Archive for May, 2008
Touché Danzig
Posted by Chad Edward on May 29th, 2008TUF lightweight champ Mac Danzig (18-4-1) will not fight in Minneapolis on 9 August.
In a bulletin entitled “Some MMA blogs will post anything.”, Danzig posted the following on MySpace Thursday:
“Mac is NOT fighting at UFC 87 and never was supposed to (despite the rumors on websites).”
Fighters.com reported Tuesday that MMA Junkie had reported Danzig had signed to fight “The Carpenter” Clay Guida (29-9) at UFC 87.
Danzig added, “There are talks of Clay Guida as a possible opponent, but nothing is signed yet.”
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Mark Hughes to Sign Exclusive UFC Contract
Posted by Chad Edward on May 29th, 2008Thursday on the UFC 85 teleconference Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked welterweight Matt Hughes (42-6) announced that his twin brother, Mark Hughes (6-2), will sign an exclusive contract to fight in the UFC.
Middleweight Mark Hughes retired from competition in 2003 after submitting “Lethal” Leo Sylvest (8-25) at Extreme Challenge 51.
“This is something we tried with the previous owners, but they didn’t go for it,” Matt Hughes explained.
No fight has been scheduled at this time.
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TUF 7: Death Of a Samurai
Posted by Brady Gillihan on May 29th, 2008The pack has been cut from 32 to six.
Two were slated for the chopping block on Wednesday night’s episode with the winners moving on toward the prize of a six-figure contract.
Dante Rivera (10-2) was pitted against Jesse Taylor (6-2).
Matt Brown (9-6) scrapped with lanky amateur Amir Sadollah (0-0).
With the quarter finals looming, a coin was flipped to assign the coaches to the four fighters.
Jesse and Amir had Forrest Griffin (15-4) backing them.
“Rampage” Quinton Jackson(29-6) cornerd Dante Rivera and Matt Brown.
Jesse, who confessed he enjoys dipping microwaved cheeseburgers in ranch dressing, put on the rubber suit and, like fighters have done for years when they need to cut weight…played Ping Pong?
By the time Jesse left for the hot tub, the table and floor were splattered with pools of sweat.
He was courteous enough to step away from the hot tub where he politely urinated in his shorts, claimed it “feels good on my leg”, splashed his feet in the yellow puddle, and jumped back into the water.
His opponent joined him soon after and soaked in Jesse’s waste, a sign of things to come.
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Burns to Replace Chonan in London
Posted by Fighters.com Staff on May 29th, 2008Newcomer “The Fire” Kevin Burns (4-1) will make his Octagon debut at UFC 85 in London against “Jucao” Roan Carneiro (12-6), the UFC announced Wednesday.
Burns is a late replacement for “Piranha” Ryo Chonan (14-8), whose injured rib forced him off next weekend’s card.
Burns, from Des Moines, has never fought to a decision. He won his last two fights, at the Glory Fighting Championships, via submission.
The upcoming bout will be Carneiro’s fourth in the Octagon. The American Top Team member dispatched his last opponent Tony DeSouza (10-4) with a second-round TKO at UFC 79. His most recent loss was to Fighters.com’s second-ranked welterweight Jon Fitch (17-2).
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White: “[Jardine] was paid more.”
Posted by Chad Edward on May 28th, 2008At the post-UFC 84press conference Saturday night in Las Vegas, UFC President Dana White was confronted with the report that Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked light heavyweight “Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine (13-4-1) was paid a purse of $10,000 in comparison to Jardine’s opponent tenth-ranked “Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva’s (32-8-1) purse of $150,000.
This week, that report has circulated in the media, inciting outrage among some.
A reporter at the post-fight press conference quizzed White, “Is that right?”
White countered, “Does that sound right to you?”
“No,” the reporter replied.
“‘No’ is right,” White agreed.
The reporter followed-up, “Then why is it like that?” He was referring to the discrepancy in the amount of Jardine’s and Silva’s purses for the same fight.
White assured, “[Jardine] was paid more,” but declined to reveal the exact amount.
Wednesday, Jardine’s agent would neither confirm nor deny White’s claim.
Jardine did tell Fighters.com last Thursday that he had turned down “a lot of money” to wear his own Mean Jardine brand apparel in the Octagon versus Silva. Apparel company sponsorship is a major component in total fighter compensation.
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Wiuff Added to Affliction Card, Maybe to Fight Rothwell?
Posted by Chad Edward on May 28th, 2008YAMMA Pit Fighting Heavyweight Champion “Diesel” Travis Wiuff (52-11) will fight on the undercard of Affliction: Banned 19 July in Anaheim, outside of Los Angeles, according to the Rochester Post-Bulletin.
No opponent was named.
Though there is no official indication, Wiuff may be Plan B for heavyweight prospect Ben Rothwell (29-5), who is also opponent-less as fight day draws near.
Negotiations for Rothwell to fight Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked heavyweight “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (12-5) remain mysterious.
Fighters.com reported Arlovski has always been Rothwell’s intended opponent, despite Rothwell’s denials.
However, recently both Rothwell and his agent, Adrenaline MMA President Monte Cox, have admitted Arlovski is on the table.
“Of course [Affliction] talked about Andrei, but I don’t know what his contract status is,” Cox told Cage Potato on 12 May. “[Arlovski] was supposed to be free from his UFC contract on May 1, but I honestly don’t know if it will be Ben and Andrei fighting in that show.”
Rothwell corrected his denial, “I was trying to clear up that I was not fighting [Arlovski] in September on another [organization] as the original rumor stated. I tried to never say if I was/was not fighting [Arlvoski].”
Arlovski has remained mum on the issue.
Wiuff comes off his YAMMA tournament victory in which he won UDs over “Pato” Marcelo Donald Pereira (1-1), “Suave” Ricco Rodriguez (28-9), and Chris Tuchscherer (13-1) on the same night in April.
Wiuff is also scheduled for the biggest pay day of his career in Japan, fighting “Ironhead” Kazuyuki Fujita (15-6) at Sengoku III on 8 June.
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Le: “[Shamrock] took one too many kicks to the head from my left kick.”
Posted by Chad Edward on May 28th, 2008
Saturday at Throwdown Headquarters in Las Vegas, Fighters.com caught up with Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le (6-0) to talk about his acting career and deliver a message from former Strikeforce Champ Frank Shamrock (23-9-2), as told to MMA Frenzy.
In an interview, Shamrock called Le “boring” and claimed he was “beating the hell” out of Le until Shamrock broke his arm.
Le took issue with how exactly Shamrock’s arm was broken and sent a personal message back to Shamrock.
Thanks to the Throwdown crew for allowing me to interview Cung Le at their headquarters.
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Hicks To Challenge WEC Champ Varner
Posted by Chad Edward on May 28th, 2008“Wrecking Ball” Marcus Hicks (8-0) confirmed to Fighters.com Wednesday that he’ll challenge WEC Lightweight Champion “Worm” Jamie Varner (14-2) at WEC 35 in Las Vegas 3 August.
“Jus’ gonna play my game,” Hicks said about his strategy to take Varner’s title.
Varner TKO’d “Razor” Rob McCullough (15-4) in February to claim the gold. Hicks will be his first defense.
“Wrecking “Ball” has been just that since joining the WEC in April 2007, submitting all three of his opponents by guillotine choke, most recently dealing “9mm” Ed Ratcliff (6-1) his first loss.
The card will be headlined by “All American” Brian Stann’s (6-0) first defense of his light heavyweight title in a rematch versus Steve Cantwell (5-1).
Stann TKO’d Cantwell in March 2007.
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Cro Cop Grappling with DREAM.4 Match-Up
Posted by Chad Edward on May 28th, 2008
DREAM heavyweight “Cro Crop” Mirko Filipovic (23-6-2) has agreed to grapple with young Ralek Gracie (1-0) at DREAM.4 15 June, according to Nokaut.
The match will be governed by modified Abu Dhabi rules featuring two five-minute rounds and no points system.
Unless there’s a tapout, the result will be declared a draw.
Filipovic told Nokaut he prefers a points system in which he could score with throws and takedowns, but looks forward to testing his grappling.
Filipovic is scheduled to fight kickboxer “Geronimo” Jerome LeBanner (3-1-1) at DREAM.5 21 July, originally scheduled for DREAM.4.
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Evangelista “prepared” for Phan and “anything that comes.”
Posted by Chad Edward on May 28th, 2008Strikeforce announced Tuesday that lightweight Billy Evangelista (6-0) and Nam Phan (14-4) will fight on the undercard of 27 June’s San Jose card.
“It should be a great matchup,” said Phan on Strikeforce’s website. “I know [Evangelista] is pretty good at wrestling and OK at jiu-jitsu and he’s got great Muay Thai.”
Evangelista admitted, “I don’t really have a game plan for Nam Phan and I’ve never seen him fight. I just need to be prepared for anything that comes.”
Phan dealt Saad Awad (1-1) his first loss in February by second-round TKO.
Of Phan’s four losses, three are to Fighters.com’s third-ranked lightweight “JZ” Gesias Calvancante (14-2-1), top Strikeforce lightweight contender “Punk” Josh Thomson (14-2), and former WEC Lightweight Champ “Razor” Rob McCullough (15-4) respectively.
Undefeated Evangelista last kayoed Marlon Sims (3-3) in March and will step-up in competition versus Phan.
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