Anything MMA, except thumb wrestling

[ZoEd]

It's a shame, because someone of his talent shouldn't be pissing away the best years of his career in a 3rd string league fighting chumps no one has ever heard of.

True, but Dana shouldn't have been so pig headed and made the deal happen before. Its not about money with Fedor, dude just wants to fight to include Sambo. Let the dude fight Sambo.

[Special K]

I got my new wallpaper from one of those.

Well, I'm glad someone's found that site useful

[#98QBKiller]

It's a shame, because someone of his talent shouldn't be pissing away the best years of his career in a 3rd string league fighting chumps no one has ever heard of.

Barnett, Arlovski and Sylvia aren't third string chumps that no one has heard of. Well....maybe Sylvia is after the loss to Ray Mercer.

[#98QBKiller]

This is going to be an awesome card, especially if Franklin fights on it. That would be:

Franklin vs. TBA

Cro-Cop vs. Dos Santos

Koscheck-Trigg

Swick-Kampmann (for a shot at GSP)

Cole Miller- Efrain Escudero

Tyson Griffin-Hermes Franca

Sherk-Tibau

That's a hell of a card.

Bouts Announced for UFC 103

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sherdog.com Staff

The UFC announced Tuesday that they will be heading back to Texas for the first time in over two years for UFC 103 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sept. 19.

Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin is expected to headline the show, but his participation has yet to be confirmed for the show, which needs a main event.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is also reported to be on the tilt in a heavyweight bout against Brazilian slugger Junior dos Santos.

Fights confirmed for the card include Mike Swick-Martin Kampmann, Josh Koscheck-Frank Trigg, Tyson Griffin-Hermes Franca and Cole Miller-Efrain Escudero. Sherdog.com has also confirmed with sources close to American Top Team that Gleison Tibau will be taking on Sean Sherk at UFC 103.

“Cro Cop” will be making his return to the Octagon, according to multiple reports. Filipovic (25-6-2) is coming off a knockout win over Mustapha al Turk in June. After flirting with returning to Japan, Filipovic has decided to return to the UFC, where he has had mixed results.

Dos Santos (8-1) will be looking to make “Cro Cop” his third victim in three tries since joining UFC. Impressive wins over Fabricio Werdum and Stefan Struve have fast-tracked the young fighter in the improving UFC heavyweight division.

The Swick-Kampmann affair will likely be a No. 1 contender’s match for a shot at Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title. Joe Rogan passed along a comment from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva during Saturday’s UFC 100 broadcast that the winner would be next in line for the belt.

Swick (14-2) has piled up four consecutive wins since moving down to 170 pounds, dispatching Josh Burkman, Marcus Davis, Jonathan Goulet and, most recently, Ben Saunders.

Kampmann (15-2) has also had success since dropping down from middleweight, rattling off two wins, most notably beating former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit by split decision in April.

Koscheck (12-4) will look to get back on the winning track after suffering a shocking knockout loss to UFC newcomer Paulo Thiago. Koscheck had looked like he might be on his way to a return engagement with St. Pierre before being derailed by losing two of his last three fights.

Trigg will return to the UFC for the first time in over four years. The two-time welterweight title contender has done well outside of the Octagon, running up a record of 7-2 fighting between 170 and 185 pounds. Trigg (19-6) has won just two of his five UFC bouts, though.

[Oldskool]

Barnett, Arlovski and Sylvia aren't third string chumps that no one has heard of. Well....maybe Sylvia is after the loss to Ray Mercer.

My point is, that if you are talented you're going to make your way to UFC instead of spending your career in Affliction/Pride/WEC, et. al.

[StillUnknown]

My point is, that if you are talented you're going to make your way to UFC instead of spending your career in Affliction/Pride/WEC, et. al.

your argument works well for all divsions except HW and possibly LW. when you say "instead of spending your career...." you make it seem as though he was fighting inferior competition, which is not the case

when Pride was thriving they had as much talent as the UFC, particularly in the HW division.

the quality of fighters an organization has determines the prestige of the that organization. when fedor was dominating in Pride, he did so against the best HW in the world. hell until very recently you could argue the top HW's in the world were outside the UFC (lets not forget Timmay's reign as champ lol)

[Sebowski]

This is going to be an awesome card, especially if Franklin fights on it. That would be:

Franklin vs. TBA

Cro-Cop vs. Dos Santos

Koscheck-Trigg

Swick-Kampmann (for a shot at GSP)

Cole Miller- Efrain Escudero

Tyson Griffin-Hermes Franca

Sherk-Tibau

That's a hell of a card.

Cro Cop's USA debut isn't it?

Who do you guys want to see fight Franklin. We know it wil be at 205.

Is Thiago Silva already booked? I want to say he is, but I can't remember against who. Jardine? Who else is at 205... Houston Alexander? Too small a name. Too quick a turn around for Jones or Coleman.

I think Chuck Liddell would be perfect.

ETA: Silva-Jardine is booked. Irvin-Gouviea and Vera-Hammil also booked. Not sure who is left for Franklin.

I'd like to see it be Chuck. If that doesn't happen all I see there is Ryan Bader or an outsider.

Edited July 16, 2009 by Sebowski

[lovetoaster]

Cro Cop's USA debut isn't it?

Who do you guys want to see fight Franklin. We know it wil be at 205.

Is Thiago Silva already booked? I want to say he is, but I can't remember against who. Jardine? Who else is at 205... Houston Alexander? Too small a name. Too quick a turn around for Jones or Coleman.

I think Chuck Liddell would be perfect.

ETA: Silva-Jardine is booked. Irvin-Gouviea and Vera-Hammil also booked. Not sure who is left for Franklin.

I'd like to see it be Chuck. If that doesn't happen all I see there is Ryan Bader or an outsider.

I was just thinking about this. What about Luis Cane? I know Cane really wanted to fight Franklin, but did it get ruled out? I don't know if it is really a main event fight, but that is a strong card anyways.

Edit: And I believe Cro Cop fought in the U.S. at UFC 67.

Edit again: I really do not think it will be Chuck. The last thing I saw was him saying he was going to take the rest of the year off, and I thought he sounded sincere. Although who knows, things change, especially with athletes.

Edited July 16, 2009 by lovetoaster

[Sebowski]

I was just thinking about this. What about Luis Cane? I know Cane really wanted to fight Franklin, but did it get ruled out? I don't know if it is really a main event fight, but that is a strong card anyways.

Edit: And I believe Cro Cop fought in the U.S. at UFC 67.

Edit again: I really do not think it will be Chuck. The last thing I saw was him saying he was going to take the rest of the year off, and I thought he sounded sincere. Although who knows, things change, especially with athletes.

Can is a great call. I couldn't think of him because he isn't in Undisputed. lol. I was going through the character select menu in my head.

I think you are right about Cro Cop. I forgot he's had three fights not two.

Edited July 17, 2009 by Sebowski

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

Probably for the best. You don't stand a chance

You should give it another shot though. There is a lot more to it than you think when you play it the first few times. I could show you the ins and outs.

Not that I am as good as I am talking though. I constantly get beat online by people. There are still a few things I really haven't gotten down yet that can cost me any fight.

Yeah, I'm ashamed that I'd lose to you in a video game.

I rolled through the career mode 3 times and lost interest. Played a few times online and won all my fights. Just don't like this game as much as COD.

[Chachie]

Poor Cole Miller has to keep fighting the TUF grads he preceded.

[cjcdaman]

Hey, I'll fight online. I'm horrible, so what! Let's get it on!

[#98QBKiller]

I was just thinking about this. What about Luis Cane? I know Cane really wanted to fight Franklin, but did it get ruled out? I don't know if it is really a main event fight, but that is a strong card anyways.

Edit: And I believe Cro Cop fought in the U.S. at UFC 67.

Edit again: I really do not think it will be Chuck. The last thing I saw was him saying he was going to take the rest of the year off, and I thought he sounded sincere. Although who knows, things change, especially with athletes.

You're right about Chuck, he recently said that he's not fighting again until at least April 2010. He said he wanted to let his brain rest because the shot that Shogun dropped him with in that last fight wouldn't have hurt him a couple of years ago. He said he wasn't even really going to spar that much that he was going to roll more than anything because he's been getting more into jiu jitsu.

[StillUnknown]

Edited July 17, 2009 by StillUnknown

[Sebowski]

Hey, I'll fight online. I'm horrible, so what! Let's get it on!

Add me. I'll be on later.

ETA: How do my video game posts always end up starting a fresh page?.

I'm going to swap this one with the Q&A one.

Done.

Edited July 17, 2009 by Sebowski

[Sebowski]

Cool Q&A with Lorenzo Fertitta. A lot of good stuff on Fedor. Maybe it will get some of you off Dana's back.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/10-Questions-for-Lorenzo-Fertitta-18516

He’s the majority owner of the most successful fight promotion in the world -- yet Lorenzo Fertitta rarely takes centerstage.

However, to commemorate UFC 100, fans were treated to a special one-hour question and answer session with the reserved billionaire casino owner last Saturday at the UFC Expo in Las Vegas. With the fans at the helm, here are some highlights:

We have “The Ultimate Fighter” for the 155ers on Spike TV, but what about something for the 135- and 145-pounders on Versus?

Fertitta: We talked a lot about developing some sort of reality show for Versus. Now, we certainly don’t want to copy “The Ultimate Fighter” and what we’ve done on Spike, but we have been working on concepts where we can try to find new talent, bring new talent back to the WEC. You will see something happen where we have some kind of a show that will be a breeding ground for new talent to get into the WEC.

There’s an online petition called FedorChant.com, where a thousand people are going to cheer “Fedor” (Emelianenko) during the main event (at UFC 100). Is that going to put more pressure on you, and just the fact that Fedor doesn’t want to sign because of sambo, was that something that you’d ever overlook?

Fertitta: I hope all 12,000 people yell Fedor’s name at the same time. The pressure’s not on me. The pressure’s on him. They already know. The facts are the facts. We made him the best offer out there, more money than anybody offered him –- so you can’t say it’s about the money. Then they come back and they say, “Well, it’s a one-sided contract.” Let’s break this down from a logical standpoint. We offered the exact same contract that three hundred other guys have signed, including Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, GSP, all the top stars. Why is that contract not good enough for Fedor? What Fedor wants is this. He doesn’t want to be exclusive. So, it’s like saying, okay, Tom Brady: “I’m going to play for New England Patriots one Sunday, but you know what? After that game’s over, I want to be a free agent and go see where I can play for the rest of the season.” Every weekend he’s going to skip around and play for whoever he wants. How does that make sense for us as a business or for the fans? He needs to come into our fold if he wants to cement his legacy as the best fighter in the world. We can figure something out with the sambo thing… (but) at the end of the day, I think we need to have a situation where at least 90 or 120 days before he’s signed a contract to fight, he shouldn’t be out there competing in events like that because I don’t want to take the chance of him getting hurt. But all of this stuff with Fedor: we want Fedor. As soon as he gets done with this show that he’s doing, he can come –- we’ve never met Fedor. I want to sit down. I want to talk to him and that’s part of the problem. We’ve never even met the guy. But it is a shame that he has not come forward to challenge the best guys in the world and I hope he comes. We want him.

Is the sambo really a sticking point?

Fertitta: That’s a big excuse for Fedor to say he’s not coming to the UFC, and quite honestly, I don’t think it’s Fedor. I think Fedor wants to compete. The issue has been his management. They’ve completely kept him aside. I’m not sure he even knows what we offered him, to be honest with you. I think if he knew what we offered, he would have been here a long time ago. There’s been a little bit of disconnect there… we want to meet him in person. We will not sit down and negotiate until me and Dana meet him in person. And if at that time he decides to not be a part of what we’re doing, then we know.

Why did you do a one-fight deal with (Mirko) "Cro Cop" (Filipovic) and not Fedor?

Fertitta: We have a direct relationship with Cro Cop and we talk to him on the phone and the deal went down so quickly. It wasn’t a one-fight deal. The contract was a quick one-fight contract, but he gave us his word that it was going to be a four-fight deal. I just got back from Croatia last week, spent some time with Mirko, went to his house. (He’s a) super nice guy, we went to lunch, and the fact of the matter is yesterday I got a contract signed for three fights.

What was your initial reaction when you were approached by Brock Lesnar? Were you a little hesitant that it was for real or not?

Fertitta: I’ve got to give props to Dana White on that one, man. He called me up one day and said, “You know what? I want to get Brock Lesnar.” I had watched Brock when he fought in the (Los Angeles) Coliseum (for K-1) and I was really impressed with his athleticism. I could tell it was no joke. And the other thing we looked at, is we said, “This guy is a world-class athlete.” It’s not like that’s some made-up thing… we said we might take some hits here or there because he’s a pro wrestler, but we believed in his abilities and just the sheer size, power, and strength. We sat down and talked to him and this guy’s the real deal. The other thing is, I had heard through a few guys at the Miletich camp, where he’d gone down and trained, and they said, “Let me tell you what. This guy is no joke. If he focuses, he could be the heavyweight champion.”

There’s a lot of great superfights out there, but teammates refuse to fight teammates, such as Anderson Silva vs. Lyoto Machida. What’s the UFC’s opinion about teammate vs. teammate fights?

Fertitta: Look, at the end of the day, we’re here to see fighters, we’re here to see fights. If teammates don’t want to fight, then they’re gonna have to go somewhere else. We don’t put up with that stuff.

What about Dublin (Ireland)?

Fertitta: We will be back in Dublin next year on St. Patty’s Day.

I live in Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada). When are you coming?

Fertitta: Vancouver is actually somewhere where we’ve made a lot of progress, and we’ve actually penciled in our June pay-per-view for Vancouver of next year.

What’s your opinion of the ten-point must system?

Fertitta: I’m comfortable with the ten-point must system. It is different than boxing, as far as how you score on a ten-point must. It can get a little bit tricky and some of the fights are just close… I don’t know of a better system. I think what we need to do is continue to run seminars for the officials, teach them about what to look for in mixed martial arts.

Is their any type of HMO or PPO healthcare plan you can offer the fighters for injuries they sustain outside the fights?

Fertitta: From an insurance standpoint, all of the fighters are covered that fight in the show. We carry more coverage than we’re told to from the state… Go to the insurance company and tell them you want to cover 300 ultimate fighters for everything they do in life. If we can figure it out, I’m in. We just haven’t been able to get a carrier that will do it. So, what do we do? We don’t advertise or publicize this, but we pay for tons of surgeries: guys blowing out their knees in training, guys getting hurt, breaking their hands. The guys that are on our team, that are part of our family, we fix all that stuff.

I don't like the Brady analogy, but the point is the same. It doesn't make sense to do one-fight deals for Championships.

Interesting take on teammates fighting too. Gives you the impression that Dana is the softy of the bunch. lol. Who'd of figured?

Edited July 17, 2009 by Sebowski

[lovetoaster]

Cool Q&A with Lorenzo Fertitta. A lot of good stuff on Fedor. Maybe it will get some of you off Dana's back.

Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

I think Fedor's next fight after Barnett will be coming in an octagon.

[Skinz4Life12]

was anyone else out in vegas for ufc 100? I know me and slacky were and it was absolutely nuts.

i definatley bet against lesnar and learned a lesson the hard way, but the money wasn't worth it to bet on him really..

[StillUnknown]

[StillUnknown]

[jnhay]

Cool Q&A with Lorenzo Fertitta. A lot of good stuff on Fedor. Maybe it will get some of you off Dana's back.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/10-Questions-for-Lorenzo-Fertitta-18516

I don't like the Brady analogy, but the point is the same. It doesn't make sense to do one-fight deals for Championships.

Interesting take on teammates fighting too. Gives you the impression that Dana is the softy of the bunch. lol. Who'd of figured?

That guy sounds like he has little respect for his own employees. I wonder what will happen with owner/fighter relations if the UFC gets really big.

[StillUnknown]

http://mmajunkie.com/news/15553/fifteen-year-old-girl-arrested-in-connection-with-shooting-of-strikeforce-fighter-lavar-johnson.mma

A 15-year-old girl who is suspected of being involved in an early-morning July 5 shooting that killed one and left Strikeforce veteran Lavar Johnson hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the abdomen has been arrested.

The news comes from the Bakersfield Californian.

According to the report, Laquiria Foreman, arrested this past Friday, is facing charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and participating in a gang.

Foreman and two male teenagers are believed to have been walking by a family reunion on Fourth of July weekend when one of the group members opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun and began shooting indiscriminately.

The assault, which took place in Bakersfield, Calif., left 37-year old Anthony Mack Johnson dead at the scene with multiple gun shot wounds. Four others were injured with gunshot wounds.

Still hospitalized of as of Friday, Johnson underwent surgery on July 6 and is now healing from initially life-threatening injuries.

A representative from the Bakersfield Police Department told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the investigation is still ongoing. Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call the department.

Johnson (12-3) fought for Strikeforce in May, earning a highlight-reel knockout over Carl Seumanutafa in just 18 seconds. Eleven of his 12 career wins have come by knockout or TKO, and the former WEC fighter is currently riding a five-fight win streak.

[StillUnknown]

Dream 10 early monday morning, 3am(est) to be exact

the semi-finals & finals of the WW tourney will be contested

Date: Jul 20, 2009

Location: Saitama, Japan

Venue: Saitama Super Arena

Broadcast: HDNet (North America)

• Welterweight grand prix finale
  
• Shinya Aoki vs. Vitor Ribeiro
  
• Jesse Taylor vs. Dong Sik Yoon
  
• Paulo Filho vs. Melvin Manhoef
  
• Andre "Dida" Amade vs. Katsunori Kikuno
  
• Andre Galvao vs. Jason High+
  
• Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Marius Zaromskis+
  
• Tarec Saffiedine vs. Ikemoto Seichi*
  

* - Welterweight grand prix reserve fight

+ - Welterweight grand prix semifinal fight

[Sebowski]

Alright fellas (and Keastman),

Let's get a pool going.

Which UFC Champ will defend his title the least before losing it? What about the most? Starting..... right now.

So we have:

Lightweight Champ BJ Penn. Facing The Flo next. Probably followed by Diego Sanchez. After that, maybe the winner of Huerta-Maynard or Frankie Edgar if he puts a couple more quality wins together (I think he needs to avenge his beatdown by Maynard before he gets a shot). Biggest outsider possibilty: Gomi. He has always wanted to fight for the UFC.

Welterweight Champ GSP. He is getting the winner of Swick-Kampmann. After that, who knows. Fitch again? Do we really want to see that? Koschek? Condit, Trigg, and Anthony Johnson can all put winning streak together. I wouldn't mind seeing Lytle in there too. Biggest outsider threat: Jake Shields. I can see this happening within the year. This would be a stiff BJJ challenge for GSP. One of the few fights I could see GSP actually implementing a standing only gameplan.

Middleweight we have Anderson Silva. His next title defense is up in the air. Some feel Henderson has earned a rematch. Others say the winner of Marquardt-Maia should get a title shot. Dana said a while ago that Okami was worthy. Dana has also mentioned brining in Vitor Belfort. Silva only has 3-4 fights left on his contract so he can't fight them all. My guess is Henderson, Marquardt (will beat Okami while waiting for the Henderson fight), and then Belfort (will be groomed in the meantime for the fight). Biggest threat outside the UFC: Belfort as mentioned, Robbbie Lawler, and Jorge Santiago. Anderson would not have a problem with any of these guys.

Light Heavyweight Champ is the Ninja Lyoto Machida. Fighting Shogun next. After that he'll get Rampage if Rampage beats Rashad. If Rampage losses it is anybody's guess. Forrest might be able to cash in a favor for taking the Anderson fight. If Rich Franklin can beat a top guy he can have a shot at the Ninja. No real challengers outside the UFC.

Heavyweight Brock "love to hate" Lesnar. The next big thing's next big fights will most likely be Shane Carwin and Big Nog if they both win their next fights. If Nog gets back in form I think he will be Brock's toughest fight in the UFC. Gonzaga can get back in contention and has the size and skills to test Brock. Biggest outside threat: Fedor. We all know this. I'm more pessimestic than most that it will happen and happen soon. I say it as a year and a half away. Sooner outsider threat: Bret Rogers. The reaper will be coming to the UFC and has the hands and size to KO anyone. If he spends most his time on takedown defense he could be dangerous.

All these champs seem to be on another level than their challengers right now. It is very hard to see any of them losing. I'm going to have to keep thinking about it and post my picks later.