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| Kimbo Slice vs Ken Shamrock Elite XC video promo for October 4 Posted: 03 Sep 2008 08:34 AM CDT x |
| UFC 91 to be biggest MMA PPV ever? Posted: 03 Sep 2008 12:56 AM CDT
— UFC President Dana White when asked if it was his gut instinct that says UFC 91 will be the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history. He could actually be right. White hinted that the UFC could be planning to market the upcoming heavyweight fights as part of a four-man “tournament” — a term he used several times in a media conference call to announce UFC 91. The tournament would pit Couture against Brock Lesnar in a five-round heavyweight title fight at UFC 91 in November, followed in December by the previously scheduled five-round bout for the Interim Heavyweight Championship belt between “Minotauro” Noguiera and Frank Mir at UFC 92. Then, sometime in 2009, the winners from the two fights would face one another to find out who the “real champion” (also a term White used multiple times) is. White said that the promotion was already planning to shoot the “Countdown”-esque episodes to the UFC events as a three-part series. We could see a “wrestler vs. wrestler” campaign in the first preliminary match, followed by a “best submission wizard” on the other side of the bracket. Either way, White’s confident that UFC 91 is going to be friggin’ huge. Bigger than UFC 66, it appears, which set a record that still stands to this day for MMA with more than 1 million PPV buys in 2006. |
| Dana White’s UFC 88 Video Blog for September 2 featuring Randy Couture (video) Posted: 03 Sep 2008 12:50 AM CDT |
| UFC Quick Quote: Brock Lesnar does not like to talk about Fedor Emelianenko Posted: 03 Sep 2008 12:37 AM CDT
– Truer words were never spoken today on the conference call to announce the heavyweight showdown between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar at UFC 91. Lesnar clearly prefers to talk about other things besides Fedor Emelianenko. Real things. Things that are actually going to happen. He followed with, “So why are we wasting our breath on talking about a guy or a match that might not ever happen?” Unfortunately, he’s right. |
| The Champ is back, but Couture has to wait on fight with ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ Posted: 03 Sep 2008 12:22 AM CDT
First, Randy has to fight Brock Lesnar in November at UFC 91 in Las Vegas. If he gets past Lesnar — no simple feat — Randy has to fight the winner of Nogueira / Mir sometime in early 2009. If he wins that — because, let's face it, he'd have to win them both to really have the Fedor fight mean anything (the guy is cementing a legacy, after all) — then he still has one fight remaining on his contract. If the UFC hasn't signed Fedor by then — smart money says no — then Randy will have to satisfy that last fight on his contract before legally being permitted to try and fight Fedor. Randy still has a mountain to climb before he's any closer to the fight that he wants. Never fear, Dana White is here:
If this had been the note that the conference call had ended on, it would have been a good one. Instead, Dana White showed very little effort in ensuring anyone that the fight was going to happen any time soon. In fact, while promoting Couture's return and UFC 91, White never missed an opportunity to peal at the Fedor paintjob, calling him "irrelevant." I stopped counting at 20 times. When asked if he was willing to bend any of the UFC's long-standing "rules" not to co-market an event with another promotion to get the Fedor fight to happen, White was emphatic, "No. When he's done with his contract [with Affliction], we would love to talk with Fedor about fighting in the UFC and facing Randy Couture." Would he be willing to sign Fedor to a one-fight deal? Not so much. Said White:
White was open with his strategy. He plans to wait 'em out. Referring to the UFC's competition, White said:
So the Randy / Lesnar fight is in, and don't hold your breath on the Randy / Fedor fight — it now appears more unlikely than ever before. Good luck, Randy. It's gonna be a long road. About as long as Russia is wide. |
| Dollars and sense: No choice but Lesnar vs Couture at UFC 91 Posted: 03 Sep 2008 12:08 AM CDT
While that might sound like the negotiations between Randy Couture and Dana White, it’s actually dialog from a movie about a martial arts warrior trying to bring down an evil syndicate known as “The Octagon.” Talk about life imitating art. Randy Couture is back in the UFC … and on Dana’s terms. For those of you who are furiously typing your dissent, don’t bother. Anything less than Couture vs. Emelianenko should be seen as a total failure for “The Natural” and all of his crusaders. That’s not to say that Couture doesn’t benefit because he obviously does. I’m sure the financials of his three-fight contract are quite lucrative and he now gets to participate in the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) of all time. Those aren’t my words, they’re Dana’s. From Tuesday’s phone conference:
Yes, Randy Couture is fighting Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15. Yes, the same Brock Lesnar who is a mere 2-1 and greener than Larry the Cucumber. Why, you ask? Well, why not? We all wanted Randy back. Any fan or journalist who has any real grasp on the current MMA scene knows that fighting Emelianenko just wasn’t going to happen before Randy’s 50th birthday unless he lived under Dana’s roof. So now that we have him, what’s with all the complaining?
No disrespect, but I didn’t wait 11 months for Randy to come back and fight Cheick Kongo. Besides, the UFC’s three top heavyweights: Antonio Nogueira, Frank Mir (both UFC 92) and Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90) are all spoken for. Without going into a whole dissertation on Father Time let’s just say that Randy has three fights to get to, isn’t getting any younger and has already missed a year of fighting. The time is NOW. But even if Couture had his pick of the litter, I’m not sure if competing against any of the fighters mentioned makes sense for the UFC. Personally, I would much rather see Couture face Nogueira than Lesnar, but a pre-TUF Nogueira isn’t going to sell PPV’s like the pasty-faced goliath will. “Minotauro” doesn’t have mainstream appeal — yet, but neither does Fedor Emelianenko. Randy may have wanted Fedor first, but from a business perspective you can’t ignore the impact the TUF generation has on PPV buys. And don’t forget those WWE fans. Couture will always draw, but his PPV value is at it’s peak for as long as he keeps winning. And that’s why Dana had no choice but to pair him with Lesnar: Get the most value for your investment while the market is up. It works in stocks, real estate and yes, even mixed martial arts. Sure, it’s all about the money, but did anyone really think otherwise when they shelled out 50 bucks last month for another UFC pay-per-view? |
| Posted: 02 Sep 2008 09:29 PM CDT PRIDE FC continues its return to DVD with Tuesday's release of PRIDE 32: Real Deal. The historic event took place on October 21, 2006, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first PRIDE event ever to be held outside of Japan captured an audience of 11,727. Since the event took place in Nevada, PRIDE was forced to modify its rules to follow Nevada’s version of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. In the night's main event, heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko submitted Mark Coleman, as well as the hearts of viewers around the globe when a bloodied Coleman brought his kids into the ring to confront Emelianenko in one of MMA’s most bizarre post-fight interviews! Also in action are top stars from Affliction, the UFC and EliteXC! Watch Shogun Rua get his groove on, Joey Villasenor and Robbie Lawler slug it out, Josh Barnett school an Olympian and Dan Henderson go Greco on the Phenom! Plus a whole lot more! Fight Card: -Fedor Emelianenko vs. Mark "The Hammer" Coleman PRIDE 32: ‘Real Deal’ is now available for purchase in our DVD store for $19.99 by clicking here. To check out our massive library of MMA DVD titles, including PRIDE DVD and UFC DVD click here. We also have Elite XC, WEC, Cage Rage, IFL, King of the Cage and other products for sale in our store. Looking for a title but don't see it in our store? Email us and we'll be happy to check its availability. Please keep in mind that we are only able to ship within the continental United States at this time. |
| Randy Couture returns to fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 … in Las Vegas Posted: 02 Sep 2008 03:14 PM CDT It’s official: Randy Couture fought Zuffa law and Zuffa law won … kinda. The 11-month legal drama that involved the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and its disgruntled heavyweight champion, Randy Couture, has been resolved. Thank the almighty … whoever that may be. In an official conference call today, UFC President Dana White announced that the 45-year-old Hall of Fame inductee had agreed to an out-of-court new multi-fight contract. And, as speculated, will return against Brock Lesnar in the main event at UFC 91 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (not Portland, Ore.), in a five round fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. The winner of the bout will be recognized as the heavyweight champion and fight the winner of the bout between UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Frank Mir to unify the title sometime after their bout on December 27. This is quite a departure — and a monumental breakthrough — from the ugly break up that first began when Couture faxed in his resignation from a South African movie set in late 2007, citing poor pay, lack of respect and a desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko — a high-profile free agent who the UFC was unable to sign. He has sat on the sidelines ever since, hoping that his legal team could find him a way out of his ironclad contract. Either he eventually realized that it was impossible or would just take too long, which is more than likely the genesis behind his sudden shift in strategy. Regardless, it's great news that both parties were able to put their differences aside and broker a truce. Now Couture is on the clock to get into fighting shape — he hasn’t competed since a technical knockout win over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74: "Respect" in August 2007. Considering his age — and upcoming opponent — he'll need to whack off any and all cage rust sooner rather than later. Lesnar is among the largest, strongest and most athletic fighters in the division. Couture, on the other hand, is not. However, he has an uncanny ability to rise to the occasion on fight night, leveraging his experience, knowledge and skill to put together (and execute) winning gameplans. Put simply, Randy Couture has proven over time that he can never be counted out. So even though it's been nearly a year of turmoil and straight up ridiculousness … nothing has really changed. |
| UFC Quick Quote: Chris Leben might want to rethink his UFC 89 gameplan for Michael Bisping Posted: 02 Sep 2008 12:36 PM CDT
– Michael Bisping questions the gameplan his opponent at UFC 89: “Bisping vs. Leben,” Chris Leben mentioned in a recent MMAmania.com interview in a new interview with The Sun. Both bangers are set to clash at The National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham, England, on October 18. It’s a 185-pound scrap that has already received a ton of attention even though we are still more than one month away. Here’s to hoping that Leben doesn’t change his gameplan … let the sluggers slug. |
| Wanderlei Silva video on next fight, training and more Posted: 02 Sep 2008 09:26 AM CDT |
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