The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale in high-def, slotted for three hours
(mmajunkie.com)The finale of "The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest," which features a main event of former UFC middleweight champ Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove, will run three hours, and for the first time, will be presented in high-definition.
Spike TV today confirmed details for the June 21 event, including fights for the night's undercard. The televised main card airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Previously reported fights of Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens, Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister, Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett, and Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries were all confirmed today.
The Grove vs. Tanner fight, as well as a welterweight bout between Luigi Fioravanti and Diego Sanchez, were previously announced by the UFC.
The event will also feature the two finalists from the current season of "TUF." The final preliminary bout airs this coming Wednesday, and the cast will then be whittled down to eight remaining quarter-finalists. As with past seasons of the show, the winner earns a six-figure contract with the UFC and an assortment of prizes.
Chuck Liddell eyes fall return, title shot
(mmajunkie.com)Forced to withdraw from the main event of UFC 85 due to a torn hamstring, fan favorite Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell (21-5 MMA, 16-3 UFC) is now looking to return to the octagon in early fall. And although an opponent has not been determined, Liddell feels a win would earn him a shot at the light-heavyweight title he lost a year ago.
Liddell discussed his return while a recent guest on TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), a content partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
"It wasn't very fun," Liddell said regarding the injury. "But I've been doing rehab on it, and it's been going real well. I'm hoping to be back fighting in late summer, early fall. You know, September or November."
The latest officially announced UFC date is UFC 87, on Aug. 9 in Minneapolis, Minn. Liddell ruled that date out, stating it was "too early."
Once a date has been determined, Liddell and the UFC can work on arranging a match-up. The 38-year-old would still be willing to take on his original opponent, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, provided the Brazilian recovers from his own knee injury in time.
"It's a possibility," Liddell said of the bout. "If he's healthy and I'm healthy, it's a fight that makes sense."
Regardless whom Liddell ends up facing, the ex-champion feels a victory should be enough to earn him a shot to reclaim the title.
"I've been ready to fight the champion for a long time," Liddell said. "(If) I win in the fall, I think I deserve a title shot."
Liddell is also anxious to avenge his two most recent losses, to light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and the rapidly improving Keith Jardine.
Ortiz guarantees victory
(mmaweekly.com)"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy," Tito Ortiz, completes his contractual obligation with the Ultimate Fighting Championship when he steps in the octagon at UFC 84 against Lyoto Machida. Ortiz spoke with MMAWeekly about his training, his focus and his match up with the undefeated Brazilian.
"I'm really healthy. I feel great. I feel really, really good," said Ortiz. "I'm excited about this fight. I'm very focused. This fight means the world to me. I'm not just fighting myself. I'm fighting for every one of those fans, the Tito Ortiz fans that support me."
As excited as Ortiz is for his showdown with Machida, it wasn't the fight he wanted for his final bout in the UFC. "It doesn't matter who I fight to me. In the beginning I thought the Rashad Evans deal was supposed to happen," said the former UFC light heavyweight champion. "They built it, it was going to happen, and that's what I expected. And I know a lot of fans expected that."
"The UFC has their own game plan. They have their own ideas of how they want to run things, and I turned it down at first, saying why would I want to fight Lyoto? There's no reason to. But then I just started going on, and I was like, I don't really care. Whoever you want me to fight, I'll fight. That's really what it came down to. No diss toward Lyoto. He's a great fighter, undefeated, but I thought they were building the Rashad Evans fight. I wanted to fight Rashad again because I thought I beat him the first time."
Silva No-Shows MFS Seminar In Houston
(mmamania.com)UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva was not at a scheduled Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS) seminar in Houston this past weekend due to "personal family health issues" according to MFS. But there are rumors of MFS being misled as Silva may actually have been opening the Miami gym he's started with fellow Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and that could lead to legal action if true.
Kongo Returns At UFC 87
(mmamania.com)Coming off a unanimous decision loss to Heath Herring that perhaps cost him a title shot, Cheick Kongo returns to UFC at UFC 87 in August. He'll face Dan Evensen, who will make his UFC debut.
A Beached Bad Boy
(sherdog.com)If the UFC's ancillary video producers are on their game, they'll have a camera fixed on company president Dana White during the Lyoto Machida/Tito Ortiz bout Saturday -- preferably one in high definition, all the better to capture every dripping bead of sweat on White's reflectively smooth head.
After a years-long war of words that would make Vince McMahon glow with pride, White and Ortiz are finally set to go their separate ways, with White to continue chairing the biggest, most self-aggrandizing MMA organization in the world and Ortiz to ply his trade for one of the UFC's many upstart competitors.
The emotional volume of Ortiz's exit will go up considerably should he beat Machida, a 12-0 fighter being groomed as a future contender for the light heavyweight title. Ortiz will certainly see a victory as one final shot at White and his flagrantly insulting disposition, and a Machida win would act as a springboard for White to continue burying Ortiz in the media.
But unless Machida devastates Ortiz -- unlikely, considering his preference for a tactical chess game over a firefight -- there's little opportunity for White to whitewash what is arguably the most substantial exodus of talent from his company since its inception.
Chuck Liddell hamstring injury is ‘not good’
(mmamania.com)His injury’s not good. He can barely bend over and tie his shoe. He tore his leg real bad. It’s pretty nasty…. I know the doctor told him to kind of play it by ear. It’s one of those things that can heal in six days, or it could heal in 16 weeks. The doctor doesn’t really know. It depends on how fast Chuck can recover.”
– UFC President Dana White talks with FOXSports.com about the hamstring injury that Chuck Liddell recently sustained training for his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 85: “Bedlam” in London, England, on June 7. He had to withdraw from the fight and there is no timetable for the return of the 39-year-old former light heavyweight champion. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua — who is also recovering from an injury — has encouraged “Iceman” to wait until he is 100 percent so the two can lock horns once and for all sometime in late 2008.
Lesnar/Coleman To Headline UFC 87
(ufc.com)Las Vegas, NV (USA) – In yet another historic moment in the quest to conquer new territory and bring the best of mixed martial arts to fans around the globe, the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization today announced the first-ever UFC event to take place in Minnesota. In the main event, Brock Lesnar, fighting out of his hometown of Minneapolis, will return to the Octagon™ to face UFC Hall of Famer and former PRIDE® superstar Mark "The Hammer" Coleman, and in what many are calling the best lightweight fight of 2008, Kenny "KenFlo" Florian will square off against Roger "El Matador" Huerta in a battle that will move the winner one step closer to a 155-pound title shot. The Ultimate Fighting Championship will present UFC 87: SEEK AND DESTROY, featuring Lesnar vs. Coleman and Florian vs. Huerta, live from Target Center in Minneapolis Saturday, August 9, 2008.
Im sure that'll piss off the purists that Brock on his second fight in the UFC and he's headlining especially after losing to Mir in his debut. I understand its down to the marketability of Lesnar, but surely Florian/Huerta is the true headline event for this card??? 
So Nobody Wants To See GSP/Silva?
(mmajunkie.com) by MMAjunkie.com Staff on May 17, 2008 at 2:07 pm ET
Sure, it may be a pipe dream -- the type of fantasy match-up that mixed-martial-arts fans can only dream about.
So, when we posted our latest MMAjunkie.com/"Inside MMA" poll -- "Should the UFC allow a fight between Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva?" -- we were bracing for some of the most lopsided results in our polling history.
Sure enough, the results were lopsided. But not in the manner we expected.
Tens of thousands of votes were cast for the poll, and surprisingly, most of them were against the bout and didn't want to see the UFC's middleweight title-holder meet the UFC's welterweight champ.
In fact, nearly three-quarters of the voters -- 72 percent -- don't think the UFC should schedule the St. Pierre-Silva fight, and only 28 percent were in favor of it.
"I guess they don't want to see either one lose," host Kenny Rice concluded.
The results baffled panelists Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge and Martin de Jong, as well. Granted, they didn't necessarily think the fight should be scheduled either -- but they assumed the MMA enthusiasts would want it.
Give 'em credit them, though. The fans know that some things are better left to the imagination.
WHAT DOES THE PLAYGROUND THINK?
Tito Ortiz numbers don't lie.......Elite XC takes note
(mmamania.com)Dave Meltzer from Yahoo!Sports.com breaks it down as Tito Ortiz possibly heads into his last fight inside the Octagon against Lyoto Machida at UFC 84: “Ill Will” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 24:
“Ortiz has had more fights (21) in the Octagon than any man in history. He was the longest-reigning champion in company history, a three-and-a-half year run as light heavyweight champion from 2000-03.
Scott Smith enjoying underdog role
(mmajunkie.com)As MMA's May 31 network-television debut draws closer, CBS has focused the entirety of its marketing campaign on Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson. But the bout that most hardcore MMA fans are anticipating is the EliteXC middleweight title fight between champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler (15-4) and Scott Smith (13-4).
Wanderlei to murder Jardine's dreams
(setantasports.com)Wanderlei Silva has predicted a ‘fast knock-out’ when he attempts to shatter Keith Jardine’s title dreams at “UFC 84: ILL WILL”.
“The Axe Murderer” is box office, win or lose, as he proved against Chuck Liddell in his last fight – arguably the greatest collision ever witnessed in The UFC (Good, but i'm not too sure that's accurate).
Hamill Calm in the Eye of an Unnecessary Storm
(uk.ufc.com)As one of the top prospects in mixed martial arts’ most high-profile division, light heavyweight Matt Hamill has proven that being deaf isn’t a handicap, but instead, a mere obstacle to be overcome on the way to bigger and better things.
Salaverry Fighting for The Emerald City
(uk.ufc.com)The sports landscape in Seattle, Washington has drastically changed over the past few months. First, reports surfaced that the city’s professional basketball franchise was considering a move to Oklahoma City. In search of a new arena for Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant and the Sonics, the owners of Seattle’s NBA franchise decided that the coastal port city could no longer harbor basketball hardwood.
The Final Chapter
(bloodyelbow.com) "This guy went on Howard Stern and said he was getting $200,000 a fight,” White said. “That was such a lie. Tito made $5.8 million in 2006. He only fought once in 2007. He made $710,000 for that fight (with Rashad Evans) and that was the third match from the top (on the card). He goes around saying we made $231 million last year. He’s a moron. This guy talks about what a businessman he is, and he was on ‘The Apprentice’ and he doesn’t know the difference between revenue and profit."
“There’s not going to be any bidding war,” White said. “Gary Shaw (promoter at Elite XC) should offer him $30 a fight, because we’re not going to match it.”
So I think it's safe to say there will be no reconciliation 
Luke Cummo vs Tamdan McCrory fight set for UFC 87
(mmamania.com)Finals are over at The State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY Cortland), which means that recent graduate Tamdan McCrory can resume his mixed martial arts career inside the Octagon.
“The Barncat” took a brief respite from competition to get his degree after falling victim to one of the most beautiful armbars in recent memory at UFC 78: “Validation,” losing to crafty veteran Akhiro Ghono in round two via submission back in November 2007.
He will return against The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 2 welterweight finalist, Luke Cummo, at UFC 87 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on August 9, according to FightTicker.com.
Cummo is also looking to bounce back from a loss after dropping a unanimous decision to Luigi Fioravanti at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” back in March. Prior to the defeat Cummo was on a two-fight win streak after losing back-to-back fights.
UFC 87 will feature the heavyweight tilt between Brock Lesnar and Mark Coleman, as well as the number one lightweight contender eliminator match between Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta.
Ortiz vs. White is UFC’s hottest feud
(sports.yahoo.com)Whether he wins or loses May 24 in Las Vegas against Lyoto Machida, it certainly appears Tito Ortiz will end his 11-year Ultimate Fighting Championship career. But there will be no televised celebration of his accomplishments when the fight is over.
UFC president Dana White will want it to end as quietly as possible, with Ortiz as an afterthought, and the crowning of the undefeated Machida as a new top star.
After years of a very public war between the promoter and one of his top stars, the UFC 84 fight essentially determines who gets in the last word.
“He’s one of the most dishonest human beings I’ve ever met,” White said. “I put up with him when he was a good fighter. He’s not anymore. He’s done. I’m no longer in the Tito Ortiz business.”
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