Fantasy MMA Picks and Wagers for UFC and other MMA Events

You probably remember Sam Hoger (Pictures). He was the “thief” on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the Spike TV reality show that breathed new life into the Ultimate Fighting Championship and put it on track to windfall profits. In an episode toward the end of the season, Hoger played dumb when his training partners discovered their gear was missing. When it was later found in Hoger’s bags, he halfheartedly apologized with a wide grin, and just like that the show had a villain viewers couldn’t wait to see smashed in the cage. If you remember Hoger, it’s likely because of that little piece of drama. He’ll take that.

Bryan Alvarez of Figure 4 Online reported during the site’s daily update on Tuesday that the UFC appears likely to return to Montreal at the Bell Centre on Dec. 5 with current UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre a possible headliner.

Have you noticed the compete lack of heat going into the second Affliction show on October 11th? You’re not the only one. The promotion will headline their second big show (this time at the Thomas & Mack Center) with a main event of Josh Barnett vs. Andrei Arlovski. On paper, it’s an excellent bout. In reality, however, it’s going to be hard to see the fight moving the needle as far as casual fan interest is concerned. Affliction spent so much energy promoting Fedor on their debut show that the theme for the second show is, “Which heavyweight will end up facing Fedor down the road?” Call it the “Kimbo Slice effect,” but Affliction’s second show could turn out in similar fashion in terms of crowd heat as Elite XC’s second show on CBS did when they didn’t have Kimbo Slice on the card as opposed to their initial showing on broadcast TV. The great irony in Fedor not appearing for the second Affliction show is that he claims he wants to fight on New Year’s Eve for DREAM in Japan. DREAM is another promotion that is teetering on the edge of collapse and given Fedor’s track record of headlining promotions that have gone out of business, it would be a sad but fitting end to K-1 & DSE’s bastard child of an MMA project gone horribly stale.

Rodrigo Damm’s debut on MMA wasn’t like he was expecting, but since then everything is perfect. With eight straight wins, Damm will be at Sengoku’s lightweight GP, that starts at August 24th, against Eiji Matsuoka. Training at Minotauro Team (Rodrigo Nogueira and Anderson Silva’s team), Damm is focused on the title to earn a chance to fight Takanori Gomi. In an interview to TATAME, the athlete spoke about his beginning in MMA, his training at Nogueira’s team, about his sister (Carina Damm) and his preparation to the GP. Check below the complete interview.

The latest IFL fighters to find new homes are Alex Schoenauer and John Gunderson, who will compete for the Palace Fighting Championship promotion. They'll continue their mixed martial arts career, at least for now, with the Lemoore, California-based promotion launched in Jan. 2007 to fill the void left at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino when Zuffa purchased the WEC and moved it to Las Vegas. Schoenauer (14-9) and Gunderson (15-5) could see promotional debuts at PFC 11 on Nov. 20 in Lemoore, California. Here's a list of where other IFL stars have ended up since the promotion closed its doors... Affliction Roy Nelson Chris Horodecki Vladimir Matyushenko Jay Hieron Ben Rothwell UFC Matt Horwich Dan Miller Rory Markham Jamal Patterson Reese Andy WEC Bart Palaszewski Sengoku Ryan Schultz

It’s Jason mania. Jason MacDonald (20-10) will fill-in for an injured Jason Day and take on Jason Lambert (23-8) in a middleweight bout at UFC 88: “Breakthrough” at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga., on September 6, according to Sherdog.com. “Dooms” apparently hurt his biceps muscle while training for the fight and was forced to withdraw, opening the window of opportunity for another Canadian to claim redemption. “The Athlete” is coming off a third round submission loss to Demian Maia at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” earlier this month. It marked the third loss in his last five attempts inside the Octagon — quite a departure from his early success that earned MacDonald the nickname “TUF Killer.”

More changes are upcoming for the UFC 88 card in Atlanta as James Lee has been forced off the show with an undisclosed injury. His opponent, Tim Boetsch, will now face Ultimate Fighting championship newcomer, Mike Patt, as confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight. Mike Patt is a veteran fighter of Bodog as well as numerous regional shows, and currently boasts an impressive 11-2 record. The Ohio based fighter most recently competed in Fight Time Productions in Oklahoma, defeating Adam Rodman in November 2007. Now Patt will step up to the UFC and face a very tough competitor in Tim Boetsh, who looks to bounce back after suffering his first loss in the Octagon to Matt Hamill back in April.

The games actually pretty cool. Although it's pretty difficult to line up the guy correctly.

It's looking more and more unlikely that BJ Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre will happen this year as originally expected. First, St. Pierre publicly stated his need for a rest on a blog he posted for the French Canadian website RDS.ca. I don't know if I'll be stepping back into the Octagon before 2009. I've fought four times in the last 12 months. I therefore need some rest. I like the life I lead, but I sometimes need to relax. It's not the fight as such that's exhausting; it's all the preparation that comes with it. I've made so many sacrifices to prepare myself. During training camps, I practically do not live anymore. It's therefore on a psychological level that I need to recharge. Now JD Penn, BJ Penn's brother, is stating that Penn is training and expecting a fight sometime in December, but that the fight in question will likely not be against Georges St. Pierre. Instead, the two UFC superstars appear to be eying a return engagement in February 2009 as part of the UFC's Superbowl card.

Double post

World Victory Road confirmed the fight order for Sengoku 4 at 24th August. Also confirmed Yuki Sasaki as a participant of the Middleweight GP Series and Xande Ribeiro, Roger Gracie, and Jorge Masvidal as participants of the Sengoku 5 at 28th September.

Source’s close to the camp of TUF 2 winner, Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, have confirmed to Mmabay that they have been offered and accepted a fight against Kenny Florian on November 15th, likely to be UFC 91. Mmabay can also confirm that the fight has been accepted by Florian and is most likely to be held in Boston, giving Florian the home turf advantage as he looks to bridge the gap between his last fight and a possible title shot next summer against B.J. Penn. Stevenson himself is moving back up the title ladder. After rebounding from his disappointment at not winning the title in January, Stevenson bounced back with an impressive second round win against Gleison Tibau at UFC 86 in July. Looks like this fight is for real.