King of the Cage DOUBLE KNOCKOUT (KO)

I keep hearing about this and I finally found it. It just happened a few weeks ago.

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UFC 84 animated GIF

If you don't see anything of 84, at least check out these mini-highlights:

BJ Penn finishes off Sherk at the end of 3:


Wanderlei destroys Jardine in seconds:



Lyoto Machida delivers a big knee to Tito Ortiz's liver:



Tito Ortiz almost pulls off the upset near the end of round 3:


War Machine gets choked out by Yoshida

Ramblings on UFC 84, Kimbo Slice, Tito Ortiz and more

From: The Baltimore Sun (online)

Ramblings will be a semi-regular feature. Short quips, quick links, news tidbits, shameless self-promotion for an interview coming Thursday: it's all here. There's just a lot to get to this week with UFC 84 fallout and the biggest event in MMA history this Saturday.

UFC 84: The biggest thing I took away from UFC 84 was Wanderlei Silva holding Keith Jardine down by the throat and destroying him with right hands. That was eerily reminiscent of a fighter I used to follow who, incidentally, also went by the name Wanderlei Silva ... hmmm. I’d love to see him take down UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson again. That will take some time, though.

Wanderlei Silva: The Silva fight was the biggest thing to take away from Saturday's event because we all already knew B.J. Penn was a better fighter than Sean Sherk and that Machida was “elusive” enough to decision Ortiz.

Tito vs. the UFC: The weirdest thing to come from UFC 84 was the brouhaha in the news conference. Tito shows up, claims he is banned. UFC PR-types kick him out. Jenna Jameson makes him stay. Ortiz is allowed to talk for a few minutes before the news conference. That is immediately stopped. Media gets angry. Four uniformed cops come into the room. Ortiz is then allowed to stay for the news conference. I’ll have more on this next week, but definitely a weird situation. Even without being there myself, I have to say it’s completely ridiculous to involve the police officers like this. Maybe there’s more to it.

UFC 87: More news on UFC 87. UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre will be defending his title against Jon Fitch in the main event now, which should be a decent fight. Brock Lesnar will be facing Heath Herring, which is a much more compelling matchup than Mark Coleman.

EliteXC: EliteXC’s moment of truth comes this Saturday. If people don’t tune in, it could pretty much mean the end of the company. The entire MMA-world has a lot riding on this event as it will be the first exposure to MMA for a lot of casual sports fans. Kimbo Slice is getting a push in the mainstream media similar to Chuck Liddell’s before he lost to Rampage at UFC 71. The main difference is Kimbo’s wave of popularity will continue and he'll win because he’s fighting a member of the Washington Generals (well, actually James Thompson), whereas Liddell fought one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts. More on this later in the week. In the meantime, an interesting article from Sherdog on whether or not Slice is ready for the spotlight.

Gus Johnson: Speaking of EliteXC’s big event Saturday, we will have an exclusive interview with CBS broadcaster Gus Johnson coming later this week. Some interesting stuff here, including what his dad said to him when he found out he was calling the event and his preparations for broadcasting the action.

Kimbo's opponent: Hey, that guy Kimbo Slice is fighting actually has opinions and stuff. I just hope he can get his glass jaw fixed in time for the fight.

The WEC: The WEC has a huge fight on Sunday night on Versus at 9 p.m., as Urijah Faber takes on Jens Pulver. That will be a tremendous fight. There’s nothing more that needs to be said on the event, so here’s a tremendous feature on Jens Pulver from CBS Sports' Gregg Doyel.

Posted by Mark Chalifoux on May 28, 2008 12:16 AM | Permalink

MMA: Can Fedor-Sylvia Fight Beat UFC?

by Jason Foucha

May 28, 2008

This article has not been edited yet.

A lot of people are looking forward to the Affliction: Banned card that is being held on July 19. When it was scheduled for Dallas, my buddies and I were planning to drive 3.5 hours to see it.

We were saddened to learn that they lost the venue and it has since moved to Cali.

Here is the one problem I see with the card: I think it is at the wrong time.

There's talk of Arlovski joining the card, which would be great. You have Fedor vs. Sylvia. Everyone's dying to see Fedor fight again after dismantling Choi the Giant.

You have got the legendary Pedro Rizzo taking on another legend in Josh Barnett. You have Matt "The Law" Lindland fighting, and you have Babalu fighting Mike Whitehead of TUF2 fame.

You also have "Little Fedor", as I call him, Aleksander fighting on the preliminary card.

This all sounds great. A lot of fans have the mindset of "OMG! I CANT WAIT! IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!"

But there is one thing most casual fans, and some hardcore fans, aren't realizing.

Let me break it down for you:

July 5 - UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin (Light Heavyweight Title)

July 19 - Affliction: Banned

Aug. 9 - UFC 87: Seek and Destroy aka ST PIERRE VS. FITCH (Welterweight Title)

Do you see the problem?

UFC PPV's are $55 apiece, and how many fans have been waiting for this fight between Rampage and Forrest? THERE'S A WHOLE TUF SEASON BUILT AROUND IT. People have been debating the outcome of this for months!

What about UFC 87? How many people love watching St. Pierre fight? A LOT! (Hell, my dad even orders the PPV's to watch this guy fight, and that's about the only time he watches it.)

So in a span of 35 days, the UFC is giving us two can't miss PPV events. Let me do the math for you. 55+55=110. 110 Dollars. These days that's filling up your Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla twice.

So Affliction wants us to pay another large sum (I looked up DirectTV and they did not have the price listed yet for the ppv). My guess is it will be in the $40-$60 range. So we will say another $55 to make it a nice math problem. They are banking on you being willing to spend $55 three times in 35 days.

That, my friends, is $165, just on PPV. For some of you, that's your MMA lesson for a month. For you Corolla and Civic Drivers, say goodbye to three fillups at the pump. For the Truck Drivers and SUV drivers, that's like a half a tank at this point.

Now don't think I've forgotten about the fact that a lot of people go to bars and clubs to watch these events. I hate to tell you, but unless you'll start petitioning now, your bar probably won't carry Affliction, because it does not have the UFC label, and thus its a risk some bars aren't going to want to take.

Will I be watching Affliction? Probably not. I'm a waiter and a student. What's the busiest night for waiters? Saturday night. And I know I'm not going to work only two Saturdays in five weeks. That's losing a lot of money. I'll sacrifice the Affliction card to watch the two PPV's with title fights. Sorry, but that's how it boils down for me.

The UFC and Ancillary Rights

This article comes at you from BloodyElbow.com and is about ancillary rights, ancillah what? Basically, a guy in the NFL plays well and gets money not only from his contract with the NFL team, but from action figures, cereal boxes, etc. but a guy in the UFC like, say, Randy Couture, gets only the money from the UFC and they own him, his image, etc. like slave. So...maybe Tito Ortiz isn't so crazy. OK, he's crazy, but I think you know what I'm sayin'.

I Told You The UFC Gives The Finger to Ancillary Rights

by Luke Thomas on May 28, 2008 11:07 AM EDT in News

Maybe Tito Ortiz isn't so crazy after all :

However, it is also important to consider the other revenue streams not included in the above revenue estimates, including: closed circuit television, DVDs, video games, television rights fees, sponsorships, advertising, on-demand new media purchases, and other merchandising. Many of these revenue sources rely on the infamous ancillary rights clause found in the company's standard contract. Per the clause, fighters essentially sign away the rights to their likeness and are not entitled to any compensation when it is used. The clause has been a source of contention in the company's disputes with Randy Couture and Ortiz.

...

For the sake of comparison, in a testament to the power of collective bargaining, the percentage share of gross revenue player's receive in other major sports: 59% in the NFL, 57% in the NBA, 55.6% in the NHL, and 53% in MLB.

As this sport grows and develops, I suspect the creation of a fighters' union will happen. There will be too much money and too many opportunities for young, talented fighters to not use the law, lawyers and agents to maximize their earning potential. It's happened in other sports (now a staple) and despite some of the constraints on them given the professional wrestling business model, I suspect collective bargaining to absolutely be a thing of the future.

So while I commend the UFC for paying more than many of their competitors and producing excellent events like UFC 84, I must also say it's hard to believe Zuffa makes fighters waive their rights to their own likeness to line the company's pockets. Shameful.

CBS to Show EliteXC on May 31st at 7PM

Don't forget, this should be good (Kimbo Slice, etc.) and it's the first time MMA will be live on National TV!

Elite XC “Saturday Night Fights” is set to go off live from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., this Saturday, May 31 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Faber vs. Pulver WEC Featherwieght Title

These guys are both dynamite at 145 although I'm going to have to give the advantage to the younger Faber although I like Pulver. He's an older guy and despite how he's put forth in this fight, he's a nice guy. This could be fight of the year. It's on the Versus network which I don't have YET (I'm switching to AT&T's Fiber Optic tech package). In case you don't know, Zuffa LLC, the company who runs the UFC, owns the WEC. It focuses more on the featherweight guys and many fighters from the UFC move "down" (they'd like you to believe they mover "over") to the WEC if they drop a few fights but they don't want to lose them as fighters.

June 1st

UFC 84 at the Todd Pad and Michael Jackson at UFC 84!!!???

You can read an official recap of UFC 84 below but in terms of our little party at my place, we had a lot of fun. We had about a dozen people over here at one point including Donald Cox and his wife Suzanne, Matty, Ned, Wes, Ryan, Dave T and his bro-in-law, Raphael, Alvin, Ceasar, Ezra and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone...anyway, at times people were sitting on the floor so I guess it's time to get some gamer chairs or bean bags or something or a bigger house. The spicy nacho dip was good but apparently produced serious gas in those who ate it. Also, remember all those cookies I gave out guys, the healthy ones people liked? Well, those were supposed to be for my wife's Sunday school kids...oops!

The fights were great. It wasn't the best card I've ever seen, but there was actually only one televised decision, the rest of the fights were (T)KOs or subs. The Penn fight lived up up to the hype and despite the questionable stoppage, if you watch it over again slowly, Sherk was definitely in big trouble as he was taking shots to the face with his hands down and it seems like the ref was wise not to let it continue.

All in all it was a great night. Thanks to everyone who pitched in. I got enough to cover the pay per view which is really cool and I truly appreciate it.

Until next time!

Check out upcoming UFC events HERE. If anyone's interested in having the fights at their place, let us know.

Oh, one more thing and this is FOR REAL (from mmamania.com):

‘Michael Jackson enjoys cage fighting!’ at UFC 84

By: MMAmania

Criss Angel no longer holds the distinction as the oddest “celebrity” mixed martial arts fan:

Here’s more from TMZ.com:

“MJ rolled up to the event in a wheelchair, just in time to watch Tito Ortiz get smacked around … that is, if he could see anything through those ridiculously blacked out shades.”

Speechless.

Sherdog's UFC 84 Recap

Penn Stops Sherk; Silva, Machida Dominate

May 25, 2008
by Mike Sloan (msloan@sherdog.com)

LAS VEGAS -- Once the dust settled inside the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena following the conclusion of UFC 84, there was no debate over who truly is the best fighter at 155 pounds.

Without question it's B.J. Penn (Pictures), now the undisputed UFC lightweight champion.

Penn outclassed challenger Sean Sherk (Pictures) for three full rounds until he finally took out his foe with a flying knee and follow-up punches. The Hawaiian used his superior boxing skills to keep the much shorter Sherk at bay from the outset. Sherk chose to box, but nothing he did seemed to work. Instead, he ate pesky left jabs and the occasional right hand down the pipe.

Sherk tried to bring Penn to the ground only a few times. Those attempts were only from brief clinches; not once did the former lightweight champ shoot in for a chance to put "The Prodigy" on his back.

"I knew I had to come out here and show something different," a disappointed Sherk said following his loss. "B.J. is really hard to take down. I wanted to establish a striking game before I started trying to take the fight to the ground. I felt like I was pretty competitive there on the feet, so I just figured I would keep it up on the feet."

Sherk's best chance of winning the fight was to make Penn work harder than he would have liked. But Sherk's game plan to box with Penn, which kept him calm and exerting less energy, appeared to be the wrong idea in hindsight.

As the minutes wore away, Sherk's eyes became lacerated and swollen. It was obvious that he needed to take drastic measures in order to salvage his quest to regain his stripped championship. However, he did no such thing, and with seconds left in the third frame, "The Muscle Shark" was dealt a vicious flying knee that sent him crashing onto his knees along the fence.

Penn quickly pounced, swarming him with a flurry of punches until the round ended.

When referee Mario Yamasaki pulled Penn away, it seemed as if the fight would continue. But after looking at the fallen Sherk, who had yet to climb back up to his feet, the veteran third man waived off the bout.

"Very, very satisfying," a proud Penn said of his win. "Sean Sherk is a great competitor. Very satisfying."

After scoring the greatest victory in his career thus far, many insiders were picking Keith Jardine (Pictures) to continue his shocking surge through the light heavyweight division by handing former Pride middleweight king Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) his fourth consecutive defeat. Jardine entered the contest full of confidence while "The Axe Murderer" climbed into the Octagon desperate for a win.

Thirty-six seconds later, Silva was perched on top of the cage, his arms raised in triumph. Jardine, on the other hand, lay motionless on his back, a victim of a barrage of crippling punches.

Silva (32-8-1) staggered and then dropped Jardine (13-4-1) during a clinch. One of his punches clipped "The Dean of Mean" behind his ear. Jardine tried to fight his way back to his feet, but it was too late -- Silva was already unloading a furious clip of punches. One too many landed on Jardine's chin, knocking him completely out. Jardine didn't come to until about three or four minutes later.

"Incredible, because I'm very emotional right now," an overjoyed Silva, whose performance was reminiscent of his career in Japan, said afterward. "I thought the first minute, second minute were very [dangerous] because the gloves are very small. But this guy's a great fighter."

Tito Ortiz (Pictures)'s days as a contracted fighter for the UFC appear to be over, and his last fight in the Octagon didn't unfold the way he had planned as he lost a unanimous decision to unbeaten Lyoto Machida (Pictures).

Ortiz couldn't muster any sort of offense toward the technical wizardry of Machida. He landed no meaningful strikes and was not even close to scoring any takedowns.

Machida avoided virtually everything Ortiz (15-6-1) threw his way and sprawled beautifully the few times "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" tried to bring him to the canvas. The fight wasn't aesthetically pleasing, and as the minutes wore away the capacity crowd booed and jeered toward the lack of action.

Machida (12-0) almost scored a late knockout as a debilitating knee crashed into the liver of Ortiz late in the third. Ortiz recovered after he pulled guard, though, and caught Machida in a deep triangle. When Ortiz transitioned from triangle to armbar, Machida snaked out the back door and then rode out the clock for the win, 30-27 on all three cards.

"I was thinking, ‘I'm going to die, but I'm not going to tap,'" Machida said after what is arguably the biggest win of his career to date.

"Machida's a great fighter, but when I had that submission, I thought I had him for a second," Ortiz added moments later.

Ortiz also addressed his expected departure from the UFC.

"I'm here for another three or four more years. Maybe not here in the UFC," he said, "but I'm going to be fighting for a long time. … A lot of the stuff that happened before between me and Dana White, it's all bullsh--, man. Hard feelings that we have towards each other. It's personal, but the Fertittas have been awesome people. What they've done for the UFC, what they've done for this company, I got to thank them. But you know, I gave 11 years in this Octagon, and it's too bad that I'm leaving right now. I'm going to go to greener pastures -- I hope -- in the future."

Unbeaten light heavyweight Thiago Silva (Pictures) (13-0) almost lost that perfect record against Antonio Mendes (Pictures) (14-2). Mendes dropped him with a right head kick early in their battle but failed to put away the dangerous Brazilian. Soon after Mendes slipped up during an attempted judo throw, and he was tapping out due to the punches by a determined Silva at 2:24 of the first.

Wilson Gouveia (Pictures) had opponent Goran Reljic (Pictures) hurt and almost out in the first round of their light heavyweight encounter, but the Croatian survived into the second. Gouveia (10-5) had been fighting well against Reljic, but a sneaky left to the temple midway through the second frame dropped the Brazilian.

Reljic (8-0) then unloaded a barrage of strikes until referee Herb Dean (Pictures) had no choice but to step in at 3:15.

In one of the many light heavyweight battles of the evening, Rameau Sokoudjou patiently awaited for the perfect opportunity to take out Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures). The Cameroonian landed a menacing right kick to Nakamura's body and followed up with a beautifully masked straight right hand that landed flush on the Japanese fighter's jaw. Nakamura (11-8) crumbled to the canvas and was dealt a series of punches, but the round ended before referee Steve Mazzagatti could stop it.

However, while a dazed Nakamura was being tended to in his corner, he stumbled and slipped off the stool. That was all Mazzagatti needed to see, and he stopped the fight, giving Sokoudjou (5-2) a TKO at the end of the first round.

"I knew he was going to grab my legs every time I would kick," Sokoudjou said afterward. "So I had this setup where every time I would kick, I got to punch to keep him off my legs and one of those connected. I was eager to finish the fight."

In what might have been middleweight Ivan Salaverry (Pictures)'s final fight of his career, Rousimar Palhares (Pictures) (8-1) quickly took the Seattle-based fighter down and immediately snatched his back. Salaverry defended the several rear-naked choke attempts from his Brazilian adversary, but Palhares transitioned the would-be choke into a slick armbar, forcing Salaverry (12-7) to tap out at 2:36.

Shane Carwin (Pictures) remained unbeaten as a pro by defeating durable Christian Wellisch (Pictures) in just 46 seconds. Carwin, now 9-0, floored Wellisch with a sizzling right hand that sent his mouthpiece rocketing across the cage. Carwin followed up by landing a series of moderate strikes onto the fallen Hungarian's head, prompting an immediate stoppage by referee Yves Lavigne. Wellisch fell to 8-4.

Korean welterweight Dong Hyun Kim (10-1-1) made the most of his UFC debut by stopping Jason Tan (5-3) early in the third round. Kim almost had his opponent out in the opening stanza after he stuffed a takedown and delivered a series of elbows. Tan was cut near his right ear from the flurry of strikes and was rocked a few times, but his toughness pulled him through the rest of the round.

After a relatively slow-paced second round, Kim executed a perfect judo toss seconds into the third and immediately seized side control. From there he rained down elbows onto Tan until referee Steve Mazzagatti stepped in 25 seconds into the third.

"TUF 6" fan favorite Jon Koppenhaver (Pictures) was put to sleep 56 seconds into his fight with fellow welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) (10-2) thanks to a perfect anaconda choke. After a terse exchange of punches, Koppenhaver (5-2) clinched his Japanese counterpart but was judo tossed onto his side. "War Machine" scrambled in an attempt to get back to his feet, but he slipped into a guillotine and eventually the anaconda.

Lightweight Rich Clementi (Pictures) needed three rounds to score a win over the lanky Terry Etim (Pictures) (10-2), winning unanimously via tallies of 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards. Clementi was the more aggressive fighter, landed more strikes and controlled the pace for the most part. Etim's size and reach posed problems for Clementi (32-12-1) early, but "No Love" figured him out and pulled out the hard-fought decision.

Tito's Shirt About Dana At the UFC 84 Weigh Ins

Jeremy Horn - Salt Lake City

I may not be good with names, but I recognize faces very well and I when I saw Jeremy Horn in the SLC airport, I knew immediately who he was. He was gracious enough to let me take this goofy photo with him. In fact, he was very cool and down to earth. He's fighting on June 24th against Dean "The Boogeyman" Lister who, like him, is a good jiu-jitsu fighter. In case you don't know who Jeremy Horn is, he's one of the most prolific fighters in MMA who claims to enjoy fighting more than actually winning. He's beaten some notable guys including Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. I think he's fighting at middleweight now and, as you can see, he's got some height on me, but we are about the same size. I'm weighing around 210 these days. The main difference between us is that he's got skillz and I don't! Oh, my dad bought him a soda since his card didn't seem to work on the machine.

From wikipedia:

Jeremy "Gumby" Horn (born August 25, 1975 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a mixed martial arts fighter. He is one of the most experienced fighters in the sport with a professional record of 79-17-5.[1]

He has beaten such fighters as: Forrest Griffin, Josh Burkman, David Loiseau, Dean Lister, Vernon White, Gilbert Yvel and Chuck Liddell. His early martial arts training was under RBWI founder, Robert Bussey. Horn earned an RBWI black belt under Bussey in 1992. He spent most of his career with the Miletich Fighting Systems team in Iowa, and is currently training in Salt Lake City, Utah with Elite Performance, the team that he created.

He is known for defeating former light heavyweight champion and UFC star Chuck Liddell by submission at UFC 19, one of Liddell's five losses in mixed martial arts. Liddell later avenged his loss to Horn at UFC 54 in the fourth round when the fight was stopped after Horn told the referee he could no longer see.

After losing to Matt Lindland, in the second round due to strikes, at an IFL show on the 9th September 2006 Horn, later, announced that he would be taking a break from fighting. Jeremy Horn returned from this break when he beat Falaniko Vitale by Split Decision at the IFL Oakland Show.

Horn openly discusses how he often likes to fight more than he likes to win. Although technically very talented, he feels he often lacks the motivation and focus to perform at his best.

He most recently fought his 100th MMA fight, losing to Jorge Santiago by way of a triangle choke at 3:02 of the 1st round.

On January 9, it was announced by the UFC that Horn would replace Thales Leites in a fight against Nate Marquardt at UFC 81. This was the first time that Horn has fought in the UFC in over a year.

Horn lost to Nate Marquardt by a standing guillotine choke.



Get more pictures like this from SHERDOG.COM

UFC 84...last call! Penn vs. Sherk LW Championship

UFC 84 next week, my house. I'm getting the fight in HD and putting together some grub, so bring $5 and be ready to watch some great fights. Call me if you need directions, but most of you've already been here.

The fight game can get very personal and the war of words between UFC Lightweight Champion "THE PRODIGY" BJ PENN and former champ SEAN "THE MUSCLE SHARK" SHERK has taken personal to a whole new level. The talking stops and the real competition begins as these two men step into the Octagon to determine the undisputed king of the 155-lb. division.
Plus, the controversial "HUNTINGTON BEACH BAD BOY" TITO ORTIZ faces undefeated Karate master LYOTO "THE DRAGON" MACHIDA.

From mmamania.com:

Friday Night Throwdown: UFC 84 fight preview part IIIBy: Chris Cosme
“… I know there are a lot of people out there doing steroids, cheating and every time I run into one of them, I’m going to call them on it and then I’m going to beat the s---out of them.… It’s going to be a historic night because all the kids out there will realize that you can do it with just hard work alone … he wants to say he has heart and all this different #&%$, but you can’t confuse steroids with heart…. It’s two different things, a guy with heart is a guy doing it with blood, sweat and tears, waking up with the sore back, the sore body..… What would happen in the old days when you get caught with a couple of aces up your sleeve, they kill the guy right there and that’s why I say Sean Sherk is dead….”
– UFC Lightweight Champion, BJ Penn
“I think he needs to talk to a psychiatrist. That sounds pretty sick to me, but good luck. I’m sure there will be blood, both mine and his, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know, that’s kind of a weird thing to say and I did hear that he said that. I was like, ‘What the hell is he talking about?’ What can you say. He’s got some issues, but I’m not going to let anything he says bother me.”
– Former UFC lightweight champion, Sean Sherk
In this week’s edition of the Friday Night Throwdown, it’s the final part of a three-part series that covers UFC 84: “Ill Will” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 24.
And we’ve saved the best for last.
Of course, we’re finally going to touch on the main event of the evening and preview the UFC lightweight title fight between division champion, BJ Penn, and former 155-pound beltkeeper, Sean Sherk.
It’s no secret that these two men don’t like each other –- check out the war of words at the top of this column for proof of that. For weeks fans and others have referred to this showdown as a grudge match.
I see it more as war … let the games begin.
Continue reading ‘Friday Night Throwdown: UFC 84 fight preview part III’

UFC Quick Quote: Dana White is subtle when it comes to Tito OrtizBy: MMAmania
Photo: mmaweekly.com
“Tito is a f—ing idiot. He’s one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever met. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes no sense…. I put up with his s— when he was a good fighter. He’s not anymore…. He’s not in anybody’s Top 10. I have no interest whatsoever in being in the Tito Ortiz business…. I’ve never wanted to see anyone get their ass kicked worse than I want to see Tito get his kicked next Saturday night.”
– UFC President Dana White beat around the bush in a recent UFC 84: “Ill Will” conference call earlier this afternoon when Tito Ortiz was mentioned. White decided to remain tight-lipped about his thoughts on who he wants to win when Ortiz steps inside the Octagon for possibly the last time against Lyoto Machida at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 24. Perhaps closer to fight night we’ll get a better feel for what he really thinks about the match up and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” Stay tuned.

Fight of the Year?

CLICK HERE TO SEE ONE OF THE BEST FIGHTS OF THE YEAR, IF NOT THE BEST FIGHT OF THE YEAR!

Dream, the Japanese MMA organization, is sort of the spiritual successor to PRIDE FC. They've put on some decent shows. This fight is from DREAM 3 which I just watched on HDNET.

Eddie Alvarez vs Joachim Hansen Video- DREAM 3

This fight is getting Fight of the Year recognition already.

FULL UFC 84 Preview!

Fighter Quotes

From mmamania.com

UFC Quick Quote: Wilson Gouveia ‘going in blind’ against Goran Reljic at UFC 84

By: MMAmania

“I’m kind of going in blind for this fight. I just trained everything for this fight. For [Goran Reljik], there is no information at all. I just have to be 100% for everything. He’s supposed to be a very good jiu-jitsu guy. Every Croatian guy is supposed to be a very good striker. I’m not taking him as just being a jiu-jitsu fight…. To be honest, I pulled four wins in a row. My last fights I won by submission or knockout. I was expecting a real tough (opponent). It’s no problem. I fight anybody they put against me. I want to fight a big name. If I could pick the fights I want right now, I would like to fight Chuck (Liddell) or a rematch against Keith (Jardine). They are the two guys that are in my mind right now. I’m taking this fight very seriously though. I trained very hard. I’m training very much to be the next UFC light heavyweight champion.”

Wilson Gouveia tells MMAWeekly.com that he does not know much about his upcoming opponent at UFC 84: “Ill Will,” Goran Reljik. It sounds as though Gouveia — who has four straight wins and just one loss (Keith Jardine) inside the Octagon — would have been happier with more noteworthy opponent. His fight with Reljik will be televised on the pay-per-view (PPV) main card, which means that he might just get his wish next time out with a win or exciting fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

13 Comments May 12th, 2008

Jason Day: UFC 85 fight with Michael Bisping to be ‘wicked’

By: MMAmania

Props: Sherdog.com.

Quoteworthy:

“Everything is falling into place. It’s just clicking, and I’m loving it. I just look at guys, and something says I want to fight them. It’s just instinct I guess. It’s just pure luck that this fight came up, and they thought of me. I still have four weeks and I’m in good shape now. This isn’t short notice at all. It’s twice as long as any training camp I get. I’m playing leapfrog right now. I think I opened up a lot of eyes with that [Belcher] win, and now I get to fight another guy who is very well known, who’s got a great reputation and has never been stopped. A win over Bisping and I jump another few notches on the ladder. Right now I’m loving how I’m getting matched up…. He’s just a well-rounded fighter. I think we match up very well. I have a lot of respect for him. It’s not like he’s a bad guy or anything, but I think it has potential to be a wicked fight…. I love to put on an exciting fight. I’m an entertainer. I’d rather put on an exciting fight and lose a close decision than have a boring grind-out that I win. Nobody likes to lose, but I want to have that marquee fight.”

Jason Day — who just stopped Alan Belcher at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ on April 19 in his Octagon debut — realizes the huge opportunity before him when he takes on Michael Bisping at UFC 85: “Bedlam” in London, England, on June 7. Day replaced Chris Leben, stepping up to take on the popular British fighter in front of a hostile United Kingdom crowd. A win for Day would be huge.

Photo courtesy of: www.koshots.com

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Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Highlight

Wonder how he got the name "Rampage"? Do you wonder why I, along with MANY others, think he's probably going to destroy Forrest Griffin? Wonder no more...

Affliction is Officially in MMA and the first card looks rock solid

AFFLICTION MMA PROMOTION NOW OFFICIAL
Friday, May 09, 2008 - by MMAWeekly.com Staff

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Tom Attencio, a vice president at Affliction Clothing, on Friday officially confirmed the company’s new mixed martial arts promotion. He made the announcement on a preview of Friday night’s edition of HDNet’s Inside MMA program, which is currently available for public viewing on YouTube.com.

Fights between Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia, as well as Josh Barnett and Pedro Rizzo, have already been confirmed by the fighters and/or their camps for the July 19 event.

Matt Lindland also recently confirmed that he would be fighting on the event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Attencio noted on Inside MMA that Lindland’s opponent would be the previously speculated Fabio Negao.

He also announced the participation of Ben Rothwell, Mike Whitehead and Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Although Attencio did not mention the match-up, the Xtreme Couture web site lists Whitehead – an Xtreme Couture fighter – as facing Sobral at the Affliction event.

The full episode of Inside MMA airs Friday night on HDNet’s television network at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Leben scratched from UFC 85...Bisping vs. "Dooms" Day replaces the bout

Unfortunately we won't get to see Chris Leben fight Michael Bisping any time soon. After turning himself in for DUI charges in Oregon he was sentenced to about a month of jail time. He's taking it like a man, but no one is going to go into a high profile MMA fight without the proper nutrition and training, so Leben will sit this one out.

So who's going to fight Bisping on such short notice? Jason Day is. Jason Day just fought at UFC 83 and handled the highly regarded Alan Belcher recently when Patrick Cote had to step out of his bout with an injury.

Jason "Dooms" Day poses a big threat to Bisping since he's riding a winning streak and is well rounded and well conditioned. If Bisping takes down day I expect him to have to win one, maybe two, more fights before we start hearing about a shot at the MW title which is held, of course, by the seemingly unbeatable Anderson Silva.

Here's the whole post from MMAJUNKIE:

Jason Day replaces Chris Leben at UFC 85

by Dann Stupp on May 09, 2008 at 5:11 pm ET

Middleweight Jason Day (17-5 MMA, 1-0), who defeated Alan Belcher as a late replacement last month at UFC 83, will now replace Chris Leben and fight Michael Bisping (15-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) at London's UFC 85.

The UFC today revealed the June 7 bout, which will remain on the televised main card of the pay-per-view event.

Leben was recently sentenced to 35 days in jail due to a probation violating stemming from a 2005 DUI arrest. He would have been released just two weeks before the event.

Leben had hoped to transfer his probation in 2007 after moving from Oregon to Hawaii for a teaching position at T. Jay Thompson's ICON Fitness facility. However, the request was denied, and a bench warrant was issued when Leben went ahead with the move. Leben, who voluntarily turned himself into Clackamas County Sheriff's Department early last week, was optimistic that he'd be released during his hearing on Thursday and granted his visa, but he was instead sentenced to further jail time.

In his place steps Day, who replaced an injured Patrick Cote and scored a first-round TKO upset or rising contender Belcher on April 19. He'll go for his sixth straight victory when he meets Bisping, who most recently defeated Charles McCarthy via first-round TKO at UFC 83.

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