Page 1092 - Top MMA News and Mixed Martial Arts Headlines

Tim Sylvia is still expected to fight at UFC 74 in August, but according to recent reports, it won’t be against his fellow former champion Frank Mir. LINK

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Reports are now arising that Jens Pulver, one of the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Season 5, will move to the featherweight division of the WEC after his fight against B.J. Penn this month. Earlier today on the Savage Dog Show on Sherdog.com Radio, Monte Cox reported that Jens will make the move down to the 145lb weightclass in the WEC and most likely fight Urijah Faber down the road. Click Here.

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new interview with ufc mania with RTS, the african assassin. remember, if you like - give props! Interview

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link The Nevada State Athletic Commission recently released its list of injuries incurred by fighters at UFC 71, and as expected, not everyone emerged from the octagon unscathed. The most serious injuries appear to be incurred by James Irvin and Ivan Salaverry. Irvin, who had to tap out in his match with Thiago Silva after his knee bent awkwardly underneath him and had to be helped out of the octagon, may face the longest layoff. Though the extent of his injury is not yet known, he will face a medical suspension until November 23 unless a doctor clears him sooner. Salaverry, meanwhile, suffered a shoulder injury when he was slammed down by Terry Martin, which will have him sidelined at least for a month, but possibly longer. Karo Parisyan, who defeated Josh Burkman via decision, might have suffered a broken thumb and must be cleared by a doctor prior to his next bout. Keith Jardine and Chuck Liddell will both have layoffs of approximately two months following KO losses at the hands of Houston Alexander and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, respectively. The NSAC routinely suspends fighters who are knocked unconscious in their fights. Kalib Starnes and Chris Leben, who fought a three-round slugfest which Starnes won via decision, both suffered facial lacerations which require them to sit out a month. And finally, Carmelo Marrero, who was choked out by Wilson Gouveia, can not fight until at least July 12.

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link The following is the press release K-1 sent out after the conclusion of their "Dynamite!! USA" event on Saturday night at the L.A. Coliseum:

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link After a disappointing loss to Anderson Silva last October, Rich Franklin got back to his winning ways by defeating Jason MacDonald at UFC 68 in March of this year. Scheduled to fight Martin Kampmann at UFC 72: Victory in Belfast Ireland, Rich was busy preparing to fight the talented rising star. When Kampmann had to pull out due to injury, Rich waited to hear from the UFC on who his new opponent would be. He received the phone call and will face Yushin Okami on PPV on June 16th. Rich took time out of his busy training schedule to talk exclusively with MMAFighting.com, giving his thoughts on his next trip to the Octagon

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link So much for White's hard line and ensuring the integrity of the sport. This is nothing short of amazing. Let's recap for a minute, shall we? • Unsanctioned fight. • Sucker punch. • Intoxicated fighter. • Head bounced off of concrete - twice. And the fighters are rewarded? The UFC doesn't whiff on many, but it blew this one. What's next ... letting Berube serve as guest referee?

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link The Brazilian is training hard and studying Sherk for title fight Hermes Franca has a date set to carry out his dream. On the July seventh, he will enter the octagon to fight for the lightweight title against Sean Sherk. While he awaits his chance, the Brazilian living in Florida goes on training hard for the challenge. “I am working on my hands, but am training my ground too,” the leader of Team The Armory said. The routine of training, however, is mixed in with studying his adversary’s videos. Such dedication allows the Brazilian to draw some conclusions on Sherk’s style. “He has strong takedowns, but I think he gets lost when he fails to impose his rhythm on the fight. I am working hard on takedown defense,” revealed Hermes, who did not hide his excitement at having made to the point of challenging for the UFC title: “I have run up against a lot of hardships and fought through all of them, with much determination and will power,” the Jiu-Jitsu black belt that used to wash cars for a living, in the USA, said cheerily. Hermes will not be alone on the evening of July seventh, in Arco, California. UFC 73 will mark the Minotauro’s debut in the American organization and Anderson Silva’s second title defense. On his two compatriots, Hermes gives his prediction: “The two will put on a show. Anderson will get the knockout and Minota will get the submission.”

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link It wasn’t quite a knockout, but Mike Tyson suffered another harsh blow in his already tumultuous life yesterday. The ex-world heavyweight boxing champion was barred by the state justice department from leaving Arizona, where he is being tried for possession and consumption of drugs. Tyson’s intention was to accompany the boxer Sultan Ibragimov, who tomorrow disputes, in Las Vegas, the OMB heavyweight title against Shannon Briggs. In the request for special authorization, the Ibragimov’s coach alleged that his fighter “gains confidence when Tyson watches." Nevertheless, Tyson doesn’t suffer only defeats. He managed to get judicial authorization to accompany today, in Washington, his daughter’s graduation. Then, he will have to return to Arizona, where he will continue to respond for his deviations from the law.

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link Vitor Belfort is doing fine. Resting his body after the easy victory over Ivan Serati at Cage Rage 21, on the 21st of April (where the Brazilian got the takedown, took the back and ended the battle with a series of punches), Vitor is keeping in shape lifting weights every day and training at a reduced load, once or twice a week. At the same time, he is keeping his head busy, whether it be with his definitive move to birthplace of Rio de Janeiro (Vitor was living with wife Joana Prada and son Davi in the land of his father, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais), or with the production of the program “Linha Direta” on the disappearance of his sister, Priscila. Besides that, the Brazilian is being tipped to fight for the under 93kg belt at the English event, against the vanquisher of Cyborg at the last Cage edition, James Zikic. “Everything is great. We are negotiating some good new things, which should be happening soon. I am also completing my move from Minas to Rio, I am very happy," Belfort says over the telephone, wearing the long hair that, in the ring, he wore braided. On the under 93 kg UFC belt decision, which was his in 2004, Belfort approved of the result, a knockout by Quinton Rampage over the champion Chuck Liddell at 1 min 53 sec of battle. “I did watch the fight, and I liked the result. Quinton deserved it, took full advantage of his chance and is to be congratulated. And there is nothing you can do against a well-placed blow, it ends there. He proved it was his evening," the Black House athlete sums up.

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link Losing to Alan Belcher was not something that ever crossed my mind. Perhaps that is why I lost; I did not respect his ability to beat me. I truly believed that it was going to be a two-minute fight — that I would take him down, and pound him out or submit him.

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link Evan Tanner (32-6 MMA, 11-4 UFC) has been added to a UFC card in September according to UFCjunkie.com sources inside Tanner’s camp at Chute Boxe USA. Potential targets in September would be UFC 75 which is scheduled for Sept. 8, 2007 in London, England, or UFC 76 which is scheduled for Sept. 22, 2007 in Anaheim, California.

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link Just when you thought things couldn't get any crazier in regard to this Saturday's K-1 Dynamite USA card, something new happens that completely boggles the mind. Former TUF 5 contestant Gabe Ruediger has been selected to compete on this Saturday's card during the non-televised portion of the event as an injury replacement. Ruediger was going to fight at a catch weight of 161 pounds. However, he has been denied a license by the California State Athletic Commission. No official reason has been given, but word is that the head of CSAC, Armando Garcia, saw a tape of TUF 5 and deemed Ruediger mentally unfit to fight after he determined that he had a "mental breakdown" on the show.

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link Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo is set to defend his IFA heavyweight title June 30 against Jeff Monson in the main event of Art of War 3 “USA vs. Brazil” from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.

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link MMAbuzz.com had the opportunity to interview The Ultimate Fighter 5®'s Noah Thomas. Noah grew up in Colorado Springs and now lives in Fort Collins, where he also goes to college

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link From the Frank Shamrock Myspace: Come watch Frank Shamrock train for his June 22nd fight against Phil "New York BadAss" Baroni !! Maurice Smith, Tony DeMaria (Frank's boxing coach) and other members of Team Shamrock will be on hand for this session.

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link Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, who defeated Chuck Liddell for the Ultimate Fighting Championship last week, is ready to enjoy the spoils -- but he won't be enjoying them in Canada. In a story in the Edmonton Sun, Jackson said he was banned from entering the country. Though he admits to having an assault conviction from when he was in college, he says his border problems are more recent and have to do with racism.

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link It appears that the rumored rematch between former UFC heavyweight champions Tim Sylvia and Frank Mir which had been talked about for UFC 74 on August 25 in Las Vegas is off. MMAWeekly.com had listed a Sylvia vs. Mir match in its rumors section for the UFC 74 card but recently made an alteration, with Sylvia listed to fight an opponent to be announced at a later date. According to the Wrestling Observers, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Keith Kizer, had no intentions of approving a match between Mir and Sylvia. Mir looked terrible at UFC 65 when he was TKO'd by Brandon Vera after just 1:09 into the round. Apparently Kizer wants to see Mir's next fight be against an opponent that isn't the caliber of Sylvia, so that he can prove himself again.

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link As some of you will recall, UFC middleweight fighter Chris Leben is no longer with Team Quest (he actually had been splitting time at another camp even before he left) and has accepted a head trainer's position at the ICON Sport training center in Hawaii. In recent weeks Leben has been vocal about his current pay scale in the UFC and has talked about fighting for ICON Sports' MMA promotion in the future. ICON Sports is the same promotion where Robbie Lawler, Frank Trigg, and Jason Miller have fought. During my UFC 71 preview on CBS Sportsline last week I incorrectly stated that Leben's match vs. Kalib Starnes might be his last in the UFC. As it turns out, Leben is still under contract to the UFC and I believe he has a year left on his current contract. Leben has lost three out of his last four bouts but don't look for the UFC to give him an early release. UFC president Dana White is a big fan of Leben's fighting style and with so many card to promote, someone with Leben's name recognition isn't going to just be tossed onto the scrap heap.

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link Someone posting under the official American Top Team account on the Underground forum at MMA.TV is claiming that ATT fighter Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio has signed a four fight contract with the UFC. Official accounts are certified by the moderator on the UG so I'm fairly confident that the source is accurate. Aurelio is 14-4 and most recently appeared on several Pride Bushido cards. He has excellent Jiu-Jitsu and holds wins over Rich Clementi, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, and Takanori Gomi (although Gomi defeated Aurelio in the rematch the last time he fought in November). I believe Aurelio has competed at 161 pounds in Pride but is more likely to cut to 155 pounds in the UFC as opposed to going up to 170. This isn't a major signing, but it's a good one and adds depth to an already deep UFC lightweight division.

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