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| UFC Quick Quote: Dana White on the reason BJ Penn vs Anderson Silva may never happen Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:09 AM CST
– UFC President Dana White elaborates via ESPN.com on the topic of former welterweight and current lightweight champion BJ Penn moving up to one day fight middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva. White has already revealed that he would allow reigning 170-pound titlist Georges St. Pierre to make the jump to create a superfight if he can topple the “Prodigy” for the second time on January 31. Penn — for now — does not appear to have that option. The fight between St. Pierre and Penn is the first time ever in the history of the promotion the champions from two different divisions will collide. St. Pierre’s welterweight strap will be on the line. |
| A Christmas Carol with Frank Shamrock (Video) Posted: 24 Dec 2008 07:59 AM CST |
| Pushing forward: A conversation with UFC middleweight Tim Credeur Posted: 24 Dec 2008 12:41 AM CST
Tim Credeur — the first man to apparently ever earn his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from Louisiana — didn't need to rely on his solid ground game to score his second UFC win at UFC Fight Night 16: ‘Fight for the Troops’. The veteran blasted away at Nate Loughran for 10 full minutes, forcing the previously unbeaten fighter to call it quits on his stool before the third round could even start. And in the process, made a lot of fighters in the middleweight division sit up and take notice. “Crazy” first made a name for himself as a contestant on season seven of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Credeur lost his initial semifinal bid to punch his ticket to the final fight against Amir Sadollah when he was defeated by Jesse Taylor in the final four. However, Taylor was kicked off the show shortly after it wrapped, creating another opportunity for Credeur to challenge for the six-figure contract. He locked horns with the other eliminated semifinalist, CB Dollaway in an eliminator match. But things did not go Credeur's way – he lost via unanimous decision in a very close battle. He must have done something right, however, because he was among the few of the 16 fighters asked to compete in future events. In fact, only half of the contestants earned the right to make their official Octagon debuts that weekend on the Spike TV special. What’s also amazing is that prior to the show, Creduer was very close to hanging up his 5-ounce gloves forever.
“The show changed my life. There is no doubt about it. I was going to retire in September of ‘07. I had a fight at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette. I was the main event and that was going to be my last fight. I was finishing college in December. I got a job with a huge oil company making great money and I’m married. At that point I had been fighting over 10 years. It just kind of got to the point where I just wasn’t seeing any way with my age that I could convert it into something where I could have it as a career. It was kind of getting time where I was going to do this for a career or time to find something else to do. I decided I was going to go ahead and retire after that fight. But I guess a day or two before the fight my wife sat me down and told me it really wasn’t time for me to quit now. Even though it was difficult at times, she thought that it was going to come around. I thought she was ridiculous. But yeah, I took a couple of more fights and I rattled off a couple of more first round victories and then the next thing you know The Ultimate Fighter calls and I’m on the show. Now I am fighting regularly for the UFC. Looking back, I was one little Cajun girl’s conversation away from quitting the sport. That is how life is sometimes: Sometimes you have got to take a risk and you have to go out on a limb put yourself out there.” Speaking of risks, making an appearance on national television in an emotionally compromising situation can be difficult - especially when you are surrounded with contestants who may not be mature enough to handle the experience. “When I went on the show, I wasn’t trying to be cool. I wasn’t having fun, I wasn’t there for the girls. Creduer is heading to Sin City to help friend and former TUF coach Forrest Griffin prepare for his upcoming light heavyweight title defense against “Sugar” Rashad Evans at UFC 92 this weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I’m going to Vegas for about three weeks. It’s the last week of Forrest’s preparation for Rashad. I went out there about a month ago and trained with him for about a week or so and I’m going back for his last week. Just to help him kind of be comfortable and be ready for his last week. We are friends and we train together so I try to support him, help him. My wife is coming with me. We will probably do Christmas after and start looking to the road ahead. But right now, I just definitely want to help Forrest get that win and defend his title. I guess I’ll start thinking about me next. I’m really ready and able to fight anybody the UFC wants me to fight. My job is just showing up and having exciting performances. I don’t really care who it is against.” It’s hard to imagine a veteran like Creduer not fighting. Despite the recent activity, “Crazy” has been fighting at smaller shows after getting started with Judo while he was in the Navy back in 1995. “I have about 20 or so more fights. I’ve been fighting since ‘95. Back then they didn’t really have databases and stuff. There were still MMA fights going on back then, like in Mexico. Kind of some more underground stuff because it wasn’t necessarily legal back then. We were just trying to keep the sport alive. The UFC was going on but other than that the shows were very small. I started with the Navy Judo Team. My dad was a boxer. I’ve been boxing and around boxing well, combat sports all my life. I guess when I started with the Navy was really when I really started Judo training for real, I was about 18 years old.” That training has definitely paid off. It’s also allowed Creduer to parlay his success as a UFC fighter into other business endeavors, like the opening of his own gym. “I’m a black belt under the Carlson Gracie System and now I have my own gym in Louisiana. We have 15 or 20 pro fighters that fight out of the gym. There is about 100 students who train here and I do go back and forth to Vegas to train at Extreme Couture with Forrest and them. I really appreciate everybody being behind me and believing in me. I will continue to pushing forward and hopefully get some big wins in the To learn more about Tim, check out his MySpace page or his management company Denaro Sports . |
| Fields Dynamite!! Alistair Overeem vs Badr Hari Posted: 23 Dec 2008 11:47 PM CST
Dutch destroyer Alistair Overeem announced on his official website yesterday that he will take on former K-1 heavyweight champion Badr Hari at the Fields Dynamite!! super show on December 31 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Hari recently lost to Remy Bonjasky via controversial disqualification in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Finals. Hari pulled Bonjasky to the ground in the second round and seemed to lose control of himself, pummeling the downed opponent and even trying to stomp on Bonjasky's face. Bonjasky was allowed five minutes to recover but was still seeing double after the time elapsed and the referee called the match. Hari was stripped of his heavyweight title and received no pay for his participation in the event. Hopefully the financial ramifications of another incident will sway him from trying any funny business against Overeem - who also knows a thing or two about trash talking and bizarre finishes. Overeem was originally expected to rematch Mirko Filipovic on December 31 to settle a previous No Contest from their bout at September's DREAM 6. That is until Fields Dynamite executive Sadaharu Tanigawa pushed them to a different card to be held at some point down the road in 2009. "Demolition Man" delivered several illegal groin strikes during their first bout, providing a disappointing conclusion to a fight that had received much interest and fanfare leading up to it. Cro Cop promised to deliver a rematch on December 31 but according to Overeem, the Croat never put his money where his sack is. Overeem has looked solid of late, winning four straight consecutive bouts and — before smashing his balls — was putting it to Mirko Cro Cop at DREAM 6 in September. Overeem has been in against some of the best in the business throughout his career and is still in his prime. Still, one has to wonder if he’s in over his head taking on a K-1 veteran under K-1 rules. Overeem is either supremely confident or getting payed boku bucks. Fields Dynamite!! is the New Year's Eve supershow featuring a smorgasbord of fighters under the umbrella of FEG coming together on one night to try and kick the crap out of each other. Featuring participants from DREAM, K-1, K-1 MAX and K-1 Koshien, Fields Dynamite!! is going to have a wide variety of fighting styles and compelling match-ups, and could feature as many as 20 fights. Thus far it appears as though FEG is holding up their end of the bargain. Here is the scheduled card to date: MMA RULES : Heavyweight: Jerome LeBanner (3-1-1) vs. Mark Hunt (5-4) K-1 RULES : Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem (0-2) vs. Badr Hari (13-4)** K-1 KOSHIEN: U-18 Tournament Semifinals: HIROYA (9-1) vs. Shota Shimada (3-0) **Bout not confirmed by FEG |
| UFC 92 videos and pics from pre-fight press conference Posted: 23 Dec 2008 10:03 PM CST
Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans: Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Frank Mir: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei Silva: |
| Wanderlei Silva video: ‘I am a fighter’ Posted: 23 Dec 2008 06:54 PM CST He is a dangerous man indeed: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy |
| Versus to air ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate between Donald Cerrone and Rob McCullough Dec. 28 Posted: 23 Dec 2008 04:14 PM CST
While the people in attendance that night are well aware of the fireworks that took place in the cage between these two, there are still millions of fans around the globe who have yet to see what went down because the bout was controversially absent from the live telecast on the Versus. Until now. Fans will finally get a chance to see the action unfold when this hard fought, back-and-forth brawl is included in a special being put on by the promotion titled, “WEC Best of 2008,” which is set to air on Sunday, December 28 at 9 p.m. ET on the Versus network. Today the two 155-pound fighters took part in a live question and answer session sponsored by the people at Versus to talk about the memorable match, as well as what the future holds for these two fast rising WEC stars. Here’s a snip from “Cowboy” on the fight:
And McCullough added this:
With the victory over the ex-champ Cerrone has earned himself a shot at division kingpin Jamie Varner at next month’s WEC 38: “Varner vs. Cerrone” event. It’s worth noting that the match up will get top billing over a rematch from one of the biggest fights in the history of the organizations between Urijah “The California Kid” Faber and Jens “Little Evil” Pulver at WEC 34 in June.
Here are his thoughts on that fight:
Next up for McCullough is a fight in March against former number one contender Marcus Hicks. “Razor” Rob confirmed the match up during the conference call, but said the details were still being worked out. He’s also apparently found a new place to train at for this fight. Here’s a snip:
McCullough and Cerrone joked around during the call like they were long time friends, but in reality have only known each other since the December 3 showdown. The two even joked around about pushing the WEC powers that be to make a rematch happen sometime down the line. Hopefully, that becomes a reality sooner than later. Check out the replay of the fight on December 28 … you won’t be disappointed. |
| Mirko Cro Cop recruits giant training dummy to prepare for Hong Man Choi Posted: 23 Dec 2008 03:54 PM CST Franjo Arapovic — a silver medal-winning Olympic basketball player from Craotia — to be exact:
Props: Sportal.Vecernji.hr (via FreeFightVideos.com) |
| UFC 92 video blog with Dana White (Day one) Posted: 23 Dec 2008 03:38 PM CST They’re baaaaaaaaaaack … but it starts with the 2008 Spike TV Video Game Awards: |
| The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 Finale gate tops $400,000 Posted: 23 Dec 2008 01:27 PM CST
The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) today released the figures, indicating that 357 complimentary tickets were also issued and 289 went untouched. The promotion dished out $289,000 in TUF 8 Finale fighter salaries for the Spike TV event, as well as $100,000 in additional bonus money for four participants who delivered outstanding performances. Lightweight Efrain Escudero defeated Phillipe Nover via unanimous decision and Ryan Bader stopped Vinicius Magalhaes in the first round of their light heavyweight match to earn their respective season titles in the tournament-style competition. In other main card action, Anthony Johnson scored sweet revenge over Kevin Burns with a perfectly-placed — and fight-ending — headkick in the third round of their welterweight contest. And Wilson Gouveia smashed Jason MacDonald to continue has climb to the top of the middleweight ladder. For complete results and coverage of TUF 8 Finale click here and here. To check out the medical suspensions and injuries click here. |
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