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UFC Quick Quote: Matt Hughes knee injury wont require surgery … for now Posted: 26 Jun 2008 08:19 AM CDT “I found out my results, I've got a totally torn MCL that is still attached to my femur. I've got a partially torn PCL. They really think that the PCL will repair itself and that MCL has a chance of repairing itself. So we're going to hold off on surgery right now. I am going to get a second opinion this week, so that might change; but for now we're going to hold off on surgery.” – Former welterweight champion Matt Hughes provides an update via his official blog regarding the knee injury he sustained during his fight with Thiago Alves at UFC 85: “Bedlam” earlier this month. Hughes was rocked with a flying knee in round two of the 170-pound main event, which caused his lower half to contort, twisting his knee in a bad way. “The Pitbull” quickly pounced on top of Hughes and pounded him out for the win. Hughes is believed to be taking on Matt Serra in his next fight; however, there’s no telling if this knee injury will persist and delay the showdown … again.

Cung Le is ‘at a crossroads’ in his career Posted: 25 Jun 2008 10:34 PM CDT Props: TopGunMMA.com Quoteworthy: “I just landed a big movie role with Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster. It’s been pretty exciting for me. I didn’t even get the role for my fighting abilities. I actually auditioned and I got it off straight acting. (It’s not based on martial arts) it’s science fiction. So far, the two movies that I did had fighting. They were saying that’s the best fight scene and they’re actually going to send it in to see if that fight scene gets best fight scene of the year with me and Channing Tatum. I feel like I still got a couple more good fights in me but at the same time I have to be smart. I’m at a crossroads. There’s a lot of great fighters out there. Of course, there’s the great Anderson Silva but that matchup doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to happen. He’s UFC, I’m Strikeforce. In the meantime, my next opponent is this movie. It’s an opportunity where I get to carry the action the whole movie and have a lot of acting. I’ve done a lot of fighting and I’ve done a lot for martial arts, but I’m sure if I get taken away for a couple of years or for good … it’s all pretty much in God’s hands right now.” Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le talks about his acting career taking off in a big way during a recent interview. The mash up quote above is a combination of things he said in the interview, rather than an answer to just one question. However, the gist is that he’s considering taking on acting full time and taking a step down from competing in mixed martial arts sometime in the relatively near future. Le will also play Marshall Law in the big screen version of the popular video game, Tekken, which is done filming and set to come out next year. There’s no word yet on when he will defend his new 185-pound title for the first time. Get him back in the cage … fast.

Ricardo Almeida: ‘My goal is to submit’ Patrick Cote at UFC 86 (Video) Posted: 25 Jun 2008 09:42 PM CDT

Elite XC makes ‘Unfinished Business’ official for CBS on July 26 (Update) Posted: 25 Jun 2008 06:52 PM CDT We all knew it was coming, but today Elite XC officially announced its second installment of “Saturday Night Fights” on CBS — “Unfinished Business” is set to take place at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif., on Saturday, July 26. In addition, as earlier reported the promotion will indeed split the event into a co-telecast between CBS and Showtime. Therefore, Showtime will air three high profile fights from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m ET, culminating with the first ever Elite XC heavyweight championship title bout between Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and an unnamed opponent. When pressed for the possible challenger, Elite XC officials would not budge on Silva’s potential opponent at this time. However, International Fight League (IFL) champ Roy “Big Country” Nelson and Dave “Pee Wee” Herman have both been mentioned in the past couple weeks as possibilities. Update: Sherdog.com is reporting that Segei Kharitonov is the possible opponent lined up for Silva. Stay tuned for more details. In addition, 145-pound standout and Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud Wilson Reis is also rumored to be a part of the Showtime portion of the event. The main card that will air on network television (CBS) will feature the Elite XC middleweight title rematch between champion, “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler, and challenger, Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith, as the main event. There is indeed plenty of unfinished business between the two after an all out war was prematurely stopped on the first CBS event because of an inadvertent thumb to Smith’s eye. CBS will air three other fights during its two-hour portion of the co-telecast, running from 9:00 p.m through 11:00 p.m. Two of those three fights have been confirmed, including the inaugural Elite XC welterweight title fight between Jake Shields and Nick “The Goat” Thompson, as well as a lightweight showdown between hometown fighter Nick Diaz and Thomas “Wildman” Denny. The other fight rumored to be aired on CBS is a womens match that will decide Gina Carano’s opponent for the company’s first womens championship in October. That fight is believed to be between Shayna Baszler and Kelly Kobald. Seven fights in all, including three title fights, will be on display via Showtime and CBS in Stockton, Calif., on July 26. There were mixed reviews for the first “SNF” event, but the ratings told a different story. It will be interesting to see how Elite XC does with its second bite at the primetime apple. We’ll keep you posted as more news is revealed involving this event.

Phil Baroni vs Scott Jansen Cage Rage main event set for July 12 Posted: 25 Jun 2008 02:14 PM CDT We reported earlier this week here on MMAmania.com that Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni (10-10) was moving down to the welterweight division for the first time ever and would compete on the Cage Rage: “Step Up” card on July 12. Today, his opponent, Scott Jansen (3-2), was revealed. In addition, the 170-pound fight will be featured as the main event of the evening. Jansen is a hometown English-born fighter who has competed mostly in the Cage Rage “Contenders” shows. He should make for an exciting match up for Baroni because he’s never gone the distance. And all three of his wins have come via technical knockouts and his two losses are by submissions. Clearly, Jansen prefers to stand and bang it out with his opponents and has some work to do on his submission defense. I doubt he’ll have to worry too much about defending submissions in this fight, however, because Baroni isn’t known to be much of a jiu-jitsu afficionado himself. In fact, Baroni’s cited his move to the 170-pound division as a result of the weight class not having many one-punch knockout artists such as himself. He thinks it’s something he can capitalize on and finally capture that world championship that has alluded him thus far in his career. “The New York Badass” is coming off three straight losses under the Elite XC banner, most recently losing on the May 31 “Saturday Night Fights” CBS show to Joey Villasenor by first round technical knockout. This should be an entertaining fight for the British fans. Baroni is a showman and is usually very exciting to watch despite his ridiculously long entrances. The co-featured fight of the night will be a heavyweight showdown between Robert “Buzz” Berry (12-7) and Neil Grove(5-1).

Affliction MMA to partner with Fight Network to air ‘Banned’ Posted: 25 Jun 2008 01:51 PM CDT Over the weekend, The Fight Network announced that it has landed exclusive rights to air the one hour under card portion of the July 19 Affliction: “Banned” pay-per-view (PPV) event on its network. The Fight Network's president and CEO, George Burger, made the announcement at a press conference held at the MMA Expo in Toronto, Canada. Burger was flanked at the press conference by Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio; Fight Network Senior Vice President and founder Mike Garrow; Mark "The Machine" Hominic; as well as heavyweights, Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski and “Big” Ben Rothwell, who are set to face each other on the star studded card. Here's a snip from Burger on the news: "This is a stellar card, arguably the best collection of heavyweights under one roof in the history of MMA. The Fight Network is excited to be working side by side with Affliction in taking the launch of this promotion worldwide … Not only are we showing the undercard live and exclusively on our Network, a great lead-in to the Pay-Per-View event, but we are also distributing the Pay-Per-View in Canada, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom." Mauro Ranallo was the emcee for the press conference and revealed that both he and “Big” John McCarthy will be calling the play-by-play on July 19. The Afflicition Banned main event showcases the return of Fedor Emelianenko against former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The rest of the card reads like a rolodex of match ups any promotion would be eager to put together in a heartbeat. The question now remains: Do we pay to watch an absolutely spectacular card Affliction card or do we peep the best pound-for-pound fighter take a step up in weight and headline a card that is taking shape nicely for free? Set the Tivo … it's going to be a busy weekend. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Ultimate Fighter 8 video trailer and preview Posted: 25 Jun 2008 01:37 PM CDT The next installment of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) is set to kick-off its eighth season on September 17 on Spike TV with a mix of lightweights and light heavyweights. Here’s the video trailer for those who missed it over the weekend: (Thanks to BloodyElbow.com for the assist.)

Brad Blackburn vs James Giboo UFC Fight Night 14 fight booked Posted: 25 Jun 2008 12:07 PM CDT The steady drumbeat of fresh faces continues with official confirmation that welterweight newcomers Brad Blackburn (12-9-1) and James Giboo (11-2) will lock horns at UFC Fight Night 14 at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 19. Blackburn –- a seven-fight International Fight League (IFL) veteran –- has had his share of bright moments with impressive wins against high-caliber opponents such as Delson Heleno, Jay Hieron and Chris Wilson, among others. However, recent losses to Mark Miller and Rory Markham have overshadowed those accomplishments. He'll look to keep a two-fight win streak alive and avoid any setbacks when he makes his Octagon debut against Giboo. A veteran fighter of the Midwest mixed martial arts scene, Giboo is a submission specialist (nine in 12 professional bouts) who has never been past round two in his career win or lose. In fact, several of those submissions are of the verbal variety, meaning he has a punishing ground and pound attack, too. Giboo most recently stopped Zeke Schilling at Iowa Challenge 47 just 70 seconds into round one. UFC Fight Night 14 features light heavyweight debut of UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva against hard-hitting James Irvin. To check out the most recent fight card, which is now almost complete and official, click here.

MMA Quick Quote: Fans calling for a UFC 5 rematch? Posted: 25 Jun 2008 11:50 AM CDT The second time I beat him in every aspect of the fight; in fact his corner had to carry him out. Fans have been calling for a rematch ever since. After this particular fight Royce left the UFC. As a matter of fact I ran the entire Gracie family out of the UFC. His talk is cheap. Let's settle it in the cage. I heard Royce agree to a rematch three times now, every time he has come up with a reason not to fight me. Royce and my brother Frank should get together and write a book about how to set up fights and not fight. – UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock fires back at Royce Gracie who dismissed the aging star as irrelevant in today’s fight game in a recent interview with MMAyou.com. Shammy last competed at Cage Rage 25 where he was knocked out by Robert “Buzz” Berry and is just 2-8 in his last 10 fights.

DREAM 5: Fomer PRIDE heavyweight Mark Hunt to appear? Posted: 25 Jun 2008 11:22 AM CDT While nothing has been announced, it’s interesting to see the face of former PRIDE heavyweight Mark Hunt (5-3) on the promotional banner for DREAM 5, which coincidentally features a heavyweight showdown between Mirko Cro Cop — who also appears on the banner — and Jerome LeBanner — who does not. Hmmm …

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