Friday, August 7, 2009

UFC blog for latest news, videos, results, betting odds, fighter interviews and MMA rumors - UFCmania.com

UFC blog for latest news, videos, results, betting odds, fighter interviews and MMA rumors - UFCmania.com

Watch Sengoku 9 tonight on HDNet at 10 p.m. ET

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 04:33 AM PDT

Fight fans: Tune in tonight (Friday, Aug. 7) to check out "HDNet Fights Presents: World Victory Road: Sengoku 9" from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The stacked mixed martial arts event, which originally took place this past Sunday (Aug. 2), will air via tape delay in for the first time in North America at 10:00 p.m. ET on HDNet.

You'll be able to catch the conclusion of the promotion's featherweight grand prix, with the semifinals and finals all going down in the same night.

The final four features tournament favorite and promotion poster boy, Hatsu Hioki, colliding with fellow countryman Masanori Kanehara. While on the other side of the bracket, featherweight King of Pancrase Marlon Sandro takes on Judo player Michihiro Omigawa.

Elsewhere on the card, Satoru Kitaoka, is set to defend his Sengoku lightweight title for the first time against Mizuto Hirota.

Also in non tournament action will be a middleweight showdown between Kazuo Misaki and Kazuhiro Nakamura.

And 2008 Combat Sambo World Champion Blagoi Ivanov is set to make his mixed martial arts debut at the event against hard-hitting Japanese mainstay Kazuyuki Fujita.

Here is the line-up for Sengoku 9:

Sengoku lightweight title bout:
Satoru Kitaoka (24-8-9) vs. Mizuto Hirota (11-3-1)

Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix Semifinals:
Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) vs. Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5)
Marlon Sandro (14-0) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1)

Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix Final:
Hatsu Hioki (19-3-2) or Masanori Kanehara (13-5-5) vs. Marlon Sandro (14-0) or Michihiro Omigawa (6-7-1)

Sengoku featherweight reserve bout:
Matt Jaggers (11-5) vs. Chang Sung Jung (6-1)

Sengoku Gold Cup Lightweight Final:
Ikuo Usuda (4-0) vs. Koji Ando (2-0-2)

Sengoku Gold Cup Featherweight Final:
Toru Harai (6-2) vs. Shigeki Osawa (2-0)

Sengoku Gold Cup Bantamweight Final:
Takeshi Numajiri (1-1) vs. Ryosuke Komori (3-1)

Non-tournament bouts:
Kazuo Misaki (21-9-2) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (13-9)
Eiji Mitsuoka (15-6-2) vs. Clay French (16-5)
Akihiro Gono (29-14-7) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (17-2)
Blagoi Ivanov (0-0) vs. Kazuyuki Fujita (15-7)
Yoshihiro Nakao (7-2) vs. Choi Mu Bae (9-3)

UFC Quick Quote: Bring your ‘A’ games, fighters, or else … you’re in Philly

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 08:17 PM PDT

“I want to tell the fighters, this ain’t Las Vegas or New Jersey, this is Philly. You can have great fights in Las Vegas, no disrespect, and great fights in New Jersey, no disrespect. This is Philly. It’s a little different. People are going to expect it. You bring your A-game, they’ll bring their A-game. You bring your B-game, and they’ll bring their B-game. The B-game is you know what. They’ll boo you no matter what here if you bring your B-game…. To the fighters, especially you main event guys, you’re in Philly. Remember where you are.”

– MMAFanHouse.com transcribes a great quote from the Pennsylania State Athletic Commission Executive Director, Greg Sirb, of what fighters can expect from the fans at UFC 101: “Declaration” from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia this Saturday night. “Boo Birds” doesn’t even come close to describing how fanatical, and often times maniacal, sports fans from the “City of Brotherly Love” can be during sporting events. Having witnessed the cross-border rivalries between the Devils-Flyers and Eagles-Giants firsthand from the stands on numerous occasions, it’s safe to say that Mr. Sirb’s words could not be more accurate. Company president Dana White, who matched up his middleweight champion Anderson Silva against Forrest Griffin in a 205-pound bout in an attempt to get him back to his exciting ways, no doubt was grinning ear-to-ear.

Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva UFC 101 open media workouts (Videos)

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 07:48 PM PDT

Forrest “has some moves of his own:”

Check out the “Spider” X-Men-esque stuff after the jump.

Fedor Emelianenko is in full control of his contracts and career …

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 07:07 PM PDT

fedor

… not M-1 or its CEO, who doubles as his manager, Vadim Finkelchtein:

"I have full control of all my contracts and my career. I get financial reports all the time. All contracts and all important issues are discussed with me.  Everything that I don't like, Vadim tries to fix for me. I have full control of everything that is going on…. From my viewpoint, the UFC does not have the proper attitude to fighters. The UFC attitude towards fighters is not a good one. They don't treat them like human beings. And I don't like their policy. The offer that we got was one kind, and then on the Internet they published really different numbers. The offer they gave us was really miserable…. There are a lot of people who take the side of the UFC and there a lot of people who take the side of M-1. I think that if the numbers that were published on the Internet were real numbers, we would have signed with the UFC. All the numbers that were published were just rumors…. All the decisions regarding my fights are made by me, then Vadim makes the public announcement. I feel really sorry that my fans won't be able to see the fight with Brock Lesnar in the near future. But, I know that they will be able to see other fights with great opponents. I would like to stress once again that besides my fans' interests, there is my personal interests that the UFC didn't want to meet."

Fedor Emelianenko went to great lengths today on a media conference call to clear his good name and defend his decision to sign a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce and not Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Several fans were outraged to hear that Emelianenko allegedly passed up big money and an opportunity to “fight the best” such as UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. But the UFC deal, according to the Russian, was not as sweet as the Internet rumors indicated ($5 million per fight) and was inflexible in terms of co-promotion and exclusivity. During the process it appeared that Finkelchtein was calling all the shots; however, Emelianenko states that the decision was his and his alone. Will it turn out to be a good one for the fans and, perhaps more important, how much does it really matter?

UFC 101 press conference pics: BJ Penn-Kenny Florian face off and more

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 02:06 PM PDT

Here. We. Go:

Check out Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin mad doggin’ after the jump. For the complete photo gallery of the UFC 101 press conference head over to CombatLifestyle.com.

UFC 101 video preview, Scott Coker talks Fedor Emelianenko and more on ESPNs ‘MMA Live’ (Video)

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 01:55 PM PDT

Dana White: Fedor Emelianenko will put ‘Strikefarce’ out of business

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 01:08 PM PDT

Props: MMAFanHouse.com

Quoteworthy:

“They have no money, no fighters. They’re a small-town show. Cung Le hasn’t defended the title since like 1997. Josh Thomson hasn’t defended the belt in like two years. Who’s their other champion? Alistair Overeem? He hasn’t defended the belt in like two years. It’s Strike-Farce. It’s a little regional show with no one in it…. [Fedor Emelianenko will] put them out of business. They have no money and no distribution. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight [on Showtime cable], 245,000 people watched that fight. That’s nothing…. I offered him a great deal. I guarantee you the Strikeforce deal wasn’t in the same universe with ours. it wasn’t close. They probably didn’t even pay him as much as Affliction was.”

UFC President Dana White provides his latest comments on the surprise Strikeforce acquisition of Fedor Emelianenko earlier this week. White admits that he was “miserable” for two days after talks broke down, but realizes now that the Russian never had any intentions of fighting inside the Octagon. If Strikeforce, which was established in 1985 as a kickboxing organization and transitioned to MMA in 2006, does go out of business because of the Emelianenko deal it won’t be the first promotion to go under that has enlisted the services of “The Last Emperor” — Pride FC, BoDog and Affliction MMA have all vanished. Not saying it will happen again, but just worth noting. For the record, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker brushed the comments aside in a conference call earlier this afternoon, saying “Dana White is a promoter and will say what he's going to say, but we've been in business a long time and look forward to putting some on big shows with Fedor." It’s safe to say the war has begun.

Vadim Finkelchtein: Brock Lesnar is a product of ‘The great hype machine’

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 12:13 PM PDT

Strikeforce and M1-Global today held a press conference to discuss their recent partnership that includes the signing of Fedor Emelianenko, as well as their intention to co-promote future events.

On the call were Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, Showtime executive Ken Hershman and of course newly-signed heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko.

While no details were announced surrounding a possible opponent or precise event date for “The Last Emperor’s” debut (still fall 2009), the call instead focused on introducing Fedor to a new Showtime audience, as well as the partnership between Strikeforce and M-1.

Below are some notes and quotes from the M-1 Global/Strikeforce press conference:

Scott Coker: Feels like he won the lottery with the signing of Fedor Emelianenko. Doesn’t yet have an opponent or event date for their new acquisition.

“Dana White is a promoter and will say what he’s going to say, but we’ve been in business a long time and look forward to putting some on big shows with Fedor.”

The Fedor deal went down so fast he is still running to catch up.

Alistair Overeem should be ready to fight in the fall.

Pay-per-view model is still 6-9 months away.

Fighting is their core business and they don’t anticipate going anywhere.

Scott Coker dropped from the call. Fedor can be heard giggling in the background.

Has considered holding a Grand Prix Tournament but has no current plans to do so.

Vadim Finkelchtein: UFC wouldn’t let Fedor fight anywhere except the UFC and that was unreasonable. They presented “nothing special” in their offer.

Wants to know if a 4-1 Brock Lesnar is the best heavyweight in the world or the product of “The great hype machine.”

(via M-1 attorney) UFC tries to stop the fight between Mousasi and Sobral in Strikeforce, but Mousasi already signed on for the fight and will honor that commitment.

Question about recent “Breakthrough” event is rejected as inappropriate for this call.

Vadim is missing from the call. Dogs can be heard barking in the background.

Fedor Emelianenko: Doesn’t know his opponent yet, but looks forward to fighting whoever they give him. Would like to progress MMA and earn some money and can do both with Strikeforce.

Dana White is wrong about him ducking the best fighters in the world. Considers his last two fights to be against difficult opponents.

Insists he has full control over his contract and finances related to fighting under M-1.

Does not like the way UFC treats fighters, says they do not treat them like human beings.

Calls UFC offer “terrible.”

Ken Hershman: In the planning stages now of how to market Fedor beyond the hardcore fan base and into the mainstream. Recognizes it’s a big task but looks forward to it.

Stay tuned in the coming days as more details are announced surrounding the signing of Fedor Emelianenko and a future opponent and event date.

CNBC presents ‘Ultimate Fighting: Fistful of Dollars’ (Video)

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 11:45 AM PDT

Props: CNBC

Declaration: Notes and quotes from UFC 101 pre-fight press conference

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 11:01 AM PDT

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) today held its pre-fight press conference for UFC 101: ‘Declaration’ scheduled for the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on August 8.

On hand were main card competitors BJ “The Prodigy” Penn, Kenny “KenFlo” Florian, Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Forrest Griffin as well as UFC President Dana White.

It was a rather tepid affair with fighters not wasting any time at the podium and fielding questions in a brisk and succinct manner.

Not surprisingly, White was the most vocal of the group.

Here are a few of the highlights from the “Declaration” pre-fight press conference.

Dana White: “We had a conversation earlier today. If Anderson beats Forrest Griffin, he’s interested in hanging around in the 205-pound division and facing some of the best.”

Forrest Griffin: Has always been stupid and tough, will now try to be smart and tough.

BJ Penn: “As strange as it sounds, cutting weight made me fat because I would eat right after my fights … No matter what shape I get from now until the day I die I’ll never get the respect for training hard.”

Anderson Silva: Doesn’t feel any stronger at 205.

Dana White: UFC 100 garnered 25 million viewers on Mexican television. Taped broadcast highlighting UFC 101 fighters did 17-18 million.

Kenny Florian: Awarded Tequila Cazadores award for “Social responsibility, dedication to art form and sportsmanship” for his charity efforts, professionalism and possibly his “Hellbows.”

Remember that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action on fight night (Saturday, Aug. 8), which is slated to air at 10 p.m. ET on PPV from the Wachovia Center.

To check out the complete UFC 101 fight card click here.
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