UFC 103 vs Floyd Mayweather and HBO
(bloodyelbow.com)September 19 is a big day for both boxing and MMA. Jim Lampley may be shaking in his boots. The HBO announcer has trashed MMA saying it will never compete with the biggest names in boxing. Well, it's put up or shutup time as a Floyd Mayweather pay-per-view card in Las Vegas is pitted against UFC 103 in Dallas. According to Lampley, the biggest stars in boxing will eat the UFC alive.
Michael Bisping: Wanderlei Silva Will NOT Be My Opponent at UFC 105
(bloodyelbow.com)Quick update on the potential Wanderlei Silva fight. Unfortunately thats not gonna happen. He's undergone facial surgery, so obviously won't be fighting in the near future. Rumours are he's actually out for the rest of the year.
So as of right now, Im still unaware of who I'll be facing at UFC 105. Obviously as stated before, when I know, you know.
Dana White Meeting Resistance on Teammate vs Teammate Fights in the UFC
(bloodyelbow.com)Dana White talked to CBS Sports and touched on the controversial teammate vs teammate point, Anderson Silva disagrees:
"It has nothing to do with friendship," White said. "It's about seeing who's the best."
Silva has been ultra-successful in his two forays to the 205-pound weight class. Neither of his two opponents -- Forrest Griffin or James Irvin -- made it past the opening round. To White, Silva's winning streak makes the fight inevitable.
IS ZELG GALESIC U.S. BOUND?
(mmaweekly.com)“I am currently without a contract,” exclaims devastating Croatian born striker Zelg Galesic (9-4).
A Dream veteran and former Cage Rage middleweight champion, he is confident that this brief spell of unemployment is only a temporary thing, “At the moment, it is likely that I will re-sign with Dream, but some other options have come to light this week and I am looking at them closely.”
Nick Thompson suffers cut in training, scratched from "M-1 Breakthrough"
(mmajunkie.com)
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the fighter that UFC, Strikeforce and EliteXC veteran Nick Thompson (38-11-1) has suffered a cut in training and has been forced to drop out of "M-1 Global present Breakthrough." The loss of the co-main event contestant comes after the card was relocated from Los Angeles to Kansas City, Kan., and after main-event competitor Don Frye withdrew from the event due to the venue change.
UFC 100 replay outdraws MLB, PGA and ‘Carano vs Cyborg’
(mmamania.com)Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) once again countered live programming from a competing mixed martial arts promotion when it aired selected fights from UFC 100 on Spike TV last Saturday (Aug. 15 at 10 p.m. ET) — directly opposite the Strikeforce: “Carano vs Cyborg” event that aired live on Showtime.
The replay, headlined by the UFC heavyweight championship unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, drew a whopping two million viewers for a 1.8 rating in men 18-34, a 1.7 rating in men 18-49 and a 1.5 household rating.
The Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: “Carano vs. Cyborg,” in comparison, averaged 576,000 viewers, with 856,000 tuning in for the night’s main event.
However, it isn’t exactly a level playing field, as Spike TV is a basic cable station available in approximately 98 million homes. Showtime, on the other hand, is a subscription-based premium cable channel that has approximately 21 million subscribers.
Diaz Eyes Oct. Dream, Rep Meets With CSAC
(sherdog.com)
While his re-licensure in California remains a work in progress, Nick Diaz is in talks to fight for Dream in October. Gracie said Sasahara expressed an interest in the outspoken 28-year-old facing Japanese legend Hayato Sakurai, but that talks were in the preliminary stages.
SF 8/15 Fighter Payouts
(mmamania.com)The CSAC has released the official fighter payouts form Saturday's Strikeforce event. The total disclosed payouts were $468,500 with the biggest share-$125,000-going to main event loser Gina Carano. And no, it's not a typo-Gegard Mousasi really did get only $2,000 for his title win. That'll go up. Real soon.
UFC 102 Far From Sold Out; Economy, Taxes Problematic
(mmapayout.com)A story that’s seemingly flown right under the radar the last couple weeks is the fact that the UFC is having trouble selling tickets for its 102 event to be held at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. The venue holds nearly 20,000 people for an MMA event, but has sold just over 9,000 tickets to date.
It’s surprising news for a number of reasons: Randy Couture is an Oregon boy, MMA is fairly popular in the state, and the UFC has built up a tremendous amount of momentum in recent months. When you look deeper, however, it’s not so surprising at all that UFC 102 is struggling to fill its arena.
The UFC was actually slated to bring their show to Portland back in November of 2008, but it is believed that the organization cancelled those plans and chose Las Vegas instead due to a combination of the poor economy in Oregon and exhoribidant event taxation in Portland.
Fast forward to 2009 and the economy is only getting worse:
Oregon’s economy, bad as it is, will get even worse over the coming months, threatening double-digit unemployment and early school closures while sucking billions of dollars from the state budget, according to a forecast released Friday.
“We’re falling basically into a pit,” said state economist Tom Potiowsky. He had the unenviable job of telling stone-faced state officials how much — or how little — they can spend on education, aid to the poor and other programs.
According to Potiowsky’s forecast, which is used to set state spending levels, the current state budget will come up short by $855 million. For the 2009-11 budget, the gap between projected revenue and the rising cost of state services grows to $3 billion.
The sharp drop stems from the same forces that clobbered the nation’s economy: dried-up export markets, tumbling home values, falling stock prices and frightened consumers.
“The perfect storm is here,” Potiowsky said. “And Oregon is feeling the recession stronger than many other states.” He predicted
Exacerbating the problem even further are the 6% gross receipt taxes levied by both the Oregon State Athletic Commission and the City of Portland for MMA events held in the city - ie., 12%.
Karalexis-Pettis Off WEC 43, Main Card Replacement TBA
(mmajunkie.com)WEC is, for now, one bout short on it's planned WEC 43 card. The promotion has announced that Alex Karalexis is off due to injury, and his original opponent, Anthony Pettis, is now also off as a result. One of the 7 prelims will be moved up to air on Versus, but it's not known yet which one it'll be.
UFC Legend Matt Hughes’s Manager: It’s Time For Matt Serra To Move On
(fighters.com)“There has not been discussion on [a rematch between former UFC welterweight champions Matt Hughes (41-7) and "Terror” Matt Serra (9-6)]. I really thought all the talking was over after the fight,” Hughes’s manager Brian Patton told Fighters.com Monday night in response to an interview Serra gave to MMA Weekly Monday in which Serra called for a rematch.
Bellator Champ Lombard Looks Ahead to UFC
(sports.espn.go.com)Reported by Tatame and run through a translator at BloodyElbow, 185-pound Bellator tournament champion Hector Lombard says that he's unsure of his future following the conclusion of his three-fights-remaining contract with the Bellator Fighting Championships.
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