Rachelle Leah Playboy cover coming soon
(mmamania.com)That’s right, numerous sources are reporting the former UFC Octagon Girl and current host of “UFC All Access,” Rachelle Leah, will grace the cover of Playboy sometime in the near future.
No exact date is known at this time.
Leonard Garcia discusses arrest, drug charges
(mmajunkie.com)WEC fighter Leonard Garcia, who was recently arrested for his alleged involvement in a major cocaine trafficking ring in Texas, vows his innocence and plans to fight all charges.
Garcia addressed the situation with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) when reached by email.
"I am fighting it because there is nothing but someone saying I was involved," said Garcia, who was released from jail on a recognizance bond and will return to court on May 5. "I hope to have a smile on my face after this is said and done, but I feel like I'm in a fight for my life."
Clementi Has No Love For Stout
(tsn.ca)Rich (No Love) Clementi is more than a fighter. He's a father, former Navy seabee, fight promoter and owner of the only 24-hour tanning salon in the state of Louisiana.
The 32-year-old mixed martial arts lightweight is also on a bit of a roll recently in the UFC, with impressive wins over Melvin (The Young Assassin) Guillard and Anthony (Rumble) Johnson.
STRIKEFORCE & ELITE XC FIGHTERS TEST CLEAN
(mmaweekly.com)The California State Athletic Commission tested every fighter on the recent Strikeforce and EliteXC co-promoted event in San Jose, Calif. for both drugs of abuse and performance enhancing drugs. The CSAC on Monday confirmed that every fighter also came back clean.
MMA Quick Quote: Monte Cox prefers Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell over Fedor
(mmamania.com) “I’m the CEO, so I’m going to make the matches. Well, they wanted a say. They wanted to be able to say, ‘we don’t like that match … we want to do something else.’ … I couldn’t make money with him. There was just no way we could make money with that kind of overhead. That became apparent. To take all of our investors’ money and put it around Fedor, it just didn’t make business sense…. I think people understand that I tried everything possible to make this happen. In business, sometimes it just doesn’t work. We bounced back, I think, very well. Getting Tim Sylvia is a huge coup for us. Without him, what would we have? We locked onto him. We locked onto Rothwell. Now, I actually feel better about where we’re headed than I did before. I would trade Fedor for Rothwell and Sylvia every day
Report: Shamrock Out At Least 8 Months
(mmaweekly.com)Frank Shamrock's broken arm won't keep him from fighting again, but it's going to be a while. How long depends on how fast his body heals up, but initial estimates are he will be out a minimum of 8 months.
Ouch.
Joe Rogan out, Kenny Florian in at UFC 83
(mmamania.com)Kenny Florian — not Joe Rogan — will be the color commentator alongside Mike Goldberg at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2? at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on April 19.
Here’s a snip from “Ken Flo:”
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s not only going to be a tremendous night of fights, but it will be a great experience for me to get in there and commentate and watch these amazing fights real up close and do what I normally do on the couch, and yell and scream, except do it on TV.”
Emerson (not Stephens) vs. Etim booked for UFC 84
(mmajunkie.com)British fighter Terry Etim (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) will meet lightweight Rob Emerson (7-6 MMA, 1-0 UFC) -- not Jeremy Stephens -- at a UFC 84 event that takes place May 24 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The bout was today added to UFC.com's Events page.
As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported, Etim was originally slated to face up-and-comer Stephens. However, we've since been told that Stephens was pulled from the bout to deal with a "minor legal situation," according to a source close to the fighter.
Stephens remains with the UFC and is expected to be added to a fight card this summer.
Etim will return to the octagon for the first time since a unanimous-decision loss to Gleison Tibau at this past September's UFC 75 event in London.
Prior to the loss -- the first of Etim's career -- the 22-year-old Brit made his UFC debut with a stunning comeback over Matt Grice at UFC 70. After getting beaten around for much of the first round, Etim reversed his position and locked in a fight-ending guillotine choke. He earned a $30,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus for the performance.
Monday Morning Reverie: Exactly How Good?
(sherdog.com)Kenny Florian toppled Joe Lauzon in the main event of UFC Fight Night last Wednesday, a solid event that was the perfect segue to season seven of the hit television series "The Ultimate Fighter."
It was a stellar performance by the inaugural "first runner up" from the first TUF reality series, and the win came against a sturdy, albeit young, opponent. But in the wake of Florian's second-round triumph over "J-Lau," the question remains: Exactly how good is Florian?
Former Pride Owners Sue Zuffa Holding Companies, Fertittas
(sherdog.com)When Zuffa purchased Pride in March 2007, the MMA world immediately began anticipating the epic battles that would follow. However, the "Super Bowl of MMA" never materialized, and Zuffa ultimately abandoned the Pride brand in October.
Now, one year later, the acquisition appears set to provide the fireworks it initially promised -- only in the court room instead of the cage.
Nobuyuki Sakakibara, Ubon, and Dream Stage Holdings sued Pride FC Worldwide, both the Nevada and Japanese corporate entities, as well as Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta individually on April 2 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale fight in the works
(mmamania.com)Add a middleweight slugfest between Marvin Eastman and Drew McFedries to the growing list of bouts slated for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 Finale at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 21, according to recent MySpace post from the “Beastman.”
Here’s the snip:
“the next victim of the beastman is on june 21 at the palms casino on the finale of the ultimate fighter, forrest vs rampage. drew mc fedries is my last fight under contract with the ufc. this contract was a buyout from the purchase of the WFA BUY THE UFC. I GOT ‘RIPPED’ so stay tuned because im comming old school beastman on free tv. 1 love”
Lift the Ban Watch: Legal MMA in New York By 2009?
(bloodyelbow.com)
UFC executive Marc Ratner, who gained fame as the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission in the 1990s, told the Times Herald-Record yesterday that he believes sanctioned mixed martial arts events will be held in New York by the end of the year.
Ratner said he is hiring a lobbyist -- one he expects to name later this month -- to try to convince state politicians to bring the issue to the table in Albany.
Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia allow mixed martial arts, which is enjoying a massive surge in popularity but is banned in New York. A November UFC card held in Newark, N.J., attracted thousands of fans from New York eager to see a live event.
"We have been working on it," said Ratner, the UFC's vice president of government and regulatory affairs. "We want to get to New York and start the legislative process. I find no reason why (mixed martial arts) shouldn't be allowed in New York."
.
There is no overselling how huge legalizing MMA in New York would be. Madison Square Garden is the home for many of boxing's greatest fights, so for that esteemed venue to then host MMA fights would not only be a triumph of the efforts at legalization, it would also be a symbolic passing of the torch as to which sport - boxing or MMA - is the premiere combat athletic endeavor. Maybe legalization won't make liking MMA and boxing an either/or proposition, but for sure that question of which sport is on top will be raised and there's no question as to which sport has the momentum.
Boxing absolutely has the history and cultural inroads to make a strong case for it's status, but all MMA needs is time and it's got plenty of that
Could DREAM End Up In U.S. Or On HDNET?
(mmaweekly.com)After MMA seemed to disappear in Japan, the Dream promotion emerged from the building blocks of both K-1 Hero’s and the former Pride staff. Now many American fans are asking if and when they will see the promotion’s events on TV in the U.S. and the possibility of seeing the show come to the U.S.
FEG executive, Sadaharu Tanikawa, spoke to MMAWeekly.com about the possible expansion of the show into the U.S., but stated that their hopes are to first establish a brand name in Japan before trying their hand in the United States.
Tanikawa went on the record saying that it would take “maybe a year or two” for the new Dream promotion to gain the same strength among fans that the former Pride brand did before their demise.
Dan Severn still winning at 49
(mmajunkie.com)With UFC legends such as Ken Shamrock and David "Tank" Abbott suffering recent knockout losses that bordered on humiliating, it might at first concern you to find that a near 50-year-old Dan "The Beast" Severn (84-15-7) has participated in 10 MMA fights in the past 16 months.
Gotta love The Beast 
Kim Couture wins in MMA debut
(mmajunkie.com)PORTLAND, Ore. – Kim Couture won her mixed martial arts debut Saturday by stopping Jessica Cruz late in the third round during a Full Contact Fighting Federation event at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Ore.
After both fighters experienced long periods of inactivity on the mat, Couture mounted Kruse and began raining down punches until the referee stepped in to save Cruz at the 1:43 mark.
Kazushi Sakuraba interview
(m1mixfight.com)DREAM official website posted an interview with Japanese star Kazushi Sakuraba. He talks about his leg injury, considers whether to take part in the upcoming DREAM middleweight Grand Prix and complains about traffic jams. Translated by Suki.
- DREAM announced that your participation in the middleweight GP officially. How's the right leg?
UFC & Spike TV Upbeat on Ratings
(mmaweekly.com)The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s UFC Fight Night 13 and Ultimate Fighter season seven premiere teamed up with Spike TV’s new original series “DEA” to draw the highest cable ratings of the night from 7 p.m. to Midnight ET/PT on Wednesday night in the valued Men 18-49 and Men 25-34 demographics. The five-hour time slot brought in a 1.42 rating in the Men 18-49 demographic and 1.83 in the Men 25-34 demographic.
Season seven of The Ultimate Fighter scored an overall household rating of 1.3, which averages out to about 1.7 million viewers. The demographic breakdown had the premiere doing a 1.8 with Men 18-49 and 2.21 with Men 18-34.
Shamrock still relevant in big picture
(mmajunkie.com)Where Frank Shamrock stands among the upper echelon of fighters can be debated, particularly after his loss of the Strikeforce middleweight title to Cung Le on March 29.
But what can't be debated is that there isn't another fighter in the business who is better at marketing himself. The Shamrock-Le match at the HP Pavilion in San Jose gave Shamrock main event spots in two of the three largest paid attendances ever in North America for a mixed martial arts event.
But he did so without the television exposure or the ticket selling value of the UFC name.
Shamrock not only doesn't mind if people hate him, he relishes it, if it results in them wanting to see him fight just to see him humbled. And after being knocked off the horse in the Le match with a broken arm, and five hours or surgery on Sunday which left the arm in a massive cast, he's already planning his next moves.
The timetable for Shamrock's return looks to be in about eight months. He had a plate and six screws inserted to put his ulna bone in his right forearm back together.
He felt it break in the second round but kept fighting on it. It had turned red and started swelling, and he noticed when throwing punches that instead of the impact reverberating up his arm and into his shoulder, it just stopped on one side of the arm, at the forearm. He was able to fight with it, and had Le on the run late in the third round.
Was a great fight, and honestly it was the first time I really felt the pre-fight stomach butterflies and giddyness knowing it was going to be great (packed arena, amazing athletes, hyped fight, charismatic fighters, crowd at a frenzy, etc, etc) from any North American production other than the UFC. Now that EliteXC has the CBS contract hopefully they can use that money to flesh out their stable even more as it still lacks the depth it needs.
|
|
