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Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks UFC 91 fight possible Posted: 02 Sep 2008 08:46 AM CDT Former number one heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga (9-3) could return to action against Josh Hendricks (14-4) at UFC 91 in Portland, Ore., on November 15, according to FiveOuncesOfPain.com. “Napao” recently snapped a skid that included back-to-back losses, submitting Justin McCully with a first round kimura at UFC 86: “Jackson vs. Griffin” in July. With four straight wins to begin his career inside the Octagon, including a sensational (and at the time unlikely) knockout of Mirko Cro Cop with a headkick, Gonzaga dropped tough bouts to Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum. The Brazilian will now look to string together consecutive wins and get back in the title chase. Hendricks is on a tear, winning his last nine fights with a mix of submissions and (technical) knockouts in smaller promotions throughout the Midwest. The Ohio-based fighting veterans has notable losses to former UFC fighters Sam Hoger and Travis Wiuff earlier in his career. The only other match up confirmed thus far for UFC 91 is a lightweight battle between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson; however, there is a gigantic wave of speculation that Randy Couture will return to action near his hometown to take on Brock Lesnar, settling an 11-month feud with the organization about his fighting future. An announcement regarding Couture is expected lated this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.

Major UFC announcement from Dana White today Posted: 02 Sep 2008 06:23 AM CDT Steve Cofield over at Yahoo!Sports.com has the scoop: “Dana White, President, Ultimate Fighting Championship® will hold a media conference call today to make a major UFC announcement. The conference call will take place today, Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 3pm ET/12Noon PT.” Cofield suggests that after 11 months the UFC and Randy Couture will announce that a new deal has been struck under which “The Natural” will return to the promotion and fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 on November 15 and possibly Fedor Emelianenko some time in 2009 inside the Octagon. This is crazy if indeed true. Stay glued to MMAmania.com for all the details later this afternoon — let’s just hope it had nothing to do with action figures.

Dana White’s UFC 88 Video Blog for September 1 featuring Mandy Moore (video) Posted: 01 Sep 2008 07:40 PM CDT

Tito Ortiz still in search of record contract Posted: 01 Sep 2008 05:08 PM CDT Former UFC light heavyweight Champion Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz was a guest on HDNet’s “Inside MMA” this past Friday to discuss his future in the fight game. There were reports a week or so ago that placed Ortiz as the newest addition to the Affliction MMA roster. Apparently those reports were a little premature because Tito’s asking price was a little too high for the t-shirt company-turned MMA promotion. So where does that leave perhaps one of the biggest draws in the history of the sport? Well, he’s still a free agent … for now. Ortiz — ever the business man — played the fence on where he could land, listing almost every organization as a possible destination — even the UFC. Here’s a snip: “EliteXC — possibility. Affliction — possibility. UFC — a small chance of that happening. The things between me and Dana White, I'm shoving it off and moving on with my life.” So after all the back-and-forth, is it possible we haven’t seen the last of Ortiz inside the Octagon after all? It’s obvious at this point in Tito’s career that he’s trying to get one last big pay day. It’s like a 28-year-old NFL running back trying to cash in one more time before hitting the dreaded 30. We know he can’t compete at the same level as he used to — at least not at the same level as his title holding days — but he’s still extremely marketable and could possibly be a great asset for up and coming organizations like Elite XC or Affliction. It still feels like a long shot that Ortiz will make his way back to the UFC, but at this point anything is possible. If you ask me, it’s just another play by Ortiz to get more attention or money from the other companies out there vying for his services. Either way, we haven’t seen any ground breaking contracts yet. He’s been a free agent for more than three months now and the only person we’ve really heard anything from involving a contract or a destination is Tito himself. At some point he’s either going to have to bite the bullet and take less money than he’s expecting or he’s going to have to just announce his retirement. It appears that he burned too many bridges with the UFC and the other companies just don’t have the resources to give in to his high price demands. His marketability can only get him so far and it can only last so long. What’s going to happen if he signs with Elite XC — is the promotion going to have to hand-pick his opponents like it does with Kimbo so he doesn’t lose? And what happens if he signs with Affliction — is he going to be worth the money it will have to pay him if he can’t beat guys like Babalu and Nogueria? And we all know how the UFC feels about him and his (0-2-1) record over the last two years. In short, reality is down here Tito … come down and join the rest of us.

UFC 88 video ‘Countdown’ to Liddell vs Evans Posted: 01 Sep 2008 11:59 AM CDT Interesting to see the hamstring injury to Liddell that he sustained earlier this year just before the fight with Evans at UFC 85: “Bedlam” that never happened: For moew details on “UFC Countdown” to 88 click here.

UFC Quick Quote: Brock Lesnar needs ‘a lot’ of preparation before fight with Minotauro Noguiera Posted: 01 Sep 2008 11:52 AM CDT "[Brock needs] A lot [of preparation time]. Because Nogeuira's very dangerous on the ground. Brock would have to outwrestle him and take him down. And be very careful that he doesn't extend his limbs. Brock hits like a sledgehammer. He hits so hard and he's fast. One thing we're really working hard on is not pushing his strikes but launching strikes with crack and pop at the end. To have boxer-level hands. Also, his knees are devastating. I would not want to get kneed by Brock. His knees are huge. Heath had no idea that Brock was going to come out and throw a kick at him. As for a match with Nogueira, I have no idea what the UFC's plans are. I know Brock has two more fights. Brock is such an incredible athlete. He could rise to the occasion. For me, he's fun to train because he's so ambitious. Brock is completely coach able. Some fighters I've worked with, you go for a week and you end up holding pads for them. With Brock, it's, Can you teach me? Can you show me? Can you show me? It's worth the time to go there." – Former mixed martial arts champion and current trainer for Brock Lesnar, Erik Paulson, shares his thoughts with MMAmemories.com on whether or not he is ready for a title shot against veteran UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira. Lesnar is new to the sport and was caught in a submission in his Octagon debut against Frank Mir at UFC 81: “Breaking Point.” He rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Heath Herring at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” last month. And now there’s crazy speculation that he could next fight Randy Couture at UFC 91 on November 15. If he does indeed step into the cage with Couture — and wins — he’d likely be knocking on the door of a title shot whether he’s ready or not.

Happy Labor Day from MMAmania.com Posted: 01 Sep 2008 11:29 AM CDT Don’t work too hard. Enjoy the time off. And thanks for sticking around this weekend — we had some issues that prevented us from posting as much as we normally do. Thanks to Jesse for picking up the slack when he could. We’ll be back to normal as of today. So after you drink like a slob and return from wherever you go today be sure to come back here and check us out.

Point counter point: Nick Diaz camp responds to KJ Noons statement Posted: 01 Sep 2008 11:24 AM CDT It appears that the feud between Elite XC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons and number one contender, Nick Diaz, will continue to endure until the time the pair finally meet inside the cage. And even if that never happens rest assured this very public war of words will last a very, very long time. The latest salvo came from Diaz via the Cesar Gracie camp official Web site, ratcheting up the rhetoric in response to a letter (right here) that Noons issued last week to explain his reasons for not accepting a rematch against Diaz at the “Saturday Night Fights” CBS event on October 4. It’s lengthy and picks apart Noons’ statement line-by-line. Here’s just a taste regarding the Stockton show that ended with an in-ring melee: “Diaz got no extra tickets in his home town of Stockton and isn’t complaining. 2) Bringing a fighter into the ring to promote an upcoming fight is standard practice. Your (I could of been a contender) drunk father, started a near riot and should be banned from further events and immediately placed in an Alcoholics Anonymous treatment center for his own self respect.” Yeah, it’s ugly. And the gloves are clearly off. Stay tuned for more retaliation. In the meantime read the rest of the Diaz response over at GracieFighter.com. Don’t be scared, homey.

Hermes Franca vs Marcus Aurelio UFC 90 fight with Gleison Tibau hurt Posted: 01 Sep 2008 10:39 AM CDT Gleison Tibau has injured his should in training, forcing him out of his next schedule lightweight bout against Hermes Franca (18-7) at UFC 90 “Silva vs. Cote” at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., on October 25, according to Sherdog.com. Marcus Aurelio (16-6) has been tapped as the replacement to take on Franca in the “Windy City” on fight night. Here’s a snip from Frana on the opponent switch: "It doesn't matter who I fight; it's a big challenge. It is what it is. We're both professionals. I think it's better for me. I know his game really well. I've never trained with Gleison before." Aurelio of course trains in at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., which is very close to Franca’s facility — The Armory — just north in Jupiter. Both Brazilians are veterans of the sport, having started their professional mixed martial arts careers around the same time in 2001. Franca dropped a unanimous decision to Frank Edgar at UFC Fight Night 14: "Silva vs. Irvin" back in July. It was his first fight back after serving a 12-month suspension for steroid use. He is a former number one title contender who reeled of eight straight wins before losing to then UFC Lightweight Champion, Sean Sherk, at UFC 73: "Stacked" in July 2007. Aurelio will look to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Tyson Griffin at UFC 86: “Jackson vs. Griffin” back in July. The defeat snapped a two-win fight streak inside the Octagon after recovering from a three-fight losing skid. “Maximus” — a submission master — has uncharacteristically dropped four of his last six fights (all to top-level competition. Regardless, a win against Franca is important. And it’s not going to be a walk in the park by any stretch. UFC 90 features several solid match ups, including the 185-pound tilt between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and Patrick Cote, as well as the huge welterweight showdown between Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez. To check out the latest UFC 90 card and fight rumors click here.

UFC 88 odds Posted: 01 Sep 2008 10:10 AM CDT With less than one week until fight night, we want to just pass along the latest UFC 88: “Breakthrough” odds for the pay-per-view (PPV) event that is set to go off live from the Philips Arena in Alanta, Ga., on September 6. It's just cold hard numbers … and some possible big profits: Chuck Liddell -260 BET NOW Rashad Evans +200 BET NOW Rich Franklin -240 BET NOW Matt Hamill +190 BET NOW Karo Parisyan -260 BET NOW Yoshiyuki Yoshida +200 BET NOW Dan Henderson -200 BET NOW Rousimar Palhares +160 BET NOW Martin Kampmann +110 BET NOW Nate Marquardt -150 BET NOW All of the UFC 88 odds should be out soon. Of course, we'll pass them along right here at MMAmania.com closer to fight time when the complete lines become available. To check out the complete UFC 88 fight card click here. And remember to check out our live coverage on Saturday when we provide complete round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of all the UFC 88 action. Don’t know what those numbers mean? Unclear of how much you can win when you place bets? Check out the BetUS.com MMA betting calculator RIGHT HERE and find out.

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