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

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• Sean Sherk next fight likely at UFC 119 against Evan Dunham on Sept. 25
• What team is Lebron James going to?
• Papa Dragon: Lyoto Machida should retire from MMA (Video)
• UFC 116: 'Lesnar vs Carwin' prelims broadcast draws 1.3 million viewers on Spike TV
• UFC Undisputed 2010 gameplay patch is now live. Get it here.
• Josh Barnett's 'Impact FC' game plan for Geronimo dos Santos includes sodomy, blood and a big thud (Video)
• MMAmania.com announces UFC 116 NGAUGE 'Bonnar vs Griffin' lithograph contest winner
• Lil' Nog: 'Anderson Silva will beat Chael Sonnen like a child and shut his mouth'
• Strikeforce: 'Houston' official for Aug. 21 on Showtime
• Fedor planning Strikeforce return by Nov. 2010; M-1 wants 'Emelianenko vs Werdum II'
• Pay up, fool. Snoop gots to get paid. Specifically, the 20-large Dana White owes him for picking...
• Jake Shields: Strikeforce wants to push 'has beens' like Shamrock and Le -- not great young fighters

Sean Sherk next fight likely at UFC 119 against Evan Dunham on Sept. 25 Posted: 07 Jul 2010 08:45 PM PDT Former lightweight champion and division stalwart, Sean Sherk, has been tapped to diffuse the meteoric rise of Evan Dunham at UFC 119, which is tentatively scheduled to take place at Conseco in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sept. 25. The potential 155-pound showdown between the 36-year-old veteran and 26-year-old up-and-comer was today confirmed by MMAWeekly.com. Sherk has not competed in more than a year, sustaining several different injuries that have forced him out of three separate fights. In fact, bouts against top division players such as Clay Guida, Gleison Tibau and Jim Miller have all been scrapped, delaying perhaps his final run at another title opportunity. In his most recent performance, "The Muscle Shark" dropped a unanimous decision to Frankie Edgar -- who has since gone one to become lightweight champion -- at UFC 98: "Evans vs. Machida" in back in May 2009. His decision to abandon his roots (wrestling) in that fight in favor of a new stand-up attack was a big factor in the loss. He'll need to relocate his identity if he plans to pass his upcoming test against an incredibly resilient and hungry opponent. Dunham is on a four-fight tear since making his Octagon debut early last year, taking out Per Eklund, Marcus Aurelio, Efrain Escudero and Tyson Griffin. It was his gutsy win over Griffin, however, which made most fans stand up and take notice. And if he can add Sherk to his hit list, keeping his perfect record (11-0) intact and winning five straight UFC fights, you can expect to see Dunham mixing it up with more of the top contenders in the division in the months and years to come. He's got quite an unassuming upside. UFC 119, which has yet to be officially announced by the promotion, is still awaiting a potential main event. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more information on this developing fight card as it becomes available.

What team is Lebron James going to? Posted: 07 Jul 2010 08:25 PM PDT It's anyone's guess right now. What we do know now is that "King" is apparently a mixed martial arts fan, enjoying highlights from UFC 116 this past weekend. And what impressed him most? Here's a hint: It wasn't Brock Lesnar's come-from-behind victory. The incredulous Gerald Harris explains (mash via MMAWeekly.com and BloodyElbow.com): "My friend is a good friend of LeBron's. He said they were sitting on the couch watching ESPN and LeBron saw the clip, and he had to DVR it. He kept rewinding it. So LeBron saw me! That was one of my goals. I've got to check that off the list.... If we can get NBA guys watching, if we can get other successful African American athletes in other sports to follow us, then we'll take it to another level. That's what it's going to take. We need the mainstream guys from other sports to come follow us. That's when their people will say 'Hey, what's this new sport? If he likes it, I like it.'" To see a .gif of Harris' devastating powerbomb slam on Dave Branch click here. Now on to your predictions ... Cavaliers, Knicks, Heat?

Papa Dragon: Lyoto Machida should retire from MMA (Video) Posted: 07 Jul 2010 02:06 PM PDT I think it's very interesting considering as a fan I've honestly never been overly impressed with Machida and I know I'm in the minority. But at the same time, I don't quite see how one defeat after going unbeaten for so long is grounds for quitting. what do you guys think, is his dad nuts?  My take is simple, losing is just a big a part of this sport as winning is! What's your take?

UFC 116: 'Lesnar vs Carwin' prelims broadcast draws 1.3 million viewers on Spike TV Posted: 07 Jul 2010 11:50 AM PDT Spike TV's "UFC Prelims" special for UFC 116: "Lesnar vs Carwin" on July 3 drew 1.3 million viewers, the second straight dip in broadcast ratings since drawing 1.6 million for UFC 114 back in May. The two-fight broadcast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas featured Brendan Schaub knocking out fellow heavyweight Chris Tuchscherer while light heavyweight Ricardo Romero made a successful promotion debut by submitting Seth Petruzelli. "UFC Prelims" reached an all-time high back in February when UFC 109: "Relentless" garnered 1.7 million viewers. After dropping to 1.2 million for UFC 111: "St. Pierre vs. Hardy," the special rebounded with 1.6 million for "Rampage vs. Evans." Check out the full list of "UFC Prelims" telecast ratings (courtesy of MMA Weekly) after the jump. - UFC 103: 1.4 million viewers - UFC 104: 1.4 million viewers - UFC 106: 1.3 million viewers - UFC 108: 1.5 million viewers - UFC 109: 1.7 million viewers - UFC 111: 1.2 million viewers - UFC 114: 1.6 million viewers - UFC 115: 1.5 million viewers - UFC 116: 1.3 million viewers For complete UFC 116 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here.

UFC Undisputed 2010 gameplay patch is now live. Get it here. Posted: 07 Jul 2010 10:41 AM PDT UFC Undisputed 2010 gameplay patch is now live. Get it here.

Josh Barnett's 'Impact FC' game plan for Geronimo dos Santos includes sodomy, blood and a big thud (Video) Posted: 07 Jul 2010 10:28 AM PDT You might want to reconsider watching this Saturday's (July 10) televised card from Brisbane...

MMAmania.com announces UFC 116 NGAUGE 'Bonnar vs Griffin' lithograph contest winner Posted: 07 Jul 2010 10:28 AM PDT MMAmania.com is proud to announce the grand prize winner of our UFC 116 NGAUGE sponsored contest give-a-way, Dean Sablan. Dean had an official prediction for the Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski rematch at UFC 116, picking "The American Psycho" to finish "The Polish Experiment" via TKO (strikes) at 3:18 of round two -- just ten seconds away from the actual stoppage. Nice work, Dean. You're now the proud owner of a limited edition lithograph print, which has been autographed by Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin commemorating their epic battle at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Finale 1 (Same as the one pictured above, just not that big). Thanks again to everyone who participated. And special thanks to NGAUGE Inc. for making this all possible. For more information on the company and to check out other amazing pieces of work they've done click here. And if you didn't win, no worries, MMAmania.com has more great contests and reader give-a-ways coming soon!

Lil' Nog: 'Anderson Silva will beat Chael Sonnen like a child and shut his mouth' Posted: 07 Jul 2010 09:25 AM PDT Props: Sherdog.com Quoteworthy: "I think he's just talking nonsense. He is not even a real challenger to Anderson. I think other fighters have done much more in the division, such as Dan Henderson, Nate Marquardt, whom he won against, Demian Maia, who played with (Sonnen) like a child, and Vitor Belfort. He is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. He will take a beating from Anderson, who will beat him like a child, will beat his ass and will shut his mouth. He has no qualifications to compete for the belt -- that's the truth. He doesn’t have good boxing or ground, only good wrestling. Anderson is on another level. He hopes that Anderson will lose his control and blow up. It’s the only chance he has since Anderson is technically much better than him." Top ranked UFC light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira slams the mouthy rise to fame of Chael Sonnen, who faces Anderson Silva for the middleweight title at UFC 117. Of course the Nogueira brothers were part of Sonnen's rants, when he referred to "The Spider's" black belt as "a toy that you get in a happy meal." Whether or not his trash talk has gotten under the skin of Silva remains to be seen, but it definitely sounds like it's starting to irk the Nogueira's. Anyone think the former politician is going to eat his words on August 7?

Strikeforce: 'Houston' official for Aug. 21 on Showtime Posted: 07 Jul 2010 09:00 AM PDT Strikeforce today announced their upcoming media conference call to dish the details on the promotion's planned "Houston" event, now official for the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, airing live via Showtime on August 21, 2010. While a fight card has not been confirmed at this time, light heavyweight champion Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal is expected to put his belt on the line against fellow 205-pound standout Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante. In addition, surging middleweights Tim Kennedy and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza are rumored to throw down as are lightweight scrappers KJ Noons and Jorge Gurgel. This marks the fifth major mixed martial arts event for August 2010. Between UFC on Versus 2, UFC 117, WEC 50, Strikeforce: "Houston" and UFC 118, MMA fans are going to have a very busy (and entertaining) month. Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more details on the upcoming Strikeforce: "Houston" event as they become available.

Fedor planning Strikeforce return by Nov. 2010; M-1 wants 'Emelianenko vs Werdum II' Posted: 07 Jul 2010 06:54 AM PDT Props: LowKick.com Quoteworthy: "We are ready to fight against anyone, but everyone agrees that the most interesting fight right now is the rematch against Fabricio Werdum. We have one fight left on our contract, so if Strikeforce want to extend it – they should listen to our opinion. Fedor will fight again sometime between October and November. I’ll repeat that again: the only thing fans want to see is Fedor vs Werdum II. Fabricio himself said that he would like to rematch Fedor in Russia. It’s great, but this fight will not happen in Russia ... I can really feel that the rating makers on the US websites really wanted Fedor Emelianenko to suffer from his first 'real' defeat. They now have Fedor in third Place, and the first is Brock Lesnar. Question: Who’s Brock Lesnar? He has only five professional fights, and one defeat. He is a marketable fighter because of his WWE past. They sell-out 60,000 stadiums for that crap, which no one would even consider watching in Russia. That’s why Brock Lesnar is popular. As for Fedor, he is not a marketable fighter – he’s just the best. He destroyed everyone during 10 years. He has 31 victories." Co-owner and President of M-1 Global Vadim Finkelchtein is already planning a rematch between Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum -- despite Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker's interest in a fight against heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. The Russian Sambo champion was submitted by "Vai Cavalo" back on June 26 and has one remaining fight left on his current contract. Does he use it to try and avenge his loss to the Brazilian? Or does Strikeforce pit him against "Demolition Man" in one last "money" match?

Pay up, fool. Snoop gots to get paid. Specifically, the 20-large Dana White owes him for picking... Posted: 07 Jul 2010 06:20 AM PDT Pay up, fool. Snoop gots to get paid. Specifically, the 20-large Dana White owes him for picking the Celtics over the Lakers.

Jake Shields: Strikeforce wants to push 'has beens' like Shamrock and Le -- not great young fighters Posted: 06 Jul 2010 09:31 PM PDT Props: BJPenn.com Quoteworthy: "I’m brand new to the UFC but they have treated me absolutely wonderful much better than Strikeforce to this point. They return my phone calls and I get seats unlike Strikeforce but so far things have been absolutely perfect. I don’t want to knock Strikeforce because that’s not my style even though they did treat me like shit which was unnecessary because I never talked bad about them. Honestly I would love to see Gilbert and Nick in the UFC. Even though Strikeforce is a good show, everyone knows it’s the number two show. They have a handful of good fighters but all the top competition is in the UFC and I feel that Nick and Gilbert are good enough to fight at the highest level. I just don’t see Strikeforce putting the marketing strength behind him as they didn’t for me. I feel like they (Strikeforce) want to go after the places that have already been built like Shamrock or Cung Le. They don’t seem really interested in building top young fighters in their prime. They had a great batch of young fighters like me, Nick, Gil and King Mo but they weren’t interested in great young fighters and instead all the push went to 'has beens' like Shamrock and Cung Le. It seemed like they wanted to push people who were no where near their prime." Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields talks about his time in Strikeforce as he prepares for what seems like an inevitable run within the ranks of the UFC. The Cesar Gracie grappling guru wants to eventually bring team mates Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez over to the world's largest fight promotion and Shields is currently working on maintaining his size. Do you expect a middleweight debut with an eye towards Anderson Silva? Or will he make a run in the UFC's 170-pound division and get his wish of a Georges St. Pierre superfight? Poll Who Does Shields Get as a First Fight? GSP A. Silva Fitch/Alves winner Other   2697 votes | Results

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