Frank Mir's Precarious Predicament
(sherdog.com)It's fairly safe to assume that former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has never fought anybody as strong as Brock Lesnar. He's probably never trained with someone of that ilk either.
Mir has also never found himself in this situation: If he wins, it's no big deal, and if he loses, he could be letting down the entire MMA universe.
Without question, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner is marred in a precarious position whether he wants to admit it or not.
Meyrowitz Announces New MMA Venture
(sherdog.com)UFC co-founder Bob Meyrowitz announced Tuesday a new mixed martial arts league called YAMMA Pit Fighting.
As CEO of Semaphore Entertainment Group, Meyrowitz produced UFC events from 1993 through 2000. Now he has formed a company, Rope Partners, that plans on reviving the tournament format and using a new fighting surface, known as "The YAMMA."
‘Cyborg' Starts Busy 2008 in Canada
(sherdog.com)Evangelista Santos, better known as "Cyborg," has a tough fight on Friday against Gegard Mousasi at the Hardcore Championship Fighting event in Calgary, Canada.
After that bout, the Chute Boxe athlete will fight twice in March and has eight fights total already scheduled.
Sherdog.com recently caught up with "Cyborg" to discuss his busy schedule.
New IFC Strikes Deal with Ice Cube
(sherdog.com)The International Fighting Championship has teamed with Ice Cube and DJ Pooh to launch a 24-hour, seven-day a week mixed martial arts channel on Cube's Internet television network, UVNTV.com.
According to an announcement released Tuesday, My MMA Network will be the exclusive MMA channel on UVNTV, which currently hosts "about 12 channels while in beta mode," including channels for Snoop Dogg and P Diddy.
the UFC’s Big Change for “The Ultimate Fighter 7? is revealed
(mmajunkie.com)Although we will not release any fight results from the show (we never post fight spoilers), we will reveal a fairly significant change in the way this season works.
According to a source close to the show, “The Ultimate Fighter 7” will start with 32 cast members — not the usual 16 — and every one of them will have to fight as soon as the show begins. The 16 winners earn a spot in the house, and the 16 losers are sent packing for home.
The likely format change should be warmly received by critics of the show who complain that the series focuses more on the drama and in-house antics than it does training and the actual fights. Additionally, many of the show’s weaker cast members will likely be eliminated before they’re even technically a part of the cast, assuring that only the cream of the crop are in the house for the duration of the show
Unfortunately, we have no information on how the initial match-ups might be determined
UFC 83 Starnes vs Quarry
mmamania.com
Keeping with the Canadian flavor of UFC 83, Kalib Starnes (8-2-1) — a product of Surrey, British Columbia — will take on Nate Quarry (9-2) at the Bell Centre in Montreal on April 19, according to a report picked up by MMAonTap.com.
Good fight imo.
2 More TUF 7 Participants Confirmed
(mmanews.com)Josh Hall and Jesse Taylor, 2 fighters from Team Quest, have been confirmed as participants on The Ultimate Fighter 7. This brings the total list of confirmed fighters up to 14 as of 1/30/08.
Rousimar Palhares to Make UFC Debut in May vs. Ivan Salaverry
(mmajunkie.com)Brazilian fighter Rousimar Palhares (7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his UFC debut vs. Ivan Salaverry (12-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) at a May 24 event in Las Vegas.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the fight with Salaverry’s camp, which received the fight offer just this afternoon. However, the fight was first reported by Sherdog.com, which mentioned the fighter’s likely signing last week.
Mir wants to prove himself against Lesnar
(mmaweekly.com)Winning an Ultimate Fighting Championship title could be considered the greatest achievement for any fighter, but for Frank Mir, working his way back to the top of the heavyweight ladder could eventually be seen as his greatest achievement after a motorcycle accident almost sidelined his career altogether.
The former champion will hope to put his name back into contender’s status when he faces former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar on Saturday night at UFC 81.
With Lesnar set to make his UFC debut, the majority of the attention on the upcoming fight seems to lie primarily on the former WWE wrestler, but Mir understands the importance of a fight of this magnitude, which played into why he accepted the fight against Lesnar in the first place.
UFC Creator Bob Meyrowitz Announces New MMA Promotion
(mmajunkie.com)Bob Meyrowitz, the founder of the world-famous Ultimate Fighting Championship, is starting a new fight league called YAMMA Pit Fighting (YPF) that will focus on tournament-style events, the organization today announced.
The first event, which airs on pay-per-view, will takes place April 11 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J.
Tournaments require winning fighters to compete at least twice per night. The format was popular in the early days of the UFC but eventually fizzled out due to fighter safety and pressure from state athletic commissions. However, back in November, Strikeforce held the first-ever tournament sanctioned in California and promised future ones in 2008
Tournament idea sounds great, a moving surface sounds way too gimmicy, hope they don't go that way. If they did it would ruin the legitimacy of the promotion, for me anyway.
Rampage's Buddy David Roberts picked for TUF 7
http://mmajunkie.com/2008/01/29/quinton-jacksons-buddy-david-roberts-picked-for-the-ultimate-fighter-7/
The man who introduced Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to the world of mixed martial arts could now find himself being coached by the UFC light heavyweight champion.
Nearly nine years after he first debuted with the UFC, David Roberts (5-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) will make a return to the organization — this time as a cast member for “The Ultimate Fighter 7.“
A source close to the fighter told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) Roberts was offered a spot on the cast and recently headed to Las Vegas to tape the upcoming season.
O'Brien Camp: Arlovski Fight Official
(mmajunkie.com)According to Jake O'Brien's camp, the agreement for a fight with Andrei Arlovski at UFC 82 has been signed and thus the fight is now official. This likely will be AA's last UFC fight as it's the last of his contract.
Tim Sylvia: ‘… if I do win the belt again, then this time it’s never coming off’
(mmamania.com)“I’ve had sex before with the belt on. That was back in the Ricco Rodriguez days. The night I won the belt I had a sexual experience with the belt on. But hey, I was 25 years old and it was the biggest thing that ever had happened to me in my life. The girl was like hey, are you going to take that thing off. And I said no, I’m not…I’m wearing it and if you have a problem with it, then I’m leaving. And I hate to say it, but if I do win the belt again, then this time it’s never coming off. I’m going to wear it a lot more.”
Looking at NCAA Wrestling Champions in MMA
(mmajunkie.com)Brock Lesnar’s notoriety as a World Wrestling Entertainment champion and headliner has created great interest in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on Saturday night against former UFC champion Frank Mir.
But because his fame comes from scripted entertainment, many aren’t aware of his successes in legitimate athletic competition.
Lesnar was 106-5 in four years of college wrestling, winning the junior college national championship in 1998 and the Division I championship for the University of Minnesota in 2000, both as a heavyweight.
High-level amateur wrestling is a great asset in mixed martial arts, as many of UFC’s biggest stars all have a substantial wrestling background, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Diego Sanchez, Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz, Clay Guida, Keith Jardine, Roger Huerta, Jake O’Brien, Frankie Edgar, Matt Hamill, Brandon Vera, Gray Maynard, Corey Hill, Matt Grice and others.
But wrestling success is no guarantee of MMA success. For every Couture or Dan Severn, both of whom competed on the U.S. national team in international competition and are among only a few fighters in the UFC Hall of Fame, there are great wrestlers, including national champions and Olympians, who have gone nowhere in MMA.
More Details on Nevada's Expanded Drug Tests
(mmaweekly.com)Nevada Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer last Friday announced that the Commission has expanded steroid and drug testing for licensed fighters and those applying for licenses.
In addition to the testing performed on contestants on fight night, the Commission will require licensed fighters and licensing applicants to be tested at other times during the year.
Selection of licensees for testing will be made in one of three ways:
1. Fighters may be randomly chosen for testing.
2. If there is some indication that a fighter is taking a non-approved substance, they may be tested.
3. If a fighter has previously tested positive for using a non-approved substance, they may be tested.
MMAWeekly.com recently questioned Kizer on some of the particulars of the new testing.
Gomi and UFC Deal Falls through
(fiveouncesofpain.com)
FiveOuncesOfPain.com first became aware of the story when a source close to Frankie Edgar revealed that the lightweight contender had been offered and accepted a potential bout vs. Gomi. The fight fell through after the UFC was unable to secure a contract with PRIDE’s final reigning lightweight champion.
There is no word as to why a deal with Gomi was unable to be completed and whether there’s a chance that talks between both sides will resume in the future.
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