Baroni Off the Strikeforce Card

“New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni (13-10) has been pulled from the Strikeforce card  in Denver on 3 October due to a cut sustained in his fight last weekend, his agent Ken Pavia told MMA News.

Baroni won a unanimous decision over Olaf Alfonso (7-9) at the Palace Fighting Championship last Friday, but got cut with Alfonso’s “only big punch of the fight” in the first round.

Pavia said, “It was significant enough that it required six stitches right in his eyelid.  Between the first and second round he realized he was cut and was like, ‘Aww man, now I can’t fight next week.’

“He had the PFC fight inked when Strikeforce came to us but they felt that Phil would come out unscathed so we took the fight even though it was going to be a tough cut for two consecutives weeks. There will always be intangibles and anything could happen.”

The cut will likely take 3-4 weeks to heal.

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Okami Returns to Face Lister in December

Fighters.com’s sixth-ranked middleweight “Thunder” Yushin Okami (21-4-1) will face Dean Lister (11-5) 27 December in Las Vegas at UFC 92, according to MMA Weekly.

Okami is coming off two consectutive wins.  His last fight was in March, when he KO’d the late Evan Tanner (32-8-0) in the second round.

Okami was expected to rematch with Middleweight Champion “Spider” Anderson Silva (22-4) for the title but injured his hand during training.

Lister also won his last two fights, most recently submitting “Gumby” Jeremy Horn (80-18-5) with a first-round guillotine in June.

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Morgan: “I fight to live; I don’t live to fight.”

“I fight to live, I don’t live to fight,” is how welterweight “The Squeeze” Sam Morgan (19-11) summed up his Strikeforce main event versus “Bang” Duane Ludwig (16-8) Friday, 3 October in Broomfield, northwest of Denver.

When Fighters.com spoke to him at Team Bison’s Brunette’s Gym in Minneapolis-St. Paul Friday, Morgan had just returned from a training trip at Fighters.com’s seventh-ranked welterweight Matt Hughes’s (41-7) new H.I.T. Squad Gym in Granite City, northeast of St. Louis.

“I’ve been saying that I would go down there and train with him for the longest time, since I was on The Ultimate Fighter.  So, I was finally able to make it down there.  I thought, ‘No better time than now to go down there and train for a fight that I have coming up against Duane Ludwig.’   And, uh, you know, I was keeping a promise to an old friend.”

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Lawal Upsets Wiuff in MMA Debut, Ribeiro Also Victorious at Sengoku 5

MMA rookie “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (1-0) upset “Diesel” Travis Wiuff (53-12) by first-round TKO at 2:11 Sunday night in Tokyo.

Lawal staggered Wiuff with a right Superman punch, then rushed in with a double-leg takedown at the ropes.  Lawal leapt on Wiuff and finished him off with ground’n’pound.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion “Xande” Alexandre Ribeiro (1-0) TKO’d Takashi Sugiura (1-3) in the last minute of his anticipated MMA debut.

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Sadollah and Stephens Face UFC Newcomers in November

TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah (1-0) will face Ring of Combat veteran Nick Catone (5-0) in a middleweight bout, and Jeremy Stephens (13-3) will face lightweight Rafael dos Anjos (11-2) 15 November at UFC 91 in Las Vegas, the organization announced Friday.

Sadollah submitted “Doberman” CB Dollaway (7-1) via first-round armbar in June to win the previous season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Catone, who will make his UFC debut, finished his last four fights in the first round, most recently TKO’ing Eric Tavares (5-9) in June.

Stephens dropped a unanimous decision to “King” Spencer Fisher (21-4) in June at the TUF finale.

UFC newcomer dos Anjos is riding a nine-fight win streak, most recently winning a split decision over Takafumi Otsuka (6-3-1).

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Lawler Rematch with Villasenor Set for November

A rematch between Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked middleweight and EliteXC Champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-4) and Joey Villasenor (26-6) was announced Friday.

It will take place 8 November and air on Showtime.

Villasenor will look to avenge his KO loss to Lawler in October 2006.  Lawler’s flying knee ended the bout in 22 seconds.

Villasenor won his last fight over “New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni (12-10) via first-round TKO in May.

Lawler’s win over Villasenor began his current win streak.  He last fought “Hands of Steel” Scott Smith (13-5) in July, TKO’ing him in the second round and successfully defending his title.

Lawler’s first bout versus Smith in May ended in a No Contest.

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Stann & Cantwell Fight for the Troops

Former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion “All American” Brian Stann (6-1) will face current champ Steve Cantwell (6-1) for the third time at Fight Night 16: UFC Fights for the Troops 10 December at Fort Bragg, south of Raleigh, MMA Weekly reported Friday.

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WEC Drops Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Classes

As of 2009, World Extreme Cagefighting will no longer actively promote middleweight and light heavyweight fights, the promotion officially announced Thursday.

Fighters.com first reported the WEC’s intention to cut weight classes from Montréal 19 April and confirmed the cuts would be made by year-end from Las Vegas 4 August.

The organization will instead focus on the remaining four weight classes: bantamweight (135-pounds), featherweight (145-pounds), lightweight (155-pounds), and welterweight (170-pounds).

“With every fight, the WEC has proven itself to be a powerful and growing presence in sports, both with our live events and our programming on VERSUS,” WEC Vice President of Operations and Production Peter Dropick said.  “Exciting matchups like Torres vs. Tapia on Dec. 3 and the incredible fights we have planned for 2009 under this new structure will no doubt establish WEC as the home of the best lighter weight fighters in the world.”

The reduction will allow the WEC to offer more fights to and better promote the remaining lighter fighters.

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Torres to Defend Belt Versus Tapia

The WEC officially announced Thursday that their Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres (34-1) will defend his belt against “Mangler” Manny Tapia (10-0-1) 3 December in Las Vegas.

The two were originally scheduled to meet in June, but Tapia withdrew due to injury.

Torres won the title when he submitted Chase Beebe (11-3) in February and successfully defended in June when doctors stopped his fight against Yoshiro Maeda (23-5-2) at the end of round three.

Tapia last fought in February when he won a split decision over Antonio Banuelos  (14-5).

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M-1 Announces Closer Association with Affliction

M-1 Global officially announced a closer partnership with Affliction Saturday.

“M-1 Global and Affliction keep strengthening the ties in MMA,” a post at M-1’s website read.  “Officially from now on all the M-1 Challenge events will be organized in association with Affliction.”

Affliction’s debut, Banned in Anaheim, east of Los Angeles, 19 July, was in association with M-1 Global, which allowed Fighters.com’s Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) to appear.

Affliction’s day job is designing, marketing, and manufacturing apparel.  A shirt has been created to promote the closer partnership.

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