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| Renato Babalu Sobral vs Bobby Southworth Strikeforce fight on again Nov. 21 Posted: 09 Oct 2008 07:53 AM CDT
The promotion confirmed that the co-main event of the night will feature light heavyweight champion Bobby Southworth (9-5) defending his 205-pound title against former UFC number one contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral (30-7). The two were originally set to lock horns for the belt at the Playboy Mansion last month, but both fighters were pulled from the card because of injuries suffered in training. Southworth has been the champ since defeating Vernon “Tiger” White in December of 2006 with a unanimous decision. He successfully defended his strap for the first time in June with a win over Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz. He’ll be facing the stiffest test of his career in the talented Brazilian and will surely come into the bout as a decisive underdog. “Babalu” is well known in the mixed martial arts world as a well versed jiu-jitsu practitioner and a solid all around fighter. He holds wins over Pele, Maurice Smith, Cyrille “Snake” Diabate, Chael Sonnen. Remember that he also defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Trevor Prangley and Jeremy Horn in the same night to capture the title at the IFC’s Global Domination tournament several years back. His experience in losses to Dan Henderson, Fedor Emelienenko, and Chuck Liddell is also invaluable to him as a mixed martial artist. The main event for the card will showcase Josh “The Punk” Thomson’s first title defense since taking the belt from Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez in June. No opponent has been confirmed at this time. In other Strikeforce news, middleweight champion Cung Le will wait to defend his title until the promotion’s first event in 2009. Japanese standout Kazuo Misaki or a rematch against Frank Shamrock are the likeliest candidates for his opponent as of right now. |
| Three hour tour: UFC fights for the troops on December 10 Posted: 09 Oct 2008 12:10 AM CDT
And it’s scheduled for the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina … not Fort Bragg, as originally reported. The special event is designed to raise funds for the construction of The National Intrepid Center of Excellence, a treatment center for Armed Forces personnel who have experienced traumatic brain injuries. From UFC President Dana White:
This not the Zuffa’s first event dedicated to the Armed Forces. The UFC held Fight Night 7, headlined by Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Riggs, back in December 2006 at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Now they head for North Carolina but Fayetteville citizens should take note: Fight Night 16 is a free event just for the troops. Tickets are not available for purchase though donations are accepted and encouraged. For the UFC Fight Night 16 fight card click here. |
| The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8: Episode 4 recap and discussion Posted: 08 Oct 2008 09:00 PM CDT
Episode 4 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 gets underway and since the show is titled "Punk" I immediately recall last week's preview of Junie Browning imploding. The gang starts out watching UFC 84 and (surprise) Junie and Shane Nelson start playing a two-piece ensemble using 80-proof equipment. Browning then convinces himself in the confessional that he can be the world's best so long as he can keep his head on straight. Doesn't seem like he's off to a good start. As expected, the booze hits the cerebral cortex and hilarity (and flying peanuts) ensues. Under attack are any bystanding red shirts with particular exception to one Kyle Kingsbury, who suffers an arm laceration when Junie angrily launches a wine glass at him for the apparent crime of sitting down. Not to be upstaged, Shane goes on an F-laden tirade which eventually leads to him shoving Roli Delgado to the floor. Delgado is mature enough to not engage so Nelson moves on to Efrain Escudero who also chooses not to take the bait. Since no one will play rough with the booze brothers, Nelson and Browning are forced to unleash their fury on some unsuspecting patio furniture. Once again the pool is subject to some unwelcome guests including a wicker chair not designed for buoyancy. Krzysztof Soszynski and Ryan Bader have finally reached their boiling points and have a heart-to-heart well, face-to-face with Browning. After a lot of chest-mashing Bader dumps Junie (and his clothes) in the pool and gets himself baptized in the processed. After Junie escapes and some more shoving takes place, Junie actually fires off a nice front kick that drops Tom Lawlor by the side of the pool. More chaos from Browning but no one is willing to throw a punch in fear of being tossed from the show. Junie rages himself out and like last week begins openly weeping and it seems to be enough to diffuse the situation. He goes to bed and the rest of the gang is left to try and sort through what just transpired. The next day we get an ominous piano solo which of course means Dana White has arrived to sort through the trash. Who get recycled and who gets thrown out? A hoarse Dana refers to a crying Browning as a punk and a drunk with a huge chip on his shoulder but somehow finds it in his heart to give him a second chance. Nelson gets to stay as well but is forced to fight Escudero later in the show to prove he's still worthy. After the match-up is made official, we get a glimpse of each fighter getting prepped in the training gym. Stankie lumbers onto the scene dressed like Captain Freedom in The Running Man. Meanwhile back at the house, Junie proves he doesn't need alcohol to be an A-hole and starts getting in Efrain's face about who-subbed-who in training. Foreshadowing alert: Efrain smiles and Junie screams. During the weigh-ins everything goes as planned and we get the usual sound bites from each fighter about why they are the better man. Team Nogueira's Efrain Escudero (10-0) vs. Team Mir's Shane Nelson (11-3) Round 1: After about thirty-seconds of bobbing and weaving Nelson lands a high kick. He follows that with a soft right and an even softer knee. Nelson misses a punch and they tie-up. Nelson throws him down but Escudero bounces right back up. They tie-up again and exchange knees to the legs. Nelson backs him to the cage and they battle for position. Referee Steve Mazzagatti warns them for inactivity and eventually separates them. They throw leather and each man scores: Nelson with punches, Escudero with knees. Escudero with a takedown and side control. Escudero with some nice elbows. Nelson spins but gives Escudero mount in the process. Escudero busy from the top and may have stolen the round with the late activity. Round 2: Nelson opens with aggressive striking and pushes Escudero to the cage. Nelson backs off but Escudero meets him again and welcomes him with a takedown. From mount he tries to find his offense but Nelson is making it difficult. After some smothering Nelson gets to his feet and Escudero gets a slow-motion takedown. Nelson rolls him into a leg-lock but Escudero escapes and ends up in guard after Nelson pounces. Nelson goes for broke but upon posturing gets snared in a triangle. Escudero rolls him over and puts all his weight into it. Nelson is forced to tap. Very impressive finish. The fight started slow but picked up steam along the way. Afterward Junie screams "That's exactly what the UFC needs, another (expletive) boring-ass (expletive) wrestler!" Escudero just smiles at him which of course enrages him further. Junie keeps screaming and Escudero keeps smiling so Junie jumps into the cage like a psychopath and has to be restrained by Mir and Nogueira. Fade to black. Stay tuned next week as Junie flirts with unemployment, two light heavyweights go to-to-toe and the one and only Anderson "The Spider" Silva drops by to school the red cadets. See you then! |
| Posted: 08 Oct 2008 08:02 PM CDT
The Ultimate Fighter 7 DVD: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest was the seventh season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) produced reality television series ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and premiered on April 2, 2008 on Spike TV following UFC Fight Night 13. TUF 7 featured 32 middleweights all vying for a spot on the UFC roster with light heavyweight coaches Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Forrest Griffin, who went on to fight to for Jackson's 205-pound title at UFC 86. Unlike season’s 1-6, the first and second episodes of TUF 7 featured elimination matches to determine the final 16 contestants who will live in the house and compete for the "six-figure" contract. It was a new wrinkle designed to revitalize the traditional format. Relive all the classic moments from Jesse Taylor’s urine cappuccino, Dan Simmler’s bone-crunching knockout and of course Amir Sadollah’s improbable run to the finals. Running Time: Approx. 780 minutes
“The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest' is now available for sale in our DVD store for $29.99 by clicking here. To check out our massive library of MMA DVD titles, including PRIDE DVD and UFC DVD click here. We also have Elite XC, WEC, Cage Rage, IFL, King of the Cage and other products for sale in our store. Looking for a title but don't see it in our store? Email us and we'll be happy to check its availability. Please keep in mind that we are only able to ship within the continental United States at this time.
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| Kaitlin Young vs Sarah Kaufman Elite XC fight set for Showtime Posted: 08 Oct 2008 06:56 PM CDT Continuing the theme of having at least one female match on each of its big events, Elite XC announced today that Minnesota Martial Arts Academy standout Kaitlin Young (4-2) will face off against undefeated Canadian Sarah Kaufman on the Showtime card set for the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada, on November 8. Young was soundly defeated by Gina Carano during the May 31 debut for the promotion on CBS, but she proved to be a gamer while taking a good deal of punishment during the two round bout. She wanted to continue for a third round, but the fight was called by a ringside doctor because her faced was banged up pretty good. She trains with one of the top camps in MMA where she gets quality sparring and training with fighters like Kelly Kobald. The camp is also known for producing fighters with great cardio by instilling the “caveman training” made popular by Sean Sherk. Her biggest accomplishment thus far in MMA — besides being a part of the first female fight ever on network television — was winning a Hook n’ Shoot sponsored by BoDog Fight last year. During the tournament she dispatched Patti Lee, Meisha Tate and Suzi Smith by knockout in less than a minute each … all in the same night. There’s no doubt that she can scrap, but she’s lost her past two fights and will be in serious danger of making it three straight on November 8. Kaufman has won each of her seven professional bouts by technical knockout, including two fights under the King of the Cage banner. She’s been competing in mixed martial arts since June of 2006. This will be her first trip back into the cage since defeating Molly Helsel in March at a Hardcore Championship Fighting event in Quebec. The fight was the co-featured main event of the card. This fight has all the makings to be a stand up war — there’s a good chance one of these ladies will be going to sleep in this one. |
| KJ Noons thinks he’s a free agent … Elite XC doesn’t Posted: 08 Oct 2008 04:14 PM CDT
According to a Sherdog.com interview with Noons it means he now has complete freedom:
Not so fast … Elite XC officials disagree. Here are thoughts from the company’s Head of Fight Operations, Jeremy Lappen:
This is just more disagreeing to add to months of back and forth between the mixed martial arts promotion and its former champion. Everything stemmed from Noons not wanting to grant Nick Diaz a rematch and another shot at his belt because he didn’t feel the Cesar Gracie black belt was the top contender. Noons’ opinion was that 2008 DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix stud Eddie Alvarez had earned the top spot with his impressive tournament run. Apparently Elite XC didn’t fully disagree with that opinion either since Alvarez is now facing off against Diaz for the vacant strap. It’s obvious the company wanted to squeeze everything it could out of the Noons and Diaz feud, but they promotion also clearly didn’t like the idea of of having its champion making the match making decisions so he was stripped of his 160-pound belt. For now Noons is content on going back to boxing. In fact, he has a scheduled bout against Alejandro Bogarin (8-6-3) on November 13 in El Monte, California. Noons sports a solid professional boxing record (7-1 with 5 knockouts). Regardless, that doesn’t mean Noons’ mixed martial arts career is over. Believe it or not he’s still on semi-good terms with Elite XC, and he’s even talked about facing the winner of Diaz and Alvarez sometime in the future. Here’s a snip:
This is just a weird situation that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. The saga continues. |
| Jake Rosholt vs Nissen Osterneck WEC 36 fight set Posted: 08 Oct 2008 04:01 PM CDT
Today, MMAmania.com can confirm that undefeated submission specialist Nissen Osterneck (5-0) has been tapped as his fill-in. Osterneck is a very dangerous threat toward Rosholt’s undefeated record. He’s an accomplished grappler, sporting a record of (64-4) on the jiu-jitsu circuit and holds a purple belt under the legendary Relson Gracie. He’s the Gracie Fighting Championships Evolution Champion, the Fight Party Full Throttle 8 Champion, the Gracie Proving Ground Champion, the International Sport Combat Federation Invasion Champion, the four time South Carolina Grappling Champion, and the 2006 Gracie National Champion after submitting 13 guys in one day to win the title. In short, his jiu-jitsu is sick. Rosholt was a national champion collegiate wrestler at Oklahoma State University, meaning this is a clear cut wrestling vs. jiu jitsu match up. Rosholt’s limited experience in mixed martial arts could prove to be a problem against a ground technician like Osterneck, but then again, his power and wrestling ability could work in his favor to keep the fight off the mat. Frequently these types of fights come down to who can bring the better cardio and striking. Cardio won’t be a problem for Rosholt — he’s a tireless worker. But as far as striking goes for either of these two, we’ll just have to wait and see on November 5. This should be a very good fight. It’s believed that if Rosholt can get past Nissen on November 5 that he will be fighting in the UFC octagon sometime in 2009, but he better not look past this replacement. Just ask Kimbo Slice about that. |
| Scott Smith vs Hector Lombard Elite XC fight booked for Nov. 8 Posted: 08 Oct 2008 02:38 PM CDT
Smith has been busy over the past few months feuding with division champion Robbie Lawler. The two competed against one another in the “Fight of the Night” during the debut for Elite XC on CBS back in May before having the bout ruled a no contest in the third round after and inadvertent eye poke. The rematch went down two months later during the second CBS event. This time, however, Lawler proved to be too much for the challenger, handing him a second round technical knockout with some vicious body kicks and strikes. Smith’s road back to a title shot will not begin with an easy fight — Lombard is a highly touted prospect with a solid mixed martial arts resume. “Shango” — the reigning Cage Fighting Championships (CFC) middleweight title holder — will be making his debut for the promotion after inking a deal nearly six months ago. He captured the CFC belt with a unanimous decision win over Jean Francois Lenogue last November and has successfully defended his strap three times this year. His last loss was in 2006 at Pride: “Bushido 13″ against the 2008 DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix winner Gegard Mousasi. ince that time, he’s put together a streak of 11 straight bouts without a defeat. November 8 will mark his debut fight on United States soil. The event will be headlined by a middleweight championship match between Lawler and number one contender Joey Villasenor. The vacant company lightweight title will also be decided in Reno when Nick Diaz and Eddie Alvarez clash in the co-main event. The action will be aired live on the premium cable channel Showtime beginning at 10 p.m. ET. |
| Episode 3 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 scores lowest rating in series history Posted: 08 Oct 2008 01:03 PM CDT
Episode 3 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 has the distinction of scoring the lowest ratings in the history of the series according to MMApayout.com. The October 1 episode garnered an anemic 0.8 rating, which translates into 1.1 million viewers overall. In addition to quarter hours of 0.80, 0.66, 0.79 and 0.90, the key demographic numbers were 1.13 in males 18-34 and a 1.04 in males 18-49. This news comes as a bit of a shock, considering it’s so early in the season. The bulk of episodes 1 and 2 featured elimination fights to determine the final 16 contestants. And episode 3 was considered to be the unofficial launch of the series, with fighters getting accustomed to the UFC house and the selection of teams. While it might not be time to hit the panic button just yet, the series needs to demonstrate an immediate improvement in ratings (and the ability to stabilize at or above 1.0) if it’s to be deemed a success. By comparison, Season 7 found itself frequently dabbling in the 1.0 range, even dropping slightly below that number on two occasions. However, the series was able to rebound, scoring are 1.13 with 1.5 million viewers later in the season. In addition, the ratings in the 18-34 demographic were up from Season 6. To be fair, Season 8 hasn’t had the chance to prove itself. But now the stakes are even higher in light of the dismal ratings for episode 3. While I enjoy the addition of coaches Frank Mir and Antonio Nogueira, there is an outside chance they’re not bringing in TUF generation viewers. It’s not a knock on their accomplishments, but perhaps the absence of mainstream popularity enjoyed by previous coaches like Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz that could be to blame. If Dana was able to produce the next Anderson Silva, he’d better make it a point to unveil him sooner rather than later. The success of the season could depend on it. |
| Ricardo Arona eyes 2009 return; gives Wandy the hat trick Posted: 08 Oct 2008 12:57 PM CDT
Props: Tatame.com Quoteworthy:
– Light heavyweight standout Ricardo Arona, who looks forward to returning to mixed martial arts competition in 2009, weighs in on Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Jackson III for UFC 92 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 27. The Brazilian knows a thing or two about both men, having competed against them back in PRIDE FC. |
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1 comment:
Do not forget Nissen Osterneck WEC has Maurice Travis as a roommate.
Muay Thai World Champion and sparring partner for Rickson, Royce Vitor,Bas and other champions. One of the first to fight Vale Tudo from the USA.
much respect..
mauricetravis.com
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