» Fighter: Jason MacDonald

“Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-12) will fight “Serial Killer” Travis Lutter (9-5) at MFC 22 Payoff in Edmonton 2 October, not “Beastman” Marvin Eastman (16-9-1) who claimed Thursday he would fight MacDonald.

Maximum Fighting Championship CEO Mark Pavelich, who wouldn’t confirm the Eastman v MacDonald fight Thursday, did confirm the Lutter v MacDonald fight Saturday.

Lutter hasn’t fought since getting TKO’d by “Ace” Rich Franklin (26-4) at UFC 83 in Montréal in April 2008 and subsequently getting axed by the UFC. He underwent knee surgery on his right knee in October 2008.

Read More About Jason MacDonald Will Fight Travis Lutter at MFC 22, Not Marvin Eastman…

“Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-12) and “Beastman” Marvin Eastman (16-9-1) will rematch at MFC 22 Payoff in Edmonton 2 October, according to a post Eastman published on MySpace Thursday morning.

Maximum Fighting Championship CEO Mark Pavelich replied to Fighters.com’s request for confirmation, “This is not confirmed.” However, MacDonald mentioned in a 4 July blog post at Sportsnet Ontario that Pavelich had offered the fight to both fighters, but Eastman had declined to drop from 205 pounds to 185 pounds to fight MacDonald at middleweight.

“[Eastman] apparently said he can’t come down to that weight any more,” MacDonald wrote. “But he fought Denis Kang at 185 two fights ago, so I don’t know that I believe that.

Read More About Former UFC Fighters MacDonald and Eastman to Rematch at MFC 22…

Wilson Gouveia (12-5) tapped out Canadian middleweight “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-11) with elbow strikes in round one at the season eight live finale of The Ultimate Fighter Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Brazilian Gouveia came out with a leg kick. MacDonald followed a right-left punch combo with a single-leg takedown, but Gouveia refused to stay down. Trading strikes, Gouveia dropped MacDonald with a hard left jab, and immediately fell on him with hammerfists and elbows, splitting open MacDonald’s head.

Referee Josh Rosenthal stopped Gouveia’s assault of MacDonald at 2:18 of round one.

Wilson Gouveia (11-5) weighed in at 189 pounds Friday for his middleweight bout against “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-10) at the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter 8 Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission would not allow Gouveia to cut the remaining pounds for safety reasons.  Instead the match will proceed at a catch weight of 189 pounds, with Gouveia forfeiting 20 percent of his purse to MacDonald.

Gouveia used to fight at light heavyweight.  He made his middleweight debut in August, submitting Ryan Jensen (13-6) with a second-round armbar.

All other fighters on the card made weight.

TUF 8 lightweights Phillipe Nover (4-0) and Efrain Escudero (6-0) and light heavyweights “Darth” Ryan Bader (5-0) and “Pezao” Vinicius Magalhaes (3-3) secured a spot in the finals in Wednesday night’s episodes of the reality television series.

Following the broadcast the UFC announced the full lineup for the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir 13 December in Las Vegas.

Also on the card are a previously reported bout between middleweights “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-10) and Wilson Gouveia (11-5), and a rematch between Kevin Burns (7-1) and “Rumble” Anthony Johnson (5-2).

Rounding out the main card is a lightweight match-up between TUF 8 competitors Junie Allen Browning (2-0) and David Kaplan (0-0).

Read More About Nover v Escudero, Bader v Magalhaes To Determine Season 8’s Ultimate Fighters…

Canadian middleweight “Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-10) will face American Top Team’s Wilson Gouveia (11-5) at the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter 8 on 13 December.

MacDonald’s manager, Mark Pavelich, confirmed the fight on MMA Weekly Radio Wednesday.

MacDonald submitted “Punisher” Jason Lambert (23-9) with a rear naked choke at UFC 88 in September, just one month after he himself tapped out to Demian Maia’s (8-0) rear naked choke.

Gouveia armbarred Ryan Jensen (13-6) in round two at UFC: Fight Night 15 in September.

Conventional MMA wisdom has already matched “Count” Michael Bisping (17-1) versus the winner of UFC 93’s main eventin Dublin 18 January between Fighters.com’s fifth-ranked light heavyweight “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (23-7) and second-ranked middleweight “Ace” Rich Franklin (24-3).

But, that’s not explicitly what UFC President Dana White told The Sun 17 Octoberin the report that first announced that Bisping and either Hendo’ or “Ace” would coach on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

In fact, White promised The Sunthat Bisping would coach TUF 9 “win, lose or draw” versus “Crippler” Chris Leben (18-5) at UFC 89 in Birmingham 18 October.

It doesn’t make sense that Bisping would earn a fight versus either currently ranked and historically relevant mixed martial artist, Henderson or Franklin, if he drew or lost versus popular, but unranked Leben.

Does it?

Read More About Monday Morning Matchmaker: Bisping v MacDonald…

“Sugar” Rashad Evans (12-0-1) knocked out Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked light heavyweight “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (21-6) with a right hook in the second round Saturday night in Atlanta.

Liddell lay unconcious on the canvas for several minutes after the punch.

Evans jitter-bugged around a stalking Liddell the entire fight.  Liddell never really got a beat on him, but landed a straight right in the first round.  Evans back-pedalled and taunted Liddell with a dance.

In the second round, Liddell lunged for an uppercut and took Evans’s counter right hook square on the jaw to end the fight at 1:51.

Franklin Finishes Friend

“Ace” Rich Franklin (24-3) TKO’d his friend and former training partner “Hammer” Matt Hamill (4-2) at 39 seconds of round three with a left kick to Hamill’s floating rib in Franklin’s return to 205.

Franklin had landed the same kick consistently through the first two rounds.  In the third, the kick dropped Hamill and Franklin landed two punches before referee Mario Yamasaki waved the fight off.

Read More About “Sugar” Rashad Stings Liddell…

Is “Athlete” Jason MacDonald (20-10) a terrorist?  MacDonald told Fighters.com that U.S. Immigration is suspicious about why he crosses the border from his native Canada so often.

Saturday in Atlanta, MacDonald enters the Octagon for the second time in less than a month versus “Punisher” Jason Lambert (23-8) and intends to make Lambert feel the 20 pounds Lambert is cutting to make 185 pounds for the first time.

Fighters.com attended the UFC 88 open workout in Atlanta Wednesday afternoon.

Fighters.com’s fourth-ranked light heavyweight “Iceman” Chuck Liddell (21-5) bounced in place as reporters lined-up to interview the former UFC champion before his fight versus “Sugar” Rashad Evans (11-0-1) Saturday night.

Playful and boisterous, Liddell told Fighters.com he was ready to fight Evans today in a video interview that will be posted shortly.

Evans was a bit more low-key, focusing on the biggest fight of his career and rolling with middleweight training partner Nathan Marquardt (26-8-2), who fights “Hitman” Martin Kampmann (13-1) Saturday night.

Co-main event second-ranked middleweight “Ace” Rich Franklin (23-3), moving to 205 Saturday versus former training partner “Hammer” Matt Hamill (4-1), skipped his scheduled session.

Sources in Franklin’s camp alternately told Fighters.com that Franklin wasn’t feeling well and that he was eating to maintain the weight of his new division.

Neither excuse gives much solace to Fighters.com after Franklin’s comments about his uncertainty about fighting his former training partner and moving to 205 pounds.

Read More About Liddell Ready To Fight Today, Franklin Skips Open Workout…