The News - Mixed Martial Arts |
Written by Brian Fritz |
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
It sure does seem that June 7th UFC 85 show is cursed. Originally, the event was to be headlined by Chuck Liddell facing Rashad Evans. Then, Liddell went down with a torn hamstring and was replaced by James Irvin.
Last night, word came down that Irvin broke his foot while training and was off the show. Luiz Cane, who was scheduled to fight Jason Lambert, was then selected to take his place and fight Evans. Well, that's not going to happen either.
UFC.com is now reporting that Evans is off the show entirely with the middleweight fight between Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites added to the pay-per-view portion of the show.
Remember, Chris Leben was going to fight Michael Bisping on the show but was put in jail stemming from a previous DUI charge and by the time he was released (which happened to be yesterday), he would not have enough time to train.
So, for now at least, the card for UFC 85 has a main event of Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves with other fights between Michael Bisping and Jason Day, Mike Swick and Marcus Davis, and Fabricio Werdum against Brandon Vera.
The News - Mixed Martial Arts |
Written by Marshall Bowen |
Monday, 19 May 2008
It's been announced today that the The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale will be a three-hour long fight card for the first time ever in HD.
MMAmania.com is also reporting that in addition to the finals of the program the main event will feature Evan Tanner taking on Kendall Grove and Diego Sanchez taking on Luigi Fioravanti. Those three fights are guaranteed.
The under card features Spencer Fisher vs Jeremy Stephens, Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister, Marvin Eastman vs. Drew Mc Fedries & Josh Burkman vs Dustin Hazelett to fill out the card for the event.
Full details are available here
The Ultimate Finale Live airs June 21st at 9 pm on Spike TV. The following Saturday July 5, the coaches, UFC Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and TUF 1 Winner Forrest Griffin will lock up in the main event of UFC 86 for the Light Heavyweight title.
The News - Mixed Martial Arts |
Written by Marshall Bowen |
Monday, 19 May 2008
With just over a week until their debut on CBS, EliteXC has revealed their announcing team for the historic event. Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that during a press conference & autograph singing earlier today it was made official that Gus Johnson will be the play-by-play man for the event.
Johnson has been a CBS sports announcer since 1995 and has worked with network's coverage of NFL and NCAA broadcast as well the network's coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Johnson will be joined by Mauro Ranallo, who dos play-by-play for EliteXC's Showtime broadcasts, and former UFC champion Frank Shamrock for the May 31st event on CBS.
The News - Mixed Martial Arts |
Written by Brian Fritz |
Monday, 19 May 2008
We've all wondered what happened at the end of Rocky III when Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed are about trade huge bombs at the same exact time, only to have the moment frozen and leaving our minds to wonder what happened. Well, here is about as close a scenario in a real fight that took place last Friday night at the Legends of Fighting show in Indianapolis, IN.
Amazing! This was the first fight for both Tyler Bryan and Shaun Parker and while it didn't turn out to be a good debut for either of them, it was memorable. By the end, the fight was ruled a technical draw.
The News - Mixed Martial Arts |
Written by Brian Fritz |
Saturday, 17 May 2008
MMA Live made its debut on ESPN.com talking about all the latest in MMA. While there is mostly talk about the UFC, the show also covers EliteXC, Affliction and other groups.
Overall, host Jon Anik, UFC fighter Kenny Florian and writer Franklin McNeil do a good job covering the sport and share some solid insight. Florian is the true standout of the show with his keen observations and honest opinions. Good move by ESPN to include a package of him training and sharing some fight tips.
