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Mandy Moore kicks Chuck Liddell in the nuts (Video) Posted: 22 Apr 2009 09:01 PM PDT

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9: Episode 4 recap and discussion Posted: 22 Apr 2009 07:02 PM PDT Episode four of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 gets underway and right out of the gate we get a Team UK training session. Coach Michael Bisping is pleased with his new recruits and puts them through the rigors of preparing for caged combat. Joining him are his coaches (as interim assistant coaches) Mario Sukata for wrestling/submission and Dave Jackson for Thai Boxing. Team USA arrives at the gym and tries to talk smack. Unfortunately they fail miserably. Coach Dan Henderson, joined by assistant coaches Ricardo “Poncho” Feliciano and Cyrille “Snake” Diabate, stands around grimacing for a few minutes before referencing the standard knuckle-sandwich routine. Henderson broods like one of the Gashouse Gorillas from “Baseball Bugs.” There’s some initial concern from Hendo that the US guys have to fight so soon after qualifying while the Brits have enjoyed two weeks off. His confident fighters don’t share his concern. Welterweight Fight announcement: Mark Miller vs. Nick Osipczak. Hendo likes Miller’s conditioning while Osipczak thinks his reach advantage will be the difference. Bisping missed the US eliminations because of Visa issues so he is forced to review tape of the fights to get his scouting report. Not surprisingly, he is unimpressed with any of the Yanks and thinks Osipczak is a lock. Osipczak admits to dumping his kung fu career after getting his ass handed to him and embraced the more dynamic sport of MMA. Bisping works him over in the cage to get him ready for war. Back at the TUF house, Damarques Johnson gets his hands on a UK TUF shirt and defaces it with a bleach pen. Now the team wants to hold the shirt ransom and reminds them that USA is now up 1-0 in the pranks. At the official weigh-ins, both Miller and Osipczak hit their mark without incident. Dana says Osipczak beat a leprechaun (Tommy Maguire) to get into the house and favors Miller in this affair. Bisping says the Brits may be underdogs but without question are there to “Win the goddamn show.” During the commercial break, I see a commercial for the new Star Trek movie that looks so good I feverishly load my Torrent client — only to close it in disgust when I then see Jamie Foxx aiming for another Oscar win as Rain Man with a violin. TUF 9 resumes and the UK boys come home to find their shirt being held hostage. They are overwhelmed by the gayness of the prank. (Note to GLAAD — don’t shoot the messenger). Miller, who resembles a 170-pound Snitsky, informs us during training that his nickname is the “Meat Missile.” I wonder aloud if that’s the kind of thing you want to tell 15 other men who share the same house. Damarques Johnson discovers a pair of UK wrestling shoes so Team USA defiles them with a blue Sharpie. The score is now 2-0 in favor of USA for those of you keeping score at home. Assuming there is anyone left awake after this ho-hum segment. Ross Pearson finds his shoes painted like a subway in Beat Street and promises a violent retribution upon returning to the house. Apparently our definitions of violence greatly differ since the best Pearson can do is mutilate the word “wrote” and bounce around the gym shadowboxing. Bisping tells his team not to retaliate because the focus should be on fights, not funny business. “The Count” gives Osipczak a quick pep talk and we get our first slow piano solo of the season. Mark Miller steals Percy Crawford’s tag line and exclaims “A fight is a fight!” Miller also breathes a sigh of relief that he won’t be arrested during the fight. Welterweight elimination fight #1: Mark Miller (10-4) vs. Nick Osipczak (3-0) Round 1: They immediately clinch and Osipczak takes him down. From guard, Miller works for a kimura. Osipczak rolls out of it and Miller takes mount. Osipczak’s long legs make a pass difficult and he’s able to stand up and escape. Miller nails him with a knee and then tees off. They hit the canvas and Miller ends up on his back. They stand and swing for the fences, rocking each other repeatedly. Osipczak shoots and takes him down. Insane action. Bisping is screaming incoherently. Osipczak works the ribs. Miller kicks him off and dives in for a takedown but gets trapped in a guillotine. Accusations of a tap come flying from Team UK. Referee Herb Dean way out of position. Phantom tap currently in effect. Miller escapes, takes mount and drops some bombs. Someone at cageside is yelling “Yeah!” repeatedly like one of the those retarded puppets from Crank Yankers. Osipczak gets up and takes Miller down with two seconds left in the round. Round 2: Miller’s mouth is wide open. Osipczak charges and gets trapped in a guillotine but transitions to side control and breaks free. He lands a few elbows and conveniently sticks his head back into the guillotine. Again he wiggles free and Herb Dean calls for some action. Third straight guillotine with no results so Miller rolls him over and takes mount. Osipczak elbows from bottom and Miller postures and throws an airball. Herb Dean again warns for inactivity. Miller postures and gets trapped in a triangle but survives and gets loose. Back in mount, he eats a few elbows and Herb Dean has seen enough and stands them up. They size each other up and a head kick from Osipczak puts Miller to sleep. Nick Osipczak defeats Mark Miller via KO (head kick). Afterward, Hendo says Miller didn’t stick to the gameplan and that Osipczak was tougher than he looked in his first fight. Bisping gives Team USA a verbal thrashing to try and rattle the cage and break them before they fight — even if it makes him “Look like a dick.” Stay tuned next week as Team USA starts to unravel while Team UK continues to bond. The announcer suggests the Americans are posers and we get a special, two-fight episode. See you in seven!

UFC Quick Quote: Dana White ready for a war on Chuck Liddell retirement issue Posted: 22 Apr 2009 02:32 PM PDT “Chuck Liddell is stupid rich. Chuck Liddell is done. He's got nothing left to prove. He's the most famous guy on Earth. I love him like a fucking brother and I don't want to see him get hurt. There is no reason for it. He's fucking 40 years old man. These guys that are fighting now are young, explosive, fast fucking kids who are well rounded mixed martial artists. There's no fucking reason for Chuck Liddell to be out there at 40 years old still fighting. I don't want to make a fucking nickel off that ever. Believe me, it will be a fucking war if he tries not to retire, believe me. I love him. He helped me build this business. We started when he was making five hundred and five hundred. And we had the dream of him becoming a big star and winning the title and making all kinds of money. We did it all man. We fucking did it all. We did it. We did it. It's fucking over. He's 40 years old, it is over. It was amazing that he was able to fight until he was 40. That's what a bad motherfucker he was. He has nothing to prove to anybody, period. It's over. We did everything that we set out to do. It has been an amazing run, its been fun. We did it together, we stayed loyal to each other the whole time and we did everything that we hoped to do and now its over. He can do it financially. And plus, I'm going to bring him into the organization in some other way and he's still going to make money. He's been loyal to me and I've been loyal to him and that's not going to change now that he's retiring. He'll always be a part of the organization. He'll take on another role, he'll still make money and he'll be with me until the day we die…. I always say is that I've built this business using the blueprint of boxing, what not to do. We know that you shouldn't be fighting past your prime, you know?” – UFC President Dana White provides more context via InsideFighting.com on his reasons for essentially forcing former light heavyweight champion and his good friend, Chuck Liddell, into retirement after his most recent loss (his fourth in his last five appearances) to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 97: “Redemption” this past weekend. Liddell skirted the retirement talk as best he could after the bout, saying he needed a few drinks and a few days to come to a final decision. His trainer, John Hackleman, stated that Liddell would decide “in the next week” or so. The plot thickens …

Michael Bisping: Anderson Silva and Thales Leites should hang their heads in shame Posted: 22 Apr 2009 11:40 AM PDT Props: UFC.com Quoteworthy: “I think both guys should hang their heads in shame, quite honestly. Leites probably won the first two rounds but nothing happened in the fight. [Canadian fans] deserved a hell of a lot better than they got from these two. I’ve seen more aggression from my fiancé when she hits the January sales. It was very frustrating for me to be sitting on my couch seeing Anderson Silva, who keeps saying how he's gone through the middleweight division. I would have fought harder than both of them put together, and so would a lot of other middleweights.” The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 coach of Team UK, Michael Bisping, reacts strongly to the much maligned UFC 97: "Redemption" main event between 185-pound champion Anderson Silva and Thales Leites at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, on April 18. The five-round snooze fest offered little in the way of entertainment because it appeared that Leites was reluctant to engage on the feet, opting instead to flop to the canvas anytime "The Spider" got close enough to do damage. He did manage, however, to win a few rounds merely because Silva was unable to get going, but it wasn't nearly enough — Silva earned a unanimous decision win to a chorus of boo birds. Perhaps in the future Silva can try harder to “Be like Mike.”

Affliction VP Tom Atencio to fight on June 27 undercard of Sapp vs Lashley Posted: 22 Apr 2009 11:21 AM PDT Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio is planning a pay-per-view fight for June 27 at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Miss. — though it won’t be for his stable of fighters at a planned Affliction III event. Instead, the 42-year-old T-shirt mogul will be strapping on the gloves to throwdown with a yet-to-be-named opponent on the undercard of the Bobby Lashley vs. Bob Sapp event according to MMA Fanhouse. Here’s a snip: “I love this sport and I am not a wannabe. I’ve fought before and I have respect for anyone who steps into the ring win, lose or draw. They’re doing something that most of the world will never do. I think (it will be contested at) 160, maybe 155. Not sure I can make 155 at 42 years old.” Atencio (1-0) enjoyed a successful mixed martial arts debut back in January of 2005 when he outpointed David Martinez (2-3) at the ‘Total Combat 7′ event held in Tijuana, Mexico. While a spot on Affliction’s next card would be a perfect fit, Atencio didn’t think his Affliction colleagues would have approved, despite the fact that they are ‘100 percent behind’ his decision to continue fighting. No telling how his training camp will affect his involvement in planning Affliction’s next event, but no question UFC President Dana White is somewhere is Vegas watching very closely. And probably laughing hysterically.

Quinton Jackson reportedly set to face winner of Rashad Evans vs Lyoto Machida in late 2009 Posted: 22 Apr 2009 10:54 AM PDT Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson (30-7) may finally get his chance to reclaim the 205-pound strap later this summer when he takes on the winner of Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida scheduled for UFC 98 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Fighters Only Magazine. UFC 98 had been suffering from a bit of an identity crisis early on. The May 23 event was originally headlined by Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, who were set to collide in a heavyweight title unification bout until Mir was forced to bow out with a knee injury that required minor surgery. Mir and Lesnar are now scheduled for fisticuffs at UFC 100 on July 11. The main event was quickly (and awkwardly) changed to Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans during the UFC 96 broadcast on March 8. "Rampage" defeated Evans' teammate Keith Jardine via unanimous decision and had a nice war of words with "Sugar" following the bout, but appeared lukewarm to the idea of competing just over two months after his scrap with "The Dean of Mean." Jackson — who would have competed three times in the span of five months — withdrew from the event shortly thereafter, citing nagging injuries and a brutal training camp for his current physical condition. He's apparently opted to settle for the title of number one contender with a guaranteed shot at the winner of Evans vs. Machida at either UFC 102 or 103, according to the report. Perhaps the only downside to a potential fight with either Evans or Machida is the fact that the former champ finds both opponents “boring.” Jackson on “Weird” Machida: “Lyoto is a weird fighter, he's kind of boring. I think that style works for him, the way he makes people run after him. I mean, he's good, he's undefeated, but he's boring. If I was the promoter of a show I wouldn't have guys like that fighting on my show." And then on “Big-mouth” Evans: "I did the UFC a favor and fought Jardine because Rashad wouldn't fight me; that's why I fought Jardine, because I was supposed to fight Rashad after the fight with Wanderlei. Since Rashad got a big mouth and got in my face, you already know who I want to fight. I'm thinking it might be a boring fight, but what do I know?" UFC 102 is scheduled for Saturday, Aug 29, 2009 from The Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon and is expected to feature former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture, locking horns with former Pride FC and UFC interim heavyweight champion, Antonio Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira. UFC 103 — while yet to be announced — is rumored to be scheduled for September 26 in the United Kingdom. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more details as they become available.

Pro MMA Radio replay now available featuring Strikeforce middleweight Scott Smith Posted: 22 Apr 2009 10:51 AM PDT Fresh off his thrilling come-from-behind win over Benji Radach at Strikeforce "Shamrock vs. Diaz" on April 11, former UFC and EliteXC striker Scott Smith was our featured guest on Monday's edition of MMAmania.com's exclusive presentation of Pro MMA Radio. "Hands of Steel" broke down his stunning knockout victory over Radach in his Showtime debut, life after the fall of EliteXC and most importantly — why Affliction boss Tom Atencio was filling in as his personal masseuse at the Strikeforce event. Hosted by Larry Pepe, Pro MMA Radio is professional, guest-driven program that features some of mixed martial arts biggest names. If you're looking for a radio show that revolves around a couple of MMA fans ranting and raving about everything that's already been covered ad nauseam, then Pro MMA Radio probably isn't for you. However, if you want to hear from actual fighters and industry insiders answering questions that are relevant to the current MMA scene, tune in every Monday night at 9 p.m. ET for our exclusive live feed. For the audio replay of Monday's show click here.

Weapon X: Matt Hamill has something new for Brandon Vera at UFC 102 Posted: 22 Apr 2009 08:48 AM PDT Props: MMA Fanhouse Quoteworthy: “I have a lot of things to add. I add more moves every time I fight. Every time I fight, there will always be a new move, so at UFC 102 against Brandon Vera, I’ll have a new weapon that no one has seen. The old Matt Hamill is not the new one. I can do things that are not expected.” -The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3 contestant, Matt Hamill, has some cautionary words for opponent Brandon Vera, who will face “The Hammer” at UFC 102 from the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, on August 29. Hamill has long been considered a one-trick pony because of his superior wrestling — that is until his show-stealing (and surprising) knockout of Mark Munoz via head kick at UFC 96: "Jackson vs. Jardine" last March. Can history repeat itself in Stumptown? Or will Vera finally show Hamill “The Truth?”

TUF 8 champ Efrain Escudero in talks to face Cole Miller at UFC 103 Posted: 22 Apr 2009 07:37 AM PDT The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero (11-0) announced yesterday during a live Q&A session via his official website that he’s in talks to face American Top Team lightweight Cole Miller (15-3) at UFC 103, though a date and venue have yet to be determined for this event. Escudero bested season favorite, Phillipe Nover, via unanimous decision at TUF 8 Finale to capture the 155-pound crown at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 13. He was supposed to lose, but he didn't, relying on his strong wrestling background to frustrate the Filipino for three rounds. Prior to the win, the collegiate wrestling standout choked out Ido Pariente, Shane Nelson and Junie Browning to punch his ticket to the finals. Browning called for a rematch after he stopped Dave Kaplan, but came up short against Cole Miller at UFC Fight Night 18 on April 1. Like Browning, submission defense will be a priority when Escudero faces "Magrino." Miller was a talented up-and-comer who fell just short of the TUF finals, eventually succumbing to Joe Lauzon after being rattled with an illegal punch to the back of his head in the TUF 5 semifinals. Since his UFC debut in June of 2007, Miller has gone 4-1, including an impressive submission victory over exiled lightweight Jorge Gurgel at UFC 86 and then the quick work of “The Lunatic” earlier this month. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more details on UFC 103 as they become available.

Tim Sylvia vs Ray Mercer video commercial for June 13 Posted: 22 Apr 2009 05:41 AM PDT Oh goodness:

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