UFC News - Page 576

Travis "The Serial Killer" Lutter heads into the Ultimate Fighting Championship octagon this weekend against Rich "Ace" Franklin confident and eager to get one step closer to a rematch with UFC middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

Add your comment  

It’s easy to be jealous of Georges St-Pierre. In a land full of smashed noses, scar tissue, and missing teeth, he’s old Hollywood in style and demeanor. His effortless grace also translates to his day job, where he’s seemingly the one who always gets things right the first time, with his repeated drilling only to benefit muscle memory, not the search for a perfection in execution he’s apparently reached already. That’s why your girlfriend or wife, who can’t recall any fighters not named Chuck Liddell, knows who St-Pierre is; it’s why your nephews, who haven’t been up to speed on fighting since Mike Tyson was wrecking the heavyweight division, will throw out a sidekick and blurt “GSP baby”; and why 22,000 people will be packing the Bell Centre in Montreal for St-Pierre’s challenge of UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra this Saturday.

Add your comment  

"Ever notice that when a stellar collegiate wrestling star makes his transition into mixed martial arts, striking is never an issue in those formative months of development? Learning jiu-jitsu can be a frustrating chore, figuring out that what worked on the wrestling mat may not work in the Octagon can be equally baffling, but when it comes to punching, elbowing, and kicking, that’s like being a kid who wakes up on his birthday and finds out he got a snow day off from school as well. Heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez most certainly agrees."...

Add your comment  

---

.“… I’m 44 and looking at the end of my career. I want to fight the best guy in the world and be considered the best guy as well. That fight is the only way that will happen. It doesn’t make sense – the UFC is criticizing me for not fighting (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira, and I have a lot of respect for Nogueira. I think he’s a great fighter, but he’s been beat by Fedor twice. That fight doesn’t make sense for me right now. If I have more fights left in me after Fedor, maybe I’ll fight Nogueira then, but right now, it just doesn’t make sense.”

---

Embattled UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture — who still holds that designation because of legal reasons — shares his thoughts on a fight with interim UFC heavyweight champion, (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira. “Minotauro” called out “The Natural” after he defeated Tim Sylvia to earn the vacated belt; however, it appears that Couture (for now) is hellbent on fighting one fighter and one fighter only, Fedor Emelianenko.

Add your comment  

In a new interview with PunchDrunkGamer.com, free agent fighter Hermes Franca not only expressed an interest in a rematch with former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk, but also a fight against the current UFC lightweight champion, B.J. Penn:

Add your comment  

Jake O'Brien (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC), a 23-year-old heavyweight who suffered his first professional loss to Andrei Arlovski in March, has been released from the UFC and has agreed to a two-fight deal with the Palace Fighting Championship. According to Pavia, O'Brien had recently signed a new contract with the UFC and had two fights remaining on the deal. "Yes, you could say we were surprised by the UFC's decision," Pavia said "Jake really wanted that fight at UFC 82," Pavia said. "However, had we known that his tenure with the organization was at risk when we were presented with the Arlovski fight, we may have approached it differently."

Add your comment  

When Zuffa - the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship - purchased and subsequently dismantled Pride Fighting Championship in 2007, MMA fans worldwide expected that majority of the best fighters in the world will be consolidated under the UFC banner. So far, the results have been decidedly mixed. While three out of five UFC title belts are held by former Pride FC fighters, the heavyweight division is still as much in shambles as it was two years ago, and a number of middleweight (185 lbs) contenders are scattered throughout various organizations. In the lightweight division, Marcus Aurelio is the only Pride competitor who has stepped inside the UFC Octagon to date. The only place where Zuffa had an undeniable success of consolidating the top talent is MMA’s marquee division - the light heavyweights (205 lbs). Not only is UFC the home to the undisputed champion of the world at 205, they also employ all of the Top 5, 9 of the Top 10, and 14 of the Top 20 LHW fighters... ...

Add your comment  

Anderson Silva has run a gauntlet through some of the best middleweight mixed martial arts in the world in the past 23 months. He obliterated the iron-chinned Chris Leben. He twice pulverized the marvelously well-rounded Rich Franklin. He overwhelmed Nate Marquardt, a man many believed had the style to defeat him.

Add your comment  

In some cut ups from ***********, Matt Serra dishes out his classic brand of sentiment on the upcoming bout with GSP, arch rival Matt Hughes, and, of course, the hostile Canadian crowd

Add your comment  

After posting his fourth straight submission victory in the UFC at UFC Fight Night 13, lightweight Nate Diaz (9-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has been mentioned as a possible opponent for many of the division's top contenders. Diaz, however, is only interested in one of them: former cast mate Manny Gamburyan (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC). "The UFC decides that for me," Diaz said regarding his next opponent. "Manny (Gamburyan) wants to fight me. But you know what? I want to fight him too just as much." "I don't like them," Diaz said bluntly. "I don't mean nothing bad to anyone else in the sport. Everybody's just trying to make their money and fight their fights and do their thing, just like I am. But those guys? F*** them. They're cocky, they talk s***, and they want to act tough. But when they're by themselves, they try to say 'What's up,' you know... I'm like, 'We're not friends, dude.'"

Add your comment  

"Hopefully within the next 2 or 3 months. I'm keeping my weight down low right now. I honestly want to be on that Rampage and Forrest card on July 5th," stated UFC welterweight contender Anthony Johnson as he talked about his future plans after his impressive knockout victory over Tommy Speer during UFC Fight Night 13. You don't want to miss what he had to say about his performance, his future plans and much more as he promises "whenever the UFC calls me man, I'll be ready for an opportunity to shine again." Check it out!

Add your comment  

UFC lightweights Tyson Griffin (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Marcus Aurelio (16-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will meet at UFC 86, an event that takes place July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The fight, which will likely appear on the televised portion of the pay-per-view event, was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.

Add your comment  

Matt Serra still has no love for Georges St. Pierre going into UFC 83, and now he's trying to show he also has no love for the Montreal crowd, which will be heavily pro-GSP in their UFC Welterweight Title fight. He even told the "drunks" to boo him.

Add your comment  

Although UFC has nixed any chances of a boxing match between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. anytime soon, Silva still is confident the fight will happen. Silva says the fight is "my huge personal wish".

Add your comment  

Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk will be required to undergo additional drug testing prior to his showdown with reigning 155-pound kingpin, BJ Penn, at UFC 84: “Ill Will” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 24, according to MMAPredictions.com. It looks like they are making an example out of Sherk. I wonder if some of the other fighters who tested positive in the past had to do the same?

Add your comment  

For now, at least, he's trying his hand at something new:

---

.Martin, who's from Chicago, has given up his UFC dream for now and will step in the ring as a boxer for the first time Friday night as part of an ``8 Count Productions'' card. Martin will face Ricardo Upchurch at the Odeum Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park in a scheduled four-rounder. He'll fight at the 190-pound cruiserweight level, which should alleviate a problem he had making 185 pounds with the UFC.

---

Add your comment  

Make no mistake about it Georges St. Pierre is currently focused on reclaiming the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title he lost at the hands of Matt Serra. He will get his chance, in front of his hometown crowd in Montreal, on April 19 when the two meet in the main event of UFC 83. “I do a lot of imagery. I have seen these things before and when I walk into the Octagon on April 19 it seems to me it won’t be the first time that it has happened because I have been through the scenario before,” said St. Pierre on Thursday’s pre-fight conference call.

Add your comment  

NEW YORK - Fight! Black Belt. Fitness RX. FightSport. Status Fitness. Ultimate Grappling. Those are just some of the magazines slated to feature mixed martial arts fighter Georges St. Pierre on the cover in advance of his April 19 fight against welterweight champion Matt (The Terror) Serra at UFC 83 in Montreal's Bell Centre. St. Pierre's management counts nine potential covers as well as fashion spreads in two other magazines.

Add your comment  

It’s no secret that Michael “The Count” Bisping and Charles “Chainsaw” McCarthy are not exactly friendly with one another. The two have traded insults over the past few weeks. You can see the evidence here and here. But a week from Saturday all will be settled inside the Octagon. They’ll have a chance to put their money where their mouths are at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2? on April 19 in Montreal, Quebec.

Add your comment  

After his controversial loss to Michael Bisping, Matt Hamill didn't want his fight against Tim Boetsch going to the judges. He made it clear he learned from that via his 2nd round stoppage of Boetsch.

Add your comment