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Wanderlei Silva snorkel training: Lookout, Keith Jardine, at UFC 84 Posted: 02 May 2008 09:02 AM CDT Props: MMAWeekly.com Quoteworthy: To be honest, Jardine is taller, but I don’t think he is stronger than Wanderlei. When a fighter is bigger, it doesn’t always mean that he is stronger. Wanderlei has good training partners and some excellent sparring, some of them even taller then Jardine. We have planned well…. Wanderlei is always searching for the best training, and by that he wants the best for me. So he said to me that I will always travel to places where I can learn something to add on to his training. I am very happy to have a boss like him. By that, I have the opportunity to grow as a sport scientist. Today, I am studying a new training called HIPOXIA, which consist in a few words in a hard training with low demand of oxygen. This kind of training is developed in other sports and I am bringing it to MMA. It's a very hard type of training because the athlete must tolerate a huge quantity of lactic acid in the blood. Rafael Alejarra — personal strength and conditioning trainer for UFC light heavyweight Wanderlei Silva — talks about the preparation of his fighter for the fight against Keith Jardine at UFC 84: “Ill Will” on May 24. “The Axe Murderer” was first seen doing the odd-looking snorkel training on “UFC All Access” prior to his UFC 79 showdown with Chuck Liddell. He lost that fight via unanimous decision, and afterwards, admitted that perhaps he spent too much time conditioning and not enough time sparring. Let’s hope that’s fixed this time around.

Nick Diaz vs. Inoue Katsuya DREAM 3 fight booked Posted: 02 May 2008 08:50 AM CDT Former UFC star and current Elite XC lightweight, Nick Diaz (15-7), will travel overseas to take on Inoue Katsuya (16-5-3) during the DREAM 3 event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on May 11. This latest announcement gives the fighters just about 10 days to prepare for the showdown; however there’s no telling how long both of them have known about the fight. In fact, Diaz was in talks to take on Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud Marcelo Garcia on this same card prior to this most recent news. Diaz will look to rebound from his loss to KJ Noons for the vacant EliteXC lightweight title back in November 2007. It’s been a long strange trip back to action for him ever since — he had surgery on the scar tissue around his eyes to prevent cuts (he’s a bleeder) and the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) yanked him off a recent card at the last minute under very bizarre circumstances (centering mostly around his medical marijuana card). He is slated to take on Muhsin Corbbrey during the EliteXC show in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 14. Inoue is a Japanese fighter who has spent most of his time competing in the Pancrase organization. In ore than 20 professional bouts he has never submitted an opponent or been submitted himself. That could all change; however, if Diaz decides to leverage his strengths. Sometimes he just doesn’t do that. DREAM 3 will feature the second round of the 2008 Lightweight Grand Prix tournament, as well as the return of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Should be a nice card. DREAM 3 will air LIVE on the HDNet network at 3 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 11.

Zach Makovsky vs. Andres Gigetto Soares Elite XC CBS Saturday Night Fights undercard bout Posted: 02 May 2008 08:21 AM CDT Two more fights were recently added to the under card portion of Elite XC’s “Saturday Night Fights” at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on May 31, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com. In a 140-pound scrap, Philadelphia Fight Factory standout Zach Makovsky (3-1) will take on American Top Team product Andres “Gigetto” Soares (5-1). Makovsky was choked out January 25 at the ShoXC Challenger Series event in Atlantic City, N.J., by Wilson Reis — a world class Brazilian jiu-jitsu player. Before losing that fight, Makovsky had won three tough decisions to start his MMA career. He is a former Division I collegiate wrestler from Drexel University where he was victorious 72 times — good enough for 18th on the all time Drexel win list. The Brazilian-born Soares trains with some of the best fighters in the world at American Top Team. He is always ready to fight and brings and aggressive submission style attack to the cage. “Gigetto” is on a four fight win streak … all first round submissions, including a win only two weeks ago over Jason Spearman at Battle Cage Extreme 4. Also added to the card is a lightweight showdown between two winless, yet talented fighters. Mike Groves (0-1) — also a Philadelphia Fight Factory trainee — will take on Joe Sampieri (0-2) — a Muay Thai specialist. Groves lost his debut last October to undefeated Pat McGreal at Combat In The Cage. He boasts a strong boxing and wrestling background. There is a lot of buzz about his potential in the Philadelphia area, and he’ll be looking to rebound from the setback suffered at the hands of McGreal. Sampieri is the Muay Thai coach at Renzo Gracie’s jiu-jitsu academy in New York so he is obviously talented on his feet. He has had a rough start to his MMA career, dropping a unanimous decision to current IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz in his debut last April, followed by a first round submission (rear naked choke) loss to Jason Palacios four months later. All the under card bouts will be streamed live for free on ProElite.com. The main card will begin at 10 p.m. on CBS, featuring a heavyweight showdown between Kimbo Slice and James Thompson, as well as a 185-pound tilt between EliteXC Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith.

UFC Quick Quote: Rich Franklin may return to light heavyweight Posted: 01 May 2008 10:49 AM CDT “Rich has to make a decision. We’ve certainly considered going to 205 and seeing how he does up there. He’s fought almost everybody in the 185-pound division. There are some guys that he could fight, but if he beats them it knocks them out of title contention. And nobody is looking to see Rich and Anderson Silva 3 right now, including me. He’s not helping the 185-pound division right now by beating everybody up in it. We’ve talked about going to 205 and how would he match up with some of those guys, with a Forrest Griffin or a Keith Jardine. There’s a whole bunch of 205’s that I think would be interesting. In the end, we do what the UFC wants. If they want us to try 205, we’re up for it. If they want to keep us at 185, then we’ll do that too.” -Manager Monte Cox tells MMAweekly that former UFC middleweight champion (and light heavyweight competitor) Rich “Ace” Franklin is considering a return to light heavyweight if it makes sense for all parties involved.

Brandon Vera trains for Fabricio Werdum UFC 85 fight (Video) Posted: 01 May 2008 10:41 AM CDT (Thanks to BloodyElbow.com for the assist.)

Clean & Sober: Sherk and Penn pass random drug tests Posted: 01 May 2008 10:36 AM CDT BJ Penn (12-4-1) and Sean Sherk (31-2-1) are set to do battle on May 24 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand for the UFC lightweight championship. But not before submitting to random drug tests - which both fighters have passed according to MSNBC. The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) voted in favor of the extra measure because the "Muscle Shark" tested positive for a banned anabolic agent (Nandrolone) in the wake of his successful title defense against Hermes Franca at UFC 73: "Stacked" in July 2007. He was subsequently stripped of his crown, suspended and fined by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) — a ruling that he bitterly denies and blames on a mix of dietary supplements, shoddy lab work, breaches in the "chain of custody" and other factors. It was enough to get his suspension reduced from 12 months to six; however, Sherk's reputation has taken a big hit in the court of public opinion throughout the ordeal. Sherk was present for the NSAC proceedings last month via telephone and agreed to submit the extra sample during the week of April 21 — one full month prior to his fight with Penn. Now that he (and Penn) are officially clean (and hopefully sober), there can be no excuses one way or the other after May 24. The best man will win.

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