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WEC 41 results LIVE for ‘Brown vs Faber 2′ on June 7 Posted: 28 Apr 2009 04:25 AM PDT World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) recently finalized the 10-fight line up for its big trip back to the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., on June 7. WEC 41 will feature a monster rematch between Mike Thomas Brown and hometown hero, Urijah "The California Kid" Faber, in a featherweight championship bout with Brown's 145-pound title on the line. In the co main event, Jose Aldo and Cub Swanson are set to collide in another dynamite featherweight showdown. Number one lightweight contender Donald Cerrone will also return to action against James Krause on the televised main card after an undisclosed injury forced Rich "Cleat" Crunkilton to withdraw from the 155-pound contest. And remember that The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 5 alum, Manny Gamburyan, will likely do his best to ensure that his prmootional debut makes the Versus telecast. Here is the complete WEC 41 fight card: Main event: 145 lbs.: Champ Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber (for WEC featherweight title) Main card (Televised): 145 lbs.: Jose Aldo vs. Cub Swanson 155 lbs.: Donald Cerrone vs. James Krause 145 lbs.: Josh Grispi vs. Jens Pulver Under card (May not be broadcast): 145 lbs.: Manny Gamburyan vs. John Franchi 135 lbs.: Kyle Dietz vs. Charlie Valencia 155 lbs.: Mike Campbell vs. Anthony Pettis 135 lbs.: Scott Jorgensen vs. Antonio Banuelos 135 lbs.: Eddie Wineland vs. Frank Gomez 135 lbs.: Rolando Perez vs. Seth Dikun MMAmania.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of WEC 41, beginning with the Versus telecast at 9 p.m. ET on fight night. In addition, we will deliver up-to-the-minute quick results of all the under card action earlier in the evening. We're still about two months away from showtime; therefore, feel free to share your thoughts and predictions on “Brown vs. Faber 2" in the comments section below. And remember that MMAmania.com will be the spot for the latest news and event-related highlights before, during and after the event. For everything you need to know about WEC 41 feel free to also hit up our event archive right here.

Dana White video blog with Chuck Liddell at NASCARs Talladega for the Aarons 499 Posted: 28 Apr 2009 03:11 AM PDT Check out part two after the jump, as well as the incredible crash that took place at the end of the race. Video blog part two: Carl Edwards’ crash:

Report: Alistair Overeem vs Brett Rogers Strikeforce title fight possible for June 6 Posted: 28 Apr 2009 02:17 AM PDT Strikeforce MMA has perhaps found an opponent for its heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem (29-11), according to Sports1140.com, setting up the Dutchman to take on undefeated former Elite XC standout, Brett Rogers (9-0), in a featured match on the promotion’s “Lawler vs. Shields” card, which is set for the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo., on June 6. It’s important to note that company officials could not confirm the showdown between the two feared strikers at press time; however, it was also not ruled out entirely, meaning it could (or could not) be announced shortly. “The Demolition Man” captured the Strikeforce belt with a second round submission win over Paul Buentello back in 2007 after repeated knees to the body forced “The Headhunter” to tap out. However, Overeem has yet to defend his title since that time, fighting primarily over in Japan for the past two years. Most recently, Overeem has been dabbling in K-1 kickboxing events and doing quite well against some of the best in the business. His most recent mixed martial arts action was against 43-year old accomplished kickboxer and UFC veteran, Gary Goodridge, at a Glory MMA show in front of his own countrymen in  Arnhem, Netherlands, last November. Overeem won that bout via first round submission (kimura). A little over a month prior to that, he was possibly getting the best of former Pride FC open weight grand prix winner Mirko Cro Cop in a heavyweight tilt on the DREAM 6 card before the bout had to be stopped and ruled a no contest because of repeated unintentional (albeit illegal) groin strikes from Overeem. “The Grim” will be taking a serious step up in competition level for this fight. Overeem is more experienced and more accomplished than any of the nine men who have stepped in the cage with Rogers throughout his career thus far. The Minneapolis Team Bison product has stormed through those nine men rather easily, too, finishing each of them with strikes. In fact, only once, in his most recent victory over Ron “Abongo” Humphrey on the Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Diaz” card earlier this month, has the knockout artist faced an opponent who has survived beyond the first round. It’ll be a short turnaround for Rogers — less than two months to be exact — but he went nearly a full year without competing following his win over Jon Murphy under the Elite XC banner last May. He’s more than likely hungry to get as many fights under his belt as he can in 2009. At 260 pounds, Grim should have a decent size advantage over the champion in this fight. Both fighters measure in at 6′5,” but Overeem — who used to compete as a light heavyweight — will probably be about 30 pounds lighter than the challenger on fight night. That’s something Rogers will undoubtedly look to use to his advantage. Here’s a snip from an interview he did with MMAFighting.com about the match up: “With Overeem, with him I think it would be a little more exciting because he wants to stand with me. He's kind of a fast spunky kind of dude, that's what I've been seeing off of his videos. He's a dangerous fighter on the ground (in that) he can fight off of his back, too, so I ain't gonna sleep on him when it comes to that. But he's definitely going to have some problems with the weight. He's gotta pump it up a little bit or I'll lay on his ass, put that weight on him, tire him out.” The event will be headlined by a match-up of the last reigning Elite XC middleweight champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler and the only man to ever hold the Elite XC welterweight title, Jake Shields. In addition, a special 180-pound catchweight fight between Nick Diaz and Scott Smith was also just recently announced. Strikeforce: “Lawler vs. Shields” will air live on the premium cable network Showtime on fight night, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Stay dialed in to MMAmania.com before, during and after the show for all the Strikeforce event coverage you can handle.

‘Minatauro’ Nogueira healthy and ready for Randy Couture at UFC 102 Posted: 28 Apr 2009 01:41 AM PDT Props: BrasileCombate.com.br Quoteworthy: "I wasn't getting to take the fight to the floor. I had an injury two weeks before the fight when I went to USA. I had my knee hurt and tore my meniscus and it messed up my standing training and takedowns. My knee displaced many times during the fight. I wasn't well at all. I wasn't 100%. Now it's time to train harder and face Randy." Staph infection wasn’t the only malady the plagued former UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minatauro” Nogueira during his losing title defense against Frank Mir at UFC 92: "The Ultimate 2008" back in December. The Brazilian indicates that he was also nursing a knee injury, which required surgery to repair after the lopsided beating. He was apparently seriously messed up, which might help better explain his most recent outing — he was finished for the first time ever in his illustrious career via technical knockout in the second round. It was a feat that Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Mirko Cro Cop and even "The Beast" Bob Sapp have been unable to accomplish. Perhaps most surprising is that Mir — a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt — schooled Nogueira in the stand up — an aspect that Nogueria appeared to have the advantage heading into the fight. That was certainly not the case. Now healthy, Nogueira is set to face another former champion and legend of the sport, Randy Couture, at UFC 102 on August 28. With his health issues seemingly resolved, can he climb back to the top of the division heap or have his brutal days in PRIDE taken their toll on his body and career?

Nick Diaz vs Scott Smith added to June 6 Strikeforce card Posted: 27 Apr 2009 04:38 PM PDT Strikeforce announced today that former Elite XC fighters and new Strikeforce acquisitions Nick Diaz (19-7) and Scott Smith (15-5) are confirmed for a special 180-pound showdown during the live Showtime telecast of Strikeforce: "Lawler vs. Shields" from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis , Mo., on June 6. Diaz (19-7) is coming off perhaps the biggest win of his career on April 11. The former UFC welterweight stopped promotion pillar Frank Shamrock via second round TKO in the main event of “Shamrock vs. Diaz” in the first Strikeforce event since putting its new Pro Elite acquisitions to work. From Diaz: "I think this is a great fight for me, but I really hate that (Smith) brings his kids to every one of his fights because now I'm going to be made out to be the bad guy or some sort of villain after I beat him up. At the end of the day, I'm going to do what I have to do though and take him out." "Hands of Steel" lived up to his nickname earlier this month by knocking out the hard hitting Benji Radach with a little over a minute remaining in their three round slugfest. Smith was battered and bloodied, but refused to back down and stunned “Razor” — and the rest of the crowd with his thrilling come-from-behind win. Now the two biggest winners from April 11 will meet on June 6 for a chance to crown themselves the King of St. Louis — and perhaps San Jose — now that Strikeforce elder statesman Frank Shamrock has dropped two straight. From Smith: "I usually take a few weeks off, get out of shape and go up to about 210 pounds and wind up spending a few weeks just getting back in shape, but I decided I wasn't going to do that this time. I'm 195 pounds right now and I feel great. Diaz is a great fighter. He's going to come in there and out grapple me and out strike me so what I have to do is go in there and beat him up. I actually think this is more of a dangerous fight for him than it is for me." The June 6 event will be headlined by former EliteXC middleweight champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler taking on former EliteXC welterweight champion Jake Shields in a 182-pound catch weight bout in the featured main event. Additionally, "The New York Badass" Phil Baroni (13-10) will collide with Joe "Diesel" Riggs (29-10) in a 170-pound scrap. Tickets for Strikeforce: "Lawler vs. Shields" are on sale at the Scottrade Center box office as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (800-745-3000), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com), and Strikeforce's official website (www.strikeforce.com). For more on Strikeforce click here.

Anderson Silva next fight should be against … Posted: 27 Apr 2009 01:13 PM PDT … someone who is not one dimensional, like his clone: Got any better (more realistic) suggestions?

Patrick Cote was not afraid to fight Anderson Silva unlike ’scared’ Thales Leites Posted: 27 Apr 2009 11:40 AM PDT Props: Fight Hype Quoteworthy: “[The UFC 97 main event was] boring! At least I tried to engage with Silva! Fuck, I’m actually a little pissed. I like Thales and all, but that was awful. He looked very scared and nervous in there. I wasn’t scared at all. I want Silva back!” Former number one middlweight contender Patrick Cote — who underwent major knee surgery in November 2008 — talks about the five round snoozefest between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites at UFC 97 back on April 18. "The Predator" was also privy to a bizarre performance from “The Spider” at UFC 90 last October. The bout resulted in a technical knockout loss for the Canadian, which he feels may have gone his way if the freak accident never happened. Now that Silva is being heavily criticized for not engaging — and the talk of him staying at 205-pounds — it’s hard to imagine Cote ever finding himself in a rematch with Silva under the Zuffa banner.

Bellator VII at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom to feature welterweight semis; debut of Eddie Sanchez on May 15 Posted: 27 Apr 2009 11:35 AM PDT Los Angeles, Calif. — Apr. 27, 2009 — Bellator Fighting Championships continues its 12 week nationwide world championship series with its seventh event taking place at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom on May 15, 2009. The Chicago event will send two warriors to the finals of Bellator's Welterweight (170 lbs.) world championships. Returning from his stunning come-from-behind victory against formerly undefeated Norman Paraisy, former UFC champion Dave Menne will continue his fight to capture the Bellator Fighting Championships welterweight world championship title against the Dominican Republic's pride Omar De La Cruz. And continuing his undefeated assault, phenomenon Lyman Good will clash with Mexican powerhouse Jorge "The Naked Man" Ortiz for a chance to compete for the Bellator World Title in June. All the action will happen live at the Aragon Ballroom Friday, May 15, 2009 and air exclusively on ESPN Deportes on Saturday May 16, 2009. Bellator VII will award the winning welterweight warriors with $50,000 each as they move one step closer to the Bellator Welterweight world championships belt and the $100,000 grand prize. "This Chicago event will be spectacular. We have two single elimination Welterweight world title tournament semi-final bouts, and a collection of very evenly matched special feature fights," remarked Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney. "In the Bellator World Championship tournament, fighters control their own destiny; they decide who makes it to the world title bout and how much they earn, it's a magical combination of ability, skill, drive and passion that fuels the fighters in this series." Bellator VII on Friday May 15, 2009 will feature two tournament bouts in the welterweight category and seven undercard matches. The fight card is detailed below: Welterweight World Championship Semi-Final Tournament Bouts: 170 lbs. – Dave Menne (43-15-2) vs. Omar De La Cruz (4-1) 170 lbs. – Jorge Ortiz (16-4) vs. Lyman Good (8-0) Non-Tournament Bouts: 155 lbs.: Troy Gerhart (4-0) vs. Lorenzo Borgomeo (5-1) 265 lbs.: Eddie Sanchez (8-3) vs. Jay White (4-5) 155 lbs.: Alonzo Martinez (22-13-1) vs. Victor Meza (9-1) 170 lbs.: Jesse Juarez (9-5) vs. Marcelo Alfaya (10-5) 170 lbs.: Anthony Lapsley (14-4) vs. Ryan Williams (7-4) 170 lbs.: Jacob Volkman (8-0) vs. Kevin Knabjian (10-3-1) 135 lbs.: Kerry Vera (Pro debut) vs. Leslie Smith (4-0) Tickets go on sale today at 7 p.m., Monday Apr. 27, 2009 and are available at the Aragon Ballroom Box Office, Aragon.com, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800.745.3000. Ticket prices will range from $25 to $100. For more information about Bellator Fighting Championships visit www.bellator.com. For the Spanish language version of the Web site visit Espanol.Bellator.com. Please contact your local cable provider to learn more about viewing Bellator Fighting Championships on ESPN Deportes.

UFC Quick Quote: If Randy can do it, so can Chuck Posted: 27 Apr 2009 09:40 AM PDT "Chuck can do whatever wants to do. It's disappointing. He lost to a great champion and that's no reason to retire … He's fought 100 times and only been knocked out twice. We'll talk about it in the next week or so but no one is going to tell him when he's going to stop fighting. A lot of people thought Randy Couture was done at heavyweight and he went to Light Heavyweight and won a title. He lost to Chuck a couple of times then they said he was done again and he went to heavyweight and won another title. It's up to Chuck. I don't think Chuck cares about his fights. He wanted to fight Tito because he didn't like him and for some reason he wanted to beat Vernon White … If someone beats him he doesn't like it but he says oh well, I've beat plenty of people. He doesn't want a rematch just because he got beat. He's the Ice Man. He's kind of cold about that." – Long-time trainer of Chuck Liddell, John Hackleman, talks to Throw Them Bows about “The Iceman" — not UFC President Dana White — making the decision to retire from mixed martial arts competition. There may be a fighting fire that still burns inside the 39-year-old UFC legend despite his recent struggles inside the Octagon. We already know that Dana White made the decision for him to retire after the first round technical knockout loss to Mauricio "Shogun" this weekend at UFC 97: "Redemption. " It should be interesting to see if and when Chuck does make a decision whether or not it drives a wedge between him and White … especially if he wants to stick around and, at the very least, finish the last fight on his current deal and attempt to go out with his hand raised rather than flattened on the canvas.

Hermes Franca in talks for September return at UFC 103 Posted: 27 Apr 2009 09:22 AM PDT Former lightweight number one contender Hermes Franca is planning to make his Octagon return in late September at UFC 103 according to Around the Octagon, though a date and venue have yet to be determined for this event. Franca (19-7) was scratched from his 155-pound match up against Joe Lauzon at UFC Fight Night 17 at USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., back on February 7 due to an ACL tear in his right knee. Here's how it all went down: To all my Fans, unfortunately I am not gonna be able to fight UFC 17 in Tampa Florida, I just tore my ACL on my right knee last Saturday….I think you guys deserve to hear that from me. I just want to take care of that, and Joe Lauzon you're lucky mother fucker lololol (J/K). Thank you UFC, my fans, friends for the support, I was training hard and I was so excited, but there's nothing I can do, (could be worse), so Hermes Franca will take a break for some recovery and come back stronger than ever like I always do!!!! Franca has been on a roller coaster ride during the past 18 months. After returning last year from a 12-month steroids suspension, he came up short against Frank Edgar in his July 2008 comeback fight at UFC Fight Night 14. The Brazilian then rebounded with a win against his former Brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher Marcus Aurelio at UFC 90: "Silva vs. Cote" in October. And shortly thereafter he was arrested in Jupiter, Fla., on suspicion of Driving Under the Influence (DUI). That case is still pending; however, Franca has insisted that he was exhausted, which caused him to drive erratically. He is innocent until proven guilty. Lauzon bested Jeremy Stephens (who replaced the injured Franca) back in February but did not lose his desire to face Franca — especially after Hermes downgraded his brother Dan’s performance at Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning.’ From J-Lau: He's talking a lot of trash for someone who pulled out of the fight. He said he was looking forward to fighting me because he saw my brother fight and (Dan) sucks. My brother took three low blows in that fight, could have ended it by DQ but instead kept fighting and beat the kid anyway. Before I wanted to fight (Hermes) because I had a lot of respect for him. Now I want to fight him because he's acting like a punk. Lauzon is expected to return from his own ACL surgery in Spring 2010. If Franca is still in the mix and Lauzon gets a tune-up fight, expect to see them settle this feud once and for all.

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