UFC News - Page 584

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Diego Sanchez (Pictures) will return to the Octagon June 21 in Las Vegas in the main event of "The Ultimate Fighter 7" finale, sources have told Sherdog.com. He is expected to square off against Luigi Fioravanti (Pictures) in a welterweight tilt that will follow a series of bouts involving participants of the upcoming season of the UFC's reality show.

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UFC newcomer Ryan Roberts (8-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) could fill in for an injured Spencer Fisher and fight Marcus Aurelio (15-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a preliminary bout at UFC Fight Night 13. Sources close to the fighter tell MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Roberts has accepted the bout. However, his manager could not confirm the fight, and the UFC hasn't made an official announcement.

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However, Angle never took up the offer - preferring instead to let his words do the talking, and Liddell did not mince his words in belittling his claims. Liddell and the rest of The UFC world witnessed Lesnar’s promising debut, which ultimately highlighted his lack of Mixed Martial Arts as Frank Mir submitted him, and the former two-time UFC light-heavyweight champion is adamant Angle would face the same fate. “He talks about it all the time, but he hasn’t made any movements towards doing it, to my knowledge he hasn’t done any training or cross-training,” Liddell told Setanta Sports News. “If he’s just gonna come in and wrestle, he’s going to get beat, you can’t just be a one-dimensional fighter in The UFC". “I don’t care how good you are, it’s not gonna work.”

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While the UFC and Spike TV have made no official announcement regarding the weight classes for "The Ultimate Fighter 8," producers are on the search for heavyweight and lightweight applicants. The deadline to apply for the eighth installment of the hit reality series, which will likely debut on Spike TV in September, is April 5. A new banner and link on UFC.com asks the simple question: "Heavyweights and lightweights: are you T.U.F. enough?"

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When asked about his opponent Jason had this to say: “I’ve always said he looks good, I mean I have respect for him. I think there’s a few holes in his game that I’ve kind of picked out … he’s fast, his hands are fast. He looked sharp out there, he’s quick and he’s aggressive. I think I’m going to have the fight with Alan Belcher that I thought I was going to have with Loiseau. I think Belcher is going to be my opportunity to get out there and reveal what I’ve been working on.” Jason is a dedicated fighter as he works full time building homes up in Calgary during the day and trains well into the nights. He is looking forward, however, to leaving that behind. Here’s another snip: “Hopefully over the next six months I won’t be banging nails anymore, I could just be in the gym training full time.” Confidence is not an issue with Jason –- he’s been preparing to walk through the gates of the Octagon in the UFC for a long time. With wins over notable opponents Loiseau, Ron Faircloth and Jonathan Goulet and his only recent loss coming at the heavy hands of Patrick Cote, Jason is poised to make the most of the opportunity put in front of him. It’s now or never. or the full interview in audio

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Veteran Frank Shamrock and EliteXC promoter Gary Shaw dismissed talk Tuesday that rival UFC champion Anderson Silva is pound-for-pound the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world. "Well I think I've been named that guy several times over the past 14 years, so I think that it's fleeting, it's exciting but I certainly don't think he's the best in the world," Shamrock said in a conference call Tuesday to promote his March 29 Strikeforce-Elite XC middleweight title fight with Cung Le in San Jose. "I think he's probably one of the best guys in the UFC, but all the best fighters are not in the UFC. So hopefully he can hang onto that and make something out of it and gain some fame. But I have 100 per cent confidence if I ran into him, they'd be calling me that guy."

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Sources close to the fighter tell MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Saunders has agreed to fight at the event. However, a phone call to the fighter wasn't immediately returned today, and the UFC has made no official announcement regarding the event.

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The results of the UFC 82 post-fight drug tests have come back, and the 10 fighters tested (the winners that night) have all passed their tests.

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Diego Sanchez (Pictures) will return to the Octagon June 21 in Las Vegas in the main event of "The Ultimate Fighter 7" finale, sources have told Sherdog.com. He is expected to square off against Luigi Fioravanti (Pictures) in a welterweight tilt that will follow a series of bouts involving participants of the upcoming season of the UFC's reality show.

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The Punisher looks to get back in the win column after being KO'd by Wilson Gouveia while 'Banha' looks to get his first win in the UFC after being DQ'd for an illegal knee to James Irvin's head while on the ground.....

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Koppenhaver third round stoppage of Jared Rollins last December capped off one of the most action-packed bouts of 2007, and on Saturday, May 24th, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, 170-pound prospect Jon Koppenhaver will kick off his 2008 campaign when he faces UFC newcomer Yoshiyuki Yoshida in a UFC 84 preliminary bout. Also added to the undercard is a welterweight contest between England’s Jason Tan and Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim.

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Spencer Fisher (Pictures) has been forced to withdraw from his April 2 UFC Fight Night bout against Marcus Aurelio, Sherdog.com learned Monday afternoon. The popular lightweight known for his exciting style withdrew following a shoulder injury. "Spencer is the kind of fighter who has fought plenty of fights with injuries and Marcus Aurelio is not the kind of fighter you want to fight at 80 percent," said the native North Carolinian's manager, Monte Cox. "He was willing to fight but we decided it just was not a smart decision." The 31-year-old Fisher (20-4-0) was looking to rebound from a loss to Frank Edgar (Pictures) at UFC 78. Aurelio (15-5-0) had hoped to continue the momentum he had built in his dominant stoppage win over Luke Caudillo at UFC 78 against Fisher. He will now likely face Jim Miller, whose only loss came at the hands of Edgar. Miller (10-1-0) is riding a five-fight winning streak into his UFC debut.

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Welterweights Jess Liaudin (12-9) and Paul Taylor (8-3-1) are booked to scrap on the UFC 85 fight card, which takes place at the O2 Arena in London, England, on June 7, according to a recent MySpace message from “The Joker.” The 170-pound match up is actually a rematch — the two went toe-to-toe under the Cage Rage banner back in 2003 with Taylor pulling out a decision win.

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One-time UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner (32-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC), just a few weeks removed from a disappointing UFC 82 loss to Yushin Okami, has agreed to a summer return, and he's already accepted an opponent. Tanner posted the news on his official website, evantanner.net, stating that he and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva had just spoken about the fight. However, he didn't reveal an opponent or a return date for the summer event. Tanner stated that it's "good to have a fight scheduled" again because "the last two weeks have been really rough." Tanner suffered a second-round knockout via knee at UFC 82, which soured his long-awaited return from a two-year layoff. Soon after the loss, Tanner wrote an inspiring blog entry about overcoming his alcohol addiction, saying he was both thankful and relieved that the defeat didn't cause him to relapse. The addiction, which prompted the break from MMA, had previously caused him to become malnourished, and his teeth even began to loosen.

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Houston Alexander returns to the Ultimate Fighting Championship after suffering his first defeat in the Octagon, to Thiago Silva, when he takes on “The Sandman” James Irvin on April 2 in Broomfield, Colo. He had entered the UFC with a bang, destroying MMAWeekly.com's No. 5 ranked light heavyweight Keith Jardine in a stunningly fast knockout. Alexander looks to put himself back on the winning track in a few weeks and claims he is more than ready to go. “I'm ready to get back in the ring,” he commented to MMAWeekly Radio. “I'm excited for this next card because they stacked it up.”

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Although UFC 84's main event features a lightweight title fight, the undercard of the event will be all about the light heavyweights. The UFC today confirmed three bouts we previously reported here at MMAjunkie.com, including Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (4-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC), Thiago Silva (12-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) vs. Antonio Mendes (14-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), and Goran Reljic (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Wilson Gouveia (10-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC).

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Former (and currently interim) welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has always been one of mixed martial arts’ greatest talents. But losses, as well as wins, have shaped who GSP truly is as a fighter. What were the seven defining moments of the Canadian star’s career? Read on to find out.

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What separates a champion from a contender, a star from an average Joe scraping out a few dollars here and there on the club fight circuit? In a lot of ways it comes down to what a fighter does when faced with challenges that would make most crumble. And even though a fighter won’t always win in these situations, how he learns from adversity will shape who he eventually becomes. UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra came up the hard way, and when he got his shot, he made the most of it; what were the seven defining moments of his career?

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It's been almost 2 years since the 3rd season of The Ultimate Fighter premiered on Spike, and UFC has now put up an interesting article that takes a look at where the 16 participants are now in their UFC careers and what their future might hold.

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