Fantasy MMA Picks and Wagers for UFC and other MMA Events

LAS VEGAS – Anderson Silva has been one of the elite mixed martial arts fighters in the world for the past 18 months or so. He hasn't been a star, though, until recently. But on Thursday, the large media scrum that squeezed in tightly to hear Silva's every utterance was symbolic of his rise to stardom. Fighting talent and box-office appeal don't always go hand-in-hand and some of the game's best fighters frequently are poor draws. But Silva compensated for his lack of proficiency in English in front of an entirely English-speaking media by grinning and grunting and grimacing to captivate an audience that couldn't understand a word he said. The UFC middleweight champion will move up to light heavyweight on Saturday to meet rugged James Irvin in a nationally televised card on Spike TV from The Pearl at The Palms Theater.

With 10 fighters making their UFC debuts at tonight's UFC Fight Night 14 event, it is a safe assumption that all of them were excited when the opportunity to fight in the world's biggest MMA promotion was bestowed upon them. But for Shannon Gugerty (10-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), he had a feeling his time was quickly approaching. "I just had that gut feeling that [the chance to fight in the UFC] was coming really soon," Gugerty recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "And then, sure enough, my manager Matt Stansell (from NCFC Fight Management), he called me up about four weeks ago, and he said 'The UFC is looking to put on a show the same day as that Affliction card, July 19. You think you'd be ready to fight by then?'"

I know it's not news but I just wanted to put it where everyone may see it. Go to mmaload.com and add the link and watch affliction banned from a live stream, it's that simple.

Reese Andy may not be known by a lot of fans, especially casual UFC fans. However, he has a chance to propel himself to the forefront of the light heavyweight division, as he will take on Brandon “The Truth” Vera, who is making his debut at 205 pounds, on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 14. Quite a few fighters, including Dan Henderson, turned down a fight with Vera, but Reese Andy didn’t hesitate. “I was excited about the offer,” said Andy recently on MMAWeekly Radio. “I wasn't going to pick and choose to get into the show I want to get into. I know other guys turned it down and they have their reasons why they're doing it. I'm not going to turn anything down like that.”

Top middleweight contender Yushin Okami has suffered another hand injury — this time in training — and will more than likely be unable to challenge 185-pound champion Anderson Silva anytime soon, according to MMARated.com. “Thunder” initially broke his hand against Evan Tanner at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” — a fight the Japanese import won via crushing knockout. There’s currently no word on whether or not this is a fresh break or if he re-aggravated the existing damage. The tentative plan was to pit Okami against Silva as soon as UFC 88: “Breakthrough” on September 6 if the “Spider” escaped his non-title light heavyweight fight tonight with James Irvin injury-free. Patrick Cote would then take on the winner of that match in late 2008. Now it seems that the “Predator” may have leapfrogged Okami — the last man to deal Silva a loss (albeit disqualification — for a chance to next take on the feared Brazilian striker.

Forrest is the man!!! People should watch this interview!...

Arlovski explained during a recent Affliction conference call with media that following a brief period where he was unable to negotiate with other promotions, it was ultimately Affliction that won his services inside the ring. “First of all I had 60 days basically for negotiations with the UFC,” he said about his contract negotiations. “After that time my management talked with Affliction and we got a deal.” Now Arlvoski can just get back to the business of fighting and next up on the agenda is a battle with former IFL top dog Ben Rothwell. To get ready for Rothwell, Arlovski trained with regular coach Mike Garcia, but he also enlisted the help of famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach. Roach worked with Arlovski for about three weeks leading up to the fight with Rothwell and his new boxing coach will also accompany him to the ring and work his corner for the upcoming fight. “I was very happy Freddie (Roach) let me train with him because I know it’s a big line to work with Freddie Roach, and when my friends told me he had time to train with (me) I said I’m in,” Arlovski commented. “Anytime, he would let me come to his gym, I’m in.”

“Our plan is to do three events, and if we’re successful with those, then we’ll continue and go from there. I’m in business to make money, not lose money. We’ll see how it goes.” – Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio tells the Chicago Sun-Times that his upstart promotion could call it quit after three shows if the profits aren’t living up to expectations. It took the UFC — the top organization in the business — several years to begin making money. In addition, other promotions such as Elite XC and the IFL, which have been around much longer than Affliction, have yet to turn profits. There is literally a lot riding on the “Banned” debut tomorrow and the next to shows if Atencio sticks to his guns.

Jesse "JT Money" Taylor advanced to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter Season 7, but was released from the show and kicked out of the finale for his destructive behavior following the filming on the popular reality series on Spike TV. Taylor makes his official Ultimate Fighting Championship debut July 19 against the man who replaced him in the finals, C.B. Dollaway, in an effort to put the past behind him and prove he belongs in mixed martial arts' premier organization. "It's a dream come true to come back. And I'm more ready than ever," Taylor told MMAWeekly.com. "I can't wait to get back in there."

Shinichi “BJ” Kojima defeated Mamoru Yamaguchi via guillotine choke in their rubber match. Kojima retained his Shooto 123-pound world title. Yusuke Endo claimed the Shooto 154-pound Pac-Rim belt with a unanimous decision victory over Kenichiro Togashi. The title was vacated by current Shooto 154-pound world champion Takashi Nakakura. Shinya Murofushi made his mark as one of Shooto’s best 115-pound fighters with a win over Takehiro Harusaki.

Matt Lindland is one of the most respected middleweight fighters in the world. He’s defeated top competitors such as Carlos Newton, Jeremy Horn, Travis Lutter and Phil Baroni. He’s been out of action for over a year, but he will make his return the ring on July 21 in Affliction’s debut show. He will be taking on a well-rounded fighter in Fabio Negao. “I'm excited to get in the ring,” said Lindland recently on MMAWeekly Radio. Even though he has not fought for a while, he is very confident going into this fight. “His name is Fabio. What else is there to say? There is no way I'm losing to a guy named Fabio. I don't know what else we got to talk about. If I had a name like that, I would hate my parents for doing that.”

Back in the day, before anybody read us, we used to post whatever we wanted. All kinds of crazy stuff. Then, we actually got an audience and we started to hear the lectures: “You can’t post that stuff! This site is considered legitimate!” or “You should be ashamed of yourselves. You have a responsibility based on your status not to cross the line.” We took a lot of that stuff to heart and changed our approached for the most part. However, we try to have a little fun every now and then and when we do, people freak out. I still don’t think some people have let go of the Edith Larrente post we did a while back. Whatever. So while we usually try to stay high-brow, that’s not always going to be the case. Some things are just too good not to call to your attention, such as the below video of Ariel Helwani of MMARated.com interviewing Andrei Arlovski. Arlovski used to date Patrycja Mikula until the two broke up (which is usually the case when people break up). Then there were rumors that Mikula and Tim Sylvia were involved when the two were seen together during Adrenaline MMA’s first show. The whole Sylvia and Mikula rumor was never confirmed but it wasn’t really ever denied. So towards the end of the interview, Ariel decided to go straight to one of the sources and try and get the scoop. Arlovski said he didn’t care and didn’t want to talk about it. Then, Ariel got a very humorous answer regarding a question Arlovski has for Sylvia that might not be safe for work. Maybe I just have a juvenile sense of humor, but the line, as well as the delivery, still have me cracking up. In fact, it keeps getting more funny every time I watch it.