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Nick Catone vs Derek Downey UFC Fight Night 17 fight on tap with Amir Sadollah hurt Posted: 28 Jan 2009 08:16 AM CST It appears that Nick Catone will indeed finally get the opportunity to make his debut inside the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 17 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., on February 7. Derek Downey (10-3) will fill-in for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 season winner, Amir Sadollah, who sustained an injury while training for the middleweight bout, according to several published reports. It, too, will mark the promotional debut for Downey. Catone was first was expected to compete against Sadollah at UFC 91: "Lesnar vs. Couture" on November 15. However, just four days before fight night, Sadollah was scratched because of a leg infection. He fight was the rebooked to take place in Tampa, but again, Sadollah was bit by the injury bug. Perhaps some things — or fights in this case — just aren't meant to be. Downey is on a three-fight win streak and has been victorious in five of his last six contests. He is based out of Utah, fighting primary for smaller organizations out west such as Ultimate Combat Experience (UCE). "The Gentleman" has faced UFC-caliber competition in the past, including Josh Burkman (loss), Ed Herman (loss) and Brandon Melendez (win). Catone — who trains under Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud Ricardo Almeida in Hamilton, N.J. — has been active since 2007 on the northeast fighting circuit. He has finished his last three opponents via technical knockout under the Ring of Combat banner. UFC Fight Night 17 will feature a main event between TUF 5 alum Joe Lauzon against budding lightweight talent, Jeremy Stephens, in the main event. Stephens recently replaced the injured Hermes Franca. The fight between Catone and Downey will more than likely not be guaranteed to air during the televised portion of the Spike TV broadcast. To check out the latest UFC Fight Night 17 fight card and rumors click here.

Brock Larson injury reportedly ships WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit to Fight Night 18 against Martin Kampmann Posted: 27 Jan 2009 09:50 PM CST WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit (22-4) could be on the move to the UFC, taking the rest of the division with him after an injury to number one contender Brock Larson left him without an opponent for WEC 39 on March 1. Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that Zuffa may decide to scrap the weight class altogether rather than find a replacement, effectively sending Condit, Larson and a host of other 170-pounders to the land of the UFC. If so, there are talks that “The Natural Born Killer” could headline UFC Fight Night 18 against Martin Kampmann on April 1. The potential dissolution of the welterweight division doesn’t come as much of a surprise, considering the organization has already made plans to dispose of the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions. If and when it happens, all that would remain in the WEC are the lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight classes. It also helps that Condit has essentially cleared out the 170-pound division, including a previous submission win over Larson back in August of 2007. In fact it’s a move that Condit himself predicted following the Miura fight: "If I fight those [UFC] guys, it will be as the WEC champion…. There are a lot of tough guys – a lot of them, believe me – but you just have to fight whoever they tell you to fight. I'm proud to be the WEC champion and whoever I fight, whenever I fight, wherever I fight, I'll do it as the WEC champion." Condit has bested several tough opponents throughout his six-year professional mixed martial arts career, including Frank Trigg, Carlo Prater, Renato Verissimo, John Alessio and many others. The 24-year-old fighter out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is widely considered to be among the top welterweights in the world and has not dropped a bout in more than two years. His last fight came at WEC 35 against Hiromitsu Miura back in August. Condit successfully defended his title with a fourth round technical knockout in what was widely considered one of the best fights of 2008. That said, he’ll have his work cut out for him against the new-look Kampmann, and if he manages to best “The Hitman,” there awaits a plethora of experienced welterweights that would love nothing more than to spoil his quest for UFC gold. Whatever the outcome, it’s certainly going to be fun to watch. To check out the latest UFC Fight Night 18 fight card and rumors click here.

Lightweight BJ Penn UFC 94 video on fighting welterweight Georges St. Pierre Posted: 27 Jan 2009 08:54 PM CST

MMA Quick Quote: Tom Atencio struggles to find optimism in the future of Affliction MMA Posted: 27 Jan 2009 07:46 PM CST “I just don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’m just not that guy. Until we get things finalized and until I have 10 fights under my belt, I’m just not gonna be that guy. You don’t know what’s going to happen in this industry, the economy is not doing well. These guys are the ones. These guys are the warriors. They put their lives on the line and fight and train hard. Hopefully, there’s someone out there who can give them another home and hopefully that will continue to be us.” Despite drawing over 13,000 fans and a gate of $1,512,750, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio sounds less than confident in the future of Affliction MMA during a “Day of Reckoning” post-fight press conference courtesy of Steve Cofield’s MMA Experts blog. For the audio and video of Atencio’s comments click here.

Jeremy Millen video blog featuring phone wars with Dana White and behind the scenes at Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’ Posted: 27 Jan 2009 07:03 PM CST

Featherweight fantasy: Urijah Faber and Norifumi ‘Kid’ Yamamoto WEC post-fight (Pic) Posted: 27 Jan 2009 06:19 PM CST Let’s get this done, Mr. White: Hang tight. Props: CombatLifestyle.com (For more background click here.)

Joe Lauzon vs Jeremy Stephens booked for UFC Fight Night 17 Posted: 27 Jan 2009 04:48 PM CST MMAmania.com can confirm that Jeremy Stephens will fill-in for the recently injured Hermes Franca and take on Joe Lauzon at UFC Fight Night 17 from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 7. Franca and Lauzon were expected to tangle in the main event of the evening during the Spike TV special, which put the promotion in a pickle when Franca pulled up lame with a bum knee, exerting the pressure to find a worthy replacement on super short notice. “Little Heathen” — Franca’s training partner — to the rescue. Stephens was expected to collide with The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 lightweight winner, Efrain Escudero (11-0), at UFC Fight Night 18 on April 1. He could still more than likely compete on that date if he escapes the bout against Lauzon relatively injury-free. The Iowa product was most recently in action at UFC 91: "Couture vs. Lesnar" in November 2008, earning “Knockout of the Night” honors after sending Rafael dos Anjos back to Brazil with a thundering upper cut that he threw from what appeared to be the center of the cage. It was among the most devastating finishes of 2008. Stephens has five career fights inside the Octagon, winning three contests (Dos Anjos, Cole Miller and Diego Saraiva) and losing the others (Spencer Fisher and Din Thomas). Lauzon rebounded from a recent loss — a first for him inside the Octagon — to stop Kyle Bradley via technical knockout (strikes) at UFC Fight Night 15 in September 2008. Prior to the win, he was one of the many recent victims of Kenny Florian courtesy of a second round technical knockout loss at UFC Fight Night 13 in April of that same year. “J-Lau” was the favorite to win The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 5 season before meeting up with Manny Gamburyan in the semifinals. He has four wins in five attempts inside the Octagon. To check out the latest UFC Fight Night 17 fight card and rumors click here.

UFC Quick Quote: Karo Parisyan set to come out like a tractor against ‘Stun Gun’ and kick his ass Posted: 27 Jan 2009 04:07 PM CST "It's very important. It's important to beat him in a very violent way…. I'm going to come out from bell to bell and just try to crush him. I want to run through him like a tractor bro — like a tank. I have every intention to hurt him with everything I do until the fights over…. It's time for me to get back on track, get back to training and back on the winning track. I have to start kicking everybody's ass, doing some magic and some crazy Judo throws. I want to do stuff in the cage that you don't see everyday…. I have to bring the old Karo back. I have to bring that aggressive style back to be a contender and become a champion." – Former number one welterweight contender Karo Parisyan talks to FightHype.com about his road back to becoming relevant again in the crowded 170-pound title chase. "Heat" will embark on that journey against undefeated South Korean fighter, Dong Hyun "Stun Gun" Kim, at UFC 94: "St. Pierre vs. Penn 2″ from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 31. The Armenian-born Judoka has not competed since a technical knockout loss to Thiago Alves in April 2008. He was supposed to challenge Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88: "Breakthrough" in September 2008; however, Parisyan withdrew from the match with a back injury just 24 hours before it could begin.

Jens Pulver video: Back to the drawing board after three straight WEC losses Posted: 27 Jan 2009 01:45 PM CST Lil' Evil has more to say in a recent entry from his official blog: "… I do not know where I am gonna go from here and I do not know if you all just watched the last fight for lil evil. I know this I have battled all they put in front of me and I know I have always tried to do my best out there. I have been open and honest for the most part when talking and answering any question asked. I love this sport and I have loved watching it grow and become bigger and bigger as each month passes. I guess it is time to just go home and figure out where to go next. I can say this it has been an honor to fight in front of all of you who have taken the time watch and all of you who take the time to come on here and say whats up. I wish you all the best in the world. again my apologies to my family, my camp at AMC and to my fans."

UFC 91 replay on Spike TV peaks with 3.3 million viewers Posted: 27 Jan 2009 11:45 AM CST UFC 91: "Couture vs. Lesnar" replay, which aired for free on Jan. 24, 2009, to counter program the Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" pay-per-view (PPV), peaked at 3.3 million viewers, according to a statement today from the network. In addition, the "biggest fight in UFC history" nabbed an overall household rating of 1.7 and a 1.8 among the coveted male demographic of males aged 18 to 49 (991,000). It scored and an average audience of 2.3 million viewers. That's impressive juice for a replay. "Day of Reckoning" was the sophomore effort Affliction MMA, featuring one of the most anticipated fights in the history of the sport between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC title holder Andrei Arlovski. Not to be outdone, UFC President Dana White and Co. did their best to ensure that viewers at home who didn't want — or couldn't afford — to cough up upward of $40 to watch a PPV had other mixed martial arts options. How much of an impact it had is perhaps something that we will never know because it would be near impossible to quantify a statistic like that. However, it's safe to say that the rebroadcast of UFC 91 was a success. Now we just have to wait and see if Affliction can make the same claim when its final numbers are in, which could take some time. UFC 91 featured a main event between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. "The Next Big Thing" defeated "The Natural" via second round technical knockout to capture the heavyweight crown. The PPV event originally took place on November 15, 2008.

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