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Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley vs Lyman Good Elite XC fight likely for September 20 Posted: 15 Aug 2008 08:10 AM CDT Undefeated 170-pound Ring of Combat champion Lyman Good (7-0) is expected to ink a six fight deal with Elite XC shortly, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com. In addition, the New Jersey native and Team Tiger Schullman-trained fighter is rumored to make his promotional debut at “The Pit” in Albuquerque, N.M., on September 20 against Cage Rage Welterweight Champion Paul “Semtex” Daley. Good most recently won a unanimous decision over Alex Aquino at Ring of Combat 18 in March. He also holds notable victories over “The Ultimate Fighter” contestants Mike Dolce and Eric Charles. If this fight does go down on September 20, it will be the first for “Semtex” on U.S. soil since a January 25 knockout over Sam Morgan. Daley went into a quasi-retirement after the win and just recently returned to action with a first round knockout victory over Bojan Kosednar at a Cage Warriors show in his hometown of Nottingham, England, in July. Daley has a huge following in England and is expected to turn a lot of heads when he makes his return to the states. He’s on a six fight winning streak and has stopped his last five opponents with strikes. He represents one of the biggest threats to Elite XC Welterweight Champion Jake Shields’ crown. Albuquerque native Joey Villasenor is also expected to be in action at “The Pit” on September 20. He was originally rumored to be facing Murilo “Ninja” Rua in the main event, but that fight appears to be scrapped for now. A replacement for Ninja has not been announced. Stay locked on MMAmania.com for more info on this event as it’s announced.

Vitor Belfort withdraws from October 11 Affliction bout against Matt Lindland Posted: 15 Aug 2008 03:03 AM CDT Easy come, easy go. Vitor Belfort has withdrawn from his middleweight bout against Matt Lindland at the Affliction: ‘Day of Reckoning’ event at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 11 according to MMA Weekly Radio. “The Phenom” sustained a broken hand in his 185 pound debut, when he stopped Terry Martin in the second round at Affliction: "Banned" with a nice combination that was set up by a flying knee. From Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio: “Vitor is out, I spoke with him I think yesterday and he told me. Actually, it was on Tuesday we had a conversation for about an hour or so and yeah, I guess he broke his hand in two places is what he told me and he had been having 2, 3 and 4 opinions on it. He finally got the opinion that he wanted I guess and they told him to step out for a while." Atencio doesn’t sound very sympathetic based on those comments. Perhaps Belfort may have underestimated the seriousness of his injury when committing to the Lindland bout. He insisted in an interview with Tatame following the Martin fight that he would be fine and ready to rock on October 11. Regardless, Atencio now has to start doing some major field recruiting to find Lindland a suitable opponent. Like Belfort, “The Law” was victorious on July 19 when he took home a unanimous decision win over Fabio Negao. The rumor mill has current Elite XC welterweight champion, Jake Shields, defecting to Affliction (for at least one fight) to face Lindland on the October 11 show, but Atencio had no comment. Affliction "Day of Reckoning" takes place on October 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and features the main event of Josh "The Babyface Assassin" Barnett (23-5) vs. Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski (13-5). The winner is expected to meet WAMMA heavyweight champion and Russian Tyrannosaur Fedor Emelianenko (28-1) for the heavyweight strap at Affliction's third event. The remainder of the card could be finalized by as early as next week Stay tuned.

UFC Quick Quote: Donald Trump will always have a seat at Dana White’s table Posted: 14 Aug 2008 11:35 PM CDT “I have a ton of respect for [Donald Trump]. When the Fertittas bought the UFC, most venues wouldn't deal with us. We were outlaws. Our first event was at the Trump Taj Mahal, and Trump actually came to the fights. You'll never hear me say a bad word about Donald Trump. He can have my seats anytime." – UFC President Dana White — who is featured in the most recent edition of Playboy magazine — talks about just about everything, including his thoughts on Mark Cuban (HDNet Fights) and Donald Trump (Affliction MMA). He also touches on the HBO deal that never was, John McCain and Barack Obama, boxing, ratings and the percieved violence of the sport. And of course, Tito Ortiz, calling him a “bigmouthed bitch, that clown.” Head over to WrestlingObserver.com for the annotated Cliffs Notes version of the sit-down. Or just go buy Playboy as soon as possible. You might actually get away with the “I read it for the articles” excuse on this one.

Elite XC: ShoXC weigh-in results for Suganuma vs Hamman 2 Posted: 14 Aug 2008 11:12 PM CDT The official weigh-in event for tomorrow night’s SHO XC Challenger Series 7: “Suganuma vs Hamman 2″ at the Table Mountain Casino in Friant, Calif., are official. Here are the ShoXC weigh-in results: 205 lbs.: Poai Suganuma (205) vs. Jared Hamman (203.5) 205 lbs.: Cyrille "Snake" Diabate (203.5) vs. Jaime Fletcher (204) 160 lbs.: Sammy Morgan (160) vs. Fabricio "Morango" Camoes (161) 140 lbs.: Debi "Whiplash" Purcell (129) vs. Rosi Sexton (130) 190 lbs.: Keith "KO" Berry (191) vs. Ray Lizama (190.5) 155 lbs.: Marcus Levesser (154.5) vs. David “Tarzan” Douglas (154.5) 170 lbs.: Kenny “The Poet” Johnson (171) vs. Lucas Gamaza (169.5) 140 lbs.: Josh Rave (131) vs. Jesse Brock (139) 150 lbs.: Ralph Lopez (148.5) vs. Roberto Vargas (150) 140 lbs.: Melanie LaCroix (139) vs. Katrina Alendale (138.5) *Note: Fighters are allowed to weigh one pound more than the division limit in non-title fights. The main event of the night will be a light heavyweight rematch between Poai Suganuma and Jared Hammen. The two fighters sport identical records (9-1) after Suganuma handed Hamman his first career loss in a 15-second knockout (flying knee) at an April SHO XC event. For Elite XC, this event is expected to inject some much needed buzz into the 205-pound division. Brazilian Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante is widely considered the kingpin of the promotion’s light heavyweight class, but company executives are hoping a star or two will emerge from this event as a likely opponent for Feijao in the company’s first division title fight sometime in the near future. MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action tomorrow night (Friday, August 15), which is slated to begin at 11 p.m. ET on Showtime from the aforementioned Table Mountain Casino. Of course, the latest quick updates of the prelim bouts will begin to flow earlier than that at around 9 p.m. ET. See you then!

Frank Trigg vs Falaniko ‘Niko’ Vitale Strikeforce fight likely October 3 Posted: 14 Aug 2008 10:05 PM CDT Falaniko “Niko” Vitale (26-8) is the likely opponent for Frank Trigg (16-6) at Strikeforce: “Payback” at the Broomfield Event Center in Denver, Colo., on October 3. The promotion today alluded to the middleweight showdown in a press release; however, “Twinkle Toes” will have to first escape his showdown against Makoto Takimoto at Sengoku 4 on August 24 relatively unscathed. “Niko” has been around the fight game for the better part of the last decade. He took his first professional mixed martial arts fight in October of 1999 — a first round technical knockout win over Aaron Riley. From July 2005 to January 2007 he lost four of five fights, including two knockouts to current Elite XC Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler, a submission loss to Mayhem Miller, and a split decision to Jeremy Horn. Since then he’s reeled off five wins in six fights, going (1-1) under the Strikeforce banner. Some of his more notable wins include Dave Menne, Matt Lindland and Yushin Okami. Vitale has been out of action since competing in and winning an x-1 Champions tournament-style event on January 26. He defeated both Ricky Shivers and Joey Guel during the event. Trigg could possibly have a little cage rust himself. He has not yet competed in 2008. His last fight was in December 2007 — a submission win over Edwin Dewees. That doesn’t mean, however, that the 36-year-old doesn’t still have some gas left in the tank. His fourth round knockout loss to Robbie Lawler was one of the best fights of 2007. Throw in wins over Kazuo Misaki and Mayhem Miller recently as well, and Trigg has shown he can still fight at a high level and put on a good show. Strikeforce is looking to showcase the middleweight division with this event. There are already two other intriguing 185-pound match ups on this card with Kazuo Misaki vs. Joe Riggs and a potential showdown between Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and Trevor Prangley. With recent reports that division champion Cung Le could be back in action by the year’s end, this event might be the perfect opportunity for a challenger to emerge.

MMA Live on ESPN Episode 14 (Video) Posted: 14 Aug 2008 09:51 PM CDT

Blinded by the light … er … right: Update on Heath Herring UFC 87 ‘orbital fracture’ Posted: 14 Aug 2008 06:35 PM CDT Just got off the phone with Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring. I wanted to follow up with him regarding a recent post on his Facebook page. The post in question: “What are fractures of the orbit? When one or more bones surrounding the eye are broken, the condition is called orbital fracture. The orbit is the bony structure around the eye. An orbital fracture usually occurs after some type of injury or a strike to the face. Depending on where the fracture is located, it can be associated with severe eye injury and damage.” Does this imply that Herring damaged his orbital bone in his August 9 fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 87? It would seem so. It probably doesn't help that referee Dan Miragliotta seemed to have poked Herring in the eye before the fight even started! Here's the story from Heath's perspective: “Yeah, I don't know where all that came from. Right off the bat when I got caught with that right hand, obviously something hit my eye, but I think we're going to be okay with it. We've gone and talked to several doctors, so everything is going to be okay, I think.” So does this mean there is no orbital bone fracture? I was confused. “Well it's not that I fractured it. I think it's going to repair itself, I think everything's going to be fine. There's nothing the doctors can do. The swelling's already gone down a lot. I heal quick, I'm real fortunate in that regard.” Speaking of that first punch, it clearly set the tone for the rest of the fight. From watching the fight, you'd think that punch rocked Herring enough to keep him cautious for the remainder of the fight. Perhaps it did. But it also didn't help matters that he was blinded in his one eye from the outset — all thanks to that one punch. He couldn't see a thing. “Oh sure. I mean you go into the fight and you start off right away blind. So you're handicapping yourself right from the getgo. That's never a good thing, of course, especially in this sport. But we went out there and got caught early on and suffered the consequences from that and then just tried to push on through the rest of the fight. Unfortunately we weren't able to mount the best of offenses at that point. It's a little bit difficult with only one eye … you're favoring that side. It was a lot more difficult task than I had first anticipated.” Having been blinded in the one eye, it wouldn't be out of the question for a fighter to throw in the towel. After an eye poke or a cut that's pouring blood into your eye, if you can't see out of one eye, the ref will call the fight. But Herring's a warrior and decided to carry on and try to put on a good show. “I can only go out there and fight to the best of my ability and fight with what I got at that time. It's bad luck that night, but I tried to stay out there and put on a good show, and if he's going to do his antics afterwards that's up to him, I guess.” Speaking of Brock's post-fight antics, which seem all the rage in the blogosphere (this post alone took on 224 comments), I wanted to get Herring's take on it: “He's a pro wrestler, that's what he does, isn't it? That's kind of his thing. I think that's what people were kind of expecting. I actually was kinda surprised pre-fight that he wasn't talking a whole lotta trash. But post-fight, I'll be honest, I really wasn't aware of everything that went on — I was told afterwards. Guys are gonna do what they're gonna do.” Personally, I thought Lesnar looked like a child, or at least an idiot. But then again, I enjoy the Thiago Silva throat slit or even the Tito Ortiz cemetery burial from time to time. It wasn't so much Lesnar's rodeo roping as it was the pointing and laughing. But Herring took the high road: “Like I said, that's all on him. I can only affect to what I'm able to do. I went out there and made a mistake and got caught early and paid the price for it and tried to rectify it the best I could at the time.” What's next for "The Texas Crazy Horse"? “I don't know, it's not even been a week, so … The doctors were actually happy yesterday when I saw them. I have to see them in another week to see how things are going. I can see out of both eyes now fine. I'm wearing contacts in them, so everything's fine in that respect. Just trying to get the swelling down and hopefully everything will heal up good.” Here's to a speedy recovery for the heavyweight. God speed.

Roy Nelson chooses protruberant belly over UFC (Audio) Posted: 14 Aug 2008 04:31 PM CDT Props: TAGG Radio (via BloodyElbow.com) (Note that “Big Country” — a former International Fight League (IFL) success — has agreed to fight Paul Buentello in a heavyweight showdown at Affliction: “Day of Reckoning” at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 11.) Thanks to CombatLifestyle.com for the image.

UFC 88 results and LIVE fight coverage for ‘Breakthrough’ PPV event September 6 Posted: 14 Aug 2008 01:41 PM CDT Today the UFC 88: “Breakthrough” fight card was finalized for the Philips Arena, setting the stage for the first-ever event for the promotion in Atlanta, Ga., which will be available on pay-per-view (PPV) at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 6. We’ve known about the proposed line up for sometime now; however, official confirmation is always required to be absolutely certain. Here’s how the UFC 88 card will look: Main event: Chuck Liddell (21-5) vs. Rashad Evans (11-0-1) Main card (televised): 205 lbs.: Rich Franklin (23-3) vs. Matt Hamill (4-1) 170 lbs.: Karo Parisyan (18-5) vs. Yoshiyuki "Zenko" Yoshida (10-2) 185 lbs.: Dan Henderson (22-7) vs. Rousimar Palhares (8-1) 185 lbs.: Nate Marquardt (26-8-2) vs. Martin Kampmann (16-2) Under card (may not be broadcast): 155 lbs.: Thiago Tavares (13-2) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (15-4) 205 lbs.: Tim Boetsch (7-2) vs. James Lee (13-3) 170 lbs.: Matt Brown (7-6) vs. Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim (10-0-1) 170 lbs.: Roan Carneiro (12-7) vs. Ryo Chonan (14-8) 185 lbs.: Jason Lambert (23-8) vs. Jason Day (17-7) As usual, MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action on fight night with the PPV broadcast. In addition, we will deliver the latest quick updates of the prelim bouts earlier than that at around 8:30 p.m. ET. For all the UFC 88 coverage you can handle stay dialed in right here at MMAmania.com leading up to the show. In the meantime, feel free to share your UFC 88 predictions and thoughts in the comments section below.

Kimbo Slice inspiring gridiron greatness? Posted: 14 Aug 2008 01:37 PM CDT In the old days, folks wanted to “Be like Mike”. Never in a million years did I think they’d want to “Be like Kimbo”. But an article with the Washington Times shows Santana Moss — star wide-receiver for the Washington Redskins and fan of the EliteXC heavyweight — injecting a little fire into his off-season workout by turning to mixed martial arts training for a much needed shot in the arm. That decision was inspired by his interest in the aforementioned brawler and has apparently caught on with teammates like Antwaan Randle El. From the starting wideout: “If it was just run, run, run - that’s something I could do, but I was losing some of my muscle mass. But I’m not losing as much this year. I think the grappling [helps]. When you are on the ground wrestling with a guy - that’s how it is when you catch a ball and you’re tussling with a guy and trying to get out.” It’s interesting to hear athletes of their caliber venture into the world of mixed martial arts based on an interest in Kimbo Slice. While it’s easy to see his “Hollywood” appeal, it’s even easier to see his conditioning isn’t exactly the stuff of legend. In his fight against James Thompson, Slice was all but carried out of the ring on a stretcher from fatigue and exhaustion. Still, that doesn’t matter to most fans, famous or not. What does matter is that Kimbo hits hard and has an undeniable presence. One that has spilled over into the mainstream sports world. The marketing and endorsement possibilities are practically endless. Who knows, it could be only a matter of time before we see “Air Kimbos”.

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