Posted on May 12th, 2009 by sagescott
Replacing Rousimar Palhares after an injury knocked him off the UFC 101 fight card battling Alessio Sakara will be Thales Leites, challenger for the middleweight title.
Before his April loss by unanimous decision to middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva, Leites had only lost one other UFC bout (to Martin Kampmann in Leites 2006 UFC debut) won 5 consecutive UFC fights, defeating:
- Drew McFedries
- Nate Marquardt
- Ryan Jensen
- Floyd Sword
- Pete Sell
His upcoming opponent in Philadelpha, PA on August 8, Sakara's record is less one-sided, with 4 wins and 4 losses with 1 no contest.
Rousimar Palhares had to bow out of UFC 101 after getting a fractured tibia (aka a broken leg) during training. Murilo Bustamante, Palhares' trainer, said he expects Rousimar to be back in the Octagon by the end of the year.
And since we mentioned Anderson Silva, we should take this opportunity to point out that he will be present at UFC 101 too, battling Forrest Griffin, though Silva's title is safe in this non-championship bout.
The headlining bout on the UFC 101 fight card, meanwhile, will be Kenny Florian attempting to capture B.J. Penn's lightweight championship title.
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Filed under: UFC Events
Posted on March 27th, 2009 by sagescott
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.
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Filed under: General UFC, UFC Events, UFC Fight Night
Posted on March 11th, 2009 by sagescott
UFC 96 kicked-off with former contestant from TV reality show The Ultimate Fighter Gray Maynard dominating his opponent, Jim Miller, in London's O2 octagon. With his wrestling expertise and his stunning display of boxing prowess, Miller clearly didn't even have a chance. Admirably, Miller made it to the third round, even coming out of his beaten down daze to put in a few last licks, but it wasn't enough, as the judges handed Maynard the night's decisive--and deserved--lightweight division victory.
In the next bout, light heavyweight Matt Hamill showed the same absence of mercy to his opponent Mark Munoz, knocking him out in minute 5 of round one with a kick to the head.
The welterweights were up next, and in an interesting turn of event, it was victor Matt Brown begging the referee to end the fight as opponent Pete Sell looked increasingly like he couldn't take it anymore. Eventually the referee caved in and Brown was finally declared the winner by TKO.
Framed by a little filler action before and after (middleweights Kendall Grove beating Jason Day before; welterweights Tomoan McCrory beating Ryan Madigan after) was the heavyweights, with Gabriel Gonzaga losing his religion to Shane Carwin.
Finally, it was time for the main event, and it was an exciting match to the end, when the judges gave Quinton Jackson the unanimous win over Keith Jardine.
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Filed under: UFC Events, UFC Fighters
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 by sagescott
Last Saturday, February 21, 2009, UFC 95 took place in London's famed O2 Arena, and here's how the headlining competitor's fared:
In a unanimous decision, the main event was decided in favor of Diego Sanchez, who beat up and beat out Joe Stevenson for his first win in his first ever lightweight bout.
In the semi-main event, Dan Hardy knocked out Rory Markham 10 seconds into the second minute of the first round.
Nate Marquardt TKO'd Wilson Gouveia 3 minutes and 10 seconds into round 3 after wearing him seriously down in round 2, landing Marquardt the coveted spot as the next challenger to Anderson Silva's middleweight championship title.
Chael Sonnen came over from the WEC only to lose by submission to undefeated Demian Maia.
One of the greatest surprises, though, came in the opening match of the main card between welterweights Paulo Thiago, in his UFC debut, and Josh Koscheck, in which newcomer Thiago handily knocked out contender Koscheck for a jaw-dropping first UFC win.
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Filed under: UFC Events
Posted on February 10th, 2009 by sagescott
With more pound-for-pound trouble than at any other UFC event before, at UFC 94 on January 31st, Las Vegas and PPV audiences saw not one but two controversies go down.
The first was in the B.J. Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre bout. Between rounds, Penn alleges that one of GSP's corner men, Phil Nurse, purposely sabotaged the fight by applying Vaseline to parts of GSP's shoulders and back, preventing Penn from being able to properly carry out his known strategy of taking the fight to the floor. Now, a fighter's corner-man can't also be his cut-man.
P.S. - GSP kicked Penn's ass that night, making it look like Penn never even had a chance. Next in St. Pierre's sights--Thiago Alves.
Second, while Karo Parisyan may come out victorious in his fight against Dong Hyun Kim, he lost in the larger sense when he tested positive to prescription painkillers. Parisyan was fined and temporarily suspended for his actions.
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Filed under: UFC Events
Posted on January 26th, 2009 by sagescott
Before all the bone-crushing excitement begins at this Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII, MMA fans get to enjoy all the bone-crushing excitement of UFC 94.
Taking place this Saturday, January 31 at the Las Vegas MGM Grand and being broadcast on PPV, UFC 94 sees a headlining match between two champions--welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champ B.J. Penn.
True MMA fans will recognize that this is not the first time these two have stepped into the Octagon to face each other. This rematch comes about 3 years after Penn beat St. Pierre in 2006's UFC 58. And it comes with the highest of stakes, because if Penn wins, it will make him the first MMA fighter ever to hold two UFC titles at the same time.
Other notable matches taking place at UFC 94 include Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva and Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones.
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Filed under: UFC Events
Posted on January 16th, 2009 by sagescott
Saturday January 13 another new UFC year kicks off with its first big event of 2009, UFC 93.
The light heavyweights head the night with former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin battling it out with former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight world champ Dan Henderson.
Franklin has home-field advantage, with the 3-round bout taking place at the O2 Arena in his native Dublin, Ireland. But oddsmakers have once Olympic wrestler Henderson as the clear favorite.
UFC 93 will also see Mark Coleman step back into the Octagon--after a 2 year hiatus, following a loss against Fedor Emelianenko--for a long-awaited rematch against Mauricio Rua (aka "Shogun"). This'll also be a long-awaited return for Shogun too, as he was sidelined early in '08 after an ACL injury.
Odds favor Coleman's strength and stand-up skills against Rua's Brazilian Muay Thai.
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Filed under: UFC Events, UFC Fight Night, UFC Fighters
Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by sagescott
As UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 rapidly approaches (Saturday, December 27, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada), everyone’s placing their odds and making their predictions of what’s going to go down there.
Two title bouts headline the event:
- Defending heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin and the undefeated Rashad Evans – Though fresh off a win against Quinton Jackson, Griffin still is thought to be the underdog against explosive Evans. This one might come down to a Judge’s decision, though.
- Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira against Frank Mir – Both Ultimate Fighter coaches, Nogueira seems to be the favorite, expected to take down Mir by submission.
But that’s not the only fight to look out for. There’s also Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva – Both heavy-hitters, someone’s bound to get K.O.’d in this smashdown. These two have met twice before, both in Silva’s favor. But predictions seem split on which one will come out on top this time.
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Filed under: UFC Events
Posted on December 9th, 2008 by sagescott
Tomorrow – Wednesday, December 10, 2008 – the UFC will take a break from its usual reckless abandon to funnel their energies towards a greater cause. Tune in to Spike TV at 9 pm ET and you’ll see what we mean.
It’s called “UFC Fight for the Troops”, and to many it will come as a familiar and cherished ritual, since this will be its 16th incarnation. It will take place at the Fayettesville Crown Coliseum on Fort Bragg, making it only the 2nd sanctioned UFC fight to be held at a US military base.
The aim of this year’s event is to raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund to help fund a $70 million traumatic brain injury research center. In Iraq, traumatic brain injuries are among the most prevalent combat injuries troops suffer.
On the fight card for the 2008 Fight for the Troops are Marine Corp veteran Luigi Fioravanti, who himself served in Iraq, as well as:
• Mike Swick
• Jonathan Goulet
• Josh Koschek
• Yoshiyuki Yoshida
• Razak Al-Hassan
• Steve Cantwell
And 13 others, 10 bouts in all.
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Filed under: UFC Events
Posted on November 20th, 2008 by sagescott
At last weekend’s UFC 91 the big media-blitz kicked off for a highly-anticipated match coming up soon between UFC Lightweight Champ B.J. Penn and UFC Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre.
It will happen at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay on January 31, 2009, which also just so happens to be Super Bowl weekend.
Penn and St. Pierre are currently touring with Dana White, UFC president, in promotion of the event, which won’t be the first time these two have faced off.
The last time they met in the octagon St. Pierre won in a tight split decision. But Penn’s skills have vastly improved in that time, and he seems to be ready to take down his heavier-weight opponent.
Since both of these fighters are already the best in their weight class, this bout will determine something far more than “mere” championship title status. It will determine who deserves to be called the next MMA legend in recent UFC history.
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Filed under: UFC Events, UFC Fighters
