing a contract with organizations ranging from Affliction to Strikeforce to EliteXC. Ultimately, though, he returned to the UFC.

The popular fighter, who's recovering from recent back surgery, seeks his first win since an October 2006 TKO of Ken Shamrock. The 34-year-old has gone 0-2-1 since that victory with losses to Chuck Liddell and Machida and a draw with Rashad Evans.

"You don't know how I excited I am for this fight," Ortiz said in the video. "It's my comeback fight. It's Mark Coleman, former world heavyweight champion. If you guys pay close attention, when I beat Evan Tanner (in 2001), and after I slammed [him] on his head, I jumped up on the octagon. And I flexed to the audience.

"Mark Coleman jumped up on the side of the cage, and you could see the disgust on his face. So I think Mark Coleman has had a little hatred for me for a while. ... Now he gets his chance."

Coleman, meanwhile, looks to build off his July win over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100. The victory was Coleman's first since a February 2006 win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua under the PRIDE banner – and his first in the UFC's octagon since a February 1997.

Coleman, a UFC hall of famer who turns 45 later this year, recently moved his training camp to Las Vegas and told MMAjunkie.com his conditioning is its best in years.

 

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MANUWA & PICKETT TOP ULTIMATE CHALLENGE WINS

LONDON – Ultimate Challenge UK is ramping up its shows and Saturday night played host to the first of three events back-to-back between now and October – quite a busy time for promoter Dave O’Donnell and his team. Headlining the event was an encounter between one-time UFC debutant Neil Grove and German import Marcus Hip. Unfortunately for all in attendance, Hip withdrew from the fight after a spate of vomiting and went to get checked out for Meningitis.

Drilling down into the rest of the card showed a good mix of all weight categories, but it was the featherweights who once again stole the show with a mix of speed and technique that couldn’t be matched.

Heading this charge and picking up clear fight of the night honors was the encounter between Brad Pickett and David Lee who eschewed the standup in order to put on a relentless grappling display during the short time they were in the cage.

Starting out with a big takedown, Lee looked to push the pace and force Pickett into a mistake, but years of training with the American Top Team and his own Team Titan had him well prepared. Fending off several triangle attempts, it was Pickett who capitalized on his opponent’s ring rust to lock on a tight guillotine for the tap.

Continuing with the featherweights, 18-year-old Brad Wheeler impressed by taking the vastly more experienced Paul Reed all the way to the judges. Having kept the pressure on throughout the first round with a wily jiu-jitsu game, conditioning took its toll and Reed started to really edge forward with superior positioning. Unwilling to just roll over and highlighting his resilience, a bloodied Wheeler made his adversary work hard up until the bell.

In light heavyweight action, heavy-handed Jimi Manuwa recorded a brutal left hook knockout over opponent Luke Blyth, but it wasn’t until the second round after Blyth had blown his gas tank out. A good fight by all accounts with Blyth almost catching a triangle on his highly vaunted opponent. Manuwa picks up another victory and retains his Ultimate Challenge title.

Jamie Hearn made a big entrance to the cage leading up to his encounter with Shaun Lomas, but didn’t really settle into a groove during the fight, a shame because the audience was looking to seeing Hearn’s trademark low kicks. Instead, it was Lomas who was driving home with his shins. A brief spell on the mat with Lomas working his ground and pound offense led to a reversal of roles, but inactivity took hold prompting a restart. Clinching fast, Lomas seized the chance of a standing guillotine and forced the tap.

Wesley Johnson continued his trademark game plan by using his hands to close range before getting stuck in a wrestling battle with opponent Danny Fletcher. Sensing a need to mix things up, Fletcher dropped to hook a leg for a takedown, giving his opponent the invitation to setup a triangle; locked home, Fletcher had the choice of tapping or passing out.

Triangles seemed to feature heavily during the card and the fight between Jack McGee and Richard Griffin was no exception. Griffin has shown that he has the chin and hands to be a danger on the feet in previous outings in the cage, so McGee played it smart and went for a big takedown. Securing mount position, he worked himself into place for a triangle. If Griffin felt he could reverse off his back, unaware of the danger, that’s exactly what he did, and got caught in a submission he was unable to break.


Ashley “Lock-it-in” Pollard and Ian Hawkings threw caution to the wind and battered each other with reckless abandon like something from a video game, Pollard landing the clearer shots and eventually forcing referee Grant Roberts to halt the action.

Lee Doski picked up a controversial win over Jamaine Facey with a rear naked choke at the 4:09 mark of the first round. It was controversial because of Facey’s protestations at the stoppage; having been fighting off the submission attempt for the best part of a minute, Facey appeared to be motionless or waiting for something to happen – although from the outside he appeared to be lucid – just unable to improve his position or escape. Referee Leon Roberts had a clearer view of the action than us and it was his call that the fight should be stopped. Fighter safety is paramount.

Rounding out the card, John Kelly knocked Alex Harvey out on his feet after a very tough first round of action, and Radek Piechnik put a beating on Roy Allison for the ground and pound stoppage

Full Results:
-Jimi Manuwa def. Luke Blyth via KO at 4:22, R2
-Brad Pickett def. Dave Lee via Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 2:26, R1
-Shaun Lomas def. Jamie Hearn via Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 3:42, R1
-Paul Reed def. Brad Wheeler via Unanimous Decision, R3
-Wesley Johnson def. Danny Fletcher via Submission (Triangle Choke) at 1:02, R1
-Ashley Pollard def. Ian Hawkings via TKO at 3:10, R1
-Lee Doski def. Jamaine Facey via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:09, R1
-Jack Mcgee def. Richard Griffin via Submission (Triangle Choke) at 1:02, R1
-John Kelly def. Alex Harvey via TKO at 2:59, R2
-Radek Piechnik def. Roy Allison via TKO (Strikes) at 2:24, R1

UK1 Kickboxing:
-Jason Young def. Azran Quasid via Unanimous Decision, R3

 

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Jake Shields vs Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller to determine Strikeforce interim middleweight champion

Former Elite XC welterweight champion Jake Shields and former ICON Sport middleweight champion Jason “Mayhem” Miller will battle it out for the interim Strikeforce middleweight title sometime soon.

No firm date or location is known at this time. Miller made the announcement in a recent forum post over at MyFightTeam.com.

Here’s the snip:

“I’m set to take on Jake Shields for the middleweight championship of the world in Strikeforce.”

It’s expected that the winner of the 185-pound contest between Shields and Miller will challenge reigning Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le later this year to unify the belts.

Le is currently tied up with several Hollywood-related projects outside the cage that have kept him out of action for more than one year. He expects to return to competition by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

 

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UFC Quick Quote: Gabriel Gonzaga is in the best shape of his life for Chris Tuchscherer

“[Randy Couture] is a great guy, and it was good for me with his wrestling experience. It will help me against my next opponent…. He has a great record and deserves respect, but I think I am in the best shape of my life. I am very focused and I want to become a contender again. I believe in my skills and I am going to be one hundred percent for this fight.”