UFC Fight Report » General UFC

UFC Fight Night 18 Preview

sagescott — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:26:36 +0000

Wednesday, April 1 MMA fans at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and those at home watching Spike TV, will bare witness to the 18th installment of UFC Fight Night.

The 12-bout fight card for Fight Night 18 will include a main event featuring veteran UFC fighter Martin Kampmann versus the last of the WEC welterweight champs and fresh newcomer to the UFC Carlos Condit.

Also on the main card (and Spike TV's docket) are:

Carmelo Marrero versus Ryan Bader
Tyson Griffin versus Rafael dos Anjos
Cole Miller versus Junie Browning

The other 8 fights of the night will not be televised. This event will also serve as the lead-in to SpikeTV's upcoming The Ultimate Fighter 9: U.S. vs. U.K.

This is the first UFC event ever to be held in the state of Tennessee, and rumor has it, with the stadium's 20,000 seating capacity, this could draw the largest crowd yet to a live UFC event.

UFC 89 Rundown

sagescott — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:08:37 +0000

Much exciting stuff took place last week at UFC 89, which was held in Birmingham, England. With a victory by unanimous decision, native-son 185-pound Michael Bisping took down Chris Leben to notch up a thurd consecutive win. Bisping has been announced as one of the coaches for “The Ultimate Fighter” season 9.

One of the highlights, earning both fighters an extra $40k for giving fans the “Fight of the Night”, was between Paul Taylor and Chris Lytle, with Lytle winning in a contentious split decision.

Lytle and Taylor weren’t the only ones to win $40,000 bonuses, though. Brazlilian Luis Arthur Cane took home “Knockout of the Night” for his obliteration of Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou of Team Quest by second-round strikes. This is the 3rd such bounty for Taylor, who won the same honor in UFC 80 and UFC 75. That’s a lot of bonus money for a fighter who just joined the UFC in April of 2007.

Also that night, Brandon Vera delivered Keith Jardine his very first loss

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy Preview

sagescott — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:26:45 +0000

August 9 2008 is UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, happening at Minneapolis, Minnesota's Target Center and broadcast live on Pay-Per-View.

Replacing UFC Hall of Famer and former PRIDE heavyweight star Mark "The Hammer" Coleman is Heath Herring (2-0 UFC: 28-13 MMA) as the man out to pummel Brock Lesnar (0-1 UFC: 1-1 MMA).

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Lightweight co-headliners are Kenny "KenFlo" Florian battling Roger "El Matador" Huerta.

Other fights slated for the main card include:

Georges "Rush" St. Pierre vs. Jon "Two Face" Fitch
Cheick "The French Sensation" Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Demian Maia vs. Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald

Antonio Rodrigo is also on the fight card, against an as-of-yet unnamed opponent.

Lightweight Frankie Edgar will be stepping into the UFC 87 cage as well, looking to reclaim his good name after a loss by unanimous decision loss Gray Maynard.

And two The Ultimate Fighter 5 contenders, Rob Emerson (1-0 UFC: 7-6 MMA) and runner-up Manny Gamburyan (2-1 UFC: 8-2 MMA) will also face off.

UFC Loves New York

sagescott — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:11:03 +0000

In 1997, New York state K.O.'d Ultimate Fighting, aka Mixed Martial Arts, officially outlawing cage fighting in the state. Currently, the UFC is trying to get NY to reverse that decision.

Pointing out that ultimate fighting is now a regulated sport and, as such, safe for the participants and legally sanctioned in 32 states, the UFC purports to be the country's fastest growing sport and considers New York a vital part of its future growth. Among the other 20, many don't have any laws on the books regarding MMA fighting and, as such, still permit UFC events to take place there. New York, though, is the biggest hold-out.

UFC President, Dana White is confident that the UFC will be in NY by next year. Joining him in his fight is, appropriately, record-breaking fighter Matt Serra, helping to put out the call for fans in NY to get in touch with their legislators and ask that MMA fighting be allowed in the state.

If the state legislature approves the request, fans could look forward to bouts taking over such prized NY venues as Times Union Center and Madison Square Garden.

Goodbye Sylvia, Hello Fedor

sagescott — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:58:47 +0000

Former heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia has officially left the UFC to begin fighting for Adrenaline MMA instead. One of the reason Sylvia cites for the move is that Adrenaline MMA, previously known as M-1 Global, permits its fighters to battle for other organizations. On March 28, he told HDNet’s “Inside MMA” that he would like to participate in the Affliction show and all the fights scheduled in Japan. He says he’d also love to battle Fedor Emelianenko.

Speaking of Fedor Emelianenko, the long sought after PRIDE heavyweight champ and free agent is still being courted by the UFC. No doubt, the UFC wants him bad; Emelianenko currently holds a 27-1 record with a pair of wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the current interim UFC heavyweight champ.

Sylvia isn’t the only fighter hungry to step into the Octagon with Emelianenko. Wearer of the current UFC heavyweight belt, Randy Couture, is in the thick of a legal battle primarily over his desire to battle Fedor himself.

Meanwhile, undefeated IFL Quad City Silverbacks champ Ben Rothwell was also signed to Adrenaline MMA at the same time as Sylvia. Both Sylvia and Rothwell will be training at Bettendorf, Iowa’s Miletich Fighting Systems.

Sneak Peek at the UFC 86 Fight Card

sagescott — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:41:54 +0000

As we eagerly await UFC 84: Ill Will in May, the fight card for UFC 86 is already filling up. The July 5 event, slated for the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas,will feature American Top Team fighters and UFC newcomers both.

Headlining the event will be two “The Ultimate Fighter 7” coaches battling each other for supremacy: light-heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “The Ultimate Fighter 1” winner Forrest Griffin.

Also on the UFC 86 fight card is a contentious match between middleweight contenders Ricardo Almeida, who recently returned from a 4-year layoff to notch 7 straight wins, and Patrick Cote, seeking his 4th straight UFC win and his 5th win overall.

Members of the American Top Team confirmed on the fight card include Cole Miller, Gleison Tibau, and Ben Saunders while welterweight Steve Bruno, currently in the midst of a 4-fight winning streak, will be making his debut appearance at the event. Their opponents all have yet to be announced.

Lauzon Credits Penn with Anticipated Fight Night 13 Win Over Florian

sagescott — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:05:09 +0000

23-year-old lightweight Joe Lauzon (15-3) attributes much of his success to his “Ultimate Fighter 5” coach, MMA legend and current UFC lightweight champ, B.J. Penn. Though Lauzon lost TUF 5 in the semi-finals, under Penn’s tutelage at his Hilo, Hawaii camp, Lauzon managed to beat out Jason Reinhardt in November, 2007’s UFC 78 with a lightning-fast rear naked choke.

Now fans await Lauzon’s next big bout, Ultimate Fight Night 13 on Spike TV April 2, against Kenny Florian. Lauzon is confident in his ability to win in a mixed martial arts match against the more favored fighter, having admitted that Florian could possibly beat him were the fight to be strictly Jiu Jitsu or straight boxing. He also compliments Florian’s kicks and his potential to choke Lauzon in a GI.

Lauzon goes on to point out, however, that when you put it all together, Lauzon himself has the advantage, especially when you throw his wrestling skills into the mix.

If Lauzon – whose 2006 debut bout saw him knocking out Jens Pulver in less than a minute – can beat title-contender Florian, it would decisively place him in the top 5 UFC lightweights.

UFC 84 Update

sagescott — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:37:17 +0000

UFC 84: Ill Will, coming up on May 24th, will see three more light-heavyweight bouts on the fight card, namely:

undefeated Thiago Silva vs. UFC newcomer Antonio Mendes in a totally Brazilian bout
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (both coming off brutal defeats in their respective UFC debut bouts by the same fighter, Brazil's Lyoto Machida)
Wilson Gouveia going for his 5th win in a row vs. Goran Reljic in his UFC debut

Of course, the biggest excitement still promises to be the headlining battle between current champ B.J. Penn and former champ Sean Sherk.

Also eagerly anticipated, though, is Tito Ortiz's fight against the undefeated Lyoto Machida, as it marks the close of the Huntington Beach Bad Boy's contract and, quite possibly, his final UFC bout.

And FYI: the rumor that NFL Raven Ray Lewis will be joining the UFC is (so far) just that - a rumor, with all "reliable" sources reporting that no such move is planned.

Chuck Liddell Preps to Fight Rashad Evans in UFC 85

sagescott — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:19:39 +0000

Killer MMA light-heavyweight champ and now best-selling author for a second week straight (with his autobiography "Iceman: My Fighting Life", Chuck Liddell is ready to implement what he calls his "three-stage plan" for world domination - the world of the UFC, that is.

Stage one, which the Iceman is currently touring England promoting, is to beat Rashad Evans at UFC 85 in London, on June 7. Evans, whose record is 11-0-1 in MMA and 6-0-1 in the UFC, is the "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV series' Season Two heavyweight champion.

Liddell was originally slated to fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 85, but Rua had to bail out after an injury.

The next two stages after Evans in Liddell's three-stage plan will be to beat Rampage Jackson and the Keith Jardine, both of whom Liddell has already battled and lost against previously.

Oft-cited as the prior kingpin of the 205-pound division, and with a record of21-5 in MMA and 16-4 in the UFC, recently achieved victory in a unanimous decision over Wanderlei Silva in December of 2007 at UFC 79. Liddell is also renowned for having whooped both Tito Ortiz and Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture as well as former champs Alistair Overeem, Vitor Belfort, and Murilo Bustamante.

Cuban Sues For Couture

sagescott — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:21:14 +0000

Billionaire renaissance man/entrepreneur Mark Cuban – who already owns the Dallas Mavericks and HDNet Cable - is suing the UFC over the broadcasting and promotional contract of fighter Randy “The Natural” Couture.

Cuban hopes the suit will make way for an eagerly anticipated bout between heavyweight champ Couture and Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko, whichCuban hopes/expects will be promoted by his very own HDNet Fights.

Couture says he is ready for the match but he and UFC differ over when, whether, and how his UFC contract is fulfilled and expires.

This heated UFC battle, taking place entirely off the Octagon, started in October of 2007 when Couture announced his intention to resign from the UFC, spurring MMA promoter Zuffa to file suit against him to get him to fulfill his contractual obligations before doing anything else. Couture believes his contract expires in July but Zuffa says he still has two more matches to fight before fulfilling his obligation.

Cuban’s lawsuit is actually the second round of this ongoing fight. It’s up to the Texas courts now to decide.