UFC blog for latest news, videos, results, betting odds, fighter interviews and MMA rumors - UFCmania.com

Nam Phan vs Billy Evangelista Strikeforce fight in the works for June 27 (Exclusive) Posted: 05 May 2008 08:28 AM CDT Nam Phan (14-4) and Billy Evangelista (6-0) will finally get their chance to fight each other Friday, June 27 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on the Strikeforce 10: “Melendez vs. Thomson” card. The two lightweights were originally scheduled to fight last November at Strikeforce: “Four Men Enter, One Man Survives,” but it was scrapped because of injuries. The 25-year-old Phan is a scrappy lightweight with blazing speed and knockout power. He’s won nine of his last 11 fights, including five technical knockouts and three submissions. His last fight under the Strikeforce banner was a unanimous decision loss to now number one lightweight contender Josh “The Punk” Thomson in December of 2006 at Strikeforce: “Triple Threat.” It was a great fight (video here) — perhaps the fight of the night; however, in the end Phan seemed just too small for Thomson and “The Punk” controlled most of the fight. Evangelista is coming off a third round knockout of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 6 alum — and self proclaimed street fighting legend — Marlon Sims at Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Le” in March. Before that he won a split decision at the Playboy mansion over Clint Coronel last September. He is undefeated (3-0) fighting for Strikeforce and is among the promotion’s top young prospects. Despite his wrestling and jiu jitsu background, he has a decent stand up game. Four of his six wins have been by technical knockout. This should be an electrifying fight. Both of these guys bring it every time out and are always looking to end fights on their feet. Of course, the main event for this show is a lightweight title fight between champion Gilbert Melendez and Josh “The Punk” Thomson.

Roger Huerta to train with Greg Jackson camp Posted: 05 May 2008 08:18 AM CDT Props: MMAWeekly.com Quoteworthy: "He's a really, really nice guy, great fighter, tons of heart. He kind of mentioned that he would like to come down to New Mexico and try it out. Hopefully it will help everybody and everybody will win." Mixed martial arts super trainer, Greg Jackson, reveals that Roger Huerta will train with his camp in Albuquerque, N.M., prior to his lightweight showdown with Kenny Florian at UFC 87 in August. The 155-bout is widely considered the number one title contender eliminator match, making it perhaps the most important fight for “El Matador” in his career to date. Huerta has not competed since December 2007 and will likely thrive training alongside UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, as well as Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt and other top fighters.

Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda WEC 34 fight hype (Video) Posted: 05 May 2008 08:06 AM CDT This is going to be good … real good:

MMA Quick Quote: Nick Diaz might need a doctors note for round two with KJ Noons Posted: 05 May 2008 06:12 AM CDT “I think that's ridiculous. When you have the title you don't, you can't dodge anybody and why would the Diaz camp think I am dodging him? I gave him plastic surgery, on his face. That's a fact. As long as he can get a doctor's note, sure whatever, round two.” – EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons responds to Nick Diaz’s camp claiming he’s ducking him by not giving him an immediate rematch for the belt in a recent interview with MMAYou.com to respond. Noons is defending his title for the first time against Yves Edwards on June 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii instead. That fight will air on Showtime.

Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole Elite XC fight scheduled for Hawaii Posted: 05 May 2008 06:12 AM CDT Elite XC Live Events President Gary Shaw recently announced a light heavyweight scrap for the June 14 show at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, between Rafael Feijao (5-1) and Wayne Cole (11-6). For those of you who don’t know Feijao, he is the real deal. His only loss came at an IFL show against former UFC heavyweight Marcio Cruz. He wasn’t beat that night, but he lost because of an illegal kick. Rules are rules. Feijao is strong as an ox, hits like a truck and is surprisingly very agile for his size (he’s a large light heavyweight and former heavyweight). He knocked out John Doyle with a knee to the body in the first round during the “Street Ceritfied” event earlier this year in Miami, Fla. It was very impressive to say the least, but that highlight knockout isn’t what I remember most about him. What stuck out was who was in his corner screaming instructions to him at the top of his lungs the entire two minutes and 17 seconds of the fight — none other than UFC champions Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira. Is there a better corner tandem to have than that? And these are the guys he trains with everyday. Enough said. Cole fought on the “Shamrock vs. Le” co-promoted event between Strikeforce and Elite XC, during which he scored a first round submission (armbar) win over Mike Kyle. He has won three fights in a row now and four out of his past five. He’ll be ready for Feijao, but might not have the talent to sustain the Brazilian’s attack. This is another fight I’m super excited for on the June 14 Hawaii show, if for no other reason, but another opportunity to see Feijao fight again. He’s that impressive. Check out the complete main card for the Elite XC June 14 show after the jump. EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Tony Bonello Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole Dave “Pee Wee” Herman vs. Ron “H2O” Waterman

MMA News and Notes on ESPN (Video) Posted: 04 May 2008 11:32 PM CDT This is rather new and interesting … how long will it last?:

UFC 84 after party with Arianny Celeste in Las Vegas Posted: 04 May 2008 10:24 PM CDT

Lyoto Machida: ‘Ill beat Tito’ Ortiz at UFC 84 fight (Video) Posted: 04 May 2008 09:42 PM CDT Props: Yahoo! Note that UFC President Dana White has some positive things to say about Tito Ortiz despite their well publicized differences. Perhaps it’s heartfelt or he’s just wearing his promoter cap. We’ll see after the fight on May 24.

Ron Waterman vs. Dave ‘Pee Wee’ Herman Elite XC fight set for June 14 Posted: 04 May 2008 09:28 PM CDT Remember Pee Wee Herman? Well, there’s more than one believe it or not. And this guy is a lot bigger and hits a lot harder. His name is Pee Wee Herman too, but he’s an Elite XC heavyweight contender and he’s undefeated. Dave “Pee Wee” Herman (10-0) will fight MMA journeyman Ron “H2O” Waterman (15-5-2) in a fight that will round out the main card for Elite XC’s June 14 event in Honolulu, Hawaii. I mentioned in the Feijao and Cole fight announcement how impressed I was with Feijao while watching him live at “Street Certified” in Miami, Fla.. Well, I was equally as impressed — if not more — with Herman that night. Pee Wee was fighting Mario Rinaldi, who is this short, but a huge wrecking ball of a man. Rinaldi immediately shot in on Herman for the single leg takedown, but Herman stood his ground … on one leg, and commenced to pounding the living daylights out of Rinaldi’s face. It was unbelievable — Rinaldi held on to Herman’s leg for dear life while Pee Wee continued to unload on his face for the entire five minutes of round one. Eventually, in the third round the punishment took its toll on Rinaldi and he went down. If there is anything negative that could be said about Dave Herman’s performance that night, it’s that he was completely gassed out by the end of the fight, but in my opinion, any heavyweight would have been after throwing non stop punches for 10 straight minutes. Also, I’m not sure if the fight wasn’t over sooner because Herman didn’t have the power to finish, or if Rinaldi just had the world’s hardest head, but being there in person, I’d have to lean toward the latter. Either way, it should be exciting to see Pee Wee Herman fight again. His opponent this time around is much more experienced and seasoned, however. Waterman is not a guy who is just going to sit there and let you hit him. This is one powerful human being — he has muscles the Governator (Arnold) hasn’t even heard of. Besides his obvious strength, Waterman has a wealth of MMA experience. He’s fought in the UFC, Pride, and Pancrase. And he’s taken on some of the best in the heavyweight division, including Mirko Cro Cop (loss), Ricco Rodriguez (win and loss), Kevin Randelman (win), and Roger Gracie (loss) among others. This is a bit of a step up in competition for Pee Wee Herman (can’t say that enough) and it will be very interesting to see how he does. Perhaps a solid performance will mean a possible future showdown with Elite XC star Kimbo Slice. Time will tell.

Joe Lauzon thinks Keith Florian was a ‘punk’ Posted: 04 May 2008 09:13 PM CDT Props: BostonHerald.com Quoteworthy: “We saw (Keith Florian) in the hotel that night and he was being a complete punk in the elevator. It was totally unnecessary. I had told Kenny that I definitely wanted to go up there and work out with him at Sityodtong (gym in Somerville), but I'm really rethinking that. I'm definitely not going to do that for the way his brother acted. It was just poor taste all around." Joe Lauzon details an encounter he had with Keith Florian — the brother of Kenny Florian — after the UFC Fight Night 13 event in Broomfield, Colo., last month. “Ken Flo” defeated “J Lau” in the main event of the evening via second round technical knockout. Apparently Keith felt the need to rub it in afterwards.

You are subscribed to email updates from UFC blog for UFC news, results, videos, rumors, fights, pics and tickets -- MMAmania.com To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of UFC blog for UFC news, results, videos, rumors, fights, pics and tickets -- MMAmania.com in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: UFC blog for UFC news, results, videos, rumors, fights, pics and tickets -- MMAmania.com, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610