MMA Personalities News - Page 56

Fightline.com will be hosting a live video chat with Affliction superstar Fedor Emelianenko today starting at 8:00p EST. This will be followed directly by the premier of the Affliction "Day of Reckoning" countdown show. Emelianenko will be squaring off against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski for the cards main event.

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MMA Insider, a blog on MMAWeekly.com, is reporting from sources close to former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk that a match-up with Roger Huerta is possible for UFC 97. This would be Huerta's last fight on his current UFC contract, after which Huerta has claimed he's leaving to pursue acting and modeling. From MMA Insider: MMAInsider has learned from several sources close to former UFC lightweight champ Sean Sherk that a meeting with fellow Minnesotan Roger Huerta is possible for UFC 97 in Montreal, Canada. Huerta recently elected not to sign a contract extension with the UFC, deciding instead to focus on recent opportunities in acting and modeling. He has reportedly signed a three-film development deal with Lions Gate Films, and is working on a book about his life. A meeting with Sherk would be the last fight on Huerta's current contract. This would be a tough fight for Huerta. Sherk is the much more experienced, stronger and tougher fighter. Additionally, in his win over Tyson Griffin, Sherk showed that he has greatly improved his striking game instead of relying only on his often-criticized style of "lay-n-pray."

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Referee Dan Miragliotta is certainly no stranger to controversy. Beginning with his performance during the "EliteXC: Primetime" bout between Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and James Thompson, seemingly every decision made by Miragliotta in the cage is open to some degree of criticism. So it should have been of little surprise when an accidental eye-poke in the closing minute of Saturday night's UFC 93 main-event bout between Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin left Miragliotta's performance open to public evaluation. Except as Nick Lembo, legal counsel to the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), Miragliotta handled the situation exactly as MMA's current guidelines dictate. "With accidental fouls, such as an eyepoke -- which this sounds kind of like the Scott Smith vs. Robbie Lawler fight -- the referee sees the eyepoke, and the first thing the referee has to determine is was it accidental or was it intentional," Lembo said. "At that point he assesses the fighter and the referee makes a decision whether or not to bring in the doctor." The controversy began when Henderson clearly jammed fingers on his left hand deep into Franklin's right eye. The blow was accidental, and Henderson immediately apologized. Franklin was clearly affected, but Miragliotta initially refused to allow "Ace" any time to recover.

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Meet Jon Jones a.k.a. ‘Bones’ At the young age of 21, Jon Jones has made the most of his opportunities so far in the mixed martial arts world. Compiling a 7 – 0 record, he will be making his second appearance in the UFC on January 31st, 2009 against Stephan Bonnar. Jon took some time recently to talk with PDG about his rise to the UFC, his background and what drives him to be the best. FOR THE REST:

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Fedor Training Secrets (Diet, Routine, everything) And Interview. Great Interview where he talks about Family, fight prep and everything!

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Good to see Frank Trigg back in action, opponent to be announced soon.

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UFC Life Size Stand Up Cardboard Cut Outs: Brock, Georges St Pierre, Liddell, Randy, Forrest including Chuck Liddell, Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, Georges St. Pierre and Forrest Griffin. For only $33.99, you and your friends can hang out with the UFC stars, or beat the crap out of them. Shipping is only available via UPS ground for 15 bucks.

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By Danny Acosta Sherdog.com Borrowing from a favorite Karate High School song, fighters can either believe "no one remembers second place" or "winning isn't everything" when they fall short of victory. In a sport where defeat afflicts everyone not named Fedor Emelianenko, it seems wise to believe the latter. Leonard Garcia made his name smiling under a barrage of punches from Roger Huerta at UFC 69, some 19 months before he became known for waylaying Jens Pulver. Every year, a select group of mixed martial artists experiences victory in defeat. Here's the graduating class of 2008.

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just figured out about it but thought people in the Northwest would want to know. But from what I heard Ken Shamrock, Prangley and Lindland and MARK Hughes will be speaking including many other fighters will most likely attend.

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Here is the exact words he announced the Japanese audience. “Happy New Year everyone. I am the MMA Fighter, Ishii Satoshi,” says a nervous sounding Ishii to thunderous applause. “I am very honored to be here, addressing you all today. There was a rumor the other day that a certain fighter lost at an MMA event, and people were saying it was me. That’s not true,” says Ishii, perhaps referencing Akihito Tanaka’s performance as Kinniku Mantaro at Dynamite. “Do you folks like MMA? It’s really quite wonderful, isn’t it? I like it a lot,” stammers Ishii nervously, eliciting laughs from the crowd. “In the future, I will fight in US, but I will return to this ring with a big souvenir for you all,” says Ishii. “I see that the Yokozuna, Asashoryu is here today, so I’d like to fight him maybe,” he jokes with a good natured stutter. “Please support me this year,” he closes.

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“He’s flat-footed, has no technique, but he can punch. That always helps. He’s accurate. He’ll follow you right to the floor, so he’s aggressive. But that aggressiveness can be used to our advantage, I think.” – Freddie Roach — the world famous professional boxing training savant — tells SI.com that WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko lacks technique when it comes to his stand up game. He says what the Russian cyborg lacks in that department he makes up for with his accuracy and aggressiveness (see Sylvia, Tim for the most recent example.) Roach is currently working with Andrei Arlovski to refine his striking and prepare him for a possible cross-over to the sweet science. Emelianenko and Arlovski will collide in the main event at Affliction: “Day of Reckoning,” setting up one of the best heavyweight match ups in a very, very long time. For what it’s worth, Emelianenko is more known for his crafty and tight submissions … not his striking (at least recently). He is also known to be a bleeder. Can Arlovski find holes in his game and open up a hole in Emelianenko’s face? Will the former Pride FC deity once again answer the call and quiet the critics? What say you? Heres the to the full article

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Love him or hate him, Tito Ortiz (15-6-1) still draws a crowd. Such was the case when Ortiz was announced as a special guest at Affliction's December press conference for their Jan. 24 event from Anaheim, Calif., "Day of Reckoning." And while Ortiz committed only to announcing for the organization that day, "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he's nearly ready to return to vintage form. "I know all the fans want to see the monster Tito Ortiz of five years ago when I was the world champion," Ortiz said. "And I've done pretty good over the last five years to compete while being injured." The once-dominant Ortiz has compiled a paltry 5-4-1 record in the past five-and-a-half years. Two of those wins came over a well-over-the-hill Ken Shamrock, and the former UFC champion has been winless since those 2006 contests. Now rehabilitating from a successful back surgery that included the fusion of his L4, L5 and L5-S1 spinal discs, Ortiz said he is well on the way to returning to his prior form. "I'm excited to be 100 percent again," Ortiz said. "I'm about 40 percent right now, but I'm not as brittle as a glass house anymore. I'm starting to be able to move around a little more and not taking painkillers anymore is the biggest thing.

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Quinton "Rampage" Jackson wants to wear the UFC light heavyweight championship again, but what he desires most is another crack at the last man to defeat him.

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Mixed martial arts fighter Justin Eilers was shot and killed late Christmas night in Nampa, Idaho. Eilers' manager and friend, Monte Cox, confirmed his death to MMAWeekly.com on Friday morning.

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He's a regular human being

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Frank Shamrock ‘Moving on to 2009’ Former Undefeated UFC Champion and Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Frank Shamrock talked with PDG about the Fall of EliteXC, the Rise of Strikeforce, fighting Tito Ortiz, his brother Ken, a rematch with Cung Le and More!

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PDG: Really, so the fight is still scheduled for around April? Shamrock: I have arena dates booked and a pay-per-view date all set up. Ken is just being Ken though and we really haven't finalized his commitment to the fight. I have worked way too hard to make this fight happen but man it has been an uphill battle all the way. PDG: Overall, what are your lasting impressions of how the whole EliteXC-CBS Saturday Night program ended and the ultimate demise of the company? Shamrock: Sadly, I believe that the ending was almost inevitable. The way they had their business model laid out, they were not equipped to handle any bad press. You had a bunch of guys that didn't know what they were doing making the decisions for the company. As far as Kimbo Slice getting knocked out, I thought it was great MMA. That is what the whole sport is about; two fighters get in there and go at it and the situation created a great opportunity for Seth Petruzelli. That moment was pure MMA and its unfortunate that it caused the demise of the company.

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The potential DREAM exodus continues. This time the departing notable name is top judoka Satoshi Ishii, who today in Japan told the press that instead of apparently planning to sign with DREAM he wants to sign with and fight in UFC, even if it means going to WEC first.

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He regained his UFC welterweight championship from Matt Serra and further established himself as the best 170-pounder on the planet with his five round win over Jon Fitch. Now it's time for you to vote for Montreal's Georges St-Pierre as Sportsnet.ca's 2008 Canadian Athlete of The Year. WOO!! GSP!!

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UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock announced on Tuesday that he will make his return to the ring as part of the Feb. 13 Valentine's Eve Massacre event in Fresno, Calif. The event is a co-promotion between Ken Shamrock Productions and Wargods.

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The growth of MMA has also led to the growth of major gyms and teams around the world, but eventually teammates sometimes have to fight and that may be the case down the road for Wanderlei Silva and training partner Forrest Griffin if they both should win on Dec. 27. Griffin spoke out on the subject recently, telling MMAWeekly.com, "It's going to happen one day. He knows that and he's cool with it; I'm cool with it." Silva spoke to MMAWeekly Radio about his friend and training partner and the likelihood of them fighting in the future. "I'm a professional, he's a professional. He's an amazing guy," the Brazilian said about Griffin. "I train with him so hard, this guy he's really upped his boxing. He's got very good ground, very good wrestling, and I think he's a very, very tough opponent." Friendship aside, Silva wants a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title and if that road goes through Forrest Griffin, the two competitors will square off in the Octagon and then shake hands when it's all over. "I know and he knows that this is a business and if I win and he wins, I'd fight him no problem," Silva stated. "He's my good friend, but business is business. This is professional." With both fighters on the upcoming UFC 93 card in Las Vegas, Silva and Griffin have been sparring and training together non-stop in preparation for each of their respective bouts, Silva against former UFC champ Quinton Jackson and Griffin defending his belt from fellow Ultimate Fighter winner Rashad Evans. "I train with him more because I’m going to fight the same day," commented Silva. "It's good to have him because he's tall, he's stronger, has good punches, good takedowns, and he does very good training." Silva is confident that it is Forrest Griffin who will come out on top in his title defense, which could ultimately lead to a showdown of teammate vs. teammate.

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